bghazzal

This video shows their DJI & Insta360 adapters on the TDEX stand: https://www.facebook.com/reel/7326888520771923

If you have Facebook, maybe post this on the Tulamben community group? https://www.facebook.com/groups/172276879993151 - it's not as active as the Amed one, but you might be able to get an answer. Scuba Seraya's FB page hasn't been active since 2020, which is not a good sign, but there are recent google reviews, which is odd. Otherwise heard good things about Villa Markisa, Villa Utama, Tauch Terminal. cheers

Not the best of sources (Thaiger is a repost rag), but still interesting info https://thethaiger.com/news/national/parking-the-problem-thai-national-parks-close-to-revive-coral-reefs The Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation (DNP) implemented indefinite closures at marine attractions in 12 national parks in Thailand to allow coral reefs to recover from bleaching. (...) To prevent further damage and allow for recovery, the DNP has closed marine attractions in 12 national parks until further notice. Human activity can disturb and hinder the coral’s recovery process. The closures affect the following national parks: Mu Koh Chang National Park (Trat) Khao Laem Ya-Samet National Park (Rayong) Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park (Prachuap Khiri Khan) Hat Wanakon National Park (Prachuap Khiri Khan) Mu Koh Chumphon National Park (Chumphon) Hat Khanom-Mu Koh Thalay Tai National Park (Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani) Mu Koh Surin National Park (Phang Nga) Sirinat National Park (Phuket) Ao Phang Nga National Park (Phang Nga) Than Bok Khorani National Park (Krabi) Nopparat Thara-Mu Koh Phi Phi National Park (Krabi) Mu Koh Lanta National Park (Krabi) Three additional locations are under special surveillance due to severe coral bleaching including: Koh Jan in the Hat Wanakon National Park in Prachuap Kiri Khan Koh Pling in Sirinat National Park in Phuket Mu Koh Chumphon National Park in Chumphon Koh Khram Koh Ngam Noi Koh Ngam Yai See also: https://thethaiger.com/news/national/coral-catastrophe-strikes-krabis-mu-ko-lanta-marine-park Phang Nga's Similan Islands NMP, badly hit in the 2010 bleaching event (some famous sites, like East of Eden, are closed to this day for "recovery and monitoring"). has already entered its yearly closure period. More info on the 2010 bleaching event here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286384630_Impact_of_the_2010_coral_bleaching_event_on_survival_of_juvenile_coral_colonies_in_the_Similan_Islands_on_the_Andaman_Sea_coast_of_Thailand

Aaaah, compacts 😍 - Maybe we should start a retro trend and shoot uw video on VHS-C and Hi-8 camcorders? (digitalised to 4K, of course) Woah, look at the rad overlay and generation-loss on that reef fly-by!

On my macro video compact rig, I started out super negative (-1.5kg) but are now currently only a little negative. That said, I use a quadripod, not a tripod, and the rig is really stable, even when close to being neutrally buoyant. Buoyancy varies with the diopters I use (Inon UCL165, AOI-09, CMC-1 or stacked combinations of these), but I love it like this. When i started out really negative, the legs would dig deep into the fine vocanic sand we have here in east Bali, and stir up clouds even if I only nugdged the camera alittle to reposition/focus, or when lifting the quadripod off the substrate, no way around it, even when going very slow and easy... Not fun... It was also tiring to carry underwater on the extended shallow dives I do here, and made a big difference in my own buoyancy when I no longer held the camera, not really pleasant having to adjust all the time. I started adding floats (my wide angle rig is neutral) and found out that it doesn't affect shot stability with my quadripod. Another positive I can also now do handheld shots, or semi-handheld using only two legs (which opens up tilt camera movements for instance). I actually tested neutrally buoyant macro dive a couple of days ago, trying a new float setup based on the Wolf - So two big top mounted floats setup in a triangle. Camera was even a tiny bit positive without the diopters (I use 3, and have them on me rather than on a flip mount), but was nice and comfy neutral starting with my smallest Inon diopter, to slightly negative with the others. However the Wolf based setup was cumbersome, and I didn't like having the buoyancy compensation so high up which kind of pulls up the rig, and makes trim/buoyancy adjustements difficult, so i went back to my former setup (main floats compensating 1.1 kg horizontal across the rig, then two float arms vertically in the middle holding on my main macro light, a Backscatter MW4300). I can adjust buoyancy distribution / trim with the back float horizontal float. It's cable-tied to the main horizontal float which can pivot around it, so I can easily move buoyancy closed to the front of the rig (good for front heavy lens stacks). A picture might make more sense: i think using a quadripod really helps for video, allowing us to work really only slightly (100g or so) negative - of course any strong surge or current would affect the rig more than a heavier one, but I find it also affects smaller macro / super macro subjects so much that it's very difficult to get usuable footage anyway, as they swing in an out of focus too much, so it's not much of an issue. And making it lighter really helps with camera repositioning, semi-handheld and full-handheld shots. cheers ben

