Phil Rudin

So for Aquatica 230mm/9.25" and 152mm/6" ports the extension is 39.5mm (#48462) when using the Canon 8-15mm Fisheye zoom with adapter. For Marelux using the 230mm and 140mm ports the extension is 40mm for the Canon 8-15mm with adapter, very close to the Aquatica. With Nauticam using 230mm and 140mm ports the extension is 65.5 or N100 to N120 35.5 + N120 30mm extension II using the Canon 8-15mm with adapter. Unfortunately Aquatica does not list the length of extension #48461 used with the eight inch acrylic port for the same lens. Extrapolate from this what you will or you can compare other like lenses, ports and extensions. Also be aware that the Aquatica 8" acrylic is not a fisheye type port so likely to be less forgiving.

As I have said on several occasions I do old-school testing and basically come up with the same results without all the math. First I have said back several pages the 180mm dome is a buster Laowa 10mm, just not worth the effort. For travel with both the Sony FE 20-70mm and the Laowa 10mm F/2.8 the best two choices are the 140mm port with the shade removed and the 230mm port with shade. Any of the Matty Smith domes also work well. Port extension varies depending on the housing brand you are using and the available extension lengths. Regarding Nauticam the 140mm & 230mm ports are N120 and the shortest N100 to N120 port adapter is the expensive 25mm specifically designed for use with the WACP-2 and Sony FE 14mm F/1.8 lens. The next choice is the recommended 35.5mm port adapter which should vignette. With the Marelux housing I am using 35mm's of extension a 20mm + 15mm. The closest equivalent in Nauticam would be an N100 to N120 15mm extension which does not exist. Best choice will be the over $700.00 N100 to N120 25mm with some vignetting or to contact SAGADIVE.com and have a custom extension in the 15mm range made which will cost less than the NA-25mm option. Please feel free to correct me if my Nauticam conversion is wrong. Photos are the Sony FE 20-70mm in the Marelux 140mm dome with shade. The block with the currency is closest focus at 70mm. The pool light is 20mm at closest focus. The steps and split are both at 20mm. I am using 75mm's of extension with the Marelux housing for these test photos. Marelux setup with the Laowa 10mm and 35mm's of extension. null

I am currently shooting Marelux housings for A7R V and A1 using 20mm extension for the 230mm and MS 12 inch ports and 35mm for the 140mm dome with shade removed. Not sure how this translates to Aquatica but 25mm sounds close.

You may want to contact Aquatica direct because they have the lens and appear to be making custom extensions for all three large ports glass and acrylic.

I think the broader issue here may be why underwater photographers. I have been traveling to Cozumel through Cancun for decades and I have never seen anyone taxed on a $5000.00 bag of golf clubs, custom surf boards, dive gear, custom bycicles or any of a number of other sporting goods. I seems that if you have expensive camera gear you must be a professional U/W photographer (whatever that is) but not a pro surfer, pro golfer and so on. For me this is simple, the Caribbean and Central America are littered with excellent dive destinations where I won't be confronted with these possible customs issues on arrival. I have dozens of friends in the Mexican dive industry and it concerns me that this customs problem is causing them to loose business but as a consumer why would I want this possible aggravation on my arrival for a relaxing holiday.

I see many BW shooters using 60mm macro lenses on DSLR, APS-C cameras which is about equal to the Sony 90mm macro I use on Sony full frame. Lots of full frame shooters are also using 100/105 lenses with success.

Architeuthis, I don't have access to the Sony FE 16-35mm F/2.8 II GM so I have not compared the two. Howeverthe Sony FE 16-25mm F/2.8 G it is the best lens in the range that I have used to date. Based on feedback from folks I know in the industry the 16-35mm F/2.8 II GM in the 180mm port does not outperform the 16-25 except for the extra focal length. Also I own the Sony FE 20-70mm F/4 also a G lens and would chose it over 16-35 if I want extra length underwater, I also prefer this lens above water. These two lenses cost about the same as the GM lens and both work well in the 180mm dome. These lenses are part of my travel kit along with the Laowa 10mm and 140mm or 230mm port. Chris, The Canon RF 15-30mm is not a lens I have tested in the 180mm port however I have been told by friends in the industry that it does not preform as well in the 180mm port as the close focusing Sony lenses in the same focal range. Dreifish, The Sony FE 24-50mm F/2.8 G has been added to the latest Nauticam update (7/9/24) for Sony FF housings from A7 II forward. It will pare with WACP-C and a verity of ports but WWL-C is not listed. The Nikon's 13mm fisheye is a great lens but it is not light at over two pounds before the conversion so I don't think the difference V 8-15 in 140 port will be that big a difference. For someone who uses fisheye 90% of the time rather than 10% this may be a more attractive offering. Also I doubt that this lens can be made to focus much above 15 FPS. SAGA makes custom extensions so they may be able to offer something in the 12/13 range. The port adapters for WACP-1 are also offered for a number of housings besides Nauticam.

