Phil Rudin

Another Fisheye option for Sony is the Sigma 15mm F/2.8 EXDG this image is using the Sigma MC-11 adapter. If you are more of a rectilinear lens fan the Laowa 10mm F/2.8 might be more your style if you are willing to deal with a 230mm dome port for best results. The ever changing light from the tonic water of the Santa Fe River over the entrance to Devil's Ear springs, High Springs Florida, USA. Sony A7C II, with Sigma 15mm F/2.8 Fisheye lens, Marelux MX-A7CII/R housing, MX-140mm dome port, two Marelux Apollo S strobes, ISO-320, F/16, 1/160th sec. Laowa 10mm, second image, same location using a Sony A7R V, Marelux MX-A7RV housing, with two Marelux Apollo S strobes, ISO-640, F/13, 1/100th sec.

This week Marelux has announced three new and innovative products. The Marelux Artemis 3000 RMT video light which has 3000 lumens of white light output, 1000 lumens red light output and 600 lumens blue light output all at 100% with four steps of dimming. The light has a 120 degree beam angle and uses two 18650 3.7V lithium batteries. The Artemis 3000 also has video mode control and a remote control mode to trigger the camera shutter from up to ten meters away using the new remote shutter module. The remote shutter module is fitted inside the housing and can receive a blue light signal from the Artemis 3000 at receiving angles up to 140 degrees. This new tech allows you to set your housing system on a tripod or other stand and them fire the system remotely from up to ten meters away without using a trigger cord, perfect for shy subjects like Garden Eels and many other burrowing animals. The third new product is called a terminal flash repeater. This works in conjunction with the Marelux LumiLink wireless flash trigger to fire non-Marelux optically triggered strobes of all makes. During the November DEMA show the LumiLink 2.0 optical transmitter was a hit with many photographers looking to fire strobes remotely without hiving to use slave-light or long optical cords or other triggering devices. Many of those interested ask if Marelux could develop the same tech for non-Marelux strobes that fire optically. The terminal flash repeater can be used to fire strobes remotely from as far away as ten meters. Simply attach the device to your strobes using a short sync cord and they can be fired in manual flash mode, in continuous shooting mode and high-speed sync modes above 1/200th sec. using the LumiLink as the triggering device. Both triggering devices use the patented Marelux signal from camera/housing which is encrypted into a blue light signal to the receiving device. Go to the marelus.co products page for more information

I attached some photos using the Sony FE 16-25mm F/2.8 in the Marelux Sony A1 housing with Marelux 180mm dome port and 55mm's of extension. That is 5mm less than I use with the Sony 20-70mm. Regarding using the 140mm port I would not expect to get great results at any f/stop. All taken in several springs in north Florida USA. For Nauticam with the 180mm you will likely use the 35.5 adapter and 35mm extension for a total of 70.5mm of extension or 30+40 with an N100 port.

Hi Jack, I'll take it, can I Zelle the payment?

I use the Sony A7R V with a verity of lenses, ports, port extensions, strobes and more. Rather than doing all Math I just attach one or two of the Marelux 1500ml Flexibouys to my housing and make adjustments in the amount of buoyancy on the fly. They can be moved for landscape and portrait, added around extensions behind heavy lenses like wet lenses and have a verity of other uses. They are $40.00US each, light weight, pack flat and take up very little space. Just remember that they will tend to hold water so need to be drained when you exit the water.

Not sure of the relevance of the comparison between a 27.2 degree AOV lens and a 23.1 degree AOV lens other than they can both be used on the same Nikon Z cameras. It makes more sense to me to compare Nikon Z 105 to Nikon AF-S 105 VR. The upsides to the Tamron 90mm over the Sony 90mm are the more modern focusing motors that make the AF quicker and more accurate, 12-blade diaphragm for better sunstars and higher quality Bokeh at wider aperture settings, retail cost of $699.00US v. over $1000.00US for Nikon 105 Z and Sony 90 macros. Perhaps the biggest upside to the Tamron 90 that has not been pointed out in this post, underwater video reviews and more is the simple fact the the focus limiter has a big advantage over all the other Marco lenses I have reviewed. Every 1:1 macro I know Z105, FE 90, Sigma 105 and many more all have a focus limiter of 1:1 to 0.5mm or 19.69 inches. This does not cover the normal range that most macro photographers shoot at and therefore requires you to shoot from 1:1 to infinity for that extra few inches of distanceneededo for many subjects. The Nauticam MFO-1 helps to mitigate this issue by giving you focus for a little less than 1:1 out to between 1082-1002mm or 42.6 to 39.45 inches. This is great but most of use will never shoot a 90 to 105 macro lens anywhere near 39 inches from the subject. The Tamron has a focus limiting distance from 1:1 to 70cm or 27.56 inches, my guess is that about 95% of what we shoot without a closeup lens added will be within this range. The advantage for both the MFO-1 and the Tamron is far less hunting than at 1:1 to infinity. While the Tamron does not have the full advantage of the MFO-1 it has a far better shooting range that other macros starting from 1:1.

