Jens H

No action camera is designed for close-up or macro photography. If you want to take macro photos regularly, an action camera is not the right choice for you! Before you start equipping your action camera with close-up lenses, etc., you're better off getting a camera that is designed for this purpose. I also had close-up lenses and filters on my GoPro so that I would be prepared for all shooting situations (Flip system from Backscatter). However, fiddling around underwater and, above all, the poor quality of the recordings despite everything annoyed me so much that I got rid of it all.

To the best of my knowledge, action cams have fixed focus lenses and, therefore, cannot lose focus. Osmo Action has a larger sensor than others and therefore a larger minimum distance to take your footages.

I cannot comment on Osmo Action 6, I got Version 5. I had several GoPros before and never will get one again based on above mentioned reasons. I don’t know AcePro but I remember that I read some not-so-great reviews during my research in order to decide between Osmo and AcePro. Both are likely to have their advantages.

That’s the correct way, but use WORMS page to check if the name is correct or outdated: https://www.marinespecies.org Once you have determined the scientific name of an animal, you can find out about its lifestyle, behavior, ecology, etc., regardless of whether you look up Discodoris atromaculata or Peltodoris atromaculata, for example: you will receive the same information. Names are pretty irrelevant; it is more important to know about other things. And I say that as a biologist. :-) Far too often, some divers know the exact names of underwater organisms, whether scientific or popular scientific names. But they know nothing about their way of life and ecology. It should be the other way around!

I switched from GoPro to Osmo Action and never looked back. Much less noise, better colors, better low light quality, intuitive and quicker menus, 3 to 4 times longer battery life time, no crashes.

The “bible” of nudibranchs. Here you will find almost everything you need to know about nudibranchs that you might encounter underwater. Unfortunately currently out of stock, try to get a used copy or a PDF: Nudibranchs of the World (Debelius, Kuiter), ISBN 978-3939767060. Nice book on creatures you see during muck diving. However, it is still not complete -that would be mission impossible: Muck Diving: A Diver's Guide to the Wonderful World of Critters (Nigel Marsh), ISBN 978-1921517815

Thanks Chris! to the best of my knowledge, all camera settings for the flashes are set according to the manual of the converter. I will conduct several test dives here in cold Austria to see how the setup behaves. Real live testing is always better than dry training... Cheers, Jens

Thanks Chris for your help! during my tests (above water) the camera was set to typical settings used under water: F2.8-22, 1/60 to 1/250 s, flash at first curtain. I tested with >1 second and second curtain flash in order to check if there is a second flash. --> Yes, there is definitley one (or two?) pre-flashes and a main flash. However, maybe with this setting the flash as enough time to recharge. So this does not prove that there is always more than 1 flash. My statment rather aimed at the question if there is ALWAYS only one pre-flash with Olympus or if, in some cases, there are also 2 pre-flashes. I read somewhere that in difficult situations (also when face detection is turned ON), there are 2 pre-flashes, in easier situations only one. No idea if this is true. Pavel knows for sure and I assume he is following this discussion. But it COULD be, that my problems just occur whenever there are 2 preflashes because they draw too much energy from the capacitor. Regarding soldering: In addition to the TTL converter there was a normal flash trigger delivered, consisting of a hot shoe connected to a small "mainborad", which is connected to the 2 bulkheads. To my understanding, I would have to exchange the hot shoe with the Hot shoe from my old TTL converter (which is not a mainboard, but a hotshoe by itself). Pavel told me that the UW Technics trigger is not compatible with fiber optic connection to the Subtronic flashes. These flashes only work with electrical wired connections. Currently, I am working with a mode for a weaker flash (setting 6 on the converter, intended for the Inon z330) and it somehow works, but not perfectly as it should. Changing to other flashes is tempting (especially with hss and/or RC options) but somehow risky since I cant be 100% sure where the problem is located. I already tried 7 different cables meanwhile - all of them are N5-N5 wired, identical to the ones offered by Subtronic. All of them work perfectly well with other housings and flashes. Regards, Jens

Dear all, I have problems with my brand new UW Technics TTL converter with my rather old Subtronic pro 160 flashes in my new Isotta housing for my OM-1. With the correct setting (internal switch on TTL converter to position 8), most of the time the images are too dark, sometimes black. With setting for Inon Z330 (internal switch in position 6), it works much better, but everything else than perfect. Especially when there are white parts in the picture, the flash goes crazy. But sometimes also with very easy objects. The flash is connected via an Subtronic N5 cable, on the housing end (Isotta) 2 pins are inserted in order to maintain good contacts (there are 2 spring-loaded pins in the flash bulkhead). I have to say that this cables and flashes work perfectly fine since years with my (old) OM-D E-M1 and an TTL converter from Heinrichs-Weikamp. Whenever the images are black or almost black, I realize a VERY strong preflash - or even only one flash. Thats difficult to say. Pavel from UW Technics was very cooperative, since at least one week I am in contact with him seeking for the problem. Pavel thinks that the problem is the connection, but I can almost rule that out, I already tried 6 different cables and new pins. I believe that my flash units (purchased in 2011) may be getting old and that the flash tube, thyristor, and/or capacitor are no longer powerful enough. Subtronic is already involved in my discussions, I already got another flash from them to testing purposes - which shows the same problem (also that one is about 10 years old, however). Further considerations and observations: In general I can say that the preflash is much stronger than the preflash with my Heinrichs-Weikamp converter. It looks as if the pre-flash is already discharging the flash much too strongly. In manual mode, the TTL converter works perfectly fine as described in the manual (setting flash strength eigher via camera or on the flash; thats really nice!) my Hartenberger 250 hs flashes behave the same as the subtronics (except that in position 6 of the TTL converter I have to reduce flash strength by -1 to -2) Subtronic is currently working on a faster software for my flashes, but I think UW technics built the TTL converter for the original Subtronics without adapted software. Therefore, it should work (at least with new flashes also without software adaptation. Isotta claims that TTL should work without a converter, just with the originally shipped connector to the 2 N5 bulkheads. The old TTL converter works even with the new camera, but I don’t see a way how to install it into the housing without losing guarantee (soldering necessary) and furthermore, I would not have the option to switch between TTL and manual any more (in my old housing, there was an additional switch which disconnected one line of the TTL converter to the bulkheads to switch from TTL to manual during the dive) My problem now is that I have no idea which parts to exchange: TTL Converter? Flashes (renew the internal electronics means about € 400 per flash)? No guarantee that it works after investing in renewing the electronics of the flashes or even getting new ones. Any ideas are welcome, Jens

Hi everyone! My name is Jens, I come from Austria, and I have now survived 40 years of diving and am an enthusiastic underwater photographer. I am a biologist and author. I enjoy diving practically anywhere—the main thing is water! As a crazy underwater photographer, you are either single or married to a very understanding woman. The latter applies to me. I promised her that in my next life, my hobbies will be chess or darts. Looking forward to interesting discussions with you here in the forum and who knows—maybe even in person. Cheers, Jens