JustinO

Just a note to be aware of on the 14-42 -do some research on models, and maybe test a second hand. I am now on my second of the Oly "Pancake" lenses. I had a problem where the electrical connector that operates the aperture gave out - I could pick shutter speed, but aperture read -/- . No amount of fiddling would fix it, as the copper track that operates it had broken. Google showed me it's a bit of a known issue, as it folds in and out with the zoom function.... metal fatigue seems to win out.

I'm not seeing this on my Windows system Wolfgang. All the pixels change as I move the eyedropper. Might be just a Mac issue? Will be able to check this week as I'm about to pull the trigger on a Macbook Pro.

Hi Vkalia I am a user of all three set ups too, and a frequent Egypt visitor. If it were me and I was thinking about upgrading, then I'd save the cash for that. The 30mm is a cheap lens for a reason - on its own (in my opinion) it doesn't have the IQ of some of Olympus others and suffers from chromatic aberration much more, so I suspect if you already have the 8mm, you're not going to get as good IQ, even if you do get a bit of extra versatility. You might be better off planning what you want to shoot (drawing on guide's knowledge of what's there) and stick with the gear you have. But it does depend what you are shooting... I suspect in August you might be looking for sharks, in which case the 8mm isn't the best option to fill the frame. A cheaper alternative could be to try and pick up a second hand 14-42mm pancake lens plus port and WWL 1? That set up works well- but is heavy! Anyone on the trip got anything you can borrow?

We were in Bonaire in August 2023, and I was disappointed with the reef health and fish life. The dominant colour was reddy brown, and there was a lot of stony coral tissue loss disease developing, even despite the traffic light system (move from a green site, to amber, then red, and disinfect daily). Some sites were pretty sparse for fish, particularly those around the Hilma Hooker. The best life we found was a couple of days after the full moon, when the reef at Buddy's was just nuts - fish everywhere. Ostracods were around, we found some down south near the kite surfing beach. DIdn't do too many of the northern sites, and some of the most northern sites were closed to protect against SCLTD. Turtles not in abundance. but lots of arrow crabs, a few seahorses, and some lettuce slugs up north. Lots of flamingo tongues. My favourite site for vistas was Weber's Joy - gorgeous, and no-one there. Certainly less red than the south.

And if that doesn't work, put some bicarbonate of soda in with a stronger vinegar solution then drop the computer in. The fizzing is pretty good at clearing off organic debris, and might help loosen any stubborn crystals.

And if you have, assuming you are using a Nauticam port, did you get the focus ring? And can you use that with the clutch set in manual (where the full range from 2x to infinity seems to be available with 1/2 turn of the focus ring, saving a lot of time and energy twiddling forever. Not intending to hijack the thread...

Nice pics, Chris! But the other unanswered question is whether you've yet taken the 90mm underwater? Or does that need a conversation with your bank manager? Asking for a friend... 😆

I'd not class those as "consumables" so they may be hard to get hold of.... if you're worried about failure, why not replace them before you go for peace of mind? Personally, I test everything a month before I go so plenty of lead time. I always take a box of spare o- rings, silicone grease, and spare batteries for everything (trigger, camera, strobes, computer) and that's about it... beyond the tools to make a few field repairs.

I have shot both the Oly 8mm with a Nauti 140mm glass dome, and the 14-42mm EZ with the WWL-1 on an Em1 Mk2 I prefer the former set up: it's lighter, and and the IQ is better, IMO, as is the FOV. Plus, I had a 14-42mm EZ fail on me (cheap lens, and the zoom connector eventually breaks). Note the 140mm is still quite a beast of a dome, certainly when compared to the 4.33" acrylic one that the Oly and Pana FEs can use. That might restrict where you can use it. FWIW, I opted for the glass one as I thought it would be less likely to risk a scratch, and I don't fancy hours trying to polish up an acrylic dome. I have a friend who uses the acrylic, and her pictures have good IQ. I don't shoot an awful lot of extreme close up.