A great and reasonably priced lens. I also reviewed the Sigma 105 in the prior issue. They have become my go to pair. Have not used THE Sony 90 since I got the TAMRON.

Agree, no visible AF/MF switch and does not appear one would fit. According to DPReview staff at the CP+ show they have reported it is a MF lens.

I totally agree with Isaac that none of these measurements would be accurate enough to build a specialty lens like a conversion of the Nikon's RS 13mm. My measurements were more to demonstrate that within housing brands the distance will not be the same for all camera brands specifically the measurements Adventure was getting for Canon in a Marelux V. my measurements for Sony cameras in Marelux housings. Isaac, if you are located in the South Florida area I would be happy to provide some Marelux Sony housings for you to measure for your project.

Getting back to the A7C II/CR I now have the Marelux MX-A7CII/R housing in house and as you would expect it is a bit larger than the Nauticam housing due to the fact it uses the five inch (127mm) port opening rather than the NA-N100 port opening. I find the Marelux standardized ports and extensions to be an upside for switching between all systems and brands. Marelux offers a 32 flat port that works well with the Sony 28-60 zoom and wet lenses like the WWL lenses along with Port adapters to mount wet lenses like the WACP-C, WACP 1/2 and so on. I have attached photos of the front and rear along with shots of the back hinge and rotary locking system. This locking system reduces size and lowers cost to $2898.00 for the housing in black. This housing also allows you to use the FlashFuel system a combo of manual flash trigger and extended (over double) battery life. I see all sorts of debate over which strobes have the best battery life but the face remains that if you are using mirrorless cameras most strobe batteries way outlast the camera battery shooting stills and for video run time is also extended. I have added the 45 degree finder, vacuum system, and the LumiLink wireless flash trigger for the two Apollo S strobes (shown with the yellow color caps 4900K). LumiLink allows me to easily trigger two on housing strobes and two off housing strobes all at the same time without any additional slave units or long fiber cords. This is a feature that can be put to good use both for wide lenses or macro.

My plastic ruler is less than accurate and has a 6mm blank space but I took that into consideration when I made the posted measurements. What is most important to me is that I currently have three different Marelux housings in house for Sony A1, A7R V and A7C II/R and the cameras to match. Using my measuring device all three housings are the same +/- 0.2/3mm.

I will start over with this since the text and photos disappeared. This is a lot of do about not much to me. As you can see in both photos my measurement is identical +/- very little. First photo is the Marelux Sony A7R V housing and the second is the Sony A7C II/R housing. The Canon cameras are bigger and so is the housing, as a result the camera sits further back inside the housing. The only lens the Canon and Sony systems have in common is the Canon 8-15mm fisheye used in both Marelux housings with an adapter. The Canon camera needs a 30mm extension for 140 & 230mm dome ports in the Marelux housing while the Sony cameras use a 40mm extension for 140 & 230mm ports. The 10mm difference in extensions seems correct given the difference in flange distance.

The chart is I believe a measurement from the lens mount (not sensor) to the front opening (outside) of the housing. I don’t have a very accurate ruler but with the Sony housings it appears to be very close to the 43mm stated for Marelux on the chart. This has remained constant across at least seven MX housings I have used for several Sony cameras. I have handled several housings for Canon and Nikon at DEMA and all appeared to have the same distances.

Hi Bill, Not ignoring you just very busy. I will send a PM with some photos during the week.

Which one they made two?

