Phil Rudin

Like with the release of the A1 II Sony is putting four years between the high end cameras so A1 users who passed on the A1 II will not be seeing an A1 III until their cameras are quite dated. That is not necessarily a bad thing many folks are still using DSLR's like D850 and EOS 5D. Having used Sony A1 and Sony A1 II extensively I can assure you that the II is an upgrade over the I for U/W users, the question is will that difference be enough to make you want to switch. Sony A7R V users will be in the same spot of deciding if the extra AF and shutter speeds along with a verity of other improvements outweighs the cost of a new body, housing and spare batteries. Sony is the top contender in the U/W space with four great contenders the A1 I/II, A7R V/VI, A7C II/R and the often overlooked A7 V an excellent camera at 33MP.

Regarding mounting the strobes directly to the housing grips this is something I started doing decades ago with 4/3 cameras and the Olympus 8mm fisheye lenses. The secret is to keep the strobes well behind the small (100/140mm) dome port. If you have a set of a bit longer clamps this becomes easer. Advantages are allowing you to have less drag in strong currents, getting in small spaces like moving through a wreck or cave, quickly moving between landscape and portrait orientations and more. Downsides are less ability to configure strobes to where you may want light coming from different angles, some like buoyancy arms to offset the weight of the housing/port system and more. A photo of my most used configuration with eight and six inch arms is attached. Eight inch on the housing coupled with six inch to the strobes using Ultralight clamps.

The new Canon 24-50 is very close to the Sony FE 20-70 F/4 for full frame with the main difference being the Canon is internal zoom. The both have the same minimum focus distance and magnification so the results should be very close. I have used the Sony 20-70 extensively with Marelux 180, 210 and 230 ports. In my tests the 140mm port it was a bust in terms of corners and not really recommended. I have attached the front page of the review I did (in UWP back issues) along with photos at 20mm and close to 50mm (45ish) to give an idea of the range, both with the 180mm port. The Marelux 210mm acrylic port fits into the same case as the 180mm port and is a little bit lighter and works better for splits so it is my travel dome. The PZ feature on the Canon 20-50 saves the cost of a zoom gear and it has worked well for me on the Sony FE 16-35 PZ. Regarding use behind a flat port with Nauticam/Marelux wet lenses this remains to be seen. More likely to work with dry lenses like WACP-1 and Aquista 135D which is coming soon.

I sometimes use this configuration for fisheye and the Laowa 10/12mm F/2.8 rectilinear lenses.

Regarding Marelux strobes, the third strobe in the line is Apollo Y which has the ability to cancel pre-flash. When Marelux first arrived on the U/W photo scene five years ago they introduced housings only designed for full frame mirrorless cameras. Along with those housings they offered manual flash triggers for around $200.00 which use two 2032 batteries that last for around 10,000 flashes. These triggers were designed only for Marelux housings. Later came FlashFuel 2100 capable of 140,000 flashes and a separate battery connected by USB to the camera extend camera battery life by around double. The FF2100 required a redesign of housings to accommodate the battery. Turtle and UWT also began to design both manual and TTL flash triggers for Marelux housings. The first housings for APS-C cameras were designed around cameras like EOS R7 that have hotshots for MX-triggers and use the native 125mm port system also used for FF. Now that housings are coming for cameras like EOS R50, OM1 II and more the Apollo Y was introduced to include the PRE-FLASH cancelation. Marelux first two strobes Apollo III and Apollo S were designed to allow use of the Lumilink for wireless flash triggering and to focus on speed and battery life. Many folks looking for a new strobe focus first on GN or Watt-seconds without paying any attention to the strobes beam angle. Apollo III, S and Y all have a native 120 degree beam angle expandable to 140 with a diffuser. The GN can easily be increased by simply narrowing the beam angle so while strobes like the Sea & Sea YS-D3 have a GN33 it is at a beam angle of 80X105 degrees. With the included white diffuser the angle becomes 100 X 110 and GN drops to 28. This is not a bad thing but just know that by the time you get to the native 120 angle of Apollo Y the GN's are the same +/- a point or two. Backscatter does the same thing, MF-3 has GN19 and angle of less than 100 degrees. Again the MF-3 is designed mostly around macro so reducing the beam angle to raise GN makes sense. You may also want to consider power source. Nearly all of the newer strobes and video lights that don't have a proprietary battery pack have moved to 18650 or 21700 Li-ion cells. Why does this make a difference just compare specs for the new strobes. The S&S YS-D3 uses four AA Ni-MH cells, S&S spec sheet indicates 220 flashes at full power charge with recycle times of 1.7 sec. on full charge. Inon S2000 with Pro eneloop AA's 500 flashes at full power and recycle times of 2.0 secs. full power. By comparison Apollo Y with two 21700 at full power gives you around 1500 flashes and full power recycle times of 0.6 sec. We of course don't shoot all photos at full power but the specs clearly favor Li-ion batteries. Several talking heads have tried to discourage use of Li-ion cells because of fire risk. Marelux have proprietary cells with protection circularity and because these cells need to be carried in carry-on luggage that also sell completely fire proof bags for travel.

