atus

Wow!!!!

Next weekend I'm planning 3 dives to test a lot of new equipment before a trip to Similan islands where we go on a 10 days dive cruise, so I can deeply test these strobes, I'm pretty sure i will fall in love with them but I didn't expect that lack of accuracy in the number of shots remaining. If that was accurate I would know before enter the water that the battery wasn't charged. And about the batteries, well, when I bought the strobes I bought the batteries to the same seller, he offered me that SUPE batteries and as long as SUPE is also an underwater strobe manufacturer I thought they were the right ones. I soon will see its performance. and if it's not right I'll buy new ones

I didn't see it before, but these batteries have an integrated usb port C with an colored led light so I can charge them directly with my phone charger. I´ve bought a 4 usb port charger so I can charge all of them easily.

Well, after the first dive with them I have found that they don't feel that big and the light is great, but the fires left counter is not trustworthy. I charged the batteries on thursday and I went diving this morning, apparently the batteries were totally charged, and after some checks with the pilot light etc both screen showed 250 fires at full power. One of the strobes only fired 10 times at 1/2 power, it switched off itself, I tried to switch it on underwater and the screen was on for only 2 seconds. When I left the water I swapped the batteries between strobes just to make sure it was an issue with the batteries and was that, so I'm relieved. Once the batteries on the charger one of them shows only 2,90 volts. I'll have to check if it's a faulty battery or there was an issue with the charger. All four batteries are brand new Supe 21700, 5000 mah. The charger is a brand new Sumlytour for batteries from AA to 21700 which I got from Amazon. While I'm writing this I went to check the chargers brand and I found out that the failing battery was almost charged what can't be right as long as it's been charging for only 20 minutes, so I put my hand on it and it changed for almost empty. So I guess it was an issue with the charger.

Due to this thread https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/2349-aoi-uis-p1-strobe/#comment-20074 I finally bought a pair of these strobes and i would like to write here my firsts impressions, before go into the water, what will be next week. Before anything here you can see the size of the strobe in compare with other well known strobes, from top to bottom, a Sea&Sea D1, a Sea&Sea YS120, a Retra Pro X s, a Subtronic 160 pro Alpha, and the AOI. The first impression is that is a heavy and well made strobe, I do like the batteries, I would prefer the 18650 instead of the 21700 but this 21700 is not hard to find either in amazon, aliexpress or any good electronics store. I do really like the screen showing how many shoots you can take with the selected power. I do like the location of the optical connector next to the 1" ball and the type of it, with no threads. I DON't like to press two buttons at the same time to switch it on, I don't like the size of the selector dial, it's to small and in fact there is already in the box an extension knob, which will have to be glued to the dial in order not to lose it. It comes with a diffuser which I had to use in the water first, to decide if I like its fitting or not and there is also in the box a neopren bag to transport it which instead of it I would prefer a neopren protection cover for the water, anyway its not difficult to make it myself or customize this bag to convert it in a cover. Next week I write here my first impression once in the water. I will also test them properly in my next trip to Similan island, the plan is 40 dives in the trip, so i think is a good test.

Well, I'm not absolutely convinced but I've just bought a pair of these AOI UIS p1. The reason is because I have just paid 500 euros for repair my two Subtronic 160 pro Alpha, one of them had little cracks in the rear plate, so the plate bends over and the cables inside touch each other. It happened to me twice, the other one had a crack in the dome, the manufacturer says this is the cause of failing, I never saw the crack and the strobe wasn't flooded. Repairing plus shipping 500 euros, and thanks god I can repair their dedicated batteries, 250 euros each. I haven't bought Retra because I don't really like their battery system, last time I tried to cross the egiptian border with 32 AA batteries I had to argue with the officers. And 4000 euros for the pair is too much in my opinion, even that I have used the Retra pros a few times and their are really great. And finally these AOI, I have contact the manufacturer and the assistance is great, I have contact Ocean-Photos, their dealer in Spain and their assistance have been great, they have it in stock and I will recieve them on monday. And like everything can broke I asked them how is it going when this happens, the dealer told me that they give me the instructions for sending and i do myself. This makes the time for servicing a lot shorter, even I don't like to send to Asia, and the customs and everything, it's "only" 1800 euros and batteries that I can get easily and cheap from Amazon or any other good store. So with the two Subtronic and the two AOI it would be enough to dive with two strobes every time I dive, normally twice a week and a a fifteen days dive trip every year.

Yes, but they are very pricey, a pair of pro max II with boosters worth 4000 euros+ shipping+accesories+ batteries... And I don't really like the 8 AA battery system, it reminds me my older Sea&Sea YS120, it's not a big deal for diving when at home, but for travel I don't like it at all. I don't understand why they stick to these batteries.

