
TimG
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Viewing Topic: Macro gear with near unlimited budget -
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Everything posted by TimG
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Can a fisheye handle everything better than a wide angle zoom?
Love the moray pic! Good one RomiK!
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Kenko Teleconverter and Nikon camera bodies
Z9 info now added. Essentially same as Z6/6III/7, use the DG model not the DGX.
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Kenko Teleconverter and Nikon camera bodies
The issue of which Kenko TC 1.4 works with which body and lens comes up from time to time. Rather than folks having to hunt for the info, I'm gathering it here in this post which we will Pin. Feel free to add info as you learn more combinations! If anyone has a Z8 and can test out a Kenko, that would be a useful addition. Nikon D500 (DX) D500 + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 DG + Tokina 10-17: AF works; no vignetting at any focal length D500 + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 DGX + Tokina 10-17: AF works; no vignetting at any focal length D500 + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 DG + Nikkor 8-15: Err message. No AF; no vignetting at any focal length D500 + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 DGX + Nikkor 8-15: AF works and aperture display; no vignetting at any focal length Nikon D850 D850 + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 DG + Nikkor 8-15: ?????? D850 + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 DGX + Nikkor 8-15: AF works and aperture display Nikon Z6 (and, presumably Z7) with firmware 3.0 Z6 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 300 DG + Tokina 10-17 : No AF; No aperture display; vignettes with hood attached after 11 Z6 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 300 DGX + Tokina 10-17 : No AF; No aperture display; vignettes with hood attached after 11 Z6 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 300 DG + Nikkor 8-15: AF works; vignettes with hood attached after 11 Z6 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 300 DGX + Nikkor 8-15: No AF; No aperture display; vignettes with hood attached after 11 Z6 + FTZ + Kenko HD Pro + Nikkor 8-15mm No AF; No aperture display Nikon Z6III Z6III + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO 300 DGX + Nikkor 8-15mm: No AF; No aperture display Z6III + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO 300 DG + Nikkor 8-15mm AF works and aperture display Z6III + FTZ + Kenko HD Pro + Nikkor 8-15mm [Likely does not work] Nikon Z8 Z8 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO 300 DG + Nikkor 8-15mm AF works and aperture display Z8 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO 300 DGX + Nikkor 8-15mm ?????? Z8 + FTZ + Kenko HD Pro + Nikkor 8-15mm No AF; No aperture display Nikon Z9 Z9 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO 300 DGX + Nikkor 8-15mm: No AF; No aperture display Z9 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO 300 DG + Nikkor 8-15mm AF works and aperture display Z9 + FTZ + Kenko HD Pro + Nikkor 8-15mm [Likely does not work] Conclusion a. If you want to use the Kenko with a Tokina 10-17 on a D500 no problem with the DG or DGX model b. If you want to use the Kenko with a Nikkor 8-15 on a D500, you need the DGX model c. If you want to use the Kenko with a Nikkor 8-15 on a Z6/Z7/Z6III/Z9 you need the DG model d. Forget trying to use either the Kenko DG or DGX with a Tokina 10-17 on the Z6/Z7 (well why would you anyway) e. HDPro Model does not work with Z6/Z8. Not tested with Z6III or Z9 but likely does not work
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Hello All
Hi Octopixel! Well done switching from being a lurker. Good to have you with us. As an ex-"other pixel" dweller, I'm sure there's lots of folks here you recognise. We hope you like the forum. Welcome!
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Lenses to bring for wrecks in Red Sea (copied from wetpixels)
That's interesting. I've heard generally that even with the S&S correction lens and a 230 dome, apertures need to be well stopped down to get good edges.
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Can a fisheye handle everything better than a wide angle zoom?
