Nikolausz

I considered smart focus, because of the additional blue light and the optical condensor (kind of snoot) you can attache (screw) to the lamp. Honestly, I haven't used that much those functions, so for video I would also suggest solar flare over the smart focus version.

I use 2 WeeFine Smart Focus 7000, which is practically the same with some extras. I also use it for my Sony A6400, but often with GoPro 12. They're good but don't expect them to lit big reef scenes. However, if you around or closer than 1m they will do the job.

I usually use my action camera on the top of my mirrorless housing, but time to time I use action camera alone. As soon as you add lights it's recommended to use a tray and floating arms. It makes the handling and moving the camera without small handshakes, which results better footage. Here, you can see my maxed out GoPro set up.

Thanks everybody for the recommendations. We booked the Turtle dive centre-homestay. I will write a short trip report next year when we're back. Best Marcell

Thanks for the input. We have narrowed down our selection to Yenkoranu, Warahnus and Turtle dive centre-homestays. Has anybody experience with those?

We have an upcoming boat trip in 2026 January to Raja Ampat north area (From Sorong). We would like to spend a week before this trip on KRi island. Do you have any recommendations for dive base and accommodation? We would prefer relaxed diving with many photo/video options, so a good house reef is preferred. Thanks in advance for the suggestions Marcell

In Europe the electrical frequency is 50 Hz and the broadcast frame rate is adjusted to 25 fps to avoid interference. So 25 fps is still somehow relevant if you want to contribute to a TV production. However, if you produce YT content it's irrelevant in my opinion.

As an alternative, you may check the T-housing (with adapter, you can also use AOI lens with it) https://panoceanphoto.com/t-housing-insta360-acepro-1-2-unterwassergehaeuse It's cheaper than the Isotta.

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)