I can do this with $1000.00 to spare and cover most of your needs. First the only mirrorless camera line that has a fisheye lens is the M4/3 8mm fisheye New about $800.00 from Panasonic and $900.00 on sale in the US from Olympus. (Sigma does make a 15mm F/1.8 fisheye for Sony and L-mount for $2000.00 but not well suited to U/W work) I really like the M4/3 format but regardless if you go OM-10 IV or OM-1 II the 20MP image quality remains about the same as it has been over the last several years. Both cameras sync to 1/250th and OM-1 has a higher dot LED screen than the OM-10. The Canon EOS R50 costs $700.00 with the 18-45mm kit lens it has a 24MP sensor which has better image quality than the OM-1 II, it uses the same LCD as the OM-1 and has the 1/250th sync speed. It also has a pop-up flash that can trigger optical strobes in manual of TTL. It has decent video, a base ISO of 100 and more. Nauticam makes an interesting housing for this camera that has a fixed flat port and a builtin bayonet mount that allows you to add closeup lenses like CMC-1 and wide wet lenses like WWL-C and WWL-1B. A complete Nauticam NA-R50 Pro Package system includes tray with both grips and ball mounts and vacuum system and trigger extension for $2030.00 with camera and lens that gets you too $2730.00, CMC-1 which gives you macro capability at 45mm and WWL-C which gives coverage from 116 to 52 degrees adds 1546.00 bringing the total to $4276.00. The striped down version without the grips and tray with a vacuum system brings you under $4000.00. The CMC-1 requires a $58.00 bayonet adapter. If you want to go to WWL-1B with 130 to 60 degree coverage add an additional $387.00. The big upside to this system is it travels well, only requires one camera lens, transitions well from a compact because you will likely use the LCD and havery good image quality.

Chris, I think you may have may have mixed up lenses. The Canon RF 15-35mm an F/2.8 lens only focuses to 28cm not at all well suited to a 180mm dome. The Canon 15-30mm F/4.5-F/6.3 focuses to only 13cm which would seem to be a much better fit for the 180mm dome. This is a highly rated lens that is about 1/6th the price of the 16-35 F/2.8 in the US, $2100.00 v $350.00.

Regarding Sony FE rectilinear lenses in a 180mm dome port you need to be careful about lens choice. Sony FE 16-35mm F/2.8 GM minimum focus is 28cm. Sony FE 16-35mm F/2.8 GM II is 22.1cm Sony FE 16-35mm F/4 PZ is 24cm Tamron 17-28mm F/2.8 is 19cm Sony FE 16-25mm F/2.8 is 18cm For best results in the 180mm dome those with a minimum focus distance of 20cm or less work best with the GM II working pretty well also. I recently moved from the Tamron 17-28 F/2.8 to the Sony FE 16-25mm F/2.8 G. Image quality is every bit as good as the GM II underwater in the 180mm dome at half the cost. Looking back over more than thirty years of using 16-35mm lenses U/W I used the 16-24mm range over 95% of the time so will not be missing the 35mm end. I also used the Nikon's RS as my only U/W system for sixteen years and at best used the 13mm fisheye about 10% of the dives I made. I just don't see the big upside over housing the Canon 8-15mm in 140 and 230mm ports. While I love many of the A1 features I have been using the A7R V almost exclusively since adding the UW Technics trigger and Marelux strobes with HSS. I rarely shoot above 1/800th so the power falloff is not that great V the 1/400th with the A1. Regarding the Marelux housing V. Nauticam N100 housing for Sony FF cameras the conversion is about 17mm difference. So with WACP-1 you use the N100-N130 35.5 port adapter for 28-60 with Nauticam. With Marelux I use the 20mm NA to MX extension for WACP-1 and the custom 17mm N100 to MX extension for WACP-C. With WACP-C using 17mm the image is noticeably wider (10 degrees or so) V the Nauticam setup. For the Laowa 10mm I have been using Marelux 20mm extension for the 230mm and 12 inch Matty Smith. If Marelux releases a 25mm extension I think that would be the best option but you begin to split hairs when getting down to 5mm increments. With the 140mm dome I use 35mm (20mm+15mm) with the sun shade removed. At 40mm the system will vignette. SAGADIVE.com makes custom port extensions for Nauticam down to about 12/13mm in N120. Not sure about N100.

