foetusmachine

Prototype for 8xAA cells to create a single "Rechargeable Battery Pack". Proper stickers on order, but printed some paper ones for feedback here.

You've given me an idea to help with 20 battery quotas. I'm going to make sets of sealed battery "banks". For example, I'll have 8x AA batteries in one bank. It will have a single hex or Philips screw that holds a lid on so it can't be opened by airport staff. The "bank" will have 8x 2450mAh x nom 1.5v = 29400Wh "capacity". This will be under the maximum 100Wh limit for single pack. I'll do a similar thing for the 21700 and other lithium cells, ensuring I stay under the 100Wh capacity. I'll get some professional looking stickers printed that indicate the battery capacity in total, so the airport staff can easily read the numbers and confirm they meet international rules. I'll just open the lids when I get to my destination and use the batteries as I normally would. Will report soon on an update to the design, including STL files. Welcome anyone with further input that will help everyone here.

It might be hit and miss. I've travelled with a lot of batteries before and never had any confiscations... plenty of questions though.

Seen a few ideas out there to carry batteries effectively through airport security in carry-on. My recent trip to Japan was plagued with small containers of batteries jiggling about in a small carry bag. I decided to do something about it. The outer case is from Amazon. https://amzn.asia/d/0FsoNPo I 3d printed the inner two sections in PETG or ASA (either/or - doesnt matter). Optimised for the range of batteries i may typically take with me. My camera batteries are in a different holder in my camera backpack. I keep track of spent batteries by turning them upside down (-ve facing up). The top section holds the random usb cables in have. Much better than a bag of random boxes of batteries.

I used ASA. Im guessing 2mm walls is 5 layers? That added a relatively large mass to my prints that I felt was better created with definitely sealed, thin layers of epoxy and polyurethane resin.

So I tried this and saw how long it lasted. I did a two hour shallow dive and it worked well... until right at the end as I was getting shallow and I noticed a pinhole stream of bubbles coming out of the top. Clearly the float had spring a leak during the dive and had taken on some water. I got it home and stuck it in a vacuum chamber and the salt water started leeching from a lot of the inter-layer gaps. I sat on this for a while. I thought I could simply increase the number of layers and tweak the filament flow rate like some of the other posts have suggested. I believe printed ports are also made like this. However, adding these layers meant the base weight of the float was jumping up significantly. So, in the end I decided to tweak the design slightly to have rounded edges and I layered up the part with epoxy and then top coated with layers of polyurethane. It's marginally lighter than a thick wall, over extruded print, but has the benefit of me being fairly certain it will never leak. I've also started playing around with some ASA-Aero filament. It's ridiculously lighter than ASA and PETG, but not quite as strong. I'm planning to try a carbon fibre layup to see how that goes. PS, im very happy with the screen itself and where I've positioned it. I had it on the lowest brightness and never had an issue clearly seeing the images from many angles.

I've been thinking about adding MFO1 and/or MFO3 to my collection. Also likely to want to move to the new sony 100mm macro. In researching these additions, I found Edward's comments here. I would be really interested in hearing about new Sony 100mm macro owners' experiences with the MFO1 and 3 and whether Edward's comments about the wet lens and the functional changes to the older Nikon and Canon lenses hold true for the new Sony.

Thank you.

Still studying my new housing. Can anyone help me understand what this blue lever/button that con-rods to the back of the housing and presses on the small microswitch adjacent the flood protection switch? I know the microswitch turns off the flood alarm, but what's going on with the blue button? Is it so you can quickly dump the port if you have a flood (and you're out of the water), keep the camera facing downwards and mute the alarm without having to fully disassemble the housing?

Yes. Interested to see if @Yorkie88 has this turned on and if its still cropping his viewfinder slightly.

@Yorkie88, is your a7r5 in zoom out mode?

Thanks Chris, Just watched this.

Has/is anyone using a 1:1 viewfinder on their nauticam housing with a sony mirrorless camera like the a7rv, presumably with the sony viewfinder in "zoom out" mode? I've seen a post where someone used this on their nikon z series, but interested specifically in a sony unit.

Options are 709, 2020 and P3.

I didn't get a shade in the box. I guess they thought the brightness of the screen would be able to break through the brightest sunlight. Here are some pictures of the external routing to the m24 port on my a7rv housing. They do also supply a m16 port connection that has a moulded-in flat ribbon.

So, i designed the hard mount to provide a compact, slightly tilted view for what i thought would be the majority of my photography. I also designed it to accept the standard ball mount arrangement if I need it of find that the hard mount doesn't suit me after all.

My eyesight is the frustrating thing. I've always used the rear screen and never the viewfinder. 99% of my experience has been with seafrogs where the rear screen is always flat on the camera. I've only just made the change to Nauticam that has the screen sitting slightly tilted up, which is actually a big improvement. In the end though, while I have a prescription mask that I've updated over the years, the camera screen is just too small and I'm hoping to get a new lease on life with the external monitor.

The monitor is already in a housing. It's a dedicated underwater monitor.

I've not done video... yet. See video of the screen settings under HDR... is this what you mean? 20251021_184511_640x360.mp4

This is how the hood looks, printed in ASA and vapour polished. This again is only printed in a lightweight, standard profile, so it might not be robust enough. If i print it as "strong", its quite a bit heavier and I will need to increase its volume slightly to compensate. I'll try this one first and see how it goes and how long it lasts.

This is just a prototype in PETG. It's a simple U shape with one hole sleeve for the mounting. I'm intending to print in ASA/ABS and surface smoothed to try and ensure it remains sealed. Time will tell how long it lasts.

Greta.

Proud new owner of a nauticam a7rv setup with a Kraken 5.5" monitor. The cables that came with the monitor weren't ideal, so while im waiting for the thin ribbons and hdmi connectors to arrive, I've been contemplating the monitor positioning. I had originally tried a long clamp connected to one of my spare ball mounts on top of the housing, but the tension I had to put on the clamp screw to feel confident about its stability, was just too much for my liking. So after a bunch of 3d print prototypes, I came up with this mount. I've made it out of 3mm 3³16 (a4-70) stainless. Cutting, scoring and folding the template was the easy bit. Then I had a go at tig welding the score lines. That took 6 hours of welding, grinding and finishing. If i had a brake press, life would be so much better. The base mount is at a fixed angle of about 20 degrees. I've made it so I can add a small tilt/swivel bracket later if i don't like the position or inflexibility. Note the centreline of the Kraken mounting bolt holes is about 4mm offset from the centre of the screen. I've positioned the screen to be the centre of the lens, to help with the inevitable "wtf did the bloody thing go?" underwater thoughts. I think this also helps the rig more compact without utilising the top ball mount. The float screen shade (prototype) serves a few purposes. It negates the ~260g sink the screen has,it also shades the screen while in use and it acts as a bit of an exposure protector while the rig is out of the water. The Kraken screen is super bright, but if i can turn the brightness down, i can then maximise screen time. I think I will call the screen shade 'Greta' after everyone's favourite activist... well, everyone's favourite activist's hair cut.

Yes, the mounting screw and tabs are on the top and bottom. I just bought mine a few weeks ago. Waiting on my ribbon cables to suit my setup before getting it underwater.

Update on this. I ended up using the model that had large flanges and used double-sided tape. The model with the small flanges would have also worked, but the larger flanges completely covered the bulkhead - providing greater fixity and definitely blocking any reflected light from the LED's. The 3D printed spring version was just too loose. Now that I have the housing I might be able to tweak the design of that to also be a snug fit into the bulkhead, but for now, i'll just see how I go with the flanged version.