TimG

We should start a sweepstake to see at what part number on the schematic people get to and find it no longer fun.... 🤭

Great to have you with us, Balazs! Welcome.

Seems pretty poor service to me if the attitude of the supplier and the company is, well when we decide to get around to it, we'll look at sending you a replacement. Yowzers.

Snap! Welcome aboard, François. Great to have you with us.

Terrific! Thanks!

Hey Steen I use the UWT one in my Subal housing. Works like a charm. The man behind it, Pavel, should be appearing here soon. He was on Wetpixel a lot and always very helpful. He's keen to be involved here now.

OK, we don't have the setup yet..... (fair comment!)

Totally agree. Anyone who has a series of shots like these over a period of time, do post them!

Super pics, Dave. Maybe the shock of going from really good viz in the St John’s area to the Port Ghalib harbour messed with my viz calculations 😜. But it was really poor viz where normally I wouldn’t bother trying WA pics.

Tom, do you think you could do a post about your pole-cam arrangement? I think that would be of interest to folks here.

I know a few members use the Retra reflector but I thought I'd post a short piece about using them as it was something relatively new to me. Apologies if this is old hat! I was in the Red Sea out of Marsa Alam a few months ago. The last dive was the usual outside-the-harbour type dive and the viz was utterly cr*p: maybe 3'-4'. One of those dives where I wondered why I was bothering. I'd been using my D500 with the Tokina 10-17 for the whole trip and usually had the Retra reflector in a BCD pocket (yeah, a big pocket!) but hadn't really used it. There were loads of juveniles knocking around on the site so I thought I'd take some pics just for the fun of it. I gave the reflector a go, reducing the power from the strobe a good bit and using the reflector aimed more directly at the subject to try and reduce backscatter. Results on the camera screen looked ok. When I got back and looked at the images on the big screen I was pleasantly surprised as to how well they came out given the viz and turbidity. On the pic below, there is some backscatter on the top left but, generally, give the viz, not a bad result I thought (yeah, the picture is nothing special, I appreciate)

Hi MrC. Delighted that you’ve joined us. Welcome! We hope you really like the new forum.

I agree with you, Wolfgang. The Tokina is amazing underwater - certainly with the DX sensor cameras that I have used. I can't say I liked it all with an FF Nikon D800. Horrible! The only slight hesitation with the lens is the build quality. Over maybe 15 years I've had two of them and they have both had the same issue - the zoom ring detaches. This is user repairable with some tape but it is a bit of a shock first time around. I know too others have had the same issue and it's something to watch out for. But IQ on sub-FF? Superb.

Ian, would you be happy to talk to Will Green and see if he'd like do do something for Waterpixels? I'm happy to contact him but if you know him well enough to ask.....

Congratulations to you guys - a nice ray of hope!

I fear that might her scarily true, Ian

Go for it, Massimo!

Amen to that!

I thought just struck me on re-reading this thread, does it make much difference to the placement of the lenses whether you use a 45-degree finder or a straight-through or screen? Might sound an odd question but when I got my readers fitted in my mask, I found them slightly higher than, perhaps, I would have liked them. The company that did them, advised on the position and said where I had them was the usual place but that it was, of course, largely down to personal preference. They offered to redo them but I felt that maybe I was being too nit-picky. I wonder now reading these posts whether the angle of viewing makes quite a difference? I use a 45-degree finder all the time and I've adjusted the camera's diopter setting so I guess effectively only use the lenses just to read the housing labels or to try and finder macro critters on the reef.

"Investment" eh? LOL, yeah, good one.... 🤣 As I think I have explained in a previous post, I moved from Z240 v4 so I can't give a defect comparison with the Z330 v2. As Dave says, I found a huge difference using a snoot with the Retra after the Inons and shoot macro almost always with a snoot. So for me that was a major benefit. I had never used HSS before getting the Retras. I now find I use that setting a huge amount especially when shooting upwards with wide-angle towards the sun. I do find the Retras easier to use than the Inons. The controls, to me, are simple and self-explanatory. Though I was used to the Inon Z240s, I did find the controls a bit pokey and confusing. Colour and coverage? Hard to compare. I feel that I get a wider coverage and more power with the Retras but couldn't quantify that. The other thing I like about the Retras is the range of accessories. They give you options for controlling and shaping the light. Using a reflector, with lowered power in poor, turbid viz was a revelation for me in terms of reducing backscatter. And I like too the macro rings when not using a snoot.

Thanks, Justin - food for thought for sure. We wanted to try and keep the hierarchy as simple and as flat as possible. But let us chew over this..... it's most certainly worth some thought.

Wolfgang mentions a loupe. Yep, I find one of those very useful for all sorts of small tasks. I got one from Amazon. They're very good for checking a sensor Micnova MQ-7X SLR Clean Sensor Loupe Screen Protector with Dust Illuminating Bright LED's for Canon 6D 600D 5D2 5D3 Nikon D800 Sony Panasonic DSLR Cameras

Yep, the front fits. Unfortunately Retra don’t sell the rear bumper alone. If you want a rear bumper for the new strobes you have to buy front and rear.

Hey Tony! Welcome aboard. It’s great to have you with us although, like many, just sad that it was necessary.