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I've just got home from a terrific 12-night Raja Ampat trip on Emperor Diver's vessel, MV Harmoni. The itinerary started in Kaimana, covered Triton Bay, Misool and the Dampier Straits - and ended in Sorong. Others have written about the diving delights of the area so I won't rehash that. Suffice it to say that, my first trip to this part of Indonesia, I found the diving just fabulous. Abundance and variety of marine life was something else. Whale sharks and mantas included. I've been fortunate to have been on lots of liveaboards over the years. This was, by far, the best I have ever done. Harmoni has a crew of 21 for 24 guests and is spacious,. comfortable and relaxed. Lead by a first class Cruise Director, the entire crew were unfailingly helpful and considerate. We splurged and got an Upper Deck cabin. This was roomy with a ?king-size bed (depending on what side of the Atlantic you live), sofa, wardrobe and a bathroom that two people could actually use at the same time, tons of hot (and cold) water and quality shower and hair gels. I'm not sure if it is a blessing or a curse, but Harmoni has Starlink WiFi which is included in the trip price. So if the mood takes you, internet is available in the galley at all times throughout the trip. It reaches some cabins too. Diving was from a RIB with four guests accompanied by a dive guide. Nitrox was included in the price. Following the usual briefing, divers put on their wetsuits and only had to carry their mask and camera to the RIB. All gear was loaded by the crew with divers being helped into their BCs etc on the RIB immediately before a backward roll onto the divesite. No carrying heavy gear down to the RIB or down to a dive deck. Luxury. A dive guide was assigned to each group of four and rapidly understood what the group wanted to do in terms of photography, ease of the dive, avoidance of current etc. Dive sites were usually 4-5 minutes (enjoyable) RIB-ride from Harmoni with at least one RIB monitoring the dive with several ready for pick ups at the end of the dive. At the end of the drive, the crew moved dive gear, except mask and camera, from the RIB to Harmoni so, again, no lugging of gear. They even rinsed wetsuits after each dive. At the end of the trip, the crew rinsed all dive gear (apart from cameras), got it all dried and delivered into the galley for collection! Food was always excellent and a mix of Asian and European. The system was the classic light breakfast, dive, big breakfast, dive, lunch, dive and dinner. Harmoni had a well-stocked bar complete with barman and espresso machine (yay!) We used the Aston Hotel in Sorong and the Grand Papua Kaimana in Kaimana. Both were good. We flew KLM to Jakarta and then Garuda to Sorong and Wings Air to Kaimana. No problems with any of the flights and the service was always very good. On one flight there was a tiny charge for excess baggage. We applied for Indonesian visas online and were seriously impressed by the arrival formalities in Jakarta: a quick transit through e-gates. I celebrated an "x0-birthday" during the trip and cannot think of a better way of marking the occasion. I can recommend Harmoni highly.

Hi, i went back to Malapascua Island after 17 years to see Tresher sharks. We saw up to 8 Tresher sharks cruising together in one spot. Luckily i spent 2 weeks in Malapascua, (compared to most other divers who stay only 2 or 3 days), because the viz varied from 25 to bad days 10-12 meters. Afterwards i visited Moalboal to get some Sardine school shots. Enjoy watching! Alex.

Hello all, I'm finally getting back in the water, and here's a little clip I shot in Okinawa on my aging GoPro7, with the AOI UWL-03 wide lens and a Rosco filter, in 4K 60fps. Water might still be a modest 23°C, but spring is here and ❤️ is in the air... Courting Ijima's turtlehead sea snakes (Emydocephalus ijimae) at Gorilla Chop, Okinawa main island, Japan To get into kitchen stuff - we are on an UW imaging forum after all - this is my second dive after a long moving-to-Japan-in-winter-life-stuff hiatus, and also I'm testing a brand new drysuit, so didn't bring my faithful Lumix LX10. But I did carry my old GoPro 7, mounted with the AOI UWL03 wide lens and a filter-gel inside the housing, with the idea of testing what is one of the most promising replacements for the illustrious UR-Pro Cyan. Alas, conditions were really not ideal to test the filter gel, with cloudy murky - if slightly blueish - water and a slightly ridiculous depth ranging between 2 to 5 meters... So yes, clearly in the no-filter zone, but it is what it is, as ruthless lawmaker Mr Murphy always says... The "deeper" shots, on the sand, didn't require as much as a stretch to re-white balance in post (which does affect the highlights), and show the filter's potential a little better. I need to confirm these observations on a ̶n̶o̶r̶m̶a̶l̶ ̶ deeper dive, with a side to side test, but the Rosco seems to be the one I was looking for 🤞 Cheers and happy bubbles! Ben

