Craine

@Davide DB & @TimG A question for you on this ⬆️ section from the first post. Is it the preference of WaterPixels admins that we resize and upload to the forum directly, rather than, for instance, us hosting our images elsewhere and then linking them in? I take the phrasing "they become the assets of the community" to mean that you'd prefer they live on WP servers, so that you can avoid issues with dead links down the line. But as you mention, this can be a costly proposition over time, especially for a forum that isn't "paid-membership" based. My thinking here is that I prefer to upload my images into a place where I have control over them (e.g. on durable object storage), and serve them via a CDN. I can then point the multiple places I post them to to the same source file. But then they aren't under WP control (for the purposes of a consistent forum archive). This is how you've recommended video be handled, which makes sense given it's size, so I'm wondering what your thoughts are for photos as well. I'd also note that if we do link them in, we should still take the steps to resize appropriately so that we don't adversely affect page load times.

Since the thread is nominally about what we're using for shooting the a6700 underwater, I figured I'd chime in with what I have/use/do. The equipment: I'm also using the Nauticam NA-A6700, the s-TURTLE 2 TTL trigger, and a pair of Inon D200 (originals, not the Type 2s) with the 4600k diffusers. I have the Nauticam N85 to N120 60mm adapter as a base. For wide angle, I use the Sigma 10-18mm (set at 10mm) and a Zen DP-170. For macro, it's the Canon 60mm/Metabones mk4 adapter and a Nauticam Macro Port 60. The settings: I have my MR2 slot programmed for UW shooting, with the following settings: Manual Mode Shutter: 1/160 Aperture: f/8 ISO: 200 File Format: RAW & HEIF RAW File Type: Compressed HEIF Quality & Image Size: Extra Fine, L 26MP Drive Mode: Single Shooting SteadyShot: On Metering Mode: Spot/Large Spot Metering Point: Focus Point Link Flash Mode: Fill-flash White Balance: Auto Creative Look: VV2 Picture Profile: Off Focus Mode: Continuous AF Priority Set in AF-C: Release AF Tracking Sensitivity: 3(Standard) Aperture Drive in AF: Focus Priority AF w/ Shutter: Off Focus Area: Tracking: Spot M Subject Recognition in AF: On Recog Trgt Select Set: Animal/Bird/Insect Auto Review: 5 Sec Auto Monitor Off: 1 Min Power Save Start Time: 5 Min Custom Buttons: Rear1 1 (C1): Flash Comp 2 (AF-On): Tracking On + AF On 3 (C3): Flash Comp Rear2 1: Focus Standard 2: Drive Mode 3: ISO 4: Exposure Comp Top 1 (Record): Finder/Monitor Select 2 (C2): Recog. Target Select Dial/Wheel: 1 (Front): Tv 2 (Top): Av 3 (Back): None Some thoughts: Saving all of this as a memory recall set makes it really easy for me to have the right settings when I jump in. I have MR1 set up for bird photography, and MR3 for people/event photography, and with my ADHD brain I will forget to change settings if I don't have it saved. 1/160, f/8, ISO200 is, for me, a good starting point whenever I get into the water. I use AWB and the VV2 creative look to have a baseline for my editing, with the embedded preview in the RAW file. WB doesn't really matter for the end result since I'm shooting then editing RAW anyway, but it gets me most of the way there. I use the VV2 creative look because it makes the colors pop a bit more, and for UW I like high saturation/high vibrance. Definitely a personal preference. The Canon macro is not what I should have gone with, and I am very likely going to sell it in the next month. I will most likely be switching to the Tamron 90mm macro, as I want a little more reach, and the AF on the canon is sluggish and hunts a lot. I don't have the positioning of the DP-170 dialed in for the Sigma yet, but I really like the FoV of 10mm on an APS-C. The corners are pretty soft, and while it's not something I particularly care about (corners are never something I'm really looking at on WA), it would be useful to find the right amount of extension. There are (probably) reasons I chose each of the other settings, but I don't want to bore everyone with a novel here. If you have questions, please ask!

The same happens with the a6700. Turning on the electronic shutter/silent shooting disables the flash entirely. This is true for any type of flash, I have tested this with my Turtle-2, an external wireless strobe controller (for big standalone studio strobes), and a speedlight. I think the e-shutter is the solution for you. I shoot almost exclusively Inon S-TTL all the time with my a6700, and could, if I wanted to disable the flash by switching to silent shooting. I'm not 100% sure how all that interacts with Program mode, since I typically only use full manual, but it should be a starting point for you to test with. ETA: Wireless mode might not accomplish what you want, depending on how you have your Turtle configured. Using the S-TURTLE app you can set different functions for the wireless mode, including "stroboscopic" mode which would (I think) be what folks are using for focus stacking like was mentioned earlier.

I measured my Nauticam a6700 (N85) at 11.75mm from camera flange to housing flange. I’ve got a few ports/adapter handy to measure if the desire is there. Now I need to go figure out the optical center of the Zen DP170 (N120 mount), and I will measure the EP of various FL of my Sigma 10-18. Yes it’s all APS-C which is blasphemy to some, but at least the measurements will be available for someone who wants them.