Yup. Bizarre. I've edited the list above to reflect this. Thanks for checking it out @adrianob
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Video library sorting/path/naming/ect/ect/ect
I do pretty much the same as Mike on Lightroom (LR) but for stills. As Mike has written in another post, aside from being an excellent image editor, LR is a tremendous database which is highly customisable. Whilst the idea might sound a bit daunting initially, it's a pretty intuitive program ( and certainly compared to Photoshop) and with a little discipline when importing images/video, as Mike explains, they become pretty easy to find at a later date. You can search and find items in all sorts of ways: which camera did I use; which lens; which date; where was I; through keywords. I know there are members who grumble about the relatively new subscription approach and cost, but I've been using the program since it was first released and it has just gets better and better at, I would argue, not unreasonable cost for what it provides.
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Hello from San Diego
Hey quinndo Having moved from the Caribbean to Northern Europe, I can understand your pain! Good to have you with us though. Even if you’re not diving so much, we hope you enjoy the forum. Best wishes.
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Hello from Germany!
Hi P Kostelnik A warm welcome to Waterpixels. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Best wishes
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Anybody shooting the Z8 with external Monitor?
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Emperor Divers joins Waterpixels as one of our supporters
Waterpixels is delighted to report that Emperor Divers have joined our growing lists of industry supporters. Since 1992 Emperor Divers have shared their experience of scuba diving in the Red Sea, Maldives and Indonesia and have looked after thousands of happy divers – a great many of whom keeping coming back to us year after year. Emperor's focus has always been on providing safe and sustainable diving holidays for everyone. Liveaboards, Resort Diving and PADI Courses are what they do. They cite ‘Must-do’ dive itineraries to include ‘Best of Maldives’ , ‘Red Sea Reefs & Wrecks’ and Indonesia’s ‘Komodo’, ‘Banda Sea’ and ‘Raja Ampat’. Having dived with Emperor many times over several decades, I can heartily recommend them.
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Anybody shooting the Z8 with external Monitor?
Just had a thought: if vision issues make reading a viewfinder (or say the labelling of housing controls) harder to read, will adding a monitor really help? Won’t it still be the same issue of struggling to focus closely? I guess you can stand back, so to speak, slightly more from a monitor but would that be enough to make a significant difference given the cost? I still love the idea one member suggested of having reading glasses on a bungee cord that you just pull down over your mask as and when needed. I thought that was brilliant!
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Can a fisheye handle everything better than a wide angle zoom?
It appears too, yes. Question is does it work with the lenses and camera bodies we're using? If anyone can comment on that and perhaps provide some testing, that'd be excellent.
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Anybody shooting the Z8 with external Monitor?
I'm with Chris. Yet another piece of gear to lug, o-rings to faff about with and batteries and chargers. Sadly I'm hitting Fading Eyesight age but have found +1.5 diopters bonded into the mask did the trick. Fairly inexpensive, seldom needs a battery replacement or charging, light for travelling - and you soon get used to the head-bobbing movement to switch between normal and SuperVision.
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Can a fisheye handle everything better than a wide angle zoom?
Yep, watch out if you are buying a Kenko TC 1.4. It adds super versatility but just make sure you get the right version. There are two, the DG and the DGX. This is what I have found: D500 (DX) D500 + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 DG + Tokina 10-17: AF works; no vignetting at any focal length D500 + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 DGX + Tokina 10-17: AF works; no vignetting at any focal length D500 + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 DG + Nikkor 8-15: Err message. No AF; no vignetting at any focal length D500 + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 DGX + Nikkor 8-15: AF works; no vignetting at any focal length Nikon Z6 (and, presumably Z7) with firmware 3.0; and Z6III Z6 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 300 DG + Nikkor 8-15: AF works; vignettes with hood attached after 11 Z6 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 300 DGX + Nikkor 8-15: No AF; No aperture readout; vignettes with hood attached after 11 Z6 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 300 DG + Tokina 10-17 : No AF; aperture read out; vignettes with hood attached after 11 Z6 + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO300 300 DGX + Tokina 10-17 : No AF; No aperture read out; vignettes with hood attached after 11 Z6III + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO 300 DGX + Nikkor 8-15mm will not focus or find an aperture Z6III + FTZ + Kenko TELEPLUS PRO 300 DG + Nikkor 8-15mm works fine, will AF and finds the aperture Conclusion a. If you want to use the Kenko with a Tokina 10-17 on a D500 no problem with the DG or DGX model b. If you want to use the Kenko with a Nikkor 8-15 on a D500, you need the DGX model c. If you want to use the Kenko with a Nikkor 8-15 on a Z6/Z7/Z6III you need the DG model d. Forget trying to use either the Kenko DG or DGX with a Tokina 10-17 on the Z6/Z7 (well why would you anyway) EDIT: Kenko HD Pro @adrianob reports that the HD Pro model does not with the Z6/Z7. No F-Stop, No Autofocus.
