MrChen

Ok, I'll play with it. I'll check the alignment. Thanks guys.

I feel like my lens is sitting too far back. I didn't get a chance to screw the Kraken lens directly into my port. Would I be able to get my lens closer to the port glass by adding a weak diopter to the end of my lens?

Switching to the 60mm lens made ALL the difference, but I still am not in the clear. I was definitely able to capture better images. Please ignore my strobe placement, I lit up a lot of particulates. I was at the tail end of my BHB dive and didn't position the strobes properly for the WA lens. I'm getting a crooked black frame around my images, see the attached image. null I was able to capture lighting MUCH better, see the cropped photo. null

The bridge is amazing if you know where and what to look for.

Limonandra nodosa Seahorse Sargassum Frogfish Dwarf Frogfish Dwarf Frogfish Octopus Dwarf Frogfish Octopus Striated Frogfish

I had an amazing dive yesterday morning (Sunday). HT was just shy of 10am. I arrived around 8:30am and the parking lot was filling to the middle area. We decided to West. Water temp hopped between 76 and 77 on my dive log. Vis was around 25ft. All I can say is wow, what a dive. We found 6 frogfish, 4 seahorses, several nudis, sea hare, and 3 octopus. I took over 200 photos, which is more than I've taken a in a long while. I haven't done an ID on all of these yet and wanted to get photos up to share. Juvenile Straited Frogfish, size of pea. Seahorse Dondice arianea? A hiding flounder Seahare Seahorse Seahorse

I went Sunday morning and the place was pretty packed. I went west to avoid the crowd. I didn't see any manatees or spotted eagle rays, though I did see the spotted eagle rays on the east side a couple of weeks ago. One was just swimming around playfully with all the divers, swimming within inches of GoPro cameras. Yesterday, I had 76 degrees, 25 ft vis. My buddies and I found 5 frog fish, 4 seahorses, 3 octopus, 5 pipefish, and several nudis. It was an incredible dive for sure. Pictures to come when I have a chance to process them.

It makes sense and I assumed that to be part of the problem. I created another thread to discuss gap distance differences on diopters (Nauticam vs SubSee as examples). My thought is that the Saga adapter doesn't allow the SubSee diopter to get close enough to the port glass. It might not be fair to completely blame the Saga adapter, the SubSee diopter could be designed better for it as well. The port could fit tighter to the camera lens. It all adds to the gap distance. I'm only see the issue when using the 60mm with the diopter on the adapter. With the diopter flipped out of the way, the issue doesn't exist. I need to try the diopter threaded directly to the port. All of this is making me want to swap out the flip adapter and/or the diopter for the Nauticam equivelents.

I've used Reef Photo and Backscatter. Unfortunately (or fortunately for diving), I live in Florida and will be charged sales tax with Reef Photo.

I'm looking at the Nauticam dual flip adapters and there are two options with large price differences. First is the Nauticam M67 Double flip diopter holder for 67mm Macro Ports for $503. This seems pretty straight forward, there are two 67mm threaded adapters. Next is the Nauticam Flip Holder Double, M67 for MWL-1 for $387. This appears to come with an adapter for the MWL-1 lens. The price difference percentage wise is quite large for what appears to be a similar product from the same manufacturer. My question is mostly regarding the MWL-1 model, is the MWL-1 adapter exclusive to the MWL-1 lens or can the adapter be removed and expose a second threaded 67mm adapter? The idea being that I can pay $387 and get the same thing as the $503 model. Is there an opportunity to save money?

My post linked has me thinking about flip adapters and the accessories attached to them. Using my current configuration as an example, I have a SubSee +10 diopter attached via a Saga flip adapter. Looking closely, there's over a half inch gap between the camera lens and the diopter lens. When using my 60mm lens, I can see the diopter in the corners. I don't have this problem with my 105mm. As I look at the Nauticam products (flip adapter and diopter), you can see that they've designed it to get the diopter glass closer to the lens. The question is, how much of a difference does this make to focusing quality and speed? You can see the difference in this product picture:

I love my 105mm. Every time I use my 60, I immediately go back to my 105. I'm going to force myself to work with the 60. I want to do some blackwater diving, so practicing with the 60 isn't a bad thing. This is the effect I'm getting with my 60mm and my diopter on the saga flip adapter using the S&S recommended port configuration.

I bought it from them, so I used that chart as reference. They also sold me the Saga flip adapter which I'm not really happy with. I had to grind the hinge a little to allow the KRL09S to fit (per their own video) and I grinded it too far. I learned my lesson and grinded the other side correctly. I then used JB Weld to fix the one I messed up. But then I needed to swap the mounts so that the heavy KRL09S was on the one I did right and the lighter diopter on the one I had to fix. The JB Weld has held up extremely well. I used the steel reinforced epoxy. With all that said, I'm frustrated with Bluewater and will consider them a secondary source for buying gear, and not my first pick if I can buy an item elsewhere at the same price.

Yeah, I saw that. I'll take the 60mm out for a spin on my next BHB dive.

