Alex_Mustard

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