TimG

Really like the idea of the Tutorials and it's something we've been discussing with potential industry partners.

A number of them already have very good How To sections on their websites (Backscatter for example). So we are seeing whether we can link too then - as well as producing our own How Tos. So please watch this space!

There's now a further Adobe Lightroom Classic update available to 13.0.2.  This is described as bug fixes.

I've just loaded it onto my Mac Studio and it seems fine.

Phew......

A new version of the Vivid Leak Sentinel, V6, is now available. 

I bought a very early production one and have written a review of it in a recent issue of UWP magazine. See the link  http://www.uwpmag.com/

Sadly not now living in the Caribbean, I’ve not yet been able to install or field test it. I have been able to give it as good a bench test as possible under the circs. 

My own battery testing showed the now USB-C rechargeable battery to last roughly 72 hours  with the valve switched on.  If you setup the night before, it is possible to switch off the LED which I understand will save battery power whilst the system continues to run in the background.

My 5XB had two wires that fed from the sensor to the PCB.  Although this was fairly easy to install, it was the devil’s own work if you needed to remove it and then reinstall  The V6 now has a connector in the cable run which makes this much easier.

I’ve always thought these leak sensors a No-brainer to add to a system. An additional security check for expensive gear and added peace of mind  

I have a spare Leak Sentinel V5 XB for sale. 

It comes complete with an electric pump, spare o-rings and instructions.

The Leak Sentinel is a vacuum alarm which, in my view,  is a no-brainer and one of the most useful things to have on your system. A leak alarm tells you when there is water in your housing; a vacuum alarm alerts to you to a leak even before you get in the water.

Easy to install and use, the included housing adaptor will fit an M14 bulkhead. Alarm uses a CR2032 battery and the pump a PP3. 

For sale €200 or £190 including shipping in the EU or UK. 

I'm selling my Inon tripod system.

This comprises:  the Inon Tripod Hub; 3x Inon SS-T legs and a ULCS AD1420 ball mount.

The tripod can drop as low as approx 26cms or as high as approx 43cms with both adjustable leg setting and height-adjustable centre column. The SST legs have both rubber and spiked feet. 

The whole system is in excellent shape, highly portable and highly stable. I used it as a tripod for a strobe with snoot. 

Price is €250 or £225 which includes shipping in the EU or UK.

Thing is, Rich, you know you are going to weaken. So why go through these agonies? Have done with it. Splash the Cash. You'll sleep better.... 

Retra Pro Max

I’ve just taken delivery of a pair of Retra Pro Max strobes.

Although I’ve not had them in the water yet, I thought a few initial comments might be of interest to anyone thinking of upgrading from the earlier Retra models or buying the new ones.

As you may well have seen from images, they look pretty much the same as the Pro/Prime and Pro-X/Prime-X models. It’s the same very sleek design in aluminium. If the former Apple designer, Jony Ive, built a strobe, it would probably look like this.

Specific things I’ve spotted so far:

1. The click-stops on the mode and power selector feel a little clicker and more precise. They also now have tiny pointers.

2. The ball mount design has changed with a bolt that now runs completely through the mount. The mount is held in place initially by a locator peg and then screwed in using an Allen key to tighten the bolt.The thread is not visible when the mount is detached from the strobe. This is helpful, I thought, when storing or travelling with the strobes.

3. The 8x AA battery fitting has been re-designed and is now called a “Booster”. This is significantly more compact than the old strobe/"Supercharger" arrangement.  In addition, and very usefully, the number of O-rings has been reduced from 4 to 2 when using 8x AAs.  Less maintenance, only one size O-ring and less O-ring faff. The system now has just two O-rings on the strobe body rather than two at each end of the Supercharger - or two at the end of the battery cover if using just 4x AAs. There are no O-rings on the Booster or the battery cover. As before, Retra supply an extra pair of O-rings as part of the strobe package along with a tube of silicon grease.

4. I found my two strobes have the slightest flicker on the pilot light when set on M. This does not appear on TTL or HSS. Retra tell me this is not a problem. Retra have advised though of a critical issue when using the pilot light with the Booster.  This needs to be corrected with a firmware update and Retra have sent details of this to users. (I’ve found Retra’s service support consistently excellent).

5. The new strobe design does not now have quite the same perfectly circular body. It bulges very slightly near the battery cover. I discovered (annoyingly) that the rear bumper from the older strobes will not fit on the new series. If you are ordering bumpers the Retra Shop website now offers two options - one for the new strobes and one for the original style for the older models. So choose carefully! I missed this completely.
6. The Max version has a small OLED panel between the dials providing various useful bits of information. It now has a Charge indicator (CHG) when you switch the Max on initially. Once charged it shows, amongst other possibilities  the Mode and Power setting. Very useful for night dives.

So, now to get them in the water - although that might be in the bath for now!

I’ll admit to being a big fan of the Retra range which I have been using since 2020. But I pay for my own strobes from my hard-earned cash. Well…  hard-earned pension….