TimG

Having recently written about installing the o-Turtle trigger into a Nauticam housing, I’ve now had a go with a UWT internal trigger for the Nauticam NA-OM1 housing. UWT describes it as the 11072-22-HSS TTL-Converter for NAUTICAM for OLYMPUS/ OM SYSTEM. The UWT trigger arrives in a bubble-wrap envelope in a small cardboard box. No frills functional. It consists of a small electronics board with two LEDs and a cable leading to a hot shoe connector. The manual explains that strobes are selected through a small click-dial (just visible in the bottom right of the picture). That is the whole of the setup. There is no battery with power being drawn, I guess, from the camera. The trigger provides Manual, TTL and, with the right strobes, HSS initiation. The manual explains that, no surprise, the board is fixed to the housing bulkhead so that the two LEDs shine through the housing fibre optic ports. Unlike other UWT boards (eg for Subal - which uses two screws), the fastening is achieved by two strips of double-sided tape which are pre-installed on the trigger board. “Simply” peel back the tape, and push into place. Full details are here: https://uwtechnics.com/product/11072-22-hss-ttl-converter-for-olympus-for-nauticam-underwater-housings-na-om1-em1-iii-em10-iv-em1x-em5-ii-em-5-iii-om1/ Installation seemed simple, but having experienced initial placement failure with the o-Turtle, I was more than slightly nervous about sticking the UWT board in place. After hours of thought, I used a very soft pencil (3B) to draw two straight lines on the inside of the housing which ran vertically through the LED ports; and single a horizontal line across the LED ports. The lines were longer than the size of the board so that they could be seen even with the board in place. The lines meant the alignment of the LED ports was visible even when the board hid them. Then, with the camera installed in the housing and strobes plugged in to the bulkheads, I pushed the connector on to the camera hot shoe and watched how the cable allowed the electronics board to drop onto the bulkhead. Moving the board around slightly it was still possible to see the guide marks. Holding the board with a finger in what seemed the correct position, the shutter trigger was pulled - and bingo - the strobes fired. Yay! Couple more trial goes followed just to make sure. Then removing the protective film from the sticky pads on the board and, again, using the pencil marks for alignment, I secured the board into place. Wiping the beads of sweat off my forehead, I pulled the trigger a few times and my Retras happily flashed away. Playing around, Manual and TTL were a breeze. HSS took a little while to discover the settings needed on the OM-1ii but that was soon going too. Using a UWT trigger on a Nikon/Subal system for over a decade proved very reliable. Any problems and Pavel, who is Mr UWT, is a tremendous source of help. Now based in Taiwan, UWT triggers are available by mail order or from the usual underwater photography dealers.

Having bought a Nauticam housing and OM System OM-1ii recently as the base of my new underwater camera setup, I needed an LED trigger to fire the strobes. Although I havn’t used TTL underwater for many years, I did want HSS as I often include the sunball when shooting wide-angle. This usually requires high shutter speed to avoid exposure burn outs. HSS options for an OM trigger seemed to boil down to the Turtle or UWT. The Nauticam flash trigger, although an attractive option, doesn’t provide HSS. I’ve been a fan of UWT for many years as it proved highly reliable on my late-lamented Subal/Nikon system and the man behind UWT, Pavel, is very helpful if the need arises. The o-Turtle 3 (Manual /HSS and TTL/HSS models are available) has the slight advantage of being produced in the EU (Hungary) and the man behind that product, Balazs, is also super helpful. Both Pavel and Balazs are well-known to Waterpixels and their posts much-appreciated. The o-Turtle comes packed in a very neat travel case which contains all the parts: the electronics box, a small wired connector with two LEDs which push into two small circular plastic discs, and double-sided circular tape patches to fasten the plastic disks onto the optical bulkheads. An extra battery is also provided plus a USB-C to C cable and, nice touch, a USB-C to USB-A adaptor. All in all, a very neat package. Full details are here: https://www.trt-electronics.com/shop/o-turtle-3-manual-mobie-trigger-with-99-cd-leds/69/ Installation is relatively straight-forward. Download the relevant Turtle app from the usual App stores, connect the electronics box to your PC or Mac, choose the strobes you plan to use - and the app uploads the relevant firmware. Job done. See the link for more details. https://www.trt-electronics.com/content/media/docs/o-turtle-3-smart-user-manual.pdf Fitting the system into the housing is pretty easy too. Turtle have a video on YouTube to help if necessary. Slide the electronics box onto the camera hotshoe, stick the sticky disks over the strobe bulkheads, insert the LEDs, plug them into the electronics box… and pretty much, voila. I would suggest a small note of caution with one element of the installation which the video does not highlight. Many housing interiors are black, as are the Turtle LED plastic mounting disks, as is the double-sided sticky tape with which you stick the plastic disks over the strobe bulkheads. Not surprisingly alignment is critical and it’s not so easy amid all that blackness. I have to admit my first attempt resulted in the strobes not getting sufficient light to fire. Doh. What worked for me was: 1. Remove the LEDs from the plastic disks 2. Fix one of the sticky patches to the bulkhead side of a plastic disk. 3. Lie the housing bulkhead-side down on top of a smartphone torch with the light shining through the bulkhead. This makes aligning the plastic disc MUCH easier. Stick the sticky patch in place. 4. Remove the sticky protector cover from the bulkhead-side of the sticky patch, centre the plastic disk over the bulkhead using the light from the torch to get an accurate position and push into place 5. Then insert the LED into the back of the plastic disk. 6. And repeat for the second LED/disk. Once the disks were in the right place (!), the strobes fired like a charm. Phew. I thought some readers might find this helpful…….

It's almost hard to keep up with the updates. Version 15.5 for LR Classic now available. Adobe report the update: "includes enhanced crop tool, mask refinements, render to DNG option, support for newly released cameras and lenses, bug fixes, and more".