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We were supposed to finish the day. On the way back to the boat I saw some action across the bay about a mile away. Like geyzers popping up all over the place. I talked others to go to check this out and the rest is history. It was the most spectacular action of our trip and as the guides put it they've never seen anything like it in years. Never mind my battery was exhausted before three humpbacks decided to end the party and splash me away :-)

Seacam updated their port chart, and they recommend the PVL65 extension for the 100mm macro. I can confirm that a 60mm would not work. By email, Harald also recommended the PVL65+20 for the TC1.4, and PVL65+30 for the TC2.0 combos. Given what I already had, I ended up using the PVLs 45+20 for the 100mm, 45+40 for the 100mm+1.4, and 40+35+20 for 100mm+2.0. Stacking 3 extensions isn't optimal, but it works. Now for the test - I had a chance to go to the pool and play with everything. My aim wasn't pixel peeping, but to get a feel for this new gear, confirm that everything works, and see approx what magnification level I can get. Gear: A1, Seacam housing, MIP80 with extensions as above, no strobe, SMC-1. Lighting was inconsistent due to clouds so I did what I could. Some editing to try to get a consistent look across photos. All pictures use the same settings for texture (0) clarity (+10) dehaze (0) sharpening (40) and noise reduction (L15 C50). All pictures uncropped, exported at 1920px. I'm hoping the pictures show up in order. For pictures 2-9 I aimed to achieve the maximum magnification I could. Picture 1: Subject is 10cm long and has 2 rhinophores (elephantophores?) and a snout (snoot?) which is about 3-4mm. Picture 2: 90mm, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 3: 90mm + SMC1, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 4: 100mm, 1/125, f/10, ISO 1600 (inadvertently used different settings) Picture 5: 100mm + SMC1, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 6: 100mm + 1.4x TC, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 7: 100mm + 1.4x TC + SMC1, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 8: 100mm + 2.0x TC, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 9: 100mm + 2.0x TC + SMC1, 1/250, f/10, ISO 6400 (had to use faster shutter speed and bump up the iso) My perspective: this lens is going to be very fun to shoot. It is definitely faster to focus than the 90mm macro. The 100mm is slightly bigger, unfortunately it makes it tricky to take both the camera+lens out of the housing in one go, it's better to unscrew the lens first through the housing front. A battery change on a boat is a riskier operation. I love that we can natively achieve 1.4 magnification without having to add the SMC1, while keeping a greater working distance than the 90+SMC1. I also love that I can still add the SMC-1 to get an even higher magnification, whether used just with the 100mm, or with the TCs as well. Adding the 1.4x TC gives a 140mm lens, which can achieve about the same magnification as 100mm+SMC1 but is much more comfortable to handle. The 1.4x TC is light and adds weight towards the center of the camera whereas the SMC1 is heavy and off balance (I'm aware the SMC3 helps with that). And adding the SMC-1 on top of it really expands the range to super super macro Adding the 2.0xTC gives a 200mm lens. Magnification is great but the 200mm seems really inconvenient underwater, to get the whole elephant in the frame I had to move back more than I wanted, and I can see this would be both harder to frame subjects, and to position strobes. Adding the SMC-1 gives an even higher magnification as well, but the working distance was very small and getting the shot was really hard - despite perfect conditions with static subject and photographer. I can't imagine this working too well underwater. With the TCs, the minimum aperture also increases from f/22 to f/31 or f/45 so that may occasionally be useful as well. So the 100mm + 1.4x TC + SMC-1 will be coming with me to Lembeh, 90mm will enjoy its retirement. I'll keep the 2.0 TC for specific targets on local dives, like Shaun the Sheep

I'll sell mine, discounted to $11,099!

I llearned from a Nauticam servicer that the most important is to push the buttons while in fresh water after the dive. And leave the housing in the fresh water for a while afterwards. Ass you press you see a bubble comming out from under the button indicating that fresh water flows in. Otherwise salt will accumulate under the button. Also turn the dials. As long as the buttons and dials work smoothly, there is no problem.