I recently picked up the Sigma 10-18mm 2.8 and a Zen 170DP to use with my a6700. It is a replacement for my Rokinon 12mm f/2. The Sigma is a much sharper lens than the Rokinon, and while I don’t have a zoom gear, I’m used to a single FL when shooting wide angle anyway, so I just need to play with it in the pool to get everything dialed in. It also has a much shorter MFD (4.6”/11.6cm versus 7.48”/19cm) and a much larger max magnification at MFD (1:4/0.25x versus 1:11.11/0.09x). Once I get it in the water I will report back on the combo, though that probably won’t be until Feb for some dives out of Riviera Beach/Jupiter. Before then I have to stay local which means macro only given conditions in the Gulf of Mexico.

Unfortunately it seems like there wasn’t anything announced, at least as far as my internet searching goes. Which is too bad, because I really want to see what Inon is cooking up, given all the recent strobe releases. I really like my D200s but want something with more power, and was/am holding out for at least the announcement.

It's all good! That frogfish looks awesome. Was that video taken with the A7C?

@humu9679 thanks! I've yet to run across a frogfish, even with all the dives I've done in every season at BHB. Someday I'll find one!

It’s external focusing, so it extends quite significantly to get to 1:1. You’d need a very long flat port to let it get all the way to 1:1, and you’d very likely have a decent amount of vignetting on the low end of the magnification scale. Is also as long as the Sony 90mm before the focus extension (131.5mm vs 130.5mm). If we make a rough estimation from the photos of the extension length, say 45mm, that puts the 1:1 length at 176.5mm. With a MFD of 238mm, we have a working distance of 61.5mm (2.4”). That’s really close.

I took my new a6700 and Nauticam housing out for a few dives a couple of weekends ago. Pretty pleased with how these turned out. Ciliated false squilla (Pseudosquilla ciliata), working on its burrow, Blue Heron Bridge, Riviera Beach, FL Whitespeckled hermit crab (Paguristes puncticeps), Blue Heron Bridge, Riviera Beach, FL Spotted scorpionfish (Scorpaena plumieri), Blue Heron Bridge, Riviera Beach, FL Green Moray (Gymnothorax funebris), 4th Window, Riviera Beach, FL Honeycomb Cowfish (Acanthostracion polygonius), 4th Window, Riviera Beach, FL Balloonfish (Diodon holocanthus), 4th Window, Riviera Beach, FL

Not sure who else saw the announcement a month-ish ago, but Tamron has released a new 90mm macro lens (Tamron product page) for both Sony E and Nikon Z. It has fast AF, reviews of it have it coming in pretty darn sharp (at least on par with the Sony and the Sigma macro offerings), and an MSRP of $699. A few things to note: It's about 5mm shorter than the Sony 90mm at 126.5mm MFD/MOD is listed as 230mm, so you end up with about 4" of working distance before any distance lost to the port it's behind, compared to the 5.8" of the Sony. 12 blade aperture, minimum aperture of f/16 Weather-sealed barrel I'm considering picking up a copy to see how it compares to my adapter Canon 60mm. A few thoughts on that: The working distance at 1:1 are effectively the same between the Tamron and the Canon The fast/modern AF mechanism might be a worthwhile upgrade, even with the most recent firmware for my Metabones mk IV I would probably benefit from an increase in sharpness If anyone here has had or will have a chance to play with one, I'd love to hear your feedback. List of E-mount macro lenses with some random-ish stats

The camera has been sold elsewhere, so all that is left is the housing and related components. Willing to entertain reasonable offers, figuring $500 for all of it including shipping CONUS, split shipping if elsewhere.

Price drop to $900 plus shipping costs.

Hey @TURTLE-Balage, I appreciate the offer! I decided to see if I could get it apart and fix it up myself (because I'm probably a bit nuts). That didn't turn out too well, as it looks (after the fact) that the hot shoe connector is soldered to the IC board, and I broke those solder points doing the dissection. I wouldn't feel right sending it in for repair now, because I definitely made it worse. I liked this trigger, so I went ahead and bought a new Smart 2 from Backscatter (it was delivered today), and am going through the setup now. Planning on taking it out in a couple weeks to put it through its paces.

Battery life was atrocious on my A6400 before I switched to an external flash trigger. Once I did that I could eke out two dives on one charge. As for the bodies, I know with the SeaFrogs/Salted Line housings, they use the same one for a6000/a6100/a6300/a6400/a6500. The majority of the button placements are the same/similar enough, but the rub is the physical dimensions. The 6000 is noticeably thinner front to back than the rest of them (approx. 26mm vs 31mm, as measured on the orange line). SeaFrogs gets around this by using a kit that essentially "shims" some of the dials so they touch the body. I don't know if you'd have that flexibility with the Nauticam housing, especially since the change is dimensions is going the other way (thicker camera in a thinner housing).