Thanks a bunch Matan! Yes, despite a limited focal range (compared to newer RX100vii with it's massive 200mm zoom lens), macro capacities are really good on the LX10 - with a good set of diopters, that is. It's a fixed lens on the LX10 so i'm just adding diopters based on the shot - I have a +6 Inon UCL165, an AOI-09 +12.5, and at the time I shot this clip I was still using an +10 diopter made for GoPro (Backscatter's macro mate mini). I've sold this since and managed to buy a second-hand Nauticam CMC-1, which is roughly a +15 diopter, so quite close to the AOI +12.5. Conditions here in east Bali have been bad the past couple of months with rainy season, so I haven't been shooting as much as before - but it's clearing up now, even though subject wise it's still not back to what it was, so I'll be working with the new lens. Based on the tests I did do, my working combinations are the Inon on it's own (bigger subjects, wider shots), CMC-1 on its own (lovely), and CMC-1 stacked with the Inon. For tiny supermacro sujects, I also use CMC-1 stacked with the AOI09, which is a really good combo (even though I would have liked to have a more powerful single diopter to have a shorter lens, which allows to get closer and avoids losing light - alas they're very expensive (I had my eyes on the AOI 900 Pro +23, but it's not in the books. So i'm keeping the AOI-09 for now, as it opens up stack possibilities for very small subjects, even though i no longer use it on it's own, and use the CMC-1 instead. They're very close, but the CMC-1 is a little shorter and brighter, and thus offers a tiny bit more magnification. But when stacking the AOI-09 and the CMC-1, the depth of field is really tiny, so the subject has to be very stable... Any swaying or movement of the animal and it will be violently swinging out of focus, - this is a little different from macro photographt where you just need to freeze the subject in focus. For video you want at least 10 seconds in focus, ideally more. So swell and current makes it difficult to get usable supermacro video subject. I've also managed to shoot a triple stack, which works only in the following order: Inon, CMC-1, AOI, so the weakest diopter first, which is most likely due to lens design curvature. In a more classical strongest diopter first order (CMC-1, AOI, Inon) it focuses on the glass.... But it's difficult to use, and only for very stable tiny subjects... cheers ben

Wow - I didn't know these existed - I've found a DC coupler (dummy battery) for the LX10 (link) - could this be used with an external battery pack to power the compact? Anything giving more battery life underwater would be fantastic. When you were working with the RX100 series, what external battery pack were you using, and how did it compare to standard batteries when shooting video? Thanks! Ben

Great thanks you Tino. Unfortunately I think it's a no-go - the NA-LX10 only has one M14 port, used by the vaccum valve. Not sure what the flash socket is - I do have unused optical fibre holes.

Hi Tino - and wow! I'm very interested in this underwater-powerpack, as battery life is not good on my compact (LX10), with which I shoot video - the camera can work powered by a slave battery, but there's no room in the housing. Did you make this work with the RX100 Nauticam housing? if so, how did you get the cable in? I only have on bulkhead port used for the vaccum valve, but do not use any flash - no idea how these ports work however. If you have the time, a little photo write-up in the DIY section would be great. Cheers ben

Mine uses the CR2032, and I turn the vaccum detector on the afternoon/evening before the diving day, turning it of in the afternoon the next day (so it's on roughly 24 hours). Diving usually 3 times a week, batteries last roughly 2 months before I start to see some sort of low battery indicator flashes, but this is Indonesia so they might not be the best, and environmental conditions might also be at play. I was using Panasonics with expiry date in 2030, but switched to Energizers which seem to hold a little better.

I'm not sure if this belongs here yet, but someone contacted me through my Youtube account email enquiring about the Lumix LX10 I'm selling on Mozaik. Well, while i do shoot an LX10, I'm not selling any at the moment, so I asked details about about the ad he mentioned. it turns out a vendor has put an ad for an LX10 kit on Mozaik, and linked to one of my YT vids shot on the LX10 - which is fine, however I'm a little confused by the wording, which reads: "Example of videos shot using this camera (and to give you confidence in buying from me):" Confidence in buying from me - while listing someone else's vids? Errr, wait? So the second YT link is to my ambient light LX10 test shot vid shot mostly while I was working in Palau - the first link is to video made by by someone else, but shot in the Similans NP in Thailand (where I did work a few years back...). I told the person who contacted me by email to be very careful, and also flagged it with Mozaik, but haven't had an answer yet. Another potential red flag is that the camera model given in the specs is OM-1, but this could be a template issue? I would say it's either very clumsy, or a scam. The ad is here: https://www.housingcamera.com/used-panasonic-lumix-lx10-digital-camera-nauticam-underwater-housing-pro-package-accessories.html Beware...

Hi and welcome Andi - what is your research focus in FP? ben

This database might be of interest to some of you. It's a detailed database tracking production and emission specs of 122 of the world's largest producers. https://carbonmajors.org/ Detailled open-source data is available for download here : https://carbonmajors.org/Downloads and a presentation of the methodology used is accessible here: https://carbonmajors.org/Methodology Fron the site description: "Carbon Majors is a database of historical production data from 122 of the world’s largest oil, gas, coal, and cement producers. This data is used to quantify the direct operational emissions and emissions from the combustion of marketed products that can be attributed to these entities. These entities include: 75 Investor-owned Companies, 36 State-owned Companies, 11 Nation States, 82 Oil Producing Entities, 81 Gas Entities, 49 Coal Entities, 6 Cement Entities. The data spans back to 1854 and contains over 1.42 trillion tonnes of CO2e covering 72% of global fossil fuel and cement emissions since the start of the Industrial Revolution in 1751." Analysis of this data set, such as this one here, highlights the fact that a mere 57 entities are linked to 80% of global emissions since 2016. b

Looks fantastic, thanks for sharing this great piece of DIY!

A few Andaman Sea liiveaboard boats that used to go to from Thailand up to Myanmar/Burma (leaving from Phuket or Khao-Lak/Tap Lamu or Ranong used to organize blackwater dives - my wife did one on a trip to Myanmar on a trip she worked the Andaman Queen, and otherwise the Smiling Seahorse used to do regularly them as well. I doubt the trips are running with the ongoing situation in Myanmar, so not sure what the blackwater status is. Maybe it's possible to do blackwater on the Thai side, in the Similans/Surin islands, but it's fairly shallow, and night diving itself really wasn't a highlight when I was working there...