So sad to hear about Andrea's recent stroke. Her research and dedication has made such a difference to our collective understanding and appreciation for mantas. Thoughts with her and her family, and hoping she makes a full recovery. You can read more here: Andrea Marshall in intensive care after stroke - DIVE Magazine

I would add: RED SEA: Red Sea Diving Safari. Their "open deck" policy helps you go in whenever you feel, and stay around what interests you. Plus they often host workshops. If you can't find the tiny slugs, then ask to dive with either Sarah, Ellie, or Flavia, and they will find you things you won't believe!

Shocking. Be interested to see your trip report, as well as any of Robert's updated findings - he infers he's doing a repeat trip this year.

Cheers Tim, that's the main reason I've never gone with a tripod... that and the fact some need another kg of lead to keep them still... I might just invest in another 30mm ball arm for the same outlay.

Thanks Giancarlo, really helpful - be interested to hear how you get on, and whether you decide to stick just with it on the stick all the time, rather than trying to remount to housing... have a good trip!

Many thanks Phil, that's really helpful - the substrate depth is a really important point - and limitation.

Has anybody got any experience with this? Backscatter Remote Lighting Muck Stick - Mike's Dive Cameras (mikesdivecameras.com) Am thinking about getting myself a birthday present prior to a trip to Puerto Galera - I feel my better half has more than done her faire share of bottom time trying to interpret my rather bad handwaving on where to hold a snooted strobe... Similar stories of woe in that department welcomed too!

To add to this, yes, I own a pair, and I like them. Fast recycle time, and they are positively buoyant with the batteries in (in salt water) which might slightly affect how much extra buoyancy is needed to keep your rig neutrally buoyant (which is arguably more important when snorkelling than diving). The output colour temp is different, too, which is worth knowing about in advance. They are powerful, but still suffer from the distance limitations. On reliability, I had one misbehave, which Sea & Sea replaced for free, even though it was out of warranty. But there are others who have had much more unfortunate experiences, which a quick trawl of another forum will reveal. I treat mine carefully, but then that is my approach to all my gear - it's just too expensive a hobby to be frivolous with.

I think we all hear you right there! Lots of other discussions steer towards getting the best you can afford, and growing your rig with your strobes (as you can future proof your strobes better). If you're new to it all underwater, I'd suggest get to grips with ambient first (especially if snorkelling) and see if you can borrow from a friend to test. That way you will get to see the challenges first hand (positioning to avoid backscatter, increased drag, etc) before you shell out your hard-earned greenbacks...

I agree. Also bear in mind that any strobe is not going to light any subject more than 6ft away - the light has to travel there and back (12ft) and so much of the output will get absorbed/scattered. in cases where tuna are 20ft away, the shots will lack contrast and colour, and there's nothing you can do about that.... hence the old saying "Get close. Then get closer." Try without first, then invest if you decide you really need it.

One on my wrist, one on the strobe arm next to the housing, mounted on a Stix float. Both come with me every dive, end of story. That way it doesn't matter which one I glance at. I also have a muscle memory to check my NDL and air before engaging with a subject. If I am down to 6 mins or less, I look for a shallower subject.