First let me say congratulations on the new strobes and to the newish owner of Sea & Sea who I have known for over twenty years. Above you have stated that you discovered "limitations" with Marelux Apollo S strobes but did not articulate what those limitations are. If you are talking about specs. as opposed to cost/availability in your area I would be interested to know what specs you may take issue with. I would submit that regarding specs. the new $549.00 Apollo Y has specs equal to or better than YS-D3. Could you help me understand what is lacking in the Apollo line of strobes.

Marelux has recently introduced the budget friendly ($549.00) Apollo Y strobes, the third strobe in the Apollo line. This is a very travel friendly strobe that uses 21700 or 18650 batteries. I have been shooting these strobes for a few weeks without using any diffusers with both macro and wide zoom lenses. I have attached a few images to illustrate the Apollo Y performance. Product Features 1. Support TTL, Olympus RC, HSS (The TTL, HSS, and RC modes require compatible flash triggers to be used) 2. With a special designed MTL mode, support continuous flashes at 10 FPS within a maximum brightness of GN9 3. Fiber Trigger: with one fiber port that supports M, Pre Flash(Compatible with compact cameras),TTL, Olympus RC(Supports RC-MANUAL, RC-TTL, RC-FP), M-HSS and MTL modes 4. Guide Number: 22 (on land) 5. Beam Angle: 120 °（140 ° with Diffuser ） 6. Color Temperature: 6000k (5500k with white diffuser,4700k with yellow diffuser) 7. Full Power Recycle Time: 0.6 second 8. Dimensions: max diameter 80mm, main body length 116mm, full length (including battery chamber ) 167mm 9. Weight in Air: 880g(with 2*21700 battery),834(with 2*18650 battery) Underwater weight :230g(with 2*21700 battery),184g(with 2*18650 battery) 10. Battery: 2x 21700 lithium batteries(The battery length must be within 75 mm) ,MAX discharging current 15A (Compatible to 18650 lithium batteries with adapter) 11. Detachable Water Proof Battery Chamber (Patented Design) 12. Full Power Flash Count: around 1500 times 13. Two Video Light Colors: 3000 lumens on white（Runtime up to 120 minutes） and 1000 lumens on red 14. Depth Rating: 100m

My review for the new Rokinon AF 14-24mm F/2.8 for Sony full frame is now active in the latest issue #149 of UWPMAG.com. Samyang/Rokinon. has collaborated with venerable lens designer Schneider-Kreuznach to create this new design. UWPMAG.com is a free PDF download.

I started using the Zen 100mm port over a decade age with the Canon 8-15mm and later moved to the Nauticam 140mm port which if placed correctly gives better image quality in the outer parts of the frame. I to found the DP-100 port shade to be a pain to remove and reinstall underwater, in fact I just left if off completely and covered the glass with neoprene getting in and exiting. I had to do the same with the NA port. When I moved to Marelux I used the NA to MX 20mm port adapter and continued using my NA ports. When Marelux introduced their 140mm port with the bayonet sun-shade my NA-140 was the first port to go. I can now remove and reinstall easily, I put the cover over one arm and the shade over the other or clip it off on my BC. The biggest increase in IQ comes when using full frame cameras with the 140 v 100mm. An upside to the 140mm port you may not have considered is the ability to use other fisheye and rectilinear lenses with it as long as the extensions are correct.

I have shot about 15,000 images with a pair of Apollo S strobes and had no issues. I used them first in manual and later moved to TTL with the UWT internal and external flash triggers having shot about 12,000 of the 15,000 in TTL, again no issues and the most accurate TTL I have ever used. You may also want to have a look at the new Apollo Y strobes which are very competitively priced V specs.

Working distance for the older Canon EF 8-15mm MFD is 15cm V. 14.73cm for the RF version I doubt you will see much difference between the two as the lengths with EF adapter are about identical.

The Marelux Aquista 135D ( D meaning direct mount like the WACP line ) has a max diagonal field of view of 135 degrees on full frame with a FF lens set at around 26-28mm. It will have anti-corrosion and anti-reflective coatings, it uses the Marelux serious 5 port mount, which means extensions and port adapters can be used. depth rated to 100 meters and will retail for $2599.00. I have not yet seen or used the lens but will have it in house by April if all goes well. This design will allow for a greater number of lenses to be used than for the Aquista 110 & 130 designs that mount onto a flat 67mm port. A list of lenses should be coming soon and I will post when they are released.

I have been using the Marelux single flip adapter with both SMC-1 and Marelux Macrovie +5, +10 & +15 C/U lenses for two years now. Both NA & MX mount the same with the lens protruding a bit in the rear of the holder rather than flat. Single flip is $259.00 and the dual is $299.00 and both come with the installation tool.

A zoom gear with a creative design will be needed to get around the filter holder that protrudes out of the rear of the lens if you are zooming from the housing. I doubt the lens will be adaptable to other brands like the EF lenses are. I expect we will see several EF versions for sale just like the Sony 90mm macros when the 100 macro was released. Looks like an exciting lens for U/W shooters.

I have the lens and the only test I have done is with the 140mm dome. As expected soft at the edges and covers about 60% sharply so OK in a pinch but the Marelux 210mm or 230mm ports would be a much better choice. I had the port direct mounted and will try with a 15mm extension as well at some point. Currently working on other lenses.