For me the Nikon T5 is just another option, I also have 10mm and 16mm extension tubes for Sony full frame. Most of use who shoot a lot of macro are in the area 0f 1:1 out to about 1:4/1:5. At 1:5 you are over half a meter from the subject. Very few macro shooters are shooting from two/three meters away with a macro lens. The T5 is a X 1.5 diopter closeup lens where you are shooting through extra glass. The 16mm extension tube gets you about the same amount of additional magnification but without shooting through extra glass. The downside for the extension tube is it requires extra light, one stop at the most where the T5 does not. Both put you in a range where you can't get to infinity. Both can also be used with wet closeup lenses for greater magnification. An additional upside is a quality used Nikon T5 cost around $50.00 and a new set of extensions is around $83.00, The SMC-1 recommended for full frame cameras is currently $589.00. For budget minded folks starting out these are great options V. Wet lenses.

I have been advised that the version 1.0 of Lumilink can be upgraded by Marelux to version 2.0 but version 1.0 of the Apollo III strobe can not be upgraded to version 2.0. UW Technics flash trigger also needs to be upgraded which can also be done by returning to UWT.

From Pavel at UWTechnics. Wireless trigger on Apollo III 2.0 support 1/250s,for old version wireless trigger support 1/160s TTL and RC improved a lot on Apollo III 2.0. MTL mode improved stability. Major change is wireless encrytion code. I have first version and it will sync with Sony A7R V to 1/180th sec and with A1 1/250th both under the camera ratings of 1/250th and 1/400th using LumiLink. With fiber optic cables HSS works to 1/8000th sec and MTL is stable for my cameras. I don't use TTL but I did not find that it works that well with version I. To do TTL, RC, HSS and MTL you need a third party flash trigger like the UW Technics and Turtle triggers. These triggers differ between camera brands. To get the trigger, strobe and Lumilink to talk better both the strobe, Lumilink and trigger needed to be re-coded which led to version 2.0. The first Lumilink will not work with V 2.0 strobes but I believe it can be re-coded. Version 2.0 Lumilink with not work with the first strobes and those strobes like mine can not be re-coded. V1 has a serial number inside the battery compartment with A followed by three numbers. V2 has a B followed by three numbers. With Lumilink the number is on the outside and works the same way.

I have owned my Sony FE 90mm macro since my first Sony A7 II and at that time I could not get along without a manual focus gear. While I still own a manual focus gear I have found with the Sony A1 and Sony A7R V that I rarely if ever use it because the auto focus is just that good if setup correctly. If cost is an issue this is the item that would be at the bottom of my list and can be added at a later time. AF does not get you all the way to 1:1 with any macro lens. If I intend to look for subjects where I need a closeup lens, be it +10, +15 or beyond then I simply turn off AF and set the lens to 1:1 before I install it in the housing. For me I see no need to use the C/U lens until I am at 1:1 because I see no upside. when I want to go beyond 1:1 I simply flip in whatever C/U lens I am using and focus by rocking the camera in and out until I achieve sharp focus. If I decide I want to go bigger I can always engage AF in the menu.

I used the Nauticam trigger in a Nauticam A1 housing and it synced to 1/400th in full frame and 1/500th in APS-C. I now have the Marelux housings for both A7R V and A1 and both work with the standard Marelux flash trigger at A7R V 1/250th and A1 1/400th in full frame. I changed out the A7R V trigger for the UW Technics trigger when I started using HSS and MTL shot with the UWT, works great for these functions. I have the TTL trigger but I am not a TTL user with my MF-2 and Apollo III strobes. The bayonet adapter is two parts, the SMC-1/2 CMC-1/2 thread into the ring then bayonet to the mount that threaded to the 67mm port threads. The blue thing is the lock that holds the ring in place and then is used to remove the lens when you are not using it. The down side is that you need a place for the lens while it is not mounted where the flip just holds it out of the way.

Nauticam housings have a threaded fiber cord mount, not a push-in plug mount. So you need the NA-kit attached photo or the cap to plug your current cords into. Also the standard Nauticam flash trigger for Sony cameras will fire your MF-1 strobes using fiber cords. If you have an interest in other housing options you can find several.

I had the same issue with the Sea & Sea YS-300 strobes that have a proprietary battery pack which eventually was discontinued and had to be replaced by custom made packs. The big downside is this was in the film days when we were only shooting three or four thirty-six exposures rolls a day. By today's standards we do that many exposures and much more on one dive.