I think it is now more important that ever to sign one's works to "humanify" them. Hence a watermark. This can be forged as well but if there is an authorship question the author can be contacted to verify. It is only a matter of time before AI starts adding imperfections - a speck of backscatter here and there for example. Easy to ID species will be less problematic for AI compared to others. I invite people to look at dichotomous keys to see the types of minutia that may be needed for others. Some require looking inside as well as I recall a fish key I used in a class that showed up during an examination that required knowing the peritoneum color.

I don't even believe my own mother anymore 😁 It's a real shame that for any video, we are now forced to ask ourselves if it's AI. And fundamentally, if we're wrong about a video of dolphins and whales, who gives a damn! But now I see skepticism everywhere. I've read absurd discussions regarding images of war, from Palestine to Ukraine, about things we shouldn't have the slightest doubt about. Returning to the whale, at the 27-second mark, the fin on the left of the screen grows disproportionately large. I don't know if it was too far away and in shadow before, but it's suspicious. P.S. I was given a temporary Google Gemini Pro account, and a few weeks ago, just for fun, I tried to generate a small piece of video. Crazy. Essentially, I gave it the last frame of one clip I had and the first frame of another clip, and I asked to construct a particular scene in the middle t The result was "almost" perfect. It connected perfectly because it started and ended with my own frames.I should have tried with different prompts, but then I got bored and quit. Just six months ago, this wasn't remotely possible.

Hello, my name is Kip. I am a 72 year old diver that has recently gotten back into UW photography. I have been diving for over 30 years. I currently shoot with OM System OM-1 Mk2, but I am also adding Sony to my kit. I look forward to joining the community and getting advice to improve my skills.

Folks, We all get our information online. For our passion, YouTube has certainly become—for better or worse—one of the main sources, and over the years, each of us has their own reference channels. However, however... I would like to avoid exchanges of opinion about what is best turning into a competition of "who has the last link." It would be great if we discussed things through our own personal experiences, and not through videos with sensationalistic titles made by people who film their dirty laundry in their bedrooms. In short, I would like our forum to be a different place. A place for the exchange of first hand informations and not an echo chamber for other people's opinions. Ciao

I've never had a housing serviced and a couple have done close to 1000 dives over a period of several years. If it works smoothly and. for example, they are not frequently in sandy environments, I'd suggest leaving well alone...... The only thing that could be serviced on my viewfinder (a Subal) would be the o-rings that mate with the housing. Again, unless they show any sign of wear, I would't change them.

Started with the green light of happiness today, did my dive with happy green, came back to wash things down and now there's a red light. Bummer, right? Undo everything. No water, not even a hint of a drop. Good. Trying to get a green light back as it went straight to blue after I flipped the switch off and on. I can get a yellow, but then it either goes off or goes back to blue. I can't get a green. Battery? Hopefully I can find a replacement in the morning, if so. Issue with the vacuum seal port? How to troubleshoot/fix this? Other suggestions? Totally bummed. Wobbie from the other day for tax.

Sucks to be you!

I’ve used my mouth a few times, takes several breaths but works as well. It’s just a bit awkward on the dive deck with everyone looking at you. 😆

I ordered my stuff!

I personally owned the SMC-1 for years and now own the SMC-3. Honestly, they are very similar in 'real life' usage. To me, the biggest improvement is the SMC-3 is smaller and lighter. As far as image quality, they are both exceptional, once you get the hang of the very short working distance. Yes, the SMC-3 has a slightly larger working distance, but nothing that is worthy of selling an existing SMC-1 and purchasing the SMC-3. It just makes it a little more usable in the everyday usage. The SMC-1 is discontinued and removed from the Nauticam charts because they are basically the same thing designed for the same task with similar specs. Think of the SMC-3 as a 'v2' of the original SMC-1. Hope this helps, chip

I'd rather see images which are imperfect and REAL over anything which has been "improved" by AI. I have even less patience for generative AI and the theft it requires. I absolutely hate that I have to distrust everything I see on a screen now.

