Dave_Hicks

Please include photos, not links.

It doesn't look like the hood is removable, which would be a problem in a dome port. And it's still rectilinear not fisheye. Perhaps it could be made to work, but I'm guessing it would need a larger dome port such as the 8.5".

The Backscatter HF-1 strobes are great, but it's also nice to have a spare strobe or two. I'd hang on to your Inons, or at least one of them. I use the Nauticam Nikon manual trigger. I don't need TTL. The nice thing about this trigger is that it's fast and the battery lasts basically forever. I change them each January and reuse them in the vacuum circuit. (which chews through batteries)

Try to polish it gently with a microfiber towel. It might not be a scratch, but a deposit of metal. Scratches tend to flare in bright light, not leave black dots. Failing that contact Nauticam.

The WWL-C and 24-50z lens are a fantastic combo. Honestly the best reason to move from a Nikon DSLR to Mirrorless Z body.

Then change lenses and do another dive! But i think this was made for camera systems that don't have great lenses options. Which one could that be??

Totally different product. It magically turns a 90mm lens into a 60mm. 🤔

I am still waiting for Generative Expand in the crop tool. This is super useful if you crop and rotate and the corner goes outside the frame. Photoshop has had this feature forever and its one of the reasons I ever need to use it.

If you are looking to get a Nikon/Nauticam setup the cost of the camera body is really not the biggest expense you are looking at. The housing costs nearly twice what the camera body does. Strobes are $1000 each or more. So, the difference between a Z6 and Z8 is a pretty small fraction of the purchase. With an investment like this you are usually wise to by the best, most advanced option. Especially if you plan to keep it for years to come. You can buy used bodies and lenses from reputable sites like KEH or B&H Photo. Unfortunately, a used Z8 only saves you about $300 but you can really save big on lenses sometimes.

Agreed on all of that, except the last point. At least with the Nikon Z cameras, you can change a setting to reduce (slightly) the size of the EVF. This makes the older Nauticam 45deg viewfinder perfectly usable with my Z8.

Get the viewfinder. They usually have a diopter adjustment, so you never need to worry about vision. Focus to your liking! The amazing superpower of mirrorless cameras (at least the current generation with excellent EVF) is that you can shoot and review in the EVF. No moving the camera or your head to see the screen. For me this was a great benefit.

TPU is usually not hard to print. Just dry it well and print slow. I usually do 75mm/s.

Zip Tie Gear Labels This simple design is a solution to a problem I often face. Scuba gear needs to be serviced at regular intervals, and I need to keep track. I use an Excel spreadsheet for much of this, but some of the gear is very generic and not easily distinguished from other similar items. For example, Tank Valves and 1st Stage regulators. So, I wanted to come up with an easy way to label the gear directly. I use a standard thermal label printer all the time and that works for some items. But often there is no space or flat surface that you can stick a label to. I also wanted it to be very small and not likely to snag or get ripped off the gear. I recently serviced 6 of my tank valves and 4 1st stages and this provided the opportunity to solve the problem. I decided that a label that could be attached flush with a zip tie was a perfect solution. The labels are holding up well after a number of dives, but time will tell if this is robust enough. I'll iterate on the design if it needs to be tougher. For my uses I printed the Date and my Initials. For example, “Q2 2025” & “DLH”. I kept the text area small with space for two lines. I also created a longer version with enough room for a full name and phone number. https://makerworld.com/en/models/1510306-ziptie-gear-labels#profileId-1581210

I design all my gears to use a printed tpu rubber collar. This makes it much easier to get a snug fit with a little bit of slip. Put the rubber collar on the lens. Then slip the hard plastic gear over the collar.

I heard a rumor that it would have Afterburners! And 16 AA Eneloops in a TurboPod!

This is my goto glue. Works on drysuit and wetsuits too.

Definitely fun and not work.

That one is my design! Hope it works for you.

Yes, they are mostly standard.

That is exactly what I said. 🤔

The only solution is the mf-2. The mf-1 is just fatally flawed and not generally reliable.

That's a great set of images! Thanks for sharing!