Mark Don

I have circa GBP4,000 or US$5,000 to spend on a new underwater set up, moving up from a TG6, primarily shoot stills but do want some video capability. Looking for a mirrorless set up that I can really grow into and am happy to have a mix of new and second hand equipment to hit the price point but will need to include Body Lenses - Both Fish eye / Wide Angle and Macro Port - Dome Housing with optical connectors and vacuum I have a tray, arms, strobes etc At the moment am looking at either a Canon or Sony. But if you were starting out / starting again what would you go for?

I loved the article as Japan is so often overlooked and offers great diving, good to hear it is easier to find English speaking shops as it is always been painful, but I have been travelling to Japan for over 30 years and always forget how much easier it has got over the years, the first few trips where very hard with hardly any signage in English. It has become a lot easier after the football world cup, Rugby world cup and the ill fated olympics, I just wish the hotel costs in Tokyo had stayed at their Covid levels, as they seem to have bounced up massively. My wife is japanese and we always use the luggage service from the airport to get our bags to her home and vice versa and have used it to send gear to shops, I love the concept. I haven't managed to get 200 bar yet, the have all been 190-185 but maybe it is just where I dived and not seen a tank over 12 litres, normally offered 10 and I request 12. Not tried a japanese drysuit but that is something I might need to checkout, my favourite surfing suits where always Japanese Izu is on the list to visit and I think the next trip I will dive Mikomoto, but timings are always limited due to family commitments

There are two other dive centres on Ishigaki that cater to westerners Viking Divers - A japanese guy and his swedish wife and Prime Scuba, both good operations. Viking very small & boutique with a great guide and prime a larger dive set up with a better boat but more divers

Great article and got a few bits to add:- You can often ship all of your dive gear to a shop ahead of you visiting and they will wash and ship it back to you. There is a wide network of baggage handlers set up for this and often its 24 or 48 hours and is very cheap Tanks are often small and in Okinawa are often filled to only 180bar and I have been told this is a law Strobes etc are about 50% of the price in Europe with the sales tax discount and there is a thriving second hand market for dive camera gear You will often quiet easily find english speaking guides in the Okinawa islands, it is slightly harder on the main islands, but is possible If you are on a dive boat then the lunches can be amazing If you are a westerner diving in Japan you will get a lot interest from the local diving population as they are not used to seeing westerners dive and are very proud of their diving Some of the best wetsuits if the world are made in Japan, Yamamoto neoprene is so comfortable and super stretchy The photo below is from Ishigaki a couple of years ago

No just using a TG6 and a pair of Symbiosis SS-2's but his presets have really helped, it costs nothing to download them and try them out

Using presets that I downloaded from Brent Durrand really helped me improve my use of Lightroom and like he says are a great starting point to build your edits from, I wish I had found presets earlier https://tutorials.brentdurand.com/free-lightroom-underwater-photo-presets/#:~:text=Adobe Lightroom is the most,to streamline your editing workflow.

Hi, based in London, with nearly 30 years diving experience (god I am old) but only 4 years with a dive camera, so at the start of my journey and looking to learn