Well, after I have had Sea&Sea D1, D2 and D2j I will never buy any strobe from Sea&Sea until they don't become reliable as the older YS120 (I still have 3 of them, all working) or the YS250. They look good, but even if every single review of them talks they are awesome I wouldn't buy them until a couple of years of other owners good experiences.

These strobes looks really good, and they are half the price (or More) than the Retras. But for buying it I need first of all, be sure of its reliability. And second, what's about they after sales service. Even the best product can fail. I was tired of waiting months to get my strobes back when they went to japan for repairing, it happened to me with Inon and Sea&Sea, I have seen Retras flood by the OF connector, Subtronics failings by its rear plate, At this moment my two Subtronic 160 pro fusion are in Germany for 3 weeks for repairing, fortunately they are coming home tomorrow. I need a powerfull strobe with a reasonable price and with a reasonable time for servicing. Once they have to travel over the continents, the service time comes too much and when you get them back you have to deal with the customs to convince them it is not a new import but a repairing of a product which already paid its taxes.

Thank you very much, I'm going to Bangkok in 3 weeks and there's a shop there which has plenty of underwater photo equipment in stock, including this AOI strobes. If I can't get my pair of Subtronic 160 pro repaired before the trip I will consider those AOI. And now taking a look at their website i have seen the X-adventurer strobes, which I didn't know either but are really very good-looking for pretty much the same price. Does anybody know anything about them ?

Have anyone bought these AOI strobes ? I would like to have first hand advice about them. I was about to buy Supe, but I was warned about its unreliability. I would like to know about anyone who has used these AOI for a long time. I wouldn't like to buy them and discover two months after that they are broken and I have to send them to China, what means minimum 3 months with no strobes, it's not about the warranty, it's about its relibiality.

This is exactly what I am about, but I don't have the machines to do it, I was thinking in something like a cheap old plastic housing for a compact camera where I can adapt a monitor. Your one looks great and profesional.

This is really interesting, how have you make the housing for the monitor ? I'm about to buy one but I like to do the things myself.

Thank you very much for the tips, I didn't realized that I would need an extra accessory, I would spend that 200 euros if the result was guaranteed, but if I have to face lags and other issues I won't do it. I don't know what do I prefer, install a 45º Inon viewfinder in my new Isotta housing or a monitor.

I just arrived to this thread by curiosity, I don't know if it's possible what I'm going to suggest. Just wondering while my new housing and camera arrives. As long as Canon R6 mkii have connection with the mobile phone with its own app where you can control almost all the camera. Has anyone tried to put a mobile phone into a housing and connect to the camera while underwater ? I already have a Divevolk housing for mobile phone. I know it's going to be a very big rig, but is it technically possible ?

Well, I finally fhe Chris Ross advice and i have bought the Isotta housing with the ring to fit all my Aquatica Ports, The price is more or less the same than buying the Seafrog housing with new ports, extension rings, zoom gears..But i have the manufacturer in Europe with european warranty, that means that in case of failure my housing can be ready in days. And still more important, I'll have the new camera and housing ready for my next trip to Similan Islands in November. But if I had to start from 0, I would probably buy that Seafrogs.

I know it's been a long time since the last advice, but I have another one. I have flight this way with Qatar, Emirates, Vueling and Binter in several trips.Never had an issue since I started to do it. I mount my Aquatica for SLR housing with the 4" dome port, I put inside the camera and the 8-15 fisheye lens. I mount an arm with two clams to use as a handle and an strap to hang it from my shoulder. That is my hand bag 😁 In the cabin troley, cables, macro port, strobes, laptop, chargers, etc. Diving equipment with the checked baggage in a rigid old samsonite suitcase with no stickers. My dive partner does the same but he adds the strobes with no arms mounted in the housing hanging from the shoulders 😂

I guess I'm going to follow your advice, I didn't have in mind to buy an Isotta housing with an adapter for my ports. Fortunately I know the dealer in Spain and I have his phone number. I have asked a for a Quatation for all that I need and it looks like it's going to be pretty much the same than buying the Seafrogs with its all new gears and ports. Another pro is that being an italian housing in case of need for the service it's going to be a lot quicker than in China. And still better, I go for a Trip to Similan islands at the end of November, so it will arrive on time for the trip for sure. And about the zoom gears, etc...no worries, I have done my own ones for Aquatica with the 3d printer and i'm pretty sure I can do the same with the Isotta ones.

I still don't know, I was waiting to receive the housing, if I finally buy it the plan is to call Saga in Spain, to make and adapter. The port chart is really short and with a lot of combinations of lens missing.

