TimG

Woah! They don’t look good. I’m using EBL USB chargers all the time for my Eneloops - Pro and White. Had all the batteries for some years and no issues at all.

Interesting images in your tests, Hugues. I can only say I’ve never noticed any reflections or anomalies underwater that have had a noticeable impact on images. Some images of course are rubbish but that’s more likely my fault rather than the gear. I’d suggest that the underwater environment is much more almost forgiving in the way potential anomalies appear. There are so many other issues which impact that they rarely (never?) show up in the final image. I wouldn’t worry too much over what your tests are showing. (But maybe that’s just my suck it and see approach!) Get the snoot in the water, shoot some images and see what you’ve got. The only “technical” issue I’ve experienced is that of aligning the focus light with snoot output. That was very difficult with the Inons but not an issue with the Retras. After that I’ve always felt anything else was down to the guy pressing the shutter. 😉

I’m not sure I can suggest a best distance. I do find it’s more a case of “suck it and see”. So much depends on the size of the subject, its background and what you’re trying to not light - and how you want to light: from above, from the side, from behind. What works for me is to have the snooted strobe on my left hand with the clamps set so that the snoot can be adjusted relatively easily. Right hand on the shutter release. I take a couple of images, check exposure, decide if I’m using the right mask, the angle of lighting - and then work the subject adjusting angle and distance. Then apologise to the subject for possibly blinding it. I’m using a D500 and either a 60mm or 105mm lens. I do find that from time to time checking the results on the LCD screen, I lose the subject! Especially with the 105mm. And I do keep thinking how nice it would be to have a mirrorless body with on-screen replay. But that’s not an “investment “ I currently want to make. Perhaps locking the snoot strobe arm to a distance might help a bit with that. However in my earlier snooting days, I tried a locked snoot, partly in desperation (!) but found it just didn’t work. I do think flexibility is the way to go. Experiment. A lot of the time the image isn’t quite right. But the Bingos! can be fabulous. On reflections, are you thinking reflections from parts of the background? I’ve never seen reflections resulting from the snoot itself. Background ones are sometimes unavoidable but generally really careful composition (yeah, not always possible) and mask choice can overcome that.

Tom, can you see distortion on the old battery? The magnetic contacts are not perfectly aligned on the same plane so the magnets won’t stick? Our experience is that is the issue, not rusting (although rust is present) and I’ve seen a few examples of that.

Hey Hugues A fun project…… I use a snoot a lot for the majority of my macro shots. Generally I find soft edges work best. This gets away from the “spotlight look” and is closer to highlighting the subject in a more subtle way. Of course once a while a spotlight is the ideal lighting style but, for me anyway, this is much less often. To an extent though I’ve found you can vary a hard/soft edge by moving the snoot closer or nearer to the subject - and using a mask to fine-tune the width of the light. The closer to the subject, the more sharp the edge; the further away, the less sharp.

Be sure to post pics, Caollla!

Hi Becca! Great to have you guys on board. A warm welcome to Waterpixels.

Good to have you with us, Sevag. Welcome to Waterpixels.

Hey Dolphin! Welcome to Waterpixels. Great to have you with us. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Best wishes Tim

The Inon 2-hole bush connectors are the same diameter as the Sea and Sea.

Thanks for alerting us, Yorkie. One for @RichN

Yeah, I thought that too. The rust can be removed for sure but the distortion of the contacts remains and the magnets just won’t hold for charging to take place. At least that was our experience. Annoying.

One of the really nice things about this community is the mutual support folks offer. Long may that remain!

Chris, yep, the contacts are external and attach to the charger by magnetic contacts. We tried removing the rust but the contacts, or the fitting, seems to be misshapen by the rust or some other action and the magnetic contacts won't adhere. The battery does have though a plug-in charging socket on the inside (so the non-water contact part of the battery) which is accessed by unscrewing the battery from the light head. It works fine but means taking the torch apart (not complicated) to access the charging point. That magnetic charging system does seem to be a weak point.