List updated on: May 20, 2025 Prices are just a ballpark This post will be updated based on your feedback regarding errors, omissions, and new models Housing + Monitor Model Size (inches) brightness (nits) UW Weight (g) Avg. Price (Euro) Marelux MX-SHINOBI (SDI) + Atomos Shinobi 5" 5" 1000 ? 2400 (2100 + 300) Nauticam NA-Shinobi II + Atomos Shinobi 5" 5" 1000 -180 2900 (2600 + 300) Nauticam NA-Ultra5 + SmallHD Ultra 5 5" 5" 3000 +480 4900 (2700 + 2200) Standalone Monitors Model Size (inches) brightness (nits) UW Weight (g) Avg. Price (Euro) Anglerfish HD57 4K 5.7 550 -145 1800 Kraken KRM02 V2 5 3000 -260 1300 Kraken KRM07-2200 V2 7 2200 -560 1900 Weefine WED-5 5.5 480 -260 1000 Weefine WED-7 PRO 7 500 -280 1600 Nauticam 7" T7 HD UltraBright Monitor 7 3000 -830 3000 SUPE/Scubalamp UM5.5 5.5 3000 -700 1000 Fotocore MR6 6 2600 ? 1300 Fotocore MR5.5 5.5 2000 -740 1 1200 Dive & See DNC-5C 5 600 -300 2900 Dive & See DNC-7B 7 450 ? 3000 1 = data obtained via private spec request Some monitors are sold under different brand names: SUPE/Scubalamp/Fotocore/Aquatech

A6700+nauticam housing lens：touit 50M+CMC1 8 dives in 4 days

I use the Nikonos 15mm lens quite regularly (but I don't always tag the lens in keywords, so it is hard to share a gallery of images). I just use it on Nauticam's stock adapter. It is the lens I have owned from new (30+ years). Here are a few recent ones:

If you have updated LR recently to v14.3.1 you might have discovered a new Mask, Landscape, in the Develop Module. I've just played around with it a bit this evening and have found it works really well for many u/w images. It even identifies the water as, err, water. It seems to be able to differentiate divers, water and corals. I found I could create a number of masks which allowed me to make adjustments to the drivers face, to the corals and to remove backscatter by masking the water. Definitely worth a try.

Our first Macro trip in years and I reaffirmed I just see the world in wide angle, lol. Few ok shots but nothing I really love. We stayed at the Solitude Acacia Resort and really liked it. Food was good, room nice, guide was excellent and so much less expensive than your typical live aboard. Can definitely recommend it. RANT TIME. We are a muck stick or one finger on dead rock photographers. No lying on the sand or wedging into the reef for a shot. Watching guides turning over creatures to expose shrimp, crabs, etc was sad. Seeing them physically putting hands on coral fans to maneuver pygmie seahorses was heartbreaking. Even worse was clearly guest, fellow photogs, promoting the behavior as they covered themselves in crinoids, sand and bits of reef to get a "better shot". Ugh. Having to witness that every dive will temper my desire to repeat this destination. (Yes, I to bump the reef, sand, and wall on occasion)

Had a very nice, first visit to Fiji and Volivoli this month. Although the water visibility was a bit meh, the reefs look to be in nice shape with the obligator explosion of color in the soft corals. Not a lot of the bigger critters but a fair assortment of nudis and smaller fish. I found I had a LOT of nice reef pics. Travel was fairly easy with direct flight from Dallas to Fiji, followed by a 2-hour van ride. Much more relaxed then trying to reach the outter reaches of Indonesia! Camera is a Sony A7C, YS-D1/D3 strobes, 28-60mm/WWL-1B/CMC1, or Canon 8-15mm/Zen DP100 small dome.