Well, today it's been a busy day as long as there are two different Seafrogs sites, what has been a bit confusing and for a few hours I thought i was about to be scammed. Fortunately it's not the case. This site https://seafrogs.com.hk/ is the Hong Kong dealer and they do not sell the aluminium housing and they don't know the sales agents in China Mainland which manufacture and sells the Aluminium housings, this is the right website for purchasing aluminium housings www.seafrogs.com. This switched all my alarms on and I didn't keep on going dealing with until was clear I was dealing with the right people. That said I am also sticked to Aquatica Housings as long as I have dome ports, macro ports, extension rings, zoom gears...a lot of money in accesories, but I want to upgrade to the Canon R6 mk II and Aquatica does not manufacture it. They do the R5 mkii, the price for the housing is ok, but the camera on itself is very expensive and I should have to also change my computer to move such big files. And I am on a budget, so, I still do not have the final price for all the rig because I have been adding and deleting things. But the housing, 1 glass 8" dome port, 1 macro port, 1 zoom ring for the 8-15 lens, 2 extension rings, 1 extension ring with focus gear, 2 fiber optic cables, 1 flash trigger, 3 extra 1" balls...calculated with import duties to Spain...less than 4000 euros. If you put this everything in Nauticam p.ex would be about 7-8.000 euros. Things that i don't like, their port chart is very short and it doesn't include the more used combination in wide angle FF, 8-15 fisheye plus Kenko 1.4x They don't have a 4" dome port, instead they have 6" glass dome port which i don't like, for me it's in the middle of nowhere. They also have a 6" plastic dome port but i am waiting for the answer to see if it's compatible with the aluminum housing, if so, i'll get it, it's only about 220 euros. As long as they don't manufacture the 4" dome port, and this the dome port that I like the most, I will manufacture it on myself, I already have done it for my Aquatica rig.

This is what amazes me, watching at these aluminium housings looks like a Nauticam in terms of ergonomics. They have send me the manual of the housing in pdf and there is access to the whole camera... separated lever for focus, side dial for the diaphragm, side dial for the speed, another thumb dial for the iso...everything looks in his place and with easy access to the buttons with thumbs. To be honest I am really about to buy it, but it's a big investment, I have to buy also the camera. I asked them what happens if i'm not agree with the quality once it's in my hands. I'm waiting for the answer...

Hi Maria, I think you haven't understand me, I knew since long time ago about the Seafrogs plastic housing which i really don't like since it's for more than 15 years that I'm using alluminium housings, such Sea@Sea as Aquatica, so I'm very familiar with high quality housings and before this I had a Fantasea plastic housing for SLR, I don't like Fantasea or 10bar, the same way I don't like Ikelite. What is relevant right now about Seafrogs is that they have open a new line of housings in full aluminium alloy which looks like really high quality housing like Nauticam, Aquatica, Marelux, etc but half the price or even less.

I have recently seen in Facebook housings from Seafrogs made of full aluminium alloy. I'm about upgrade my equipment to a Canon R6 mk ii and watching the pictures and videos it's an amazing quality and ergonomy, equiparable to Nauticam in all senses. But I can't see any independent review, I would like to have one in my hands or a trustworthy opinion before buying, because although it's half the price (or less) than a Nauticam housing and accesories it's a big investment and I don't want to get wrong. They are not even in their website, but I have already received a quotation trough whatsapp Honestly, this reminds me when Nauticam popped up in the market with plastic housing prices for high quality aluminum housings. But I'm really hot about buying one of this Seaforgs.

I dive every single week when at home and 1 diving trip per year, so my process is, when at home, It doesn´t matter if I have dive one or four times in the weekend, during sunday afternoon I import all the pictures to LR, I organize it by year, month, day and something special on the pictures. I make a selection between the pictures and usually keep 2 or 3 pictures, not more. I only keep the pictures that I really like, obviously all of them with technical fails are deleted, everything is tagged by species, place, etc. After that I process it and keep the jpeg in my computer. I upload every file to my NAS since LR every month. During a dive trip is almost the same, but I make the selection every night and make a copy of everything in an external hard disc. When I arrive home everything goes to my NAS from LR.

As long as I consider that the prices for the dome ports are out of control and I have a lot of ideas I have been doing my own dome ports. So I have developed a system in which I can manufacture 4" dome ports for almost all brands of housings with (and this is very important for me) with interchangable by the user plastic fronts in seconds. So with only one body you can put different domes (sometimes you need the dome to be more or less curve, or yo can convert it into a flat port for macro). The plastic is not specially treated for photography but I can't see any difference on the results with a Canon 5D mKII and a Canon 8-15 lens. I've been diving with it for a couple of years, in deep dives, trips to the red sea, Indonesia, Canarian Islands. The system works, its easy to use and and easy to produce. My question is, do you think it would be a good business ? would you buy it ?