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Thanks Peter. One of the major issues I had was that they love their little overhang spaces, which were too tight to fit my camera rig - I couldn't close enough to focus with the diopters. Luckily this one went on a stroll all around the rock, stopping in a few spots around the way, and we spent a good hour and a half together! Yes, I was happy to get a bit of black negative space at the end, for a little blackwater feel.

Thanks a lot. It was my first time finding these guys, so I gave it some time. The “face” they have is really odd - almost bird-like but with an almost mammalian snout… quite cute in their way 😁

Thanks Chris - the more tropical species we get here thanks to the Kuroshio / Blackcurrent flow are really great, just not as common (though Okinawa is definitely a blue-ring octopus hotspot!). The bonfire dives helped for the swim, I use backbutton focus to aquire in MF, then try to anticipate the movement and follow the peaking - the problem is Z-axis movement on such a shallow focal plane... This is where fast-video tracking autofocus would be a game changer, but it seems to be something of a unicorn for video, as most useable lenses would not support it apparently.

Here's some Okinawan macro, shot last week on a shore dive at Okinawa Main Island, Japan. The Ryukyu Seadragon - also known as the Japanese Pygmy Seadragon - is a species of thread pipefish (Kyonemichthys rumengani) found in the Okinawa Archipelago. Well camouflaged and quite small (adults reach up to 2.5 cm in length), it is elusive and somewhat difficult to spot in the wild. This little guy had a pregnant partner (not sure if it’s the male or female in their case…), which I didn’t include in the clip for continuity ^^ Technically, the bonfire/planktonic video shooting I’ve been doing is helping with handheld macro shots using diopters, and I’m happy I was able to follow a freeswimming critter this small, as it was really in a walkabout mood that day! 😅 🎧 Music : "Through the green Thicket" by Tomotsugu Nakamura (sound on please) 🎥 Shot on a Lumix LX10 in Nauticam housing, 4K, 30fps, ⚙️ Nauticam CMC-1 and the lovely AOI UCL-05 closeup diopters (well, the old AOI/fantasea version, UCL-05LF to be precise, budget, budget...), two Kraken Hydra 8000v2 and one Backscatter MW4300 video lights Cheers! Ben

120g and 175g stix-like foam floats are now sold real cheap on Aliexpress, and they're fine for rec depths. search for: 4Pcs Underwater Camera Buoyancy Float Kits Aquatic Light Arm Diving Tray Float Kit for Seafrogs/nitescuba/Starbea Floating Otherwise 10bar as lots of interesting foam float options, their catalog can be downloaded here: https://www.10bar.com/wp/ with a bit of DIY you can also make the light itself neutral - this an MW4300 light (-250g in water) with an adapted 10-bar float - not the prettiest but does the job: cheers b

As an update, I ran a few more tests with the Keldan Spectrum filter + DIY ambient light filters, mostly the Rosco 4360 and Rosco 4390, in the slightly bluer waters of Okinawa main island. The 4360 was ok, but did let too much reds through, 4390 less conclusive... I finally bit the bullet and bought sheets of the above Dreifish formula: a Rosco 4330 + Lee 353 filter gel combo Tested it this morning at a rather murky site but results were excellent (I shoot with a Keldan SF-1.5 gel on the lens, as a Panasonic manual WB does not do great without one, leaving a cast). With the ambien filters on the lights, I could move from full ambient wide to closeup shots with no red-peak, film under corals and under overhangs without changing the white balance. Waaaaay better than a single Rosco, and just hits the right notes spectrum-wise, neutralising the red spike. Even with my limited lighting (2x Kraken Hydras 8000lm and 1x Backscatter MW 4000lm),it works fine the setup gives you highlights, details, and lets you film where the sun don't shine... So everything I wanted... ¥Having access to "Portable sunlight" would be a way to describe it. This was a quick-and-dirty test - I'll post some clips when I can test in better conditions, with a wide-lens instead of naked port. Until then, Long Live The DreiFilter! 🤩 Here are some unedited video screen caps, straight out of camera: Parameters: Keldan SF -1.5 on the Lumix LX10 flat port, Dreifilter on my 3 lights, white balance to ambient light with a Whibal card, 10m depth, ISO 400, f/6.3, lights at 80% power to get highlights and fills. moving out (close-up to wide scene - note: the bubble anemone is bleached out, and white as it should be) peeking under a coral, with an ambient light WB! ye ol' mask shadow test 3 Dreifilters + Keldan SF-1.5 (DIY filter mounts using step-up / step down adapters and an o-ring) cheers! Ben

One other aspect to consider as well is that customs have become very strict with inbound travellers in general, including Mexican nationals. I've heard some pretty sketchy stories, non–UW-related, from Mexican friends entering the country - confiscations, taxes to pay, and so on. Of course, well-off foreign tourists with imaging gear are easy targets, but it also seems to be part of a broader trend. As for whether it’s legal or not, I very much doubt it, but given that interpretation of legislations is up to the customs or immigration agent - and that they all appear to be on the same page - it would be very difficult to challenge, and quite possibly a good way to be refused entry. As others have said, I think pressure needs to come from operators, aiming to reach a working agreement with the Ministry of Tourism to issue clear directives to customs or amend current legislation for personal equipment, to be used in a non-professional context in the country during a tourism visit (and not imported to remain or be sold in the country). I wouldn’t hold my breath, though, especially given the current domestic and international context...

