Alex_Mustard

The small size makes the lens great for CFWA, as well as everything you would use a fisheye for. Also the zoom range is very impressive. You can shoot all your normal scenic wide angle: But with the zoom and the small size of the front element - you can shoot down to some very small subjects - all with the same lens. The photo below is shows a pair of clownfish (uncropped) also taken with the FCP. These are both with Sony 28-60mm lens.

The prototype weighed 2.6kg, so slightly less than Nauticam's 230mm dome. I've not seen the production version. My understanding is that the production version is the same size, but now has two aspherical elements in the lens for improved optics. But we will see in the new year. Alex

Another tradition of this thread is cheating - by posting multiple images! Here is my favourite shot: Which is my favourite because this was my favourite dive of the year. It was just one of those moments when the underwater was truly stunning. I was at Raw Mohammed in the Red Sea and seemingly had the place to myself, with great schools moving through and a beautiful reef. Photo taken with Sony A1 and 28-60mm. Nauticam housing, Nauticam WWL-1B. 2 x Retra Pro Max flashes. 1/200th @ f/11. I even have a photo of me on the dive - thanks Nick. In the spirit of cheating - I've also recorded a video running through all my favourites from 2023, if you want to see more photos: Alex

As 2023 draws to a close it is nice to look back at our diving and photography over the last 12 months with the traditional Favourite Image thread. This is a thread for your favourite shots. Not necessarily your best! It is the picture you like the most - please share it and tell everyone why it is special to you. Go! Alex

I made this presentation back in 2017 and then re-recorded it in 2020. There has been much progress in water contact optics since then - but it was aimed at being a decent introduction with a historical perspective and

The camera doesn’t have an internal flash. All the material I have seen says that it synchronises with any flash at any shutter speed.

I really like the Pro Max strobes. I have shot the insides of the Pro Max flashes on all my trips for the last 12 months (320 dives), switching to full production versions of Pro Max flashes in the summer. I don't use the Boosters for macro trips or cold water (darker) trips. But do for wide angle. Improved battery life if the biggest difference over previous Retra Pros. And also the ease of living with them - especially when using 8 batteries per side. With the boosters I can get my batteries out of the flash and all on charge in seconds. I think the right chargers really help living with these flashes. I use 4 x 4 fast chargers (branded INFAPOWER in the UK) that run off a single high power USB hub - and the whole lot recharge in an hour or so and don't overheat in tropics. The chargers are very light and small for travel, I reduce to 2 on macro trips. have displays showing charging status, and by having 4 I have more redundancy in case of issues (which I have had none). On most trips now I just take one set of batteries and a few spares because I can always recharge my batteries in the gap between dives over lunch. And then at the end of the day. No need to travel with loads of cells. Alex

Hi, I am Alex, I am an underwater photographer based in the UK. Since I just counted today, I made 287 dives with a camera so far this year, and have taken 60,000 underwater images this year. Most now deleted! You can see my most recent images here: https://www.amustard.com/library/page/search/alex/1/ Alex