Olympus: EM 1 Mk II My EM1 Mk II body is configured as follows; but this body is highly customisable: Fn1 - Focus Peaking. Shows the areas that are in focus in red (colour customisable in the main menu). Fn2 - Preset focus (PreMF)/Manual Focus - switches between Manual focus and Preset focus. This works really well to change the focus straight to the minimum focus distance for a lens. It's particularly useful with the 8mm fisheye for CFWA, and for the 60mm to get 1:1 magnification. AEL/AFL- back button focus (BBF). Separates focus from the shutter button to allow reframing without changing focus when the shutter is pressed. Note the following: When in Manual focus, Continuous, or PreMF modes ( all accessed from the Autofocus/metering button) focus will only change when BBF button is pressed. When in Servo AF mode, focus remains on the shutter button, and the AEL button defaults to AEL. Fn Lever - Tv/Av on position 1, ISO/WB on position 2. Enables using the front dials to control either Exposure time and Aperture value, or ISO and White balance. Front Preview button (Pv on a Nauticam housing) - Magnify. Enlarges the image in the viewfinder or display panel up to 14x. Front WB button - not usable in a Nauticam housing. Left Keypad button - Autofocus point selection. To move the focus point around the display. Bottom Keypad button - Manual focus. Switches between MF and whatever other focus mode I have selected (e.g. S-AF and MF, or C-AF and MF - the modes can be changed by pressing the AF /metering button). I usually have it set to S-AF/MF. In MF, you can either use the focus ring (if you have a focus gear on your port) or focus from back button focus. Top and Right Keypad buttons not customisable. Some notes on setting PreMF: I have my preMF set to 0.001m in the menu. This works really well to change the focus straight to the minimum focus distance for a lens. It's particularly useful with the 8mm fisheye for CFWA, and for the 60mm to get 1:1 magnification. When using the 60mm, I have also found that I need to have the focus limiter on the lens set on the 0.19 - infinity range. If I have it set on 0.19-0.4m, then for reasons I have yet to fathom, I can't get the preset to set to 1-1 at all. There's a quick way to adjust prefocus distance without going deep into the menus. Useful if you don't know how far away you are from the subject, or if you want to move back from 1:1 to get more of the subject in the frame: Press AF/metering button on top of the power button. When the focus/metering menu pops up, select the PreMF on the right of the display Press the info button. Your PreMF setting will then be shown. Half press the shutter button to adjust the focus distance (if you have the focus ring you can also tweak it that way). Press set to accept the new PreMF setting - it will also show you what it's set to. If you mirror my button customisation set up and adjust PreMF this way, make sure that at some point you repeat step 1- and select your "normal" focus mode - otherwise you will have Fn2 and the bottom keypad button doing the same thing. Focus Peaking does work with PreMF Mode - just as long as you don't have the shutter button half-pressed- that seems to temporarily turn it off. Custom Modes: The EM1 MK II has three programmable modes that can be uploaded for quick "go to" settings, or for grabbing that quick shot when something unexpected turns up. Note these are just starting points, but default back to these every time the mode is selected: C1: "Basic Blackbackground Macro": 1/250, f18, ISO 200. PreMF mode. Single shot. AWB. Rear curtain Synch. C2: "The smash 'n' grab": 1/125, f7.1, ISO 200. S-AF. "Cross" focus arrangement (to ensure at least one point of focus is on the subject), roughly on a third. Multiple shot. AWB. Useful for those unprepared shots that turn up from time to time. Rear curtain synch. C3: "Basic Wideangle" 1/250, f9, ISO 400. AWB. Single Point Focus. Set up to give me my preferred shade of blue, with sufficient depth of field. Rear curtain synch. I shoot full manual strobes, so need to tweak power settings. I also use the Nauticam flash trigger, so I can get synchronisation with flash above 1/250.

Given the huge number of cameras out there, and the ever-increasing ability we have to programme buttons to do what we want, perhaps a discussion on how people have programmed theirs could be of use particularly when the "time for an upgrade" bug bites... So go on - how have you programmed yours?

Coral Reef Guide, Red Sea. Lieske and Myers, 2004. A bit dated, but has some good descriptions of organisms, and covers mammals, fish, and invertebrates. Red Sea Marine Life. Andrey Ryanskiy, 2022. Names and pictures only, but contains some unusual and newly identified species. Digital copies also available from https://reefidbooks.com/

Thanks for sharing - some interesting scenes in there - love the two fighting octos.

Do I detect a refresh of the car stereo system parable, Tim? We'll all be on your side... apparently an EMWL only costs $200, doesn't it? 😝