At our Montreal factory, we design, manufacture, and assemble all our products. Presently, our products enter the United States without incurring any tariffs, and we sincerely hope that this situation will persist in the future. However, we are encountering counter tariffs on the aluminum we source from a local supplier, as a significant portion of this aluminum originates from the United States. Despite these counter tariffs, for the time being, there will be no price increases to our products.

No blackwater for us on this trip. Tomorrow I will put it on a flip adapter and shoot with and without. In my hands at least it is a bit faster focusing (still not fast) with the 45 Pana/Leica but sharpness doesn't seem to improve very much but we will see. Bill

I'll swim back tomorrow and try to find it again. ;)

Hello from Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo in Monterey, CA. I'm Becca, the operations manager.

One of the really nice things about this community is the mutual support folks offer. Long may that remain!

I have been shooting with and without the MFO on an OM-1 with the 30 macro (Oly), 45 macro (Panasonic/Leica) and the 60 macro (so far). In general it seems that the MFO really increases the focusing ability of the 45 but does not make so much a visual difference at least for the things I am shooting. The 30 macro shots with it are clearly better but focus speed seems pretty much the same. On the 60 it seems both focus speed and visual appearance are better. I can post some images if anyone wants to see. Bill

I shot these during a night dive at Electric Beach on Oahu last weekend. Mantis shrimp, octopus, and a flabellina nudibranch.

We are off to Flasher Beach in Triton Bay. I am pretty sure that the MFO will get me the same number of good shots as without it, meaning zero in either case. I will try to shoot some little stuff with and without to see what we see. Bill

Howdy, all! My diving background started at UC Santa Cruz, where I got my basic NAUI cert through AAUS scientific diving. I had a lot of really cool science diving opportunities in college, but at this point, I like to keep diving a hobby, not a job. These days, I enjoy freedive spearfishing with some breathhold photo/video stuff, but I take most of my photos on scuba. I'm relatively new to diving/UW photo. First dove with a very old Canon 300D/Sea&Sea setup in 2018 or 2019, then was very graciously given a Canon 7D/Aquatica A7D setup by a mentor in 2022. I'm grateful to be living in one of the best areas for underwater photography in the US, with tons of great shore diving, a community of active divers, and access to resources such as Backscatter as our local shop. Anyways, I'm looking forward to discussing some DIY projects I have in mind with you all. I'm a machinist and would like to take advantage of my access to CNC machines and 3D printers to make some things that aren't currently on the market. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any ideas or if you want to go diving. Cheers, Sam

Thank you for the link! It was an excellent summary, but if I may, I’d like to add a little extra spice. Thanks to the new optical control system, both the SONY and Olympus TTL RC modes now offer extremely accurate TTL performance. A few weeks ago, I tested the Sony TTL mode in real-world conditions using Nikon Z8 and Sony A7 IV cameras with our own triggers. The results were outstanding. So I can confidently say that a truly exceptional strobe has been created. :) Additionally, the results of our TTL-side testing approach are available on our website for those interested. https://www.trt-electronics.com/blog/smart-3-prototype-testing-in-the-red-sea/71/

I'm a long time Wetpixels member and new arrival at Waterpixels. Looking to upgrade my underwater camera rig for the first time in a decade. I dive lakes and quarries in the Midwest during the summer months, and go on a bigger trip once a year.

We've got an episode of The Underwater Photography Show coming out about this later today.

Filmed over hundreds of dives around Vancouver Island and the Salish Sea, this is a 1-minute teaser for my full 2-hour film featuring wild Pacific octopus and Ruby octopus. From babies the size of a pea to full-grown giants. No narration, no captions—just octopuses doing octopus things in the cold, emerald waters of British Columbia. You’ll see them hunt, change color, fight, crawl, vanish, and interact with their environment in ways that might leave you with a new appreciation for these incredible creatures. Great to play in the background—or just zone out and watch them move.