My partner's Orcatorch has the same issue (and we know of other too). She discussed this with the Orca reps at the Boot show in January and they suggested a new battery unit. Yep, over €100 so she decided just to charge it by unscrewing the battery unit and charging using the plug in cable rather than the external magnetic contacts

Thanks indeed. Amazing technology but, yeah, comes at a price. I’m using similar tools on LR on a fairly basic Mac Studio with an M1 processor. That is pretty quick and can handle the AI “Denoise” in under minute. The results can be really impressive and have resurrected images that would have been right offs in the past.

Great to have you with us m John. A warm welcome to Waterpixels.

Good one! I believe strap wrenches work well too.

I'm sure you'll have a great time, Dave. They switch the start point of the trip periodically so it begins in either Sorong or Kaimana and ends in Kaimana or Sorong.

Yes, I've tried that line a couple of times with my partner. Her usual response is that I can't kid myself with the idea let alone her. Smart woman,

If you have updated LR recently to v14.3.1 you might have discovered a new Mask, Landscape, in the Develop Module. I've just played around with it a bit this evening and have found it works really well for many u/w images. It even identifies the water as, err, water. It seems to be able to differentiate divers, water and corals. I found I could create a number of masks which allowed me to make adjustments to the drivers face, to the corals and to remove backscatter by masking the water. Definitely worth a try.

They’re coming. Kurt was on this trip too……

I've just got home from a terrific 12-night Raja Ampat trip on Emperor Diver's vessel, MV Harmoni. The itinerary started in Kaimana, covered Triton Bay, Misool and the Dampier Straits - and ended in Sorong. Others have written about the diving delights of the area so I won't rehash that. Suffice it to say that, my first trip to this part of Indonesia, I found the diving just fabulous. Abundance and variety of marine life was something else. Whale sharks and mantas included. I've been fortunate to have been on lots of liveaboards over the years. This was, by far, the best I have ever done. Harmoni has a crew of 21 for 24 guests and is spacious,. comfortable and relaxed. Lead by a first class Cruise Director, the entire crew were unfailingly helpful and considerate. We splurged and got an Upper Deck cabin. This was roomy with a ?king-size bed (depending on what side of the Atlantic you live), sofa, wardrobe and a bathroom that two people could actually use at the same time, tons of hot (and cold) water and quality shower and hair gels. I'm not sure if it is a blessing or a curse, but Harmoni has Starlink WiFi which is included in the trip price. So if the mood takes you, internet is available in the galley at all times throughout the trip. It reaches some cabins too. Diving was from a RIB with four guests accompanied by a dive guide. Nitrox was included in the price. Following the usual briefing, divers put on their wetsuits and only had to carry their mask and camera to the RIB. All gear was loaded by the crew with divers being helped into their BCs etc on the RIB immediately before a backward roll onto the divesite. No carrying heavy gear down to the RIB or down to a dive deck. Luxury. A dive guide was assigned to each group of four and rapidly understood what the group wanted to do in terms of photography, ease of the dive, avoidance of current etc. Dive sites were usually 4-5 minutes (enjoyable) RIB-ride from Harmoni with at least one RIB monitoring the dive with several ready for pick ups at the end of the dive. At the end of the drive, the crew moved dive gear, except mask and camera, from the RIB to Harmoni so, again, no lugging of gear. They even rinsed wetsuits after each dive. At the end of the trip, the crew rinsed all dive gear (apart from cameras), got it all dried and delivered into the galley for collection! Food was always excellent and a mix of Asian and European. The system was the classic light breakfast, dive, big breakfast, dive, lunch, dive and dinner. Harmoni had a well-stocked bar complete with barman and espresso machine (yay!) We used the Aston Hotel in Sorong and the Grand Papua Kaimana in Kaimana. Both were good. We flew KLM to Jakarta and then Garuda to Sorong and Wings Air to Kaimana. No problems with any of the flights and the service was always very good. On one flight there was a tiny charge for excess baggage. We applied for Indonesian visas online and were seriously impressed by the arrival formalities in Jakarta: a quick transit through e-gates. I celebrated an "x0-birthday" during the trip and cannot think of a better way of marking the occasion. I can recommend Harmoni highly.