Regarding the 16-25mm F/2.8 I have a custom gear and I have started with 55mm of Marelux extensions with Marelux 180mm dome. No results yet worth posting, only pool tests. Regarding the Laowa 10mm the 140mm dome is not ideal but works in a pinch where corners would have been soft anyway.

The big advantage of the 16-25mm over most of the Sony 16-35 lenses is the 18cm minimum focus distance v. most of the 16-35 lenses that are in the 25cm or greater range, Much better for use in a 180mm dome port.

Both Nauticam and Marelux support the Sigma 14-24mm in the respective 180mm ports with the difference being extension lengths. I have a lot of experience with both systems and I can assure you that the 230mm will be the better choice in terms of corner sharpness. As Chris has pointed out minimum focus distance is critical and often trumps lens quality. So lenses like Tamron 17-28mm with MFD of 19cm is likely to outperform Sony 16-35mm F/4 PZ at 24cm in 180mm dome. The Rokinon AF 14mm F/2.8 with MFD of 20cm is every bit as capable as the Sony FE 14mm F/1.8 at 25cm. Recently I have been using the Laowa 10mm F/2.8 with very close MFD of 12cm for super wide with the 230mm dome. This lens has the same 130 degree AOV as wet lenses like WACP1/2, WWL-1B & WWL-C without the fisheye distortion and with the ability to shoot very wide splits.

I think the 92.9 diameter and 86mm filter size would be the bigger issue,

I reviewed the Laowa 10mm F/2.8 AF lens in uwpmag.com issue #141 using the Sony A7R V in a Marelux MX-A7RV housing using the 230mm port and 20mm extension. The conversion for Nauticam should be the N120 230mm dome and N100 to N120 35.5 port adapter. I have not tested this combo but should be close. The upside to Sony FE 16-25 F/2.8 G is the 18cm minimum focus distance, which is better than most of the other 16-35 offerings. The 180/60mm extension sounds about right for Nauticam. Seems odd they would support 24-50 and not 15-25 although 24-50 can be used with WACP-C. It appears the 24-50 gear should work. null

All kidding aside we know that Nauticam has an excellent line of products covering a wide range of cameras. I believe Nauticam's first product was introduced at DEMA in 2008, the attached Done port designed for white balancing for video. UWPMAG.com first mentioned Nauticam in a product announcement, a Nikon D90 housing and 180 viewfinder in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue prior to the 2009 DEMA where they had that housing and an APS-C housing for a Canon camera. Now 16 years later the rest is history. Marelux will be attending its third DEMA later this month and I think they have rolled out a lot in less than four years. Regarding the OM housing and other M43 cameras at this time all of the Marelux housings use the same Series 5 (five inch) port mounting system from the $12,000.00 ALEXA Mini Cinema housing to the $2800.00 Canon EOS R7 APS-C housing. Many consider this an advantage over the Four port sizes for Nauticam (N85, N100, N120, N200) because the Marelux ports and extensions can be moved between all the camera brands. Like Nauticam when they first arrived, Marelux offers port adapters for Nauticam and other brands but not in a mount as small as N85. Marelux also have adapters to mount the excellent WACP-1/2, WACP-C and FCP wet wide lenses along with a port for WWL-1B and of course C/U lenses. To move to M43 housings Marelux would need to develop a smaller port system useful with only a small number of cameras. While I think this will eventually evolve it is going to take time just like it has for other manufactures. At this time efforts revolve around new products like the excellent Apollo III and Apollo S strobes, LumiLink wireless trigger, support arm systems, video lighting and other more profitable products. Regarding housings that except more than one camera Marelux has several including the Sony FX3/FX30, Sony A7R III/A7 III, ALEXA Mini LF/MINI, Z6 II/ Z7 II, EOS R6 II/R6, Sony A7C II/A7C and Atomos V/V 5".

The down side to the blue O-rings is that you can't Gucci out the black housings or strobes, with Marelux you have a choice of five colors for both housings and strobes which seem to draw a lot more interest than O-ring color. If you feel left out the T-shirts, Hats, Luggage and more are available at Marelux.co or your through the dealer network. I will also point out that a pack of 10 Marelux 25mm O-rings sells for $9.00 not $16.00 so some folks may want to move to green for Guccigram.

Thank you, perhaps next year in Orlando Florida.