Dave_Hicks

How are you applying the Carbon or Fiberglas coating to your parts? What material are you using?

Most of my underwater prints have been PETG. Things exposed to the elements like 2nd Stage Regulator Purge, Optical Cable connectors and Inon330 Strobe button-blocker. They have held up well for several hundred dives with no sign of deterioration. Zoom & Focus rings I printed in PLA as they don't get much exposure. I need to make another 2nd stage regulator part and will use PETG. For the Port Float I decided to go with PLA for the first draft as it would be coated with epoxy, and direct exposure to the elements would not matter so much. I am considering printing with ABS for the v2 attempt as it is supposed to have better strength than both PLA and PETG. It doesn't like UV light, but again I think a primer paint and epoxy layer will deal with that. I've not made an ABS print yet, but recently upgraded to a Bambu P1S that can print this material. I'll try it today or tomorrow. I'll try to take the PLA port float down past 30 meters this week, but I rarely have cause to go as deep at 40 meters. I'll do a bounce down there if I get the chance in the next few weeks.

That is good input. The current design used PLA, but I have considered ABS as a stronger material. Do you have an opinion on ABS vs PETG in this application? I have another design for modular floats that snap on to ULCS arms. I haven't tested it yet with epoxy as I was try to get validation with the port floats first.

I've made a handful of dives with the Float Collars for the Port87 and Port60 now. No problems, and they seem to work very well. Form fitting to port, securely attached, and it blends right into the rig. Balance and handling is much improved. Best of all no leaks and no implosions! I want to get at least 10-20 dives on these to declare success, including some dives below 100feet. Perhaps in a few weeks I'll be ready to share a design. To get these watertight I used a clear epoxy resin that is easily painted on to the part. Aside from the fairly toxic fumes and wearing a good mask in a ventilated space, this is pretty quickly done.

I don't see one anywhere. Design one and share it!

I recently created these 3d printed custom fit port-attached float collars for Nauticam port 60 & 87. I have done a handful of dives with each and they worked great. The 87 float adds about 400g of buoyancy and helps a lot if you use diopters mounted to the port which tends to make the rig front heavy. image widget

If you are shooting a WWL port for wide angle, it's no more difficult to pack than a Macro port. They are quite a great solution with amazing quality. I've been using a WWL-C for a few months with a Z8 and it is fantastic. And the Mirrorless EVF advantage is just as important as with Wide Angle as with Macro. Add a 45deg viewfinder and it's incredible how much better than a DSLR it can me.

After a trip to Galapagos years ago, we had particularly strong currents. I really had to clamp down my arms to get them to stay in place. After I go home and did a more relaxed dive, I noticed that all my arm segments were super floppy! I assumed that the o-rings had taken a beating and bought a full new set. Problem solved! I had my first set of ULCS clamps for over 10 years and used them on many hundreds of dives. At some point when I was reconfiguring my camera and adding longer arm segments, I decided to buy all new clamps. I did a good job cleaning all of the older ones and put them up for sale. I recall that I was able to sell them for about 50% of the cost of brand-new replacements. If these things are cared for, they hold their value really well over time. Not too many UW Photography accessories you can say that about!

My PETG & TPU printed underwater camera parts have fared well on hundreds of dives.

You are talking like there is only one correct way to do lighting. This is not so. You can backlight from behind the port. You are able to create much more dramatic light and shadows with all of 3d space to position your strobes, which I do frequently. Pointing the strobe toward the lens is OK. However, with this WWL len/port it can catch an internal reflection perhaps more dramatically than other ports I've used. "also they are not red" Are you trying to tell us that this is a T-shaped bubble or sun flare? I assume the color is changed via some refraction in the glass as in chromatic aberration.

See below: This is flare caused by the strobe reflecting in the lens. The lens/port CAN see the strobe. I do a lot of shooting where the subject is backlit and/or the strobe is in front to the port aiming back toward the lens. Most ports don't show this sort of reflection, so I suspect it is a quirk of the WWL wet optics. In this case it's easily removed from the photo. I took another shot seconds after this one where I pulled the strobe back just a bit and the reflection went away. I was shooting an Inon strobe with a t-shaped pair of bulbs. It's clearly visible. null

It is flare in the WWL-C. I was shooting with it today after reading this thread. Confirmed. I released any bubbles at the start of the dive. In some particular strobe positions I can see the 2 parts of the "T-shaped" xenon bulbs of my Inon 330. In the very next shot I move the flash off the plane of the port and it is gone. I use a lot of inward lighting and if it is on the plane of the glass port it can reflect.

Looks like left right strobes positioned too close to the port. Get longer arms and get them up and out! Try two 16 inch segments per arm.

FYI - I shared a 3d printed design for the 24-50z Nauticam zoom gear. Save yourself a bundle with DIY. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6460615

That 9.99/1TB plan is for Lightroom only - Not Lightroom Classic.