shokwaav

Welcome fellow Hong Kong-er!

STL please 😍

4 hours ago, DocTock said:

I found a very elegant solution from Jon Anderson https://www.jonandersonphoto.com/Blog/Teric-Ball-Mount

 

$80 USD for a 3D printed plastic part is quite expensive, although I do agree the design is quite clever.

The playback should be showing the embedded jpeg, so even when the highlights are blown out in the preview, they can sometimes be saved in the RAW file.

If the jpg is coming out dark, maybe you have a picture profile turned on somewhere?

6 hours ago, Grm said:

Nice pics, and fond memories, I’m going back for trip number 5 next year. Always do half of it up this end, I find it is so much quieter than the rest of Bali and always some nice stuff in the bay and corals at Menjangan

I agree, the atmosphere was so much better than the city.

Dove 2 days at Menjangan and 2 days at the Pemuteran area in late July/early August with Abyss Ocean World.

Menjangan had great dives with large walls of healthy coral. However, larger animals/fish were quite uncommon. We only saw 2 turtles and 3 sharks at a distance over 6 dives, and one or two tuna. 

Pemuteran macro was alright. I heard from another diver that the nudibranch and frogfish concentration was much denser in the Tulamben area. Shaun the sheep nudis were plentiful. We managed to find one mimic octopus and one pygmy seahorse over 8 dives. The mandarin fish at Pemuteran are easy to find, but getting a good shot, especially with the mating was too difficult for me. 

I designed a simple reduction ring for the Backscatter HF-1.

I only had glossy black PLA+ around, and there's some internal reflections, so it doesn't work well with the video lights, but in theory it should still reduce backscatter.

Please let me know if anyone has any issues.

hf-1 reduction ring.stl

1 hour ago, hellhole said:

really??.. worked for me... but i will continue to monitor..  thanks

I guess the tolerance is really tight. The NL2153HP has a diameter of 21.5mm +/- 0.3mm, while the NL2160HP has a diameter of 22mm +/- 0.3mm. I might have gotten two NL2160HP's on the higher end of the spectrum which would be more than 2mm in difference from the two of the smallest NL2153HPs. 

On 7/12/2024 at 10:45 PM, hellhole said:

a friend email them on the 6000mAh nitecore batt very early on .... and they did reply that they will check out on it... i guess the results are positive...

 

i think its okay to write an email to them to asked about the battery in question...perhaps they will check it out... if they can get their hands on it...

 

The NL2160HP doesn't work for me. It's slightly too big and it's too tight a fit if you put it in the flash. The strobe wouldn't turn on and I had to pry the batteries back out. Of course YMMV.

On this episode of the underwater photography show, Alex Mustard mentions using Nikon 5T diopter to allow his macro lens to focus closer.

I was wondering what the advantages of using the Nikon 5T were versus using a wet lens diopter like the SMC.

As a relative newbie, it feels that a wet lens diopter would give the same result with the flexibility of being able to take it off underwater if needed.

There's also the limitation of getting an extension ring to fit the diopter, which Alex mentioned he had to get custom made.

Does anyone have experience with the Nikon 5T and other filter based diopters?

On 6/26/2024 at 12:06 AM, DreiFish said:

Another thought -- how about adding SLS technology to the comparison? Is it the best of both worlds for the use cases outlined in original post? Or would an SLS printer be completely out of budget and thus not worth considering?

AFAIK, SLS prints are made from nylon (PA12) which is not suitable for underwater immersion. 

Source: https://xometry.pro/en-eu/articles/3d-printing-water-resistant/

The best material to use is probably PETG, PC or ASA.

Designed a N100 Male Port Cover - remixed from the N120 version. It's printed in two pieces which are friction fit together to avoid use of supports. Please let me know if there are any issues. 

N100 Male Part 1.stl N100 Male Part 2.stl

10 hours ago, hedonist222 said:

 

No, the A7rv and MF1 strobe can shoot up to 1/250.

 

As confirmed by Phil below. 

I know this because I'm about to procure an LED trigger and deciding between the UW Technics and Turtle non-TTL model. 

Both can sync up to 1/250.

 

 

I understand that on paper the A7Rv and MF1 can shoot up to 1/250.

However, the photos are showing the effect of what happens when you go above flash sync speed.

As to why this combination is not hitting 1/250... I postulate that its due to a combination of the flash and trigger.

9 hours ago, DreiFish said:

Perhaps below observation from Backscatter's HF-1 flash manual may help? I think it may be a setting issue on the A7R V.

 

• Note: For HSS use, Sony cameras must have the Shutter type be mechanical and e-front curtain shutter (if offered as an option) must be off. If these menu settings are not made banding may appear in the image, which will worsen with faster shutter speeds. This setting is not specific to the Hybrid Flash, this is for any Sony camera being used with a HSS compatible flash. Please see your Sony camera instruction manual for more details.

The banding seen in HSS is different from the banding seen in these photos.

They appear like this: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4324303 

You've reached max flash sync speed.

https://digital-photography-school.com/understand-flash-sync-speed-so-you-dont-sink-your-photo-shoot/

It may be a combination of strobe and trigger that can't support sync speeds higher than 1/200.

Quote

 

WS007:

Just one more question: What are the angles of the different zones (the rings in the test image)?

30 60 90 120

 

Also from the other forum.