Hi, I'm on Okinawa main island and yes, early November should be fine though the northern winds might start blowing, difficult to predict in the current situation. Water should still be somewhere between 28° and 25°C. Viz should be getting better with less plankton in the water, and typhoon season is over. Local diving is divided between shore dives (and yes there are easy dives, even if the wind has picked up, like Gorilla Chop, and otherwise the Seawall dives, the East coast for macro) and boat dives (wave/wind dependent). Best coral will be in the Keramas (boat), but it's the end of the season, so you might end up doing local boat dives like Manza, Nakijin, Minna, etc... Zamami I'm less familiar with as I shore dive here. Quite a few shore entries are tricky, and with only one day of diving the weather might not cooperate. cheers! ben

Very interesting subject - but pricing-wise, are they competitive? Their website lists the Sony A6700 at $2423 USD (love the $3, guess it must be an automatic conversion) https://www.seafrogs.com/products_details/Sea_Frogs_Aluminum_Alloy_Underwater_Housing_For_Sony_a6700.html where as the Nauticam NA6700 is at $2300 or so (edit - this is the price in JPY, I guess the low yen is favourable - it's more in the $3000 range apparently) https://www.nauticam.com/products/na-a6700-housing-for-sony-a6700-camera and maybe the the Seafrog comes with the port and dome like on the pic?

Hi Kristin, with a $1500 USD budget, the main options i would see would be: an action cam rig (GoPro, DJI) with the wide angle lens or - erhm, a mobile phone in a housing. Why not stay with the TG for stills, macro stills and macro video and stick a gopro or similar on top (with the wide angle accessory lens) for wide angle video? Compact, cheap and best of both worlds, since she'd still keep the current rig. Or: a second-hand compact rig, which would allow her to do video, stills and macro / wide angle on the same dive. Canon G7, Sony RX100Va or above for instance. The issue is that compacts are really bricks in the water and need a lot of floats to be neutral and balanced in the water for video, which effectively kills off the compact-form factor... But other than that they are great, and indeed way better than a TG for video. I shoot on a Lumix LX10 compact and happy with it (you can see clips shot on it here) despite have given up on the compact form long ago, and missing features I would need (extended battery life, HDMI screen connectivity, 4K 60fps...) - my " compact" rig weighs over 10kg on land, to give you an idea... A more recent compact like the Canon V1 would be great, would set you back more than $1500, and micro four-thirds rigs (GH5) are not really compact either.

Hello all, I'd be interested in buying a 67mm double flip holder, ideally an AOI double-flip or a Marelux (Nauticam will probably be out of my current price range) I've ruled out the Saga double flip because of design issues (no locking mechanism). If anyone has one to sell and ok with shipping to Japan (Okinawa), please get in touch. Cheers! Ben

I use a Apex Cargo pocket WTX large model, mounted on the side, over my BC pocket Closes with a zipper, has 2 attachments inside onto which I mounted rings. I then clip neoprene lens pouches inside (similar to the one Davide posted) - Fits 2 or 3 diopters.

Hello again Dan - we've already exchanged by FB pm on Okinawa so I won't be much more help as i dive independently, but I think @shokwaav 's been diving with local operators (39ers?) quite a bit if I'm not mistaken! I've just returned for two days diving Ie island, and the coral was really super healthy (but fished out, unfortunately). Ie, then Nakijin have had the best coral coverage on main island so far. cheers ben

Hi Dan and welcome onboard! Ben

Regarding the Saga dual flip, it would be great to confirm if mounted diopters are flush to the port like on the Nauticam flip, or if there is a little gap as some users have reported. Seemed to be linked to the mounting design IIRC

Hi Kristin and thanks for sharing this. I think the graded version is on the right track, but I also see two technical problems in the footage itself: - the white balance on the SOOC camera footage is a little off - basically it is too warm on the artificially-lit part, and this is causing issues in the grading because of the strong contrast with the ambient lit background (which has a major colour cast). The foreground looks better on the graded version because you fixed the white-balance by removing the warm cast - but there shouldn't be a warm cast to begin with. And this de-warming of the foreground in the graded version, by cooling the image, has increased the colour cast in the ambient light lit background... - you're only using one light, meaning the foreground is a little underlit or rather not lit evenly, creating something of a hotspot to the left of the image. A second light would help light it more evenly, and then you could focus on grading to the artificially lit area. The main solutions in my opinion would be to choose to shoot in a full artificial light dominant scenario, but then you need a second light, and importantly to get the correct white-balance on the lights. The other solution, since this seems quite shallow, would actually be to shoot without the light (ideally with a good filter), after locking the white balance (say to 5600K). You could then rebalance the white-balance point of the image in Resolve and would get more even results between foreground and background I think.