First picture After the test if all is ok I ll make a new one without the sepration to gain some gr To be coutinued...

To me it is a wasted opportunity and it is going to be a sales flop. I can't imagine a videographer excited about placing negative 0.86kg (like 2lb) (!!!) on top of their rig and plus having no option for LUT or at least some kind of generic HDR preview like Atomos offers. To me this launch is some kind of a partnership with scuba lamp or weefine kind of companies which launched similar brick products and they just mill out their own housing and their own version of a power source. If I'd be a Nauticam I'd try to work with likes of Atomos to somewhat adjust their touch base UI to more centralized for use with fewer touch based contact point (after all we rarely adjust our monitors on the fly under water), take that product (Ninja or Shinobi) and run with it. Heck they could charge extra for that software version which is like clear profit... Is there an emoji for frustrated... https://www.nauticam.com/collections/external-monitor-recorder-housings/products/nauticam-7-t7-uw-ultrahd-monitor-hdmi-1-4-input-excl-cables

I'm waiting the first test Isotta Shipping New RED64 Strobe

Sorry to hear about your MF-1 strobe failing. It’s never any fun to have your equipment stop functioning and we understand your frustration. One thing that I would ask you to test and check is what happens if you use the battery and/or battery handle from your other MF-1 strobe in this unit (sounds like you have based on previous replies in this thread)? Does the behavior of that strobe change? What happens when you do the reverse and use the battery and battery handle from the questionable unit on the other functional strobe? From your description of the blue blinking light turning to red blinking, this to me points to a possible fault with one or more components on the internal circuitry. If this is actually the case, there is unfortunately no quick and easy field fix and the strobe will have to be evaluated at either our service center in Monterey or sent to an authorized Dealer. The closest Backscatter dealer to your location in Bali would be DiveSea Indonesia. While they are located on a different island, they can potentially ship a replacement strobe out to you relatively quickly if you wanted to order another. At this point, these MF-1 strobes are out of their normal warranty period. Here is their website: https://www.divesea.co.id/pages/contact-us. We have reached out to DiveSea Indonesia from our end to alert them to your situation and give them a heads up, but I encourage you to reach out to them yourself as well. Feel free to email our Service Department directly at [email protected] if you wish to discuss the issue further.

Favorinus tsuruganus

By the way, I want to thank everyone who offered to lend me a strobe here in Bali or even from Europe. Luckily, I have other strobes with me so I can continue enjoying photography on my vacation. Thanks to everyone, and best regards.

Right. And Adobe will once again offer their software as a one time purchase.

Underwater gear is an investment kind of like Bernie Madoff was. Every year the Southern California UPSs do a booth at the Long Beach scuba show. Everyone gets to put up 2 pictures. I don't want to calculate how much it cost to get those 2 pics for the show. My wife is a videographer (still shooting Sony Handicam in a Recsea housing), I don't try to convince her that I NEED new stuff. Bill

I saw / posted these above last January when they showed up - There's no real reason they shouldn't work. However, there's no real reason to not DIY them either, especially if you have access to cheap, powerful plastic readers. They just work great, and it will be a more flexible solution. I happen to be in the wonderful land of Daiso 100-yen stores, so can pick up readers up to +5 for 100 yen (+10 yen tax). I then DIY it (remove the temples, attach landyard), and no real reason to do otherwise. My current homegrown model looks like this these days: cheers!

The MFO does add a bit of magnification in my hands. Here is a weird sea cucumber (I thought it was a Phylidia) at first. The top photo is without the MFO the bottom with ( you can see a bit of magnification). I tried really hard to keep the camera/subject distance the same but we are in Triton Bay at full moon. This is with the Oly 60 macro, OM1 and two AOI RC strobes in RC mode. Differences are indeed subtle, the focus speed improvement is quite noticeable.