Not sure if I'm allowed to link to another forum, but Backscatter provided more details regarding their setup here:

https://scubaboard.com/community/threads/backscatter-hybrid-flash-hf-01-preliminary-review.645397/post-10293597

Copied for posterity.

Quote

A few points of order...

The photos are unprocessed from the camera except for dropping in to the video timeline. No other edits were done. No contrast, no exposure, no nothing. The screen shots on Waterpixels look correct.

The way the video is edited is that we have the main A camera (which is Thomas speaking), a B camera of the closeups and product shots, and another channel for the still images. This way we can color correct for the studio lighting of camera A and B separately without affecting any of the other channels. So the photos of the wall are on a different channel that does not have any editing or correction, there is no global correction to the video because there re different cameras and lenses and lighting used for various shots and it would be impossible to apply a global color correction.

The wall chart is 1 meter away from the strobe. We use a meter stick to measure this. The camera is placed 1 more meter away from the flash. We make sure the the flash is square to the target by taking test shots and we use a level to make sure it is pointed straight. This takes more time than you could ever possibly imagine.

The camera is an a1 with a Nauticam WWL-1. Same for all tests. We choose the a1 so we can get higher flash sync speeds. Shutter is at 1/320 as some strobes are on the limit for flash duration approaching 1/400 and we wanted to capture the whole duration. This is why the Ike 230 video has 2 photos in it, 1 at 1/320 and 1 at 1/100 so it can show the full flash duration at max power. The Waterpixels post shows the one at 1/100 with more ambient light. ISO is 100, F22 for all shots.

In a perfect world we would have access to a pool at night so that we would not be competing with any ambient light.

The guide numbers are measured with a Sekonic light meter 858D-U in our own custom made underwater housing made just for this pool testing purpose. This is at 1 meter and we take painstaking measurements to make sure it is exact and that the strobe is square to the light meter. Setting on the light meter is ISO 100.

Sorry I can't share file formats right now as I'm in Little Cayman prepping for the shootout and James and other Backscatter staff are stuck in various airports due to flight cancellations on the way to the shootout, but as I said above the screen shots are looking correct.

An in air test of an underwater strobe is useless to determine how it would perform underwater. Optics, domes, and reflectors all have an effect when combines with water, which is why we started doing these pool tests after we made our light meter housing.

We want these tests to be as standardized as possible and take great pains in that effort. This way when someone calls up Backscatter we can give them the best objective advice on the differing products to find the best one that suits them. As stated in these videos, we're not sure how each individual manufacturer tests their gear, so we decided to make our own standard test to do a direct comparison.

Please let me know if you guys have any more questions. And yes there are more strobe tests coming, please be patient.

Feel free to share this over on Waterpixels as I don't have an account yet.

4 minutes ago, Architeuthis said:

=> A meaningful comparison and analysis of the test images is only possible, when the totally unprocessed RAW files are compared, no processing at all. (in addition, the photos have to be taken at strictly standardized conditions. e.g. distance, clarity of water, camera settings (ISO, shutter, aperture) - hopefully Backscatter is doing so...).

They mention that they do standardise some stuff, namely measuring the actual guide number with a light meter with their specified settings and distance here: https://youtu.be/-g_vCijzNdA?t=837

However, just looking at their photos, it's clear that some settings regarding the Ikelite photos are different from the other photos just by looking at the sides of the swimming pool.

I think comparing the f stops between the edges and the centre can be compared within the same image (assuming no post processing was performed), but comparing the brightness between different images will be difficult unless Backscatter can provide the standardised settings. 

47 minutes ago, TimG said:

The best snoot/strobe combinations have a circular flash tube with the focussing light in the centre. (Check out the Retra combination). This is very good for lighting the subject pre-flash and then close to ensuring the strobe light will illuminate the same place. 

 

 The Backscatter HF-1 has a snoot LED mode, but looking at the LEDs, they're slightly offset from the flash. I think they might be slightly angled inwards. 

From the manual:

Quote

Note: The Snoot LED light mode is designed and optimized for use with the Backscatter OS-2H Optical Snoot to allow the brightest transmission of light aiming through the snoot. The spot target light is primarily designed to work with the OS-2H optical snoot, but can also be used as a target light for up close macro use. The Red beam may also be used with the snoot.

I've got a Backscatter HF-1 on order, but their snoot isn't available yet until later this year.

I planned on designing and 3d printing one.

The simplest design seems to be a funnel style snoot, but are there disadvantages to this design?

Also what type of material would you print it out of? PETG seems to be the favourite, but would something more matte like CF-PETG or Nylon be a better choice?

8 hours ago, Edwin Westenberg said:

Go to Mandarinpoint.( housereef Amertha) Just returned from that area and did 3 mandarin dives with Karang Divers and it was very nice. Another divespot i really liked for macro is Jetty. For wideangle the Napoleon reef was very nice and Menjangan.

Did you manage to see any Mandarin fish?

On 2/28/2024 at 10:58 AM, RickMo said:

I talked to our guide about the mandarin fish in Pemuteran (a where their dive shop is) and he said Pemuteran diving in general is not good and the mandarin show is not great. 

Did you do any diving at Pemuteran then? I'm planning on going in July with Abyss as well, and they recommended us diving at Pemuteran for half the dives, but I'd rather do more of Menjangan if its much better.

Amateur underwater photographer here.

Used to use a RX100 V in Nauticam Housing with 2x Z240 Strobes.

Decided to upgrade to the A7C2 this year with 28-60/WWL-1B combo and 90mm macro combo!