Hi, I updated it, everything is working fine for me, did a lot of macro (not underwater) ...

True, I second this! The very bad MFD of the 24-50 lens makes it also a pain in the .. underwater. When you are used to be able to focus right up onto the dome this becomes a real downer, as you cannot get really close without plugging diopters into the system. Generally the WWL and WAPC are highly overrated and will not give you better optical performance than your Canon EF 8-15mm fisheye, even when combined with 1.4x or 2.0x teleconverters. You already own the best for super wide. Your dome choice should be taken very carefully so. Closely checking my files from 2 years diving with this rig I now find that my shots with the compact 140 fisheye dome are better that those with a superdome 9inch sized dome. You really need a full sphere for this. It might be worthwhile to get an adapter for your old Seacam Fisheye dome, if you own one. Having said all the above. I shoot Canon RF and instead of Nauticam, I use a Marelux housing with which I am very pleased. I think it‘s the better Nauticam with some improvements in the small details.

There have been various posts talking about the pros and cons of the various combinations of lenses and Nauticam wet optics as well as comparing performance of rectilinear lenses behind various domes. Few points you might consider: The recommended dome for the Canon 8-15 in Nauticam is the 140mm dome. Fisheyes are much less sensitive to dome size compared to rectilinear lenses and smaller dome sizes help with getting closer to take CFWA shots. You can even use the 100mm Zen dome with the 8-15, though corner quality might take a small hit. There is an extensive set of tests of various Canon optics in this post: It tests the Canon 24-50 behind the WWL and doesn't have good things to say about it. The Nikon 24-50/WWL-C combination is generally rated quite well, however the Canon 24-50 kit lens seems to be significantly poorer in optical quality. Now this is with the WWL-C, however I recall other posts stating there is not much to pick between the WWL and WACP-C with other lenses. Bear in mind too that the 24-50 needs to zoom into 28mm to remove vignetting with the WWL-1 - the WWL-C is designed for 24mm lenses. Rectilinear lenses generally require big domes, though some of the newer lenses that focus much closer work well with the 180mm dome. They lack the barrel distortion which enlarges the subject in the centre making fisheye images pop. On the subject of teleconverters with the Canon 8-15 you mention the Sony 1.4x/2x with the Canon 8-15, these work because they place the Metabones adapter between the teleconverter and the 8-15. Optical quality is better than using the Kenko 1.4x. It needs this order of assembly as the nose of the 1.4x fits inside the the empty spacer of the Metabones adapter. In this case the metabones acts like a 22mm spacer. In theory you could use the a RF 1.4x- Canon RF-EF -Canon 8-15, but the RF-EF won't work with an RF 1.4x. In theory again a Canon RF-EF-Canon EF 1.4x- aftermarket EF 12mm or 20mm extension tube- Canon 8-15 might work, but you'd need to test it. In general I would say the Canon 8-15 is an exceptionally sharp lens and very hard to beat behind a dome as fisheyes naturally work well behind domes and is a great solution if you don't need extra reach. The last point is that comparing diagonal field of view is a little misleading - you normally don't place subjects on the diagonal and fisheye lenses have the most stretching of the field in the corners. The WACP/WWL is like a zoomed in fisheye lens in terms of barrel distortion present. The horizontal field of a 180° (nominal) diagonal fisheye is about 144° while a WWL with 130° diagonal field has about a 106° horizontal field. The 8-15 is reported to achieve 175° diagonal field. This table compares horizontal and diagonal fields: Horizontal Diagonal Rect Equiv 15mm fisheye 141 175 4.5 15mm x 1.4 97 118 16 WACP at 28mm 106 130 13.5 WACP at 80mm 44.7 54 42 The Rectilinear equivalent is the focal length of a rectilinear lens with the same horizontal field. You can compare the field you would get from a Canon 8-15 with 14mm FF equivalent rectilinear here, it's on m43 sensor so the comparison is the 8-15 at 8mm and the 7-14 at 7mm. This is equivalent to the 8-15 at 15mm and 14mm rectilinear on full frame.

