Klaus

Sorry to diverge but I‘d like to add an issue that I have with splits - viewfinder? I have more or less a compact setup so only the lcd on the back. It is not only too dim but also „split level“ with half of it above &below the surface.I can‘t even see where the waterline is in the real frame. Any solutions for that other than spray and pray?

Looks like the „gangway“ is about in the middle of the frame. In that case, a fisheye would not have distorted the lines much. The distortion is really only very visible towards the „corners“, but interpret the term generously. You can get images that look as if they were taken with a rectilinear, but your composition is limited if that is your goal.

I think we‘re already at that point more or less (and getting closer even to the optical limits), but then we like to crop… A new car will also only get me from A to B, but it does feel a lot better. From a buyer’s perspective: I have so far mostly bought used equipment (and really rather old) for probably 10% of the original price or less. But lower-end models, and those loose value more than the pro stuff.

Just add strobes and WATER to what you already have…. It‘s the water that will make your pictures better, not the rig. I spend 50 weeks per year on eBay etc. and sadly only 1-2 weeks diving. If it were the other way round, I might have won a couple of awards without changing my rig.

Finning definitely will. It‘s impossible to judge what the best compromise is unless one is really familiar with the local situation. I will not participate in these dives, but I understand that they may shave positive effects as well. Not a simple question!

Keep cool & save some money for the diving! No use having a perfect setup but staying dry for lack of funds. Have you tried boosting the TG6 images with software in post? Can save you a lot of money & leads to more time spent in the Calanques. Which is, after all, what you wanted to do - right? TG6, nice strobes, maybe a wetlens or two and then get it wet as much as you can! There will be plenty of occasions to upgrade later & keep many of the accessories.

I guess that there‘s a contest for everyone out there. Non-processed is not „morally superior“ to AI-sharpened - it‘s a matter of budget (mostly) and taste. But if you enter a contest, you want the judges to make sure that everyone adheres to the SAME set of rules. And in the end, it should be the most pleasing pictures that win, not the most perfectioned ones (my opinion).

The link above also shows the connectors for other systems, but only follow it if you really need to. It‘s more to cite my source than to invite you to click it.

Last resort is to trigger the strobe directly on the 5-pin connector. You connect X with Gnd. I found this info on an obscure site: https://impulsite.ru/viewtopic.php?t=1245

I think I pointed this out on a couple of occasions already: current ai-based image processing algorithms (de-noise and sharpening) can improve the IQ substantially „offline“. I own both the 14-42 RII and the ez pancake (Oly) - both deliver results that are certainly ok and can be further improved via ai. I don‘t think that this is a limiting factor in any non-professional setting; but not everyone likes all the post-processing work. Perhaps more important is that the pancake zoom has a reputation of breaking easy, I.e. the ribbon cable wears off by all this automatic extending in and out. The RII is also collapsing, but manually And I just keep it extended pretty much all the time. The AOI PC housing for the OM10 has a port for the pancake zoom, which ist slightly shorter than the manual RII. It may be wise to search the classifieds for a good second hand copy of the pancake zoom in time, or one of the older Olympus pen housings that have a port for the RII. These should fit on the AOI housing, but won‘t match its „style“. I have different wet lenses for wide-angle and cannot comment on the AOI or WWL-1. If a fisheye is what your buddy wants, then the manual Saamyang/Rokinon/Walimex/ etc. 7.5 mm Fisheye is another option. All manual (compromise) but excellent IQ and dirt cheap second hand. Works was a drop-in replacement for the Panny 8mm.

Seems you struck a nerve in this community. You can declare in the first question whether you STARTED diving at 50+ or not - even if you choose „No“, you can still fill out the rest of the questionnaire (I was 48). Looks to me like they are doing a survey and compiling arguments to promote our diving hobby among those who are likely able to spare the money. It‘s true after all, our kids (well, young adults) take the greatest pleasure when diving with us because … we invite them. 😉

I can understand that you preference fish alive, but that is a kind of luxury that the locals can‘t afford. Fish is one of the few commodities for which Cabo Verde is self-sufficient. They don‘t have their own fleet of trawlers, „fortunately“ the EU as well as China are helping out for this. Google up the details if you are interested. I prefer the work performed by the locals and the intent of the pictures was to convey the „vibes“ you can experience in Tarrafal. I‘m sorry if this offended you.

I normally only look at the Waterpixels site on my computer screen, because of the nice images. But I just realized that the Triptychs are very "vertical" and indeed better to display on a smartphone screen (or a rotated IPad).

Are you also grounded home after the summer, no upcoming dives and procrastinating on your hard-drive? Here’s a project that could be fun. Do you remember the picture frames sold by a Swedish furniture store that allowed you to combine three prints into one piece of art? Let’s rummage on our computers and see what assemblies we can create on the Waterpixels site! Part of the fun is that we have to cheat around the file size limitations (if they are still enforced), i.e. we need to tile our artwork (1200 pixels long side), hence I call this the “Triptych Challenge”. I am pasting three images on directly adjacent lines and in my browser that seems to kind of work. Hint: It's easiest to do this top-down. Three horizontal images combined into a vertical Triptych probably work best, but who knows what one can achieve with the web editor. As for the selection – no restrictions. Tell a story, combine different colors, go from tiny to reefscape or just blend your favorites. Let’s see what you have on your drives! Here's one to start it off: And maybe another one for creative incentive: All right, take it away!