RickMo

Aaargh! Thanks, Bill. I’d buy it myself. Too late to edit again . . . But in case the typo’s not obvious, it’s an OM-D E-M1ii, which is still quite a good camera. Apologies to the assembled masses. (And Mods, if there’s a way to edit, please let me know) —Rick

Nauticam/Olympus kit for $2600, all functioning as expected: 1. Nauticam NA-EM1ii housing with water intrusion alarm and vacuum system installed and pump included, purchased November 2018, full Natuticam factory service September 2021, about 40 dives since service (the OM-1 came out in 2022). Works as expected. Includes original Nauticam nylon case and shipping box. The housing with vacuum was $2,340 in 2018, and the 2021 service was $600. It appears that the housing is still available, new, for $2927+$250 for the vacuum ($3175). 2. An OM-D E-M1/Mkii body with ~10,600 actuations. Includes one FL-LM3 miniflash, three aftermarket batteries and two single-battery a/c chargers. I was usually able to get two dives per charge, but YMMV. 3. An Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 12-50 f3.5-6.0 power zoom lens (aka “the underrated kit lens” with “secret macro”), with zoom gear. 4. Nauticam flat port for the 12-50 (and other lenses). 5. Three Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes, with diffusers. Two were bought around 2013, the third in 2015, and all three work. I got the third because one of the original two was a battery hog. Included with purchase of body and housing.

Here's a link to the Batik site. The others have similar provisions. https://help.batikair.com/article/bring-diving-equipment-diving-on-batik-air-indonesia-flights/750

Remember that domestic carriers in Indonesia are expected to allow 23kg for scuba gear, which has accommodated our dive bags and/or my camera case. Garuda has a good business class, which seems to wave a wand over any baggage sins; on our Garuda flight a few weeks ago from Sorong to Jakarta, we had zero baggage issues despite our mountain of bags, and we were waved through the carry-on weighing. In May, we were on Teak from Manado to Singapore and it was a different story—they did allow the sporting-goods waiver, but we were still over a good bit. The cost was 2.4 million IDR (about $150), which could only be paid in IDR—as our time to catch the plane dwindled, I was sent out of the terminal to an ATM which, to my surprise, promptly gave me three separate million-rupiah withdrawals, and of course the flight was a few minutes late, so we were on our way despite a bit of a nail-biter.

There's also a good set of phone apps published by Gary Cobb, who is the hard-working mod of the FB nudibranch ID group. There are six collections, broken down by region, and don't require an internet or cell connection.

OOPS--I knew it was Milne Bay, and my brain just went on autopilot. Mea culpa! We are now considering a Walindi-Kavieng trip in 2026, covering the northwest coast of New Britain and the entire east coast of New Ireland. Kaviang was involved in the serious disturbances in January, however, and so we're waiting to see whether things seem to be less unsettled before making a decision.

A firmware update was made available for the OM-1 mk1 a couple of weeks ago, with the main improvement billed as subject acquisition in “all-target mode.” I don’t use that mode, but have found the OM-1 to focus well both above and below the surface with busy backgrounds, particularly with subject detection (bird eyes and fish eyes aren’t so different).

I guess it's 16:9 for social media? I think any autofix button will brighten and clarify it into a nice exposure. My brain stumbles over a centered image without a good reason--here's my five minutes of PS, nothing fancy.

Thanks, Chris. Lovely images. We were there in May 2023, and really enjoyed our time at Walindi (a week before, and three nights after, a liveaboard trip). We were almost as lucky as you with Air Niugini; we had an unplanned overnight in Port Moresby, but we didn't lose any diving. We were on the boat with three folks from Hawaii and they were not so lucky--three extra nights to get home. We were beguiled by Walindi and PNG, and enjoyed the diving a lot. For anyone considering one of the liveaboards (we were on Oceania), a highlight is a couple of nights spent inside a caldera; there's a collapsed wall that lets the boat come in, but then it really feels like you're totally enclosed. Villagers using dugouts bring the fruits of their labor out to trade for rice and other staples. At one anchorage, a senior member of a tribe paddled a tiny dugout several (maybe 15?) miles to collect the minimal tax levied on the boat for using the tribe's waters. We saw no other vessels except a couple of inter-island ferries the entire time. Hoping we can manage a Kimbe Bay trip (south, rather than north, of New Britain); reportedly the place where the term "muck diving" was coined. The people of New Guinea are desperately poor; we took school supplies and clothing which were humbly offered and gratefully accepted.

I caused a housing flood a decade ago by neither pulling a vacuum nor replacing the vacuum port cap, and Nauticam replaced the electronics--quick and not horrifyingly expensive (I think maybe $600). Although I totally own the stupid, I do wryly remember the Canadian couple who insisted on being Very Nice People while I, wearing all black in the Bonaire noonday sun, grew so desperate to get in the water that I finally made a break for it and paid the literal price. Dang Canadians! (Toque, we were in the dining room with you for the post-Mustard-workshop slide show. It was indeed grand.)

MarkG2, the Panasonic 8mm fisheye is quite good, and available used for good prices. The Nauticam 4.33" acrylic dome is small and up to Nauticam standards. I've not seen anything convincing that says the Olympus fisheye is better, but others may differ.

We were on Heron in 2012–my buddy and wife’s first salt-water dive. The lushness was amazing. We’re on Bangka now, and the hard and soft corals and clouds of fish are spectacular. It’s foolish to assume it will ever again be as beautiful as it was this afternoon, with mass bleaching in the forecast for this summer. The seemingly-certain death of the GBR, even if it staggers to its feet another time or two, is devastating.

We’re on Bunaken since Tuesday. No volcanic effect, except we were delayed a day in Singapore. No resorts, or anything around North Sulawesi, affected, except some ash on the “mainland” which washed away.

Rounding back on this—he identified a leaky ring at the vacuum pump, which only needed cleaning. He’s a little bummed—he thought he had a golden ticket to mirrorless. Thanks again for the memorable advice.

The Kraken Hydra 1500 is excellent. Two white-light levels, but as important, it has a red mode and an instant-off setting which detects the strobe and momentarily douses, both very useful at night and for macro (no red tinge). Cheap, too, with removable batteries. I really respect Sola lights, but the Kraken’s purpose-built features earned my affection for focusing. Pretty cheap, too, $179 (although no battery is included)