I’m a D500 user with the same lenses that Scubajess is selling. It’s a brilliant setup!

Hi David! I remember you from Wetpixels. A warm welcome to your new home. Great to have you with us - finally! I'm sure you'll see lots of familiar names on the forum. We hope you enjoy it. Best wishes

I should start by saying I only shoot video with a GH5. I have the CMC-2 and I use it with a Leica 45mm or the Pana 14-42mm (a combination I hate). With the zoom, the situation is more complex because, as Chris said, the depth of field is a function of magnification, and many times I work at minimum zoom, almost to the edge of vignetting. With only the 45mm, the DOF is acceptable. This creature is about 9/10 mm long, and if you look at the grains of sand, you realize the DOF (1/100, f/10). I definitely could have gotten closer, but it was running like there was no tomorrow. However, with the 45 mm + CMC-2 even a Caprella sp. goes out of focus if it moves. Years ago, I had the opportunity to test the CMC-1, CMC-2, and Subsee +5 on several dives. The Subsee was the least powerful but easiest to use. The CMC-1 was the opposite. The deciding factor for me was the focus range (5 vs 10 cm). For video and the types of subjects I usually encountered, the CMC-1 was truly difficult to use, so I chose the 2, which was a bit of an all rounder. Now that I've gotten the hang of it, I wish I had the CMC-1, maybe something even more extreme. Naturally, only for static subjects.

I had my (older) nauticam housing serviced last year because the buttons were getting extremely gritty from all the dirt I have been diving in. Cost~$750 which was almost as much as I paid for the housing. They did a great job but didn't have a choice, it needed to be done. If you aren't having issues, personally I'd keep using it and watch your vacuum levels.

True, but where’s the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction? Isn’t that a big element of what we do? That’s mine. I did that. 😆

Please, no. I hve not entered a contest ever but I apprecite looking at the photos you folks put up and the skill and luck and chance and dedication. AI will ruin photography because real photographs can never be perfect. I understand using some tools to get white balance, remove backscatter perhaps but at what point is it no longer your photo but something else.

At 42 seconds, one of the dolphins just grows longer and longer for no reason. But it's scary that it's so hard to tell except for little things here and there.

There was a video posted on reddit a few weeks ago, being shared all over on random subreddits, with dolphins and a whale that I'm convinced is AI. But it's really really good AI. Some small tells that just don't make sense. Underwater video my cousin took in Bora Bora. Cooler with sound! : r/BeAmazed

Amazing! This should be posted as an article/update on the front page of the website, not visible enough :)

Thanks Dave, I truly agree with your objections. Its like "never change a running system", I really dont want a post-revision error. Im quite miticulous when it comes to equipment maintenance and as we indeed have water with high calcium content, I routinely blow my housing dry after soaking. Some knobs are a little bit stiffer than others, the front dial is also a little bit harder to turn. But to be honest, this was the case from the beginning and hasnt really worsened since then. I always thougt that maybe the lubrication was not intense ex factory.

I think maybe they rolled all of the tariff charges onto this one obscure item that they expected nobody to ever buy!

Tariffs strike again!

$11,100 USD?!? Is it diamond encrusted or made from meteoric iron?

While diving in Socorros, I glanced up and saw a manta overhead. To my suprise, there were also three dolphins in the frame.

