CCRphoto

A new lens starts shipping in a couple of weeks for Nikon FF Z mount - Tamron's new 12-20 F2.8 AF rectlinier lens - the reviews so far have suggested that it is very very good. I'm not really a fisheye fan as I like straight lines on a wreck to be straight lines (or very nearly straight lines) in an image as well, and the reviews have shown that there is very little distortion of straight lines when shooting at 12mm. It is certainly going on my spreadsheet of lenses to consider.

When I eventually "retire" I plan to set up a small not-for-profit in the south east of Mindanao that will oeprate a small diving resort that has access to good shore diving, the profits from which will be used to help build emergency response capability and disaster resiliance in the area - there is virtually nothing of either there at the moment. A whole series of coastal communities where the nearest fire truck has a three hour response time to get there says "opportunity for improvement", and given the frequent floods, landslides and earthquakes I'm thinking that something like a skidsteer loader etc would be a useful addition for the communities, as would a stock of sandbags etc.

Dave, Are the 14-24 or 14-30 or 17-28 of much use underwater? I suspect that they all have the drawback of needing large dome ports.

Cheers Phil, looks like I can cross a few off the list! To answer @Grantmac 's question - fullframe macro and CFWA - Nikon Z.

Hi Joakim, Chris beat me to it - that thread that he linked to should give you a pretty good idea on the various thoughts on what is available in the more compact/lightweight systems and the relative size differences.

I'm interested in having a tinker with some odd macro lenses from China, and also some CFWA lenses such as the Laowa 15mm CFWA lens. Laowa seem to have some unusual lenses in their range actually.

I was just wondering if there was anyone else who tinker around to do things like make a manual focus lens for which there is no assigned port somehow work etc by adapting bits and pieces etc.?

Many thanks - helps heaps - and I like the way that you keep the fibreoptic cable attached to the arms! Must be nice to be able to dive in waters where the sharks aren't trying to eat you!

When you next have your camera rig with the Maxis assembled could you please post a photo?

Interesting! It looks like you have 3D printing all squared away too!

Nice! A bigger bag looks like it would be a good way to carry an assembled rig to a local diving site too! Anyone in Australia wanting one of the bags in @Troporobo 's post - half price at Woolies this week - https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/310586

I'm pretty sold on the Maxis - they are locked in on my spreadsheets!

Pretty much - avoid distortion, generally don't need a really wide rectlinier lens for archaeological work (unless you find an underwater city or something like that!). It looks like I can use the Nikkor 24-50 with a 180mm dome port or some quite short flat ports.

A not super-wide rectlinier lens is best - everything has been there for 2000 years so I can get as close as I want - I'm certainly not going to scare the subject away.

Qantas has recently started flying to Samoa and the airfare prices are quite reasonable - just wondering if anyone has dived there as I have a friend who has just started diving who is looking for easy diving destinations.

The Retra's better buoyancy characteristics probably mean that they take up less space in luggage overall than HF-1's + floats

Yes there is that aspect I suppose!

OK that's interesting - likely housing choices will be Nauticam or the red one (whose name completely escapes me), but I will certainly be checking that it has the facilities for HDMI output to a monitor.

I've really got to get my head around wet optics - that and digital seems to be two massive changes that I need to get used to after 30 years on the sidelines - note I said Sidelines not the Sin Bin!

For the next few years the only place I am likely to be shooting wide angle in bright sunshine is the Red Sea, but that is going to be archaeological photography at 62 metres - should be OK. If everyone in the general region would kindly stop lobbing missiles at each other that would help enormously - I've given up on plans for the Red Sea this year - flying Melbourne-Singapore-London Heathrow-Cairo just to get to the Red Sea is too much for me.

I guess when flying from UK/Europe it is a consideration as you have the low cost carriers etc like EasyJet, unfortunately in Australia we aren't that lucky, but I am fortunate that I have decent membersip levels with Qantas (OneWorld) and Emirates so the minimum checked baggage allowance I get is 56kg, +10kg carryon. For most routes however my checked baggage allowance is 69kg and sometimes up to 96kg.

I am expecting to be selective with packing - will I take a 105mm macro and port to the Red Sea? Probably not. Will I take a big fisheye and dome port to Tulamben or Amed? Probably not.

That is a very interesting comparison tool to have!

I think that I will probably end up with a variety of lenses, and given my old habits of pushing the boundaries of macro I suspect there will be a few that aren't normally in the collections of underwater photographers... Cheers @Architeuthis - a lot of good info there!

Hopefully I will get a better idea of the size comparison at the Sydney dive show in a month's time - I think that once I have seen and handled things there then I will be able to make a decision.