Dave_Hicks

I think maybe they rolled all of the tariff charges onto this one obscure item that they expected nobody to ever buy!

$11,100 USD?!? Is it diamond encrusted or made from meteoric iron?

It really depends on how well you treat your housing and keep it clean. If you are meticulous about soaking and drying most housings can go a long time before needed a full service. However, in some areas the water available is very hard and full of minerals. This can leave ugly residues and calcium build up that probably is not great for the o-ring channels. If you have this situation, make sure to blow dry your housing to get as much of that water off before it dries. Just like with regulators, be wary of post-service hijinks. A buddy recently sent their housing to Ikelite for service, and it came back completely unusable. Controls installed improperly, broken hot shoe, etc. Years ago, I sent my Nauticam D800 housing to Reef Photo for service and while they did a good job, they missed fully inserting a c-clip. The error nearly cost me the use of my camera during a trip. The c-clip popped off and came inches from being lost forever. I called them up and asked for a supply of spare clips and parts to make up for it!

Looking forward to some pictures!

I use my original 45deg viewfinder with a Z8 which has the same warning about size and clipping the EVF. However the Z8 had a "shrink EVF" option that reduces it slightly. With this setting the EVF if fully viewable with the old 45. Some Sony models have a similar option. Look it up for your camera. No doubt the newer model is better, but is it $2000 better?

You can buy a 3d printer for what Nauticam is charging for Zoom Gears these days! If you have access to a printer (say your local library or a friend), you can make one for nothing. If you don't have a printer, let me know and I'd be happy to send you a 24-50z zoom gear. https://makerworld.com/en/models/612361-nauticam-zoom-gear-for-nikon-24-50mm-z-mount-lens#profileId-1820683

Don't pay $450 for a 24-50z. They go for about $250 on the secondary market in excellent shape. I buy lenses from KEH.com whenever possible.

I move between the WWL-C (w/Nikon 24-50z) and the 140mm/8-15fe combo quite a bit. The WWL is more versatile for sure with the ability to shoot near-macro. The 8-15 is great for big, close pelagic animals and for CFWA. Even small or medium fish can be shot. (see below) You need to be more careful lighting the 8-15fe especially in murky waters, but the impact of a fisheye image can make up for the difficulty. Nikon Z8 w/8-15mm Fisheye lens, f13@1/60s iso500, Pair of Backscatter HF-1 strobes

WWL-C Lanyard - Fixed it! Just replaced the rubber grip with a printed TPU rubber version with a couple of loops built it. I made this after my original grip got cut somehow and I added loops to design of my replacement. https://makerworld.com/en/models/637896-nauticam-wwl-c-collar-replacement-with-loops#profileId-563389

I just went to Magdalena Bay in mid-November with Nautilus. Highly recommended to book with them. They are the best and most reliable. I think the peak season is October to February if I recall. We had amazing action and adventure during my week.

Sorry, too lazy to answer.

Yes, the WWL-C is more versatile with a range of full wide angle to near macro. That would a great first lens.

You might want to consider getting both for those trips. The fisheye works best when you can get really close. Like 1-3 feet. The WWL-C can zoom in and can get good images a bit further away, like 5-6 feet. By good I mean "fill the frame". In Socorro you will get to fisheye distance of 1-3 feet from the Mantas, no problems. The sharks and hammerheads, not so much. The WWL-C is better for sharks. You can probably do great with FE in Socorro and be happy. In Coco's you will likely see more hammerheads but they probably won't be in fisheye range. Maybe if you see whalesharks the FE will pay off, but the WWL-C will be better overall I would think. Don't be afraid to crop or switch the camera to DX mode if you want to get even more reach. The Z8 will let you program a quick menu or even a single button to make the switch. The good thing is that both of these lens setups will focus right up to the glass. It makes them both very nice for reef scenes and creatures. The FE excels when you have a massive animal just in front of you.

The prospect of using the WWL-C was a big reason I upgraded to a Nikon mirrorless Z8 last year. It is just a fantastic setup that combined excellent quality, compact setup, and a reasonable price/performance. (Looking suspiciously at you WACP/FCP! Too big, heavy, and expensive. Not that much better the the WWL-C for 5X or more $$$)

Great choice. What are you hoping to shoot? Where at?

BTW, the Nikon 24-50z lens is dirt cheap on used lens sites like KEH. The WWL-C is fairly reasonable too.

Maybe a little crazy. A 230mm dome is a beast and a lot to handle. It will be big and easy to bump it in to stuff and possibly damage the dome. The 230 is really a very niche port and many UW Photographers only use it for split shots at the surface. If you are worried about spending money on gear you won't use much, I'd put a 230mm dome near the top of that list. You should consider starting a little smaller, maybe with a macro lens or smaller dome. The 140mm fisheye or WWL-C are nice and compact, a lot easier to start out with.

Get two cables. +1 to making your own, but DIY is not for everyone. If you need two cables for two strobes, buy 4. They do get broken, damaged, and lost. So that comes to $400 for what is about $30 of industrial fiberoptic. If you have a 3D printer, you can make your own connectors and buy your own fiber. These days, you could buy a printer and the fiber optic for less than $400! You can get more info here, including a reliable source to buy top quality, industrial grade fiber: https://makerworld.com/en/models/846729-diy-optical-fiber-sync-cable-connectors#profileId-1454437

With the Z8 two of the best options are: Nikon f-mount 8-15mm fisheye with 140mm dome Nikon z-mount 24-50mm with WWL-C wet port You will get a lot of use from these two setups for many years to come. I'd argue these two might be all the wide-angle options you need. I recently used the 8-15mm for point blank shots of Humpbacks:

Friends don't let friends TTL. 😉

There is very real value in having a Spare strobe. Backup, loaner, flexibility, etc. Getting 2 Atoms and an MF-3 seems like a great combo to me. The MF strobes will not replace a full powered strobe like the Atom, HF-1, or similar high-powered strobes. The MF strobes are strictly Macro and Snooting machines.

Close enough for an awesome photo! And a little white balancing will greatly improve that image! I know all my whales needed WB work even though I was 1-2 meters away from some of them as they tried to run me over!

A final Whale-Tail goodbye image from Magdalena Bay.

That tool was for film camera in an automated rig, not underwater housings. I took it more as a proof of concept. Parametric models with OpenScad are pretty common in 3D printing, and housing lens gears would be a great application for it.

I have a basic template from which I customize: OD of the lens zoom/focus ring Distance from Housing Sprocket to top of zoom/focus ring Height of zoom/focus ring Plug in OD & Height parameters to customize a TPU friction ring Plug in OD+Thickness of TPU ring and Distance to top of zoom/focus ring to customize the Gear Cylinder That works for most lenses. It's only if the lens telescopes or required access to switches that I need to do anything else, like add cutouts. I've made a few rings for people with just these measurements, without ever having access to the lens. I usually provide 2 or 3 TPU rings with minor variations in thickness to allow for variances. So far, it's worked pretty well. Probably half the custom gears I've made are for niche manual focus lenses (LensBaby, Laowa, TTArtisan) for which nobody makes or sells gears. Custom printing them is the only option, so its pretty cool to be able to provide a solution. Example: https://makerworld.com/en/models/1804480-nauticam-focus-gear-for-ttartisan-100mm-z-mount#profileId-1924490