Thank you guys. Orcas are nicknamed as 'pandas of the sea' and it well describes them. They are completely harmless toward human being, they literally shove you away on their way to food. The bigger problem are humpbacks who always crash the party from down below - open their mouth, eat the ball, make the splash and the story start again :-). I happened to be in the splash zone of one of these and THAT's an adrenaline!🤣

Thanks a lot for the answers, of course Isotta recommends a shorter service interval but honestly one or two years, which mens less than 100 dives for me, is not sensible to me. I change main o Rins every 2-3 years or until I notice any damage. Regards

Hi to everyone, my Name is Oliver Im a 51 years old diver and passionate underwater photographer since about 10 years. I love diving i the tropics but also do frequently diving in the temperated waters around home like the baltic sea. Equipped with a EM1 mk2, Isotta housing and 2 Inon 240´s. Looking forward to getting part of the waterixel-community. Best regards, Oliver

I think there are projects for fish ID.. Google does a pretty decent job of it already, but one issue of UW is that we don't have a good way to connect to a remote server (EM waves don't travel well through water). We can run a pre-trained AI "in-mask". We'd would need a fairly powerful computer.. maybe Arduino will not cut it - perhaps need something like a Raspberry Pi. Plus you need to power it, I guess battery life would suck. I think it's a great project. It should come first to those UW rovers, which are larger and already have cameras.. Cheers Ajay

Hi to all, we are just planning our trip to North-Sulawesi in April and as my housing now is 6 years old and has about 230 dives I intended to make a complete revision at our local shop. Surprisingly they recommended a revision after 500 dives and as long as everything works it is not necessary yet. Now Im torn back an forth if I should wait a little bit longer or do it right now for my peace of mind. By the way: Shouldnt equipment like viewfinders also be serviced? Would be great to hear other opinions about servicing. Tanks in advance, Oliver

To me it looks like a juvenile Rhinopias. How big was it ? I would guess around 7-8 cm. Juve snouts are not as developped as fully grown ones, reminds me one I've seen in Padang Bai, we spotted it by chance in the algae, while I was trying to fiddle with my camera focus : it was less than 4cm. <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="" title="Juvenile Weedy Rhinopias">

If someone is not satisfied with the SMC-3, I'm here 😀

Really nice Ben, fascinating creatures to watch

Thanks Craig. Yes, it’s still in Cinelike D. The main change I’ve made is lowering the Kelvin setting when shooting artificial light. The Backscatter MW4300 has a low CRI and adds a yellow cast to the footage when combined with the Hydras. I ran some tests recently, and lowering the Kelvin value gets rid of that, which is nice. Yes, this little guy was really cooperative! If you look closely, the gills have a pattern that looks a bit like the branches of a stinging hydroid!

Ben, This is stunning video! Thank you for sharing! Evan

What a great sequence. Thanks for sharing Ben!

Amazing macro details. The gills are incredible!

That’s very cool. Still shooting in Cinelike D?

I switched from GoPro to Osmo Action and never looked back. Much less noise, better colors, better low light quality, intuitive and quicker menus, 3 to 4 times longer battery life time, no crashes.

Here one can inspect photos of testcharts taken with the new 100mm macro, also with 1.4x and 2x TCs and compare to other macro lenses (e.g. Sony 90mm): https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=1019&Camera=1175&Sample=0&FLI=0&API=2&LensComp=1757&CameraComp=1538&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=2 The test pattern in the extreme periphery with 2x TC attached is even better compared to the blank 90mm lens. It is difficult to judge the sharpness in the center. I guess it is reduced with TCs attached (I could not find yet accurate measurements of resolution in numbers), but it still looks very good...

I recently started to use the z24-50 with the wwl and it is a very capable combo. If you value small and light it is a winner. Not large animals, but 130 degrees FoV.

With the Z8 two of the best options are: Nikon f-mount 8-15mm fisheye with 140mm dome Nikon z-mount 24-50mm with WWL-C wet port You will get a lot of use from these two setups for many years to come. I'd argue these two might be all the wide-angle options you need. I recently used the 8-15mm for point blank shots of Humpbacks:

Thank you so much for this!!! Looks like I can avoid getting new ports! I already have the 30mm N100 extension from when I used WACP-C, and have adapted over to use w my new canon 8-15 setup. So I can reuse all my ports and only need to buy the new lens itself it sounds like. Great to hear this setup can work w all the Nauticam wet lenses (of which I have all).