I was guiding so these clips are composed of sneaky 10 second shot mostly shot on an old GoPro7 😄 If you can do the bumpheads, definitely go. It's an incredible experience, very moving. Palau's topography/currents turn it into some sort of redlight district for fish, there's a lot of visible courting and spawning going on! ❤️ The bumpheads congregate on an easy shallow and rather protected site (Grassland/Sandy Paradise), and shoot up from about 30/40m depth below right up to the surface, and can range from hundreds to thousands. You go to the site, guides swim out on snorkel to watch the aggregation and how it builds up, and when it starts to happen (the fish change colour and start chasing), everyone gets in the water and follow the fish aggregation, hovering in the shallows. The males are chasing a females up to the surface where they spawn, and completely focused on what they're doing. It's still quite dark and fast so strobe placement is important, and after a bit the water really gets cloudy with the spawning fireworks, but once you understand how it works you can get quite close. So the idea would be to try and capture the firework run to the surface, and some wider shots. It's not easy photography, but the show itself is incredible. Also before the action starts, the males actually compete by bumping their bony humps like buffalo horns, but this is very deep so you just hear the sound. The occasional bullshark or (oceanic) blacktip cruises by, but the bumpheads are not easy preys so you don't really get that much hunting action, unlike with the snapper spawning. cheers b

If this helps, I've worked in Palau and pelagics will be mostly roughly 1.5m grey reef sharks passing by close when you're hooked-in (Blue Corner, Siaes Corner), some barracudas or jacks and turtles on the plateau, and otherwise mantas passing over your head at German Channel (which can be seen at the cleaning stations or feeding in the shallows, which is spectacular, but means swimming against the current). The grey reef sharks are always there and will get close if there's current. I have some clips here which can maybe give you an idea of what to prepare for (the bumphead / snapper spawning are on specific full/new moon related mornings only). Hope this helps! cheers ben

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Thanks for sharing that Eric - I find older footage fascinating, both as a time capsule showing diving areas in a fast evolving context, and also from a technical point of view. You have really great shots there. Beyond the technical restriction on actual image definition, it's still very good, and kudos on the macro (really reaching the limits of that diopter!) and the mandarin fish sequence, which are generally a nightmare to shoot! What were you shooting on at the time? cheers ben

Welcome onboard Doug. I'm also piling up unedited footage, hopefully saving it for those long winter days! Cheers Ben

On a related note, to follow-up on your comments on grading GP-LOG vs. Go Pro Standard/Natural, I gave one of your clips a spin. I don't use Resolve as my laptop is too old to get fluid playback on it - even with proxy files - but Final Cut Pro X, which integrates better. But results would be the same I think. The discussion was unrelated to the article but I was curious as I will one day upgrade my action cam to a 10-bit camera, and wanted to see how log worked. To cut to the chase, I find Go Pro logr to work better for grading. So, first i imported your GoPro Log clip and non-log clip as is. I then quickly graded the log clip as is: Ok results I think. whereas the standard/natural color clip, ungraded and SOOC was like this, which is quite a different base to work with, obviously.... But since we're dealing with a log profile, normally it has to be converted, so i got the official GoPro12 log conversion lut for that here https://community.gopro.com/s/article/10-Bit-Log-Encoding?language=en_US There's probably a GoPro 13 log conversion lut, but doubt it will make much of a difference. and tried quickly grading again, just to see. The conversion really gave me more workroom, with the footage coming alive. Quickly graded results were as such for the converted log clip (saturation is a little high, to show what we have to work with) vs the following quickly graded results for your standard / natural clip, which still has that odd burned-in contrast issue visible in the SOOC file. In conclusion, if I had to choose, I would definitely work with the converted LOG file, as it has more leg room and less strange issues for grading, and also makes it easier to deal with the slightly overexposed section of your footage. Hope this helps. cheers

can't help with MFO, but as a sidenote I also own an AOI/Fantasea UCL-05LF and a CMC-1 and stack these with no issues for supermacro. Before getting the UCL-05LF I was stacking the CMC-1 (roughly +15) and an Inon UCL-165 (+6) - you roughly get a +20 lens, and it's workeable. The MFO however is a really special lens, so not sure how it will behave since it's really designed for use on flat ports if I understood correctly.

Welcome onboard Hilmar! cheers! ben

Hahaha, small world! 🤣 Thanks, I think this glorious little camera has aged like fine-wine, and still deserves its place, no matter how alluring Canon (or smartphone) siren songs may be. Yes, floats are definitely part of the deal with this brick-like form unfortunately, especially for video... Let's just say compact is in the eye of the beholder! Speaking of which, this is my latest addition for the now-discontinued Inon UWL-100 lens with the now-discontinued dome (works great), a modified 10bar float collar: As someone else put it, the USCSS Nostromo is ready for takeoff!