Nikolausz

Maybe a real AF is not needed. It would be enough to have a zone focusing with 3 states (macro, close-up, infinity)

DJI Osmo Pocket 3 is a gimbal with a small camera with good enough sensor. The gimbal is not needed in the action camera (difficult to design an underwater housing for it), so it's enough to use the core (sensor with AF function)

For a while I thought Xiaomi will be this brand. The Yi camera brand was somehow related/owned to/by Xiaomi, and when Yi 4K+ was released, in my opinion, it was a better choice than the actual GoPro for half the price. I still use two of them with modified lens, but the batteries are quite old. Unfortunately Yi was separated from Xiaomi and stopped producing action cameras. I have high hopes for DJI, because they develop cameras and sensors for many platforms. They have everything under the sleeve to come up with an excellent action camera. It would be great if they could implement the 1 inch sensor with AF from DJI Osmo Pocket 3 to their next action camera.

That's the main reason why smartphones started to replace action cameras among beginner underwater videographers.

In my opinion, the implementation of a focus system is necessary for larger sensors to be used in action cameras. Insta360 has a 1 inch sensor module (not the AcePro, it's still 1/1.3") but it was not that successful, mainly due to lack of focusing options. It was not good for vloggers and the image improvement for landscapes was not that huge. I saw only few not that impressive underwater videos.

I switch my lights at the beginning of the dive and decrease the intensity to 3% (or 0). Before approaching the subject I increase the intensity of the lights. Previously I had to reach out to the end of the arms but now, I can control the lamps from the grip. I use a WeeFine system utilising fibre optic remote control. It's actually more useful than I thought before.

I still lived and studied in Hungary when I got a scholarship to the National History Museum, London. It was the year of full eclipse, so it was in 1999. I was lucky to meet at NHM with Linda and Brian Pitkin, very nice people. Brian took me once to a BSoUP event and he was very excited. Martin Edge introduced his new book (2nd edition of the Underwater Photography) and he gave a presentation about ring-flash and blue water macro, as I remember. It was an excellent talk, very inspiring. I came back from this BSoUP meeting with lots of inspirations and a signed book from Martin. I learned a lot from his excellent book and I guess I was the first Hungarian photographer taking blue water macro (it was not that trivial before digital cameras). I feel really sorry. It's a big loss for the underwater image maker community.

I've also considered the Samyang 12mm lens first, but finally decided to go for the 11mm sony lens. I'm still testing it but I don't see that big drop in corner sharpness, although I still have to test it more thoroughly.

I think it's a good strategy. I use a A6400 with SeaFrogs I gen. housing (started with A6000). For wide angle I use E1.8 11mm lens or the E10-18mm f4 OSS lenses. Both work well with the 6’’ dome port. I have no idea about the samyang but I went for the sony 11mm lens. I usually make videos but recently I took some photos (freshwater):

I think the company suggest wide instead of super wide that is still cropped compared to 8:9 format, which is full sensor readout. I'm not surprised that you have vignetting. I also have vignetting at this setup. Just crop your picture

So you define the subject according to your previous post that is nonsense in my opinion (no red fish) . You also try to define the term school of fish vs group of fish, which is odd.

The easiest to see this phenomenon by approaching schools of big eyes (Priacanthus sp.) while taking videos with lamps. The red colour of the fish will pop when we get closer than 1.5 m (independent of the strength or CRI of the lamps).

The Empire strikes back

With this news the Insta360 Ace Pro is getting a better contender: From AOI:"The popular UWL-03 and UCL-03 will soon be available to DJI and Insta360 users too. Special product preview at TDEX 2024 dive show."

From AOI press release (from facebook post): "The popular UWL-03 and UCL-03 will soon be available to DJI and Insta360 users too. Special product preview at TDEX 2024 dive show." As we expected, it's coming for DJI and Insta360

I've ordered here: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005004323302764.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.39.42d35c5fq0pu67&gatewayAdapt=glo2deu It was really worth it. I also like the wire control of the video lamps.

I haven't tried the macro wetlens and will probably skip it. I have a bigger camera (Sony A6400) with proper macro lenses (30mm, 90 mm) and I also have other solutions for actioncamera macro (replaced, adjusted lens).

Most of the time my GoPro will sit on my larger sony camera setup, but time to time I take a single action camera with lights. Yesterday I tried a new setup with a single GoPro12 with AOI wide lens adapter and two Weefine lights. I think this is the maximum level worth to pimp up your GoPro. It Included: GoPro12 AOI UWL-03 Divevolk tray with two grips 2 Weefine Smart Focusd 7000 Weefine remote control unit 2 fiber optic cables BGNing Trigger rod shutter 4 floating arms You may further improve it with an aluminium housing and better and more expensive lights, but it would be overkill. I have an aluminium housing for an older model and the size and weights were more disadvantage then the added advantages (robustness, better depth rate etc.) The best thing in this setup is putting the control of the light and the shutter release close to the grip. The AOI lens improves the image quality, but it's a bit problematic to use it under turbid condition. How does your top GoPro setup look like?

I'm selling my Insta360 One RS 4K action camera kit with the boost lens. The kit includes the items shown in the photo below: Insta360 One RS 4K Kit with boost lens extra battery cage original dive housing (not yet used) aftermarket dive housing (painted black in some areas as camouflage) They are in mint conditions. New prices (total) are about 420 Euro. I'm asking for 200 Euro plus shipping cost (I'm in Germany. You can also pick it up in Leipzig).

I heard that it has been improved with the X3, on the other hand, X4 is a bit wider. I hope they can manage to further improve the stitching.

I know that it's intended as a joke but it's a valid question. Further away from the middle of the lens view (can be defined as "corner") the quality really deteriorates. Especially the stich line (stiching of the two lens' 180 degree views) is blurry in my X2 videos. I hope it improves a bit with the X4 but I don't expect wonders.

Insta360 just released the new X4 camera 8K 360 degree camera with underwater housing. I use an X2 version and it's a very useful member of my toolkit. Maybe it's time to upgrade. There is even an underwater review by Brent Durand out:

Yes, this could be a major issue

There are few exceptions, but in my opinion, it could be a standard. The extra space requires some new designs but it would be not that much extra cost (you may correct me, I have no experience in UW housing production) and the extra power banks are also not that expensive (and can be used also above water). I like Tino's DIY solution, but it's too complicated for most, and a correct housing design would make it unnecessary.

I use a Sony A6400 mainly for videography. It has a relatively small battery, so practically I have to change battery after each dive. Above water it's not a big deal to swap batteries, but on a small boat between dives it's PITA. Most of modern cameras can use USB power with an attached external battery with larger capacity. Unfortunately I have no space in my underwater housing to squeeze any external power bank. I was just wondering why is this not the standard in underwater housing design. It would be huge advantage for underwater videographers but it would be welcomed by photographers as well. What do you think?