tjhall

I visited CocoView in June.2026 and concur with SwiftFF5's assessment of the facilities and the staff. GREAT staff - very friendly and helpful. Divemasters and Captains were also great, and it was fun talking with the resident photographer. Accommodations are ok and clean but not fancy. Food is plentiful and lunch and dinner menu changes daily. Again, very good for the typical American palate, but not fancy. Dive boats are a type I'd not seen before (repurposed US Navy I was told). Rear giant stride entry and ladder for return assuming relatively calm water (which we had one day). The rest of the week we boarded post-dive in a mid-ship tunnel through the hull with a ladder. Very interesting and it worked pretty well in ~2m waves. I plan to visit Anthony's Key resort (on the other side of the island) in Sept.2026 and will follow up.

I should have provided a specific example that I think is consistent with the discussion here. Consider the Sony 28-60mm lens in a port with a flat (or spherical) surface versus behind the Nauticam WWL-1. Compare the rectilinear distortion ('barrel distortion'), the point spread function (spatial blurring) across the field, and any potential cropping of the field. Then compare that lens to another under the same conditions. The same could be said for a different lens on the same camera (sensor - FF) or the same lens on a different camera (sensor - eg, APC). The objective assessment of performance will provide a basis for analysis suitability for specific tasks. I hope this makes sense. Tim

Hi folks This lengthy discussion of tradeoffs in imaging system performance piqued my curiosity. It has been very interesting to read and consider. There is a lot there. I come from the world of the physics of medical imaging systems and in that space I know that imaging system performance is task-dependent. Subjective assessment of image quality ('do I like what I see') is valuable, but it is like art appreciation - I might not see/value what you see/value. Objective assessment and metrology are essential for imaging system performance. Those results are then applied to analysis of specific tasks and required (or desired) performance for particular tasks. Might I suggest photographing standard test objects in air and underwater with whatever lenses/ports you would like to compare to perform objective assessment and then discuss the tradeoffs on capturing specific scenes? If you don't like some particular degradation in performance with a class of (or specific) lenses/ports/whatever, quantify it under various tasks and consider the implications for those tasks and the associated tradeoffs. I understand a broad investigation is a big 'ask' for the typical part-time UW photographer like me, but it is an objective approach to describe the underlying issues with specific examples. It might be 'manageable' to do it with two lenses and two ports/WWL on a single camera/sensor just to make a point. Respectfully, Tim

Nice overview. Thanks Tim. Rookie question for you: I obtained a snoot packaged with a new strobe and wonder how to 'not use' it. When shooting with a snoot, are you typically devoting the entire dive to shooting with a snoot or do you attach and remove as desired? Assuming the latter, what do you personally do with the snoot when not actively using it? Do you let is 'flop' hanging from a D-ring or have a more elegant solution? Thanks Tim H

Impressive! And brave. Did you have inside information on how to do this (how did you know to pull off the leather)? Did you reassemble and have a working camera when you were done? (Nice, and wise, to have a video to guide the reassembly steps!) Tim

Hi folks I'm Tim. I've been diving for about 30yr but am a relatively inexperienced underwater photographer. I've been involved for a few years but only get to dive 100 divers/yr if I'm lucky (work, etc., and I don't dive locally). The Caribbean is only a half a day away and the water is warm... I've been reading posts here and am looking forward to learning more from WaterPixels members.