Which is which? Bill

I have, but no dive is planed for the moment (only in fresh water with nothing for macros... ;) ) In 2 month I'll go to Ustica (Island north Palerm/Sicile) If noboby had published pictures with and without I will do that. There are some small and nice stuff. Nudibranch, Shrimps , crabs, it's not Asia but a nice place to dive one or 2 weeks it will be our third stay. You need to be patient.

If this was posted elsewhere, apologies (a quck search didn't show a related story...) Thailand Bans Underwater Cameras on Deep Dives for Most Divers | PetaPixel (somewhat sensationalisitic title, also somewhat incorrect) Could be good for the coral, but this a bit of a slippery slope (& AOW or 40 dives is a pretty low bar to set)

I did my first dive with one this week and got one shot I liked. Rhinophores so sharp they could cut you! I’ve done a lot of diving with the SMC1, with and without snoot, around California and elsewhere in the Pacific. This Felimare californiensis is an unusually large nudibranch, so a nice in-between size that was perfect with the MFO and Canon RF 100mm. I think the combo of the RF 100 (which focuses closer than my old 100) and the MFO will be a nice macro and blackwater setup. (Sidenote: I used Backscatter Xterminator on this pic and wanted to remove all the yellow spots from the Nudibranch!)

Well it works fine for a u4/3 at 60 mm, close enough to 90 on APS-C. Not sure that it really extends the focus range though. You will need more flotation, on a flip adapter it is quite heavy. The spine cheek was shot with the Panasonic 45 on an OM-1 with the MFO Bill Bill

2). At home, I use both the 8-15mm fisheye in a 140mm dome and 14-35mm rectilinear in a 230mm dome. I recently traveled to Malapascua for Threshers and wanted more reach than the 8-15mm provided, but did not want to lug along my heavy 230mm dome. Instead, I used the 14-35mm in the 140mm dome with the extension I normally use for my 230mm dome (thanks for the recommendation on this, @Chris Ross ). I am not as conscious of edge sharpness as many folks, so opinions will vary, but I was happy with the results. Here is a sequence with that setup at different focal lengths. (35mm, 27mm, 23mm, 17mm, 14mm) 35mm 27mm 23mm 17mm 14mm (slight interference from dome sun shade required cropping afterwards in post)

I just started with one Retra Pro Max, UW-Technics Trigger and A7IV. I cana't say anything else than everything works quite fine, especially with TTL.

Sorry for some information delay. UWTechnics updated the OPTIMA strobe specifications for the serial production, including 16,000 lumen video-light, battery options, optional silver color for the strobe, etc. Pre-orders are also opened now. Here are some more details about the update: 1) Optional SILVER strobe body color is available now. 2) New battery options: Standard battery: 4-cell x 18650, it goes with the standard strobe kit. It uses standard length cover. Extended battery: 8-cell x 18650, it is optional product. It uses a long length cover. 3) Safety pressure valve (on the battery cover), - protection for Li-ion battery usage. 4) Video-light 16 000 lumen, CRI 92, Color Temperature 5000K. Adjustment range: 0 ... 16000 Lumen (8 steps). 5) Video-light working time (at maximum flux 16000 Lm): 54 minutes with Extended Battery, 21 minutes with Standard Battery. 6) Strobe serial production starts in July-August 2025. So, the product is expected to go on sale in September. 7) Optical Snoot with internal adjustable aperture, and External Reflector, - both attachments are in work now and will be announced soon.

Used to be on Wetpixels many many years ago - sad to learn today what has happened to that☹️ Before the internet started I taught some underwater photography in the Red Sea, then worked at Sunset Underwater Photo Centre in the Caymans, then as Photo Pro on the Cayman Aggressor with Capt Bill and Yvonne. Then I returned to Australia. Now I am getting back into underwater photography again - at long last!

In the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Cap Corse, a group of scientists makes a surprising discovery: over a thousand perfectly round rings etched into the sandy seafloor, more than 100 meters deep. What are they? Who or what created them? To find out, diver and naturalist Laurent Ballesta leads an extraordinary scientific expedition. Using cutting-edge technology, he and his team live and work underwater for three weeks, exploring an unknown and fascinating environment. This documentary follows three years of research, stunning imagery, and unexpected discoveries that reveal a unique ecosystem and help us better understand our planet’s past. An exciting journey into the hidden secrets of the Mediterranean.

