shokwaav

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

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.

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?

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

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. 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.

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.

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.

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:

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?

Did you manage to see any Mandarin fish?

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!