As for port lengths and not using their recommended configuration... They used to have an older chart with multiple configuration options. Configurations I've used for 60mm lens Previously: NX Standard Flat port (84mm) Current: Compact Macro Port SII (35mm) with NX Compact Port Base (50mm), Total length (85mm) The DX Macro Port 60 II is 93mm, possibly a little less, it doesn't say distance to the glass. Configurations I've used for 105mm lens Previously: NX Standard Flat port (84mm) with Extension Ring 20L (35.5mm), Total Length (119.5mm) Current: Compact Macro Port SII (35mm) with NX Compact Port Base (50mm) with Extension Ring 20L (35.5mm), Total length (120.5mm) The DX Macro Port 87 is 120.5mm and the DX Macro Port 90 II is 123mm. So, my current port configuration is within spec.

That's similar to what I get on the outer edges of my pictures. I'm going to leave my 60mm installed and take it out with the saga and see what happens. If I don't like the results, I'll try it screwed directly into the port. I attempted to use the 105mm per Bluewater Photo's website showing it as compatible.

This is a good question. Here's what I have for Nikon D850. 60mm S&S MDX-850 housing S&S NX Compact Macro Port Base (#56201) S&S DX Compact Port SII (#30112) This is matches the chart for an MDX housing and 60mm lens. With the saga flip adapter and subsee +10 diopter, I'm running into a problem with a black circle appearing around the picture. This could be an issue with the saga adapter holding the diopter too far forward. I'll configure the ports and for this and put the diopter directly screwed into the port to test. I'll also test the WA converter directly. 105mm S&S MDX-850 housing S&S Extension Ring 20L (#30123) S&S NX Compact Port Base (#56201) S&S DX Compact Port SII (#30112) I don't have any problems shooting with this configuration for macro. I do experience the halo affect with the WA converter lens. This configuration does NOT match any of the recommended port configurations for this lens. I have this configuration which dates back to when I had my Nikon D70 and D300 setups. I had the NX flat port which worked great for the 60mm and required the 20L extension ring for the 105mm. When I bought the D850, it came with the NX Compact Macro Port Base and DX Compact Port SII with a 60mm lens. I added the extension ring to fit my 105mm. With all that said, if I look closely, the 105mm does sit back a little from the lens. The 20L extension might be too large, but it's the smallest one they have. The 105mm does not fit without the extension ring. After reconfiguring the ports for the recommended port configuration per S&S's website, the 60mm lens sits back about the same distance as the 105mm does when using the extension ring. I would estimate there 1/4" to 1/2" gap between the lens and the port glass.

Wow, that Nauticam dual flip adapter is pricey compared to others, but it looks a lot sturdier. I have the 2.8G model. I'll do a dive where I screw it on directly. Unfortunately, the lens doesn't work dry, so I need to dive it. It might be a few weeks until I get a chance. Once I do, I'll report back. I've looked at your IG photos, but it's hard to find photos of interest since I haven't figured out how to filter for the ones I'm most interested in seeing based on comments. I mainly use my 105mm, so I wonder if that's part of the problem.

Unfortunately, the very next day, I sold the viewfinder and shipped it out, so I won't be able to get precise measurements for you. The Viewfinder is SOLD

Just let her know what you want to do or see and she'll do her best to accommodate. I have one request, ask her to find you lots and lots of skeleton shrimp. 🤣

I have a Nikon D850, Sea & Sea housing, Saga flip adapter, and usually shoot macro with a 105mm lens. I can get some decent photos out of it, but I have to be really close to subjects. If I tried to take a picture of the sun shining through water column, the photograph will just plainly be horrible. I've played with f-stops and shutter speeds. If the photo has any distance to the subject, I get a large halo distortion around the photo. What am I doing wrong? Is this a common issue for WA conversion lenses or just me? I haven't tried using a 60mm lens. I have issues when using my diopter with my 60mm, I get a black circular background. I'm confident it's the correct port, maybe it's issue with flip adapter keeping the diopter too far from the lens. Maybe this is also affecting my conversion lens? Thoughts? Tips? Wide Angle Conversion Lens KRL-09S - Kraken Sports

The above is for traveling. For taking on the boats, I use a soft cooler by Norchill. It doubles as a soak/rinse tub as well. Bait Cooler Bags – NorChill® Coolers & Drinkware (norchillcoolers.com)

I use a backpack designed for FPV drones. It has lots of padding, moveable dividers, and is deep enough for my DSLR housing. I remove the handles since they waste so much space and reassemble upon arrival. I put my strobes and 105mm lens inside. Arms, cables, and focus light fit as well. I mount my camera inside the housing. It also fits well in the overhead bin. Torvol Quad PITSTOP V2 Backpack - Choose Your Color (racedayquads.com)

Has anyone stayed at this resort? What was your experience? How did you like the dive op? The reviews on Trip Advisor are pretty good and the cost is half of CV. Seagrape Plantation Resort Hotel and Diveshop in West End, Roatan (seagraperoatan.com)

What's your experience on battery life with the Sola lights? My Sola focus light is going on around 8 years old and still works great. I agree with the contacts, I need to give them some love to clean them up on occasion.