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Hello
Hey Adriano! I'm delighted to see you went with the suggestion! Welcome to Waterpixels. It’s great to have you with us.
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Looking for high res underwater photos
The main issue with full frame underwater, by my experience, is the problem of housing a wide-angle lens which delivers decent corners (depending on how demanding you are) and the reduced depth of field. Unless using a fisheye, big ports are needed, typically 230mm, for rectilinear lenses and even then decent edge sharpness isn't a given. The Nauticam wet lenses might get around this but at high cost. I gave up on FF as I could see no advantage to it underwater and went with a Nikon D500 and the Tokina 10-17mm. Topside I use an FF body for sure. The Tokina 10-17 is an excellent lens on cropped frame sensors and is pretty much the go-to lens for wide-angle on DX. Yes, it is a fisheye and I read that you don't really like that. But for most/many u/w wide-angle pics, the fisheye effect is barely noticeable unless you are shooting straight lines on, eg a wreck. Sharpness and colour rendition is excellent. Topside the lens is horrible!
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Finally doing my intro
Hey Scott! Better late than never, eh? Good to have you with us. Welcome to Waterpixels. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Best wishes
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Adobe LR and PS getting more expensive in 2025 worldwide or just in US?
…. and seems to becoming depressingly the norm for software.
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Retra Pro Max - Accu issue
Fair enough. 👍
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Retra Pro Max - Accu issue
Me too. With or without the booster. I've got about 16 which are 3 years old and 16 at 4 years old. I just bought 16 new Eneloop Pros as I thought it about time...... and I'll retire the 4 year olds to light duties. I've puzzled though, Landvogt, why you don't want to go with the Boosters and just use 8 batteries at a time. They do make a significant difference both its terms of the number of flashes you get plus the psychological effect of knowing you can easily do several dives without a change. My favourite thing about them is how little extra length they add to the strobe. It's insignificant. And they are relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of an u/w system. I travel with a total of 32x AA batteries and 2x 4xAA battery chargers and on liveaboard trips and have never have a problem keeping a complete battery change available for each strobe.
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Recommendations for a focus light
I’m an Inon dive light fan too having switched from a Sola. Mine is relatively pocket sized, uses 3x AA batteries and has a bracket to mount on the housing as a focus light. The size and ease of charging makes it an excellent backup dive light.
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New member from Spain
Great to have you with us, Marc. A warm welcome to Waterpixels. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Best wishes
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Looking for high res underwater photos
Chris is spot on. Shooting in water adds all sorts of complications which impact on the overall impression created. Whilst non (?few) of us want to create the image in post-production, it does have a critical element especially, I'd argue, in wide-angle shots where increases in things like Clarity, Dehaze and Vibrance can have a huge impact on the crispness, punch and wow-factor. MP is not the issue. As I wrote earlier, for many years I used a 24MP D300 and sold A3 printed images that were really sharp and could, I'm sure, have gone to A2. You need a good RAW file for sure but also good post-processing. As Chris suggests, and you may already be doing, shoot RAW, make adjustments to create the style of image you like, re-size to whatever you need for output - then take a look at the critical sharpness issues.
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Looking for high res underwater photos
Not a problem. No worries.