bvanant

https://www.edmundoptics.eu/p/fiber-optic-cutting-block-54013/10932?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20928138917&gbraid=0AAAAACOW0GNd2Eqw1pCtTs9ihUqLOfZvu&gclid=CjwKCAjw1tLOBhAMEiwAiPkRHtmitgyaIBazMhSyQuI4n8h1yhjxsU57-DEaCTDvsa8_fl3CWaddphoCgXwQAvD_BwE for cutting.

For new strobes I vote for AOI, there is a very neat new snoot for the AOI that has a variable iris, not little sliding plastic bits (but no star or heart😃) Bill

The AOI trigger (at least the Olympus one) is IR based, not much brightness to see. I have had NO issues with the AOI and the MF1 Bill the ==

Say hello to Luca from the underwater tribe from Bill and Nannette

Since it seems that it can fire when connected to the working strobe via a fiber optic, I would suggest that the port on the dodgy strobe could be dirty either on the inside or outside since a relatively weak trigger flash will not fire it but a relatively strong strobe flash does fire it through (presumably ) the same fiber. Bill

You might be surprised how good AI upscaling is. At our booth in the Long Beach scuba show for Southern California Underwater Photo societies, we had 16 x 20 prints from all manners of camera ranging from Z9/R5 to TG6 to iPhone. Even the lowest native resolution devices could make nice prints. Bill

I think there is an envelope of sensors that will work. For example, a 20A max current battery might charge the HF-1 in x time, while a 10 A max current battery might charge it at nX where n is approaching 2. At 15A max current n will be smaller than at 10A. At 5 A max current you will likely still get charging but much slower. I haven't looked at the charging circuit for the HF-1, but in theory you could build a circuit that will not charge below a certain current input but why would you. Bill

I think the Backscatter guy was confusing total capacity (mAh) with max discharge current. Max discharge current is necessarily high for fast recycle time. Bill

Last time at God's pocket there were lots of nudibranchs but they in general were much bigger than the ones here in SoCal. There are a bunch of little ladybug type things that would be ideal for the SMC 3. Take a look at the God's Pocket video on www.blueviews.net under the trip reports videos. Bill

Bag is 55 x 40 x 20 cm and with the insert is just about 1kg Seems to work fine so far Bill

If only I had a camera, will get one later today BVA

I have taken a different approach (Being a cheap bastard). I bought a Metz 44 l cabin backpack ($40) and then a set of padded dividers from Condition 1 ($60) so I get a very light weight, big carrying backpack for about $100. Bill

watt seconds has similar problems unless you are always using the same reflector design. The photons hitting the subject is always complex to measure. Bill

We took our OM1 cameras to Africa with friends shooting Nikon full frame Z9 and Z8 and our shots were comparable for most shots, UW micro 4/3 seems to be as good for even big prints (16x20)