bghazzal

I'd be happy to but unfortunately I only shoot video, so I'm probably not the ideal tester. I could only submit image captures from video clips, rather than actual pics.

Last year, I managed to get samples of 80 kg/m³ and 100 kg/m³ density PVC foam, rated to reliably withstand pressures of 0.6 MPa. They work great, but sourcing this type of material in Japan was a nightmare (mine eventually came from Chinese manufacturers instead, and that was not easy). I gave up on fishing floats, as it was impossible to find proper technical specifications locally. I spent a lot of time searching on AliExpress and Alibaba, but without success. I tried shipyards and marine supplies, no luck. Given the value of this kind of material for underwater imaging applications, it would be great to share supplier information, especially from companies willing to ship non-industrial quantities internationally. Given the links above, it seems to be easier to source in the EU somehow.

As I mentioned here I got largely over 2 hours of continuous runtime with the Weefine WED-5 Pro HD with the monitor at 30% display brightness. This is in 26° water with a new 21700 battery, at 1080p HDMI output. Official specs give 90 minutes, but I suspect this is at a higher brightness. At 3200 nits, it's very bright and 30% was fine for Okinawan sunshine in the shallows. cheers

Thanks! we do get a lot of pigmy squid here, but there's also a strong possibility that this is a blue-ring octopus paralarva. It's a very tricky subject as most cephalopod paralavae haven't been ID'ed properly yet

In Japan, for a Mexico visit an individual would need to make a refundable cash deposit of roughly 50% of the value of the equipment for an ATA Carnet if they do not qualify for JCAA's guarantee scheme criteria 😅 The carnet itself isn't that bad - around €200 for €20,000 worth of equipment - but that would mean a €10,000 refundable deposit! I think Mexico must be one of the only countries in the world to tax personal diving and imaging equipment brought in by recreational diving tourists in this way. ¡Chingón!

Have you checked out this thread? https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/2417-list-of-underwater-monitors/ I currently use the Weefine WED-5 Pro on an A7SIII - i don't dive on a reb but regularly do two hour+ shallow dives for macro videography. Depending on the brightness settings and how you use it (on all the time or not), I can confirm the WED-5 Pro lasts more than two hours. It's very bright and I usually have it on 30% to 50% display max here in sunny Okinawa. The first day testing it with the camera I did 2x two hour dives, leaving the monitor on, display at 30%. Monitor battery ran out 40 minutes into the second dive, so a runtime of 160 minutes at 30% . Monitor output was 1080p, on almost all the time, in 26°C water. This is pretty good for a single 21700 battery. Turning it off, when travelling for instance, would extend battery life further. hope this helps! cheers

ah I see thanks - Yes, cinetone is nice, I also like cine2. At the moment I've returned to HLG-3 as I've realized I could set the colour gamut to Rec.709 directly in camera, so no conversion needed, and it's nice. Otherwise I've narrowed it down to cine2, cinetone and HLG-3 or PP off for workeable non-log profiles. I also just got and NLE upgrade yesterday so can edit on FCPX12 or Resolve Studio, which broadens possibilites!

Thanks for the the update. Would you have a link to the post? Unfortunately Robert isn't on here (big Bobetc fan here), but feel free to link this thread on the BW group as well - the more talk there is the better! cheers

Thanks, I think I'll stay away. He's asking for roughly $150 USD, which is a bit much given the issue....

Yes - I was actually wondering if it might not be possible to rethread it with a spacer ring or filter mount. The issue is the vendor says nothing can be screwed on, and I'm not sure how much force he used when trying.

Hello all, I've come across a Nauticam flat port 45 with a damaged M67 thread - it doesn't look great, the thread seems quite crushed and mounting anything is not an option, which is a deal breaker. However I thought I'd ask for your opinion - since this is aluminium and quite soft, does it look like there might be an option to rethread it? The pictures are not the clearest, but all I have for now. thanks!

Unfortunately my recommendations are not up to date, but do look into the operators mentioned above Junk and Phinisi were 18 guests max for instance: https://thejunk.com/liveaboards/the-phinisi/ not sure how many guests on Big Blue's new Blue Dolphin, but they downsided IIRC https://www.bigbluedivingkhaolak.com/similan-liveaboard/ also check the Deep Andaman Queen https://www.deepandamanqueen.com/ and Smiling Seahorse https://www.thesmilingseahorse.com/

Really beautiful documentary, and a fascinating environment that I’d only ever heard about before. There are even some CFWA shots, like the gastropod at 12:40. Thanks for sharing!

I'm wondering if anyone has any updates on the info in this thread. I'm interested in cheap lights for a downline (bonfire / blackwater diving), but I keep stumbling on battery life and longevity, which are major weak points of these cheap lights. If you factor in buying good 3×21700 cells for each light, it does add up. The other issue is that they don't have constant output, so hanging them on a line would mean a constant drop in illumination over the 2 hours or so they're on. Realistically, for a pair of lights, I need 4,000 to 6,000 lumens per light, offering a decent illumination for 2 hours. I've looked into Leton Power lights (the "12,000-lumen" and "8,000-lumen" models), but they're still expensive for what they are. Rechargeable LED fishing lights are better value (but have no beam), although the ergonomics aren't great (no underwater switch, just a remote that has to be left on the surface).

Thanks - not on the A7SIII as far as I can see. I ran some tests yesterday, taking a static clip of colourful sujects, same lighting, exposure. Graded results are very similar for non log profiles, but I would say most promising were either no picture profile (darker image to begin with, which might be linked to how ISO are handled?), and Cine2. All and all, I could get very similar results in all profiles, but HLG / SLOG3 required the most extreme exposure and saturation corrections, and the conversion to 709 is problematic on my software. Hard to tell Look at the scopes narrows it down to: - PP off (great) - Cine 2 (flatter, more latitude for grading) HLG3 is also very promising, being a hybrid log without the ISO or ETTR exposure constraints of S-LOG3, but not compatible with my current NLE. The conversion to an 709 colorspace just doesn't work on my version of FCPX Worth coming back to when I get a new computer and can run more recent, up to date software. Ungraded picture profile off: Ungraded Cine 2: Ungraded, uncoverted HLG3: Ungraded, unconverted SLOG-3