makar0n

While holding vodka martini in your hand I suspect. Shaken, not stirred.

@TimG BOOT mission goal is clear - sneak in, infiltrate, report 🤣

Wooohoo, finally! Still waiting patiently 🙂

This and the shoddy quality of their circuit boards...it was not a matter of if, but when the light will fail. When they worked, indeed were quite nice, definitely liked the switch as could change the power level even with my nose should hands be full 😉 But inevitably one by one they would break and the issue was usually the circuit board. What was worse, the company was not exactly helping past the warranty period - absolute refusal for sending any spare parts, demanding that light be always sent to their authorized service center and of course bill from those being as high as a cost of a new light. And not sure they could be called US manufacturer neither - I think all the parts were made in China and merely assembled in US.

Personally I am always removing the handles - apart from cleaning, housing wouldn't fit into the backpack otherwise ;] Screws are going into a small zip-lock style bag, so no issue losing those. Also greased with lovely Lanocote (marine grade grease) from time to time - also useful for any other metal screwy parts like clamps etc.

Still confused about this and somehow had the impression its the cure for short working range on diopters...

Seems that port charts have now been updated. No clue however how will it work with the likes of CMC as well... 452 Euro on Nauticam site: https://www.nauticam.com/products/mid-range-focus-optimizer-1-mfo-1

Interesting considering the crusade in the other topic from Retra affiliates against Li-Ion 😉 Specs do look interesting but the weight is quoted at 1150g...tad heavy travel wise, but seems almost neutral in the water, if I understand the buoyancy value correctly. And let's not post those prices the same misleading way Retra been doing since beginning - they are based in EU as such by law have to publish prices with VAT included, at least to private customers. I won't even mention the fact that prices are in USD and not in EUR....And even in US, not every state is tax free. Price now shows as 799 USD (guess intro, w/o video light), 879 (with video), 999 regular for both. Thats 966,76 USD including 167.79 VAT (as calculated by Retra checkout) and 1063.69 (including 184.59 VAT) That represents about 21% VAT. So regular price will be about 1208 USD.

its the usual: -piece of string - 1 Euro -the same piece of string but labeled "diving" - 5 Euro -the same piece of string labeled "diving and camera" - 50 Euro And the plugin falls into the last category. I wish they offered support for other software, including open source Dark Table, rather than just the Adobe "let me force you into never ending subscriptions" Photoshop. But one can dream 🤣

Email Nauticam regardless, they do have pretty good customer service. Had a couple flooded years back (the older generations, think now its 3rd or 4th one) and they did exchange for latest and greatest without any issues, and if my memory serves me correct, the second time I was out of warranty as well.

There is quite a few topics on Scubaboard - Aggressor fleet is a bit controversial. Seems the individual boats operate on franchise basis under as single brand, and when anything smelly hits the fan, parent company washes their hands off anything. There are certainly lots of positive stories out there, but also quite a few total wrecks (latest one in Komodo, where boat stayed in port whole week, and refused any refunds). Seems as long as it goes well, all guests are happy, but if anything goes bad, then you are on your own. Might be worth combing the accidents section, that fleet seems a bit fire prone. Also this might be of interest, also few recent guest reports towards the end: https://scubaboard.com/community/threads/belize-aggressor-iv-mooring-breaks.639886/

And this is exactly why I come here, all this water photo thing is totally secondary 🤣

I knew I should have not edited the post and left the original text - "...and asked me to take it out" .

Hmm now that is an idea! I was eyeing that Ayegear thing as well, but indeed this looks like it is going to sag...and once it is apparent you are carrying something they might ask you to take it out. I did have that experience once, when tried to hide a small-ish laptop bag under poncho style wind cover thing. Check in person noticed the bump and asked to see whats there then proceeded to weight it. So maybe vest under and some thick jumper to cover the bumps (which would be hopefully smaller) will work better indeed. Then build the housing, including WWL and camera inside and do that as "personal item" hanging over the shoulder 😉 I have also taken to carry a dive thigh pocket over trousers - so far no issues and a nice big extra pocket fitting lots of stuff. Unfortunately, at least in Europe, airlines are going nuts - 7-8kg is the new norm. Och sure you can pack it into the checked in baggage, but neither the airline nor insurance will take any responsibility for it. If it goes missing its your problem.

Thank you very much! Will have a look at those filaments, both seem available over here.

I am keeping fingers crossed for October....😉

Hmm can I take you up on that MK33 profile? As it happens I have a buddy with the very same printer 😉 btw any recommended PETG filaments that can be EU sourced, sans the Phrozen stuff ?

To add to this lovely collection: I was recently looking for some 3d printed bayonet mounts for arms (real annoying Nauticam won't sell the ring alone so that one can just use the same mount with different arms), then remembered an old topic on an old site... Design by Richard , know as @TheTrickster so all kudos go to him. Hopefully he does not mind me posting this 🙂 https://www.tinkercad.com/users/5kYZVSWuSzw-thetrickster Lots of other pieces, like monitor hoods, lens caps, magic filter holder and other fun stuff. Note that you will need a free Tinkercad account to see everything, otherwise nothing shows up.

Another idea - Inon S-220 perhaps. Seems Inon specs are wildly understated and that strobe Is pretty good especially considering its small size/weight. See excellent "Strobe Comparison" topic by @DreiFish Personally still shooting Z-240s with OM1 as well. Looking into upgrade options from time to time but to be honest not seeing a clear choice - all is way too travel unfriendly to start with (size/weight), or costs silly. I am nowhere near maxing out my camera skills hence prefer to spend money on trips than splashing 4-5 grand on a pair of strobes, benefits me more me thinks. Waiting if Inon will announce something new, otherwise might one day go with S-220 even. Or just continue another decade with Z-240s, these are unbreakable and will survive about any travel adventures.

Now this would be a treat! Though those rumors seem to be circulating for quite a while...hopefully they will come to fruition. Seeing S220 performance, really makes one wonder what magic Inon can do 🙂

Long topic here: (no clue why this GIF shows but its genius xD) That was split from an earlier one about Retra battery pack (and its cost): Retra and "value for money" might not belong in the same sentence, unless your wallet suffers from being too fat 😉

Aaand firmware 1.7 is out for OM1 mk1! Also specifically listing AF performance improvement. OM1 mk2 has also received an update - version 1.2

Maybe its more an issue with your local connection in a rather remote part of the world - browsing from BE and site is as snappy and fast as always, with adverts being ON (one of a few ublock exclusions 😉 )

I think this is THE idea right there 😉 Last time had a colleague bringing 30m over in total, it was a really tiny plastic bag, maybe 25cm x 25cm ...as long as packed into something and ideally any invoices etc are removed, then that would work very well. Won't take much space and it is quite light. Happy to wait till September, no rush here.

Would happily take 4-6m as well. Shipping wise @fruehaufsteher2 might be a good idea - from my experience in this general part of the world DE has often the most reasonable customs - in fact packages around 100 Euro in value would not attract VAT and customs charge would be 10-20 euro max...or none ;] DHL (not courier but German post) is also probably one of the cheapest EU wide carriers as well. But yeah still tiny order per se.... I might be heading US side towards the end of year perhaps but unsure yet sadly, but if so, no issues with being a carrier pigeon. I've emailed Asahi DE but no response...guess they do not bother with private customers.