Jeff: We need shots with and without the MFO. BVA

It "works" with the 28-60mm Sony lens, but vignettes as expected in the wider focal lengths.

Cynical? I think you mean we’ve learned from bitter experience. The US sneezes and the rest of the world gets flu. Manufacturers will hike up the prices worldwide because they don’t want to hit the US market too hard; and because they can. All the world needs: COVID, Ukraine, Gaza and now tariffs.

Too cynical? Nope, I’m just as cynical and agree! In the US we had “Fuel Surcharges” when gas prices went high, but they mysteriously never came off once fuel prices returned to previous levels, or even lower. I fear companies, especially one highly rated brand of housings, will literally price themselves out of business. (Profit per item vs total units sold) On a business level, the current tariff rumors/impacts have uncovered how vulnerable some of these global companies are with only a single manufacturing/distribution strategy. I have been part of companies that had a similar limitation and saw the result. In short, I have put off some accessory purchases, specifically from the referenced housing brand as it’s not a need, and just a want. The “want” has now fallen below my bank account’s interest in saying “yes.” I guess we will see who’s left and what changes beyond price increases they opt to make, if any, to remain a viable option.

It would be interesting to compile all of these reports to look for common threads. I can see no reason why a strobe would leak after some period sitting sealed up with the batteries inside after working on the first dive. O-rings are not that complicated they should just work if they are installed without any grit or hairs present. Pressuring, de-pressuring and re-pressuring should make no difference, we do this all the time to the control o-rings in housings and probably quite often to port o-rings, when we leave the same port in place for multiple dive days. There are several different designs of o-ring installations including a surface groove with a flat plate sealing against it and various variations of piston mounts including screw on caps and variations of push and turn. Each have their own risks, for example it is possibly more likely for a surface o-ring to leak via a hair laying across the ring, especially if a vacuum is not used to seat the plate. Is one type more susceptible than others? O-rings whether they are installed in strobes or camera housings or torches should behave the same way. The only difference these days is that strobes don't have vacuum systems, while a great many housings sold today have one. One possibility is if it's a small leak with only a few drops it may take time to kill the batteries. Quite possibly the o-ring leaked and the batteries kept going but after sitting for hours to days the water has worked its way in and done the damage. As the strobe was not opened after the dive it is not possible to prove or disprove this. Maybe moving the strobe around again after the time it was sitting is enough to get the water to move somewhere it can do damage, or the damage is minor but accelerates when the batteries are loaded?

This video is a collection of footage from hundreds of dives over the past 3 years around Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Dive sites include Nanaimo, Nanoose, Gabriola Island, Campbell River, Barkley Sound, Port Hardy, and Browning Passage. It’s set to relaxing music—no narration, no captions, no divers—just marine life and cold water scenery. Perfect for background viewing or whenever you need a moment of calm. Hope you enjoy it!

Another Fisheye option for Sony is the Sigma 15mm F/2.8 EXDG this image is using the Sigma MC-11 adapter. If you are more of a rectilinear lens fan the Laowa 10mm F/2.8 might be more your style if you are willing to deal with a 230mm dome port for best results. The ever changing light from the tonic water of the Santa Fe River over the entrance to Devil's Ear springs, High Springs Florida, USA. Sony A7C II, with Sigma 15mm F/2.8 Fisheye lens, Marelux MX-A7CII/R housing, MX-140mm dome port, two Marelux Apollo S strobes, ISO-320, F/16, 1/160th sec. Laowa 10mm, second image, same location using a Sony A7R V, Marelux MX-A7RV housing, with two Marelux Apollo S strobes, ISO-640, F/13, 1/100th sec.

it is interesting how relatively frequently it seems that strobe floods occur when they have remained sealed for X amount of time after diving, and then diving again. The only strobes I've ever flooded happened this way and I recall several other accounts both here and on we**ixel that were in the same vein