Nikolausz

Very interesting topic with great discussion. However, the most important message from the OP was the following: "After all those dives and countless shots from this weekend, it really comes down to being in the right place at the right time. No matter which camera you choose, if you’re closer, steady, and nail your angle and exposure, you’ll walk away with an amazing image. It’s recommended to prioritize positioning, timing, and stability—these elements often contribute more to a standout underwater image than the choice of camera, especially when viewing on a 4K display." So the environmental conditions and better technique are more important than spending huge amount of money for minor quality improvement, which might be difficult to observe in real life situation.

I'm sure that it will have two 1" sensor. By the way INSTA360 has also a 1 inch edition version but it has not became too popular and there is no affordable underwater housing available for it. The image quality of the X5 is similar, if not better, so there are not so many underwater videos with the one inch version. It will be most probably a fixed focus camera, so I suspect not so good close focus abilities. Price will be interesting. Competition is good.

Sony should upgrade the 50mm macro first including IF and faster AF mechanism.

I liked it a lot!

Yes

I Have recently read a Facebook post by Roger Munns, a professional videographer currently working on a NatGeo project. He uses the following gear (it's not a hybrid system but one developed for specific video tasks): "I shot the bulk of the sequence using my Red DSMC2 Gemini in a @nauticamhousings LT housing. Key to getting into the tiny hairy frogfish’s world was the Nauticam EMWL scope lens which gives a wonderful bugs-eye view. For the predation shots I used a Phantom Veo and Keldan lights to capture strikes at between 500-1000 frames per second. One feature of this camera is that you have to review the footage underwater, then save the shot to the memory card or delete it. Very quickly the guides assisting us caught on to this and we would have underwater viewings with everyone huddled round the monitor to see if we had got the shot." So it's (RED) also not a full-frame camera but one uses a Super35mm sensor (similar to aps-c) and only with manual focus.

On aps-c Sony cameras I would choose the 30mm macro lens over this Tamron so-called macro (rather good close up)

Nice, but I still would prefer an add-on lens that would convert my 30mm macro into a 50mm macro (without decreasing or even increasing the minimum focus distance)

In this fun project I tried to show another perspective of the anemone fish. I used the material filmed last year December in Tulamben, Bali.

When macro is your main focus and video is also important I tend to agree that FF is not the way to go despite the "infinity budget". The best underwater macro videos in the recent years are produced, in my opinion (which is shared by many juries of international competitions), by Alfred Schaschl. You can see his work here: https://www.youtube.com/@alfredsch.5440 Fredi uses Panasonic GH5 II camera, so a 4/3 crop sensor. I found APS-C is a good compromise for both macro and wide angle, and I'm locked into the Sony system, so if I would have a big budget I would probably upgrade my A6400 to FX30 and not FX3. Unfortunately the 50-60 mm macro range is not well covered with modern macro lenses in Sony environment, but for video, I think the available lenses are OK. Fast AF for macro video is not really needed. You will film on a tripod anyway (macro), and when my subject is in focus I usually switch to MF, just to avoid the the AF is distracted by something else in the background.

Same reactions here

I would be happier with a good working 60mm macro lens. Underwater it's a very much a niche lens.

GoPro cameras are US products but probably they're manufactured in Asia. I'm curious about the price change in the future.

It looks promising. We need more alternative underwater housing manufacturers especially in the more affordable sections

Sounds really good, thanks for the information.