As I suggested above the problem for the OP was the result of being in E-shutter rather than Mechanical shutter. This is not an issue restricted to Sony cameras but one released to all cameras with E-shutter on or ones like the Nikon Z8 which have electronic rolling shutter and no mechanical shutter. Above 1/200th sec. the cameras rolling shutter starts to distort lines and the higher the shutter speed the worse the problem. With electronic shutter this problem can not be overcome with any type of additional flash trigger it is just a downside to using electronic shutters. Going forward we will begin to see more cameras with global shutter which is electronic but has a completely different architecture that reads the entire sensor all at once rather than line by line like the electronic shutter sensor cameras. The Sony A9 III is the only global shutter camera on the market at this time and it will sync with strobes all the way to 1/80,000th sec. in camera without a special trigger. At this time the downsides are high cost $6000.00 for the body, base ISO of 250th and low MP's 24.6 for a full frame camera. Also the Sony A7R V has no issues syncing at 1/250th sec. as suggested above as long as you have a proper trigger like the manual Nauticam trigger being used by the OP with his MF-1 and SUPE D-Pro strobes. Keep ing mind that these are both manual only strobes that have no TTL or HSS features. both with sync to 1/400th on the Sony A1 in full frame and to 1/500th if you switch into APS-C mode. With the Sony A1 HSS triggers are not needed to fire strobes at 1/400th and 1/500th sec. because you are not firing in HSS, instead the speed is achieved by the faster speed of the stacked sensor and a mechanical shutter design using advanced tech that moves the shutter faster than cameras with the normal 1/200th and 1/250th speeds. Example, the attached photo was shot with the Sony A1 and 90mm macro with Nauticam manual flash trigger and two Backscatter MF-1 (non-HSS) strobes at ISO500, F/16 and 1/400th sec. sync speed in full frame.

Regarding the usefulness of the Backscatter MF-1/2 strobes I agree they are great for macro but they also work very well for mid and wide range images. Since I don't shoot much with a fisheye although I have used the MF-1/2's with a fisheye they are very useful for lenses in the 18mm to 100mm range without using the diffusers. I don't see the need for the diffusers since the colors are great and the AOV is very usable. Perhaps we could get more images from these strobe comparisons in the field rather than charts and walls, after all that is really alll that matters. Cave diver is at 20mm two MF-2 strobes at 4/5 setting, ISO 400 F/9, 1/160th sec. Emperor Anglefish at 68mm, ISO-400, F/10, 1/250th sec. Seaslug, detail 90mm macro, ISO-100, F/22, 1/250th and again I shoot in the 4 to 6 power level range. No diffusers used for these images.

I have the A7R V and 90mm macro in a Marelux housing with both Marelux and UWTechnics triggers and no problems up to 1/250th. I have used the MF-1 and MF-2 strobes, Inon Z330, D-Pro, Marelux Apollo III and more. With Apollo set to HSS with the UWT trigger is can sync to 1/8000th and with MF-2 in HSS with UWT trigger I can get to about 1/1600th. Not addressed is that you need to use mechanical shutter for sync above about 1/180th sec. E-shutter does not sync well so be sure to turn off E-shutter and use only mechanical shutter. This is common for all cameras with E-shutter.

Not apples to apples, strobe lighting is measured in degrees of kelvin and more subjective.

CRI, Color Rendering Index is an industry standard 0-100 scale with 100 being the top rating. It has nothing to do with the strobe output. The flash tubes are separate from the video lights. Some of the small yellow circles are the video lights.

Viewfinder review. I also have a like new 180 32212 for sale.

For Chris it seems that using HSS is not a necessary addition to his shooting style. I shot U/W about fifty years before I was able to add higher sync speeds (above 1/250th) to my tool bag. HSS is simply an additional tool that allows you to get some images that would otherwise not be an easily captured. It is hardly necessary for U/W photography anymore than a 60+ MP camera. I have W/U photos I took with a 5MP camera that I am still happy with. I also have images taken with 4/3 cameras that I am happy with. Full frame and higher MP's are simply tools that allow more possibilities and as with everything in photography create some downsides. I live in an area with lots of bright sunshine and clear water. I also dive in several areas of Florida where you can find lots of great photo ops in fairly shallow water. I also as I have aged found myself traveling out of the country to places with sunshine and clear water. For me this makes HSS a useful addition to my toy bag. I don't think anyone here is advocating that HSS it is a must have only that it can be useful in some situations including equipment testing in a swimming pool. Chris you may want to revise this line "To be clear shutter speed has no impact on flash exposure for normal flash shots, this is controlled by the combination of flash power and aperture alone." Most of use know that shutter speed does not impact flash exposure but ISO does in addition to aperture and flash power does. Also as I said above when shooting HSS power falls off the faster the shutter speed. For underwater HSS 99% of the time I will be shooting at speeds between 1/320th and 1/640th. Both the MF-2 and Apollo III strobes have more than enough power to cover those speeds at ISO 100 and F/22, perhaps more. Attached images were all shot at ISO 100, F/16 and 1/640th sec. in a pool while testing a 16mm extension tube on the Sony FE 90mm macro. These could have been shot at F/22 or F/32 with the same results. In this case I was using one Apollo III strobe set to HSS with fiber cored. My standard test used a 35mm slide mount as a frame of reference for 1:1 {life size) with the 16mm extension you can. see that you exceed 1:1 and get to about 1.2:1 last image is with the excellent Marelux MV-10 +10 C/U lens which allows magnification around 2.8:1. null