JustinO

I own the Oly 30mm, and don't use it as much as I could/should. As others have said, it's a versatile lens for a range of subjects, and does have a very short working distance. All shots below (and my profile pic) are taken with it. They're uncropped unless stated, and show a range of subject sizes. The nudi and froggie were taken with one strobe. Wish I'd had more time with the eggs than the end of a dive snapshot, as could really have got some better detail. Its short working distance makes it challenging for shooting tiny, skittish subjects (where I use the 90mm), but you can crop and still retain quite a lot of acceptable detail, e.g the coral goby. For the price point the 30mm is a really good lens, and for pure macro I find it sharpest at f13-16 (all pics are f13/16 except the nudi at f6.3). As it is that much cheaper, you can see a bit of colour fringing, but nothing that Lightroom can't rectify. I'm not familiar with AOI ports etc. so can't comment on price comparison for any required ports/ extension rings etc. vs options suggested by others. I also use the Oly 14-42 pancake lens with a Nauticam Wet Wide lens, which gives a much wider FOV. That allows both wide angle (up to 130 degree FOV) and macro on the same dive, but it's a really heavy and pricey combo, and you need a willing buddy/ lens caddy to stow the WWL, and to remember to 'burp' it. That's my go to set up, but I rarely take the lens off, tbh, as the 14-42 is not in the same ballpark as the 30, 60 or 90 for macro (yes, I own all three... guilty of GAS right there). Hope that helps, Justin

Perhaps Enneapterygius niue, the Redbar Triplefin? Fishbase suggests it might be out of its known range... but it is a relatively new and data deficient species.. see its Fishbase page

Not clear what housing you are using.... and not familiar with the Godox. If it helps, I use the Nauticam trigger in a Nauticam housing with the same camera and rate it highly. Only changed the batteries once in 5 years. and it triggers reliably. I did find when shooting whale sharks this year that for some reason it still fires even when the flash is set to 'off' - easily overcome by turning strobes off though.... and clearly not an issue for macro!

There does seem to be a worrying uptick in frequency in Egypt, and beyond. 6 in the 12 months to June this year according to this article https://divemagazine.com/scuba-diving-news/fire-alert-improving-liveaboard-fire-safety-for-divers Testimony from those on board seems to suggest deficiencies in training, absence of/poor briefings, few patrols, and lack of working alarm systems - so complacency is to some extent creeping in, influenced (in Egypt at least) by policy pressures (removals of subsidies on fuel, introduction of new taxes, inflation) which has put pressure on operating costs. I haven't noticed much of an increase in holiday costs for some years now- so what's being compromised on- margin? Maintenance? Salaries? As customers, we can do our bit to push for greater focus on this by demanding evidence of inspections/maintenance/fire safety drills when booking, and on embarkation, encouraging each and every passenger to test escape hatches, and walk the route and count the number of steps from cabin to emergency exit. Knowing the route can help in a smoke-filled corridor. Feeding back to operators and agents and calling out bad practice on forums might also help.

FWIW, I bought an M3 Pro in May this year, and am really pleased with it - it is my first Mac, so I can't compare vs other models. However, it is very fast at exporting RAW to JPG, and removing dust and scratches, etc. I keep my files on an external Samsung T9 SSD, and that works really well for me. It also has an SD card slot inbuilt. Like Wofgang, I bought the 14" to take on travels and work - i find the ability to render detail on zooming in is instantaneous, and am happy with that compromise vs a bigger screen. I bought the Space Black version - contrary to claims, it does show up marks - but it doesn't scream "I'm a Mac" and as we divers all know, gear looking cool is the primary purchase consideration....!

Thanks Wolfgang! Increasingly seems like I shall have to retire my old laptop and just look at them on my Mac; even in sRGB on the Mac they still look better in sRGB than they do on the laptop. Thanks for the tip on the BenQ... I'd been quietly coveting one of those.. just need an excuse to pull the trigger on one...

Thanks Chris, will give that a go. Interestingly, I see that quite a few sites specify sRGB as the profile, presumably to save a few bytes of space. So perhaps might also be worth embedding the original profile in as well to enable correct rendering by browsers.

