bvanant

Our lab uses lots of fiber optics for a variety of medical applications. The cutting tool that I showed costs about $12 and gets you a very nice square cut. Modern strobes for the most part are pretty sensitive, but bad cuts often meant that the older S&S strobes were iffy. Bill

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)

I think yes, it is S1 mode, single flash Bill

For sale a never been wet Big Blue VTL2600 P (in pink) with 2 batteries and charger. The batteries are NOT the Big Blue ones, my Big Blue battery refuses to charge. Great light 2600 lumens wide, 1000 lumen spot + red. New this was $439, for sale $225 shipped in the U.S. Bill

I have been trying to sell a 7D MII Nauticam for a year. Best bet is to donate it to someone like the Heroes of the Sea (from the Rocio del Mar) or to a local dive club or sell it really cheap to a young diver/photographer starting out. I did get an offer for the camera plus housing for like $400 (with ports but no lenses) and said sorry but not worth packing it up. Ended up donating it. Bill

My (probably incorrect) understanding is that putting the WL command ON turns off pre flash and runs everything manual. Bill

I think it is a well known issue. Not malicious but just kind of lazy keeping the site up to date. They are also a bit well known for advertising something (like a Retra strobe), you call to order they say it will be a while so why don't you buy this other one we have in stock. BVA

I have personally ordered multiple items from Bluewater that they said online were in stock but in fact weren't. Right now on the Bluewater site they say that I could get a RecSea video housing by Feb 26 when in fact that is complete BS. When I call they say not available. Bill

Given that Backscatter is the US distributor of AOI, and the maker of the Atom flash, they would be my first choice. The AOI OM1 housing seems to be in stock at Backscatter. Bill

We use a standard Macbeth chart in a housing designed for an iPad.

Our custom frames guy in SoCal is quite a bit cheaper than Bay Photo, typically for 20 x 24 around $85 depending on the matting. This is in relatively cheap classic black metal frame, single 4 ply white mat and glass. Of course if you go to higher end frame materials like reclaimed wood from the Great Lakes, your frames can be way lot more. I really like metal prints (we get ours from Samy's) but my wife won't let me get a dye sub printer to do it myself. I am thinking of trying acrylic face mounts but I read that the yield problem is significant, maybe 1 in 3 tries generates a good print. Cheers Bill