Hi all, Prior to April, I was using LR on a Windows laptop, and the screen was calibrated in sRGB. I was processing and exporting in sRGB in Lr, so there was no change in what I was seeing in LR when I exported to disk, or posted. I recently went to Mac (work reasons, but I also wanted a better display quality). My Mac is set to use display P3, and that (or Image P3) is my chosen colour space in Ps and Lr. I find this gives a lot of extra colour particularly on reds, oranges and greens (Nembrotha kubaryana look really good!). I then export in sRGB, where I've found the colours suddenly look a little duller and lack a bit of wow. I spent far too much time trying to read up on what i should be doing last weekend ... and the internet advice was as contradictory as ever. I note that sRGB has much less gamut than p3, but are there any tips folks have found when using Lr on a Mac to keep the great colours we see on our screens, and make sure others can enjoy them too (both on screen and in print)? Are people setting Mac workspace to sRGB (and losing the ability to adjust screen brightness) and doing the same in Lr and Ps? More adjustment to Vibrance? Exporting with embedded colour profile? Any tips and drawbacks from one approach or another gratefully received - thanks in advance.

No, I can't imagine using the Oly 90mm with the SMC- 3 either it's hard enough with the lens on 2x .... But I'll throw out a challenge to someone willing and able to take the first picture of Shaun the Sheep's testicles. Do I also hear the sound of many photographers singing? 🎵 "All I want for Christmas is an SMC-3?" 🎵 Sorry for using the C- word in October...

And I'm up near Devizes... so similarly happy to meet up, chat, etc!

We'd really need to know a bit more about what settings you' re using to help. For example, are you shooting Manual on both the strobe and the camera, or something else? I have the EM 1 - Mk II and use the YS-D3 and have no issues at all powers in M on both. I've not used the D2s, but would guess there isn't too much difference. In manual on the camera with mechanical shutter and M on the strobe, it should sync up to 1/250 at all strobe powers, and if you use a trigger you can get even higher (1/400) without any black bars appearing.

PG has a mandarin dive right in the harbour outside Sabang, somewhere near Asia Divers and Atlantis. It's right in the harbour but from what I know people still go by boat (maybe for safety?). Upside is it's pretty close to some resorts, and the fish are pretty much guaranteed, but that brings the downside too. There's no agreement between resorts as to "who dives what night"- so it's hit or miss as to whether you have it to yourself or whether it's crowded. It can be a bit dull- hovering in one spot for 20+ mins waiting...waiting... and waiting - less fun if the current picks up! We had one nice dive pretty much all to ourselves with one other small group - the second was awful: far too many people, some of whom from one of resorts beginning with "A" were either incredibly badly briefed or just thoughtless, clueless, and selfish.

What Tim said! I have been twice, and will keep going back - to be honest, there's enough at the places I've been to keep me interested, and coming back. I did one week in Malapascua, which wasn't enough - saw the threshers, and the macro sites were good too, but I could have dived them again and again to get better pics. Food at Exotic divers was outstanding in 2019. Went to PG this year, and also loved it - lots of sites, and loads of stuff to see - plus there is Verde Island, which is really recommended. They had threshers early in the year, before the water got too warm (by May). I did about 4 per day in PG, and still didn't see all sites, or get all shots I was after. Only drawback is that the transfer to and from Manila is by road, and can be quite long as traffic is bad.. we left at 14h and got to the airport about 5hrs later -but Cebu wasn't much different, tbh! Worth bearing in mind that P'pines is great value compared to some other places; so I'd suggest not trying to do too many places at once - it's a mindf*** underwater, and you can plan a trip back really rather easily. And you will want to go back...

Hey Mark Sorry to hear about the failure - must be gutting, particularly to lose a rig you're well used to. I'd suggest that as part of your research you get in touch with Alex Tattersall, the UK Nauticam distributor. Alex has always been really open with me about what I'm considering, and his advice has always been straight up, not pushing me to buy. I guess that's part of being a photo instructor, not just a dealer. Alex will likely be able to tell you what the art of the possible is regarding your old ports. Part of what I and others like about Nauti is the after sales service and support -which I guess is why I stick with it. Alex can be contacted below: https://www.uwvisions.com/contact/

Why not just save yourself the hassle John and just take the GoPro rather than anything more complex? That way you're not going to worry about all your shiny new kit getting "taxed", and you are more likely to enjoy the trip knowing you haven't been stung before you've had a chance to enjoy it...such an event happening would prey on my mind all trip and make me even more grumpy. FWIW, Mexico has found its way OFF my list...this and the Mayan train damaging the cenotes tell me all I need to know about the value placed on divers, diving, and the environment.