Dave_Hicks

Wow, I really diverge from this definition. Shadows, light, and their balance are what I look for. They create texture, depth, and dimensionality. A flat softbox look is rarely what I aim for in underwater wildlife photography.

I am good on gear for a while longer. I'm fully booked for 2025, but looking for a couple more trips in 2026.

Both WWL/WACP and Fisheye have their place. If I am looking to do extremely wide and complex scenes with bright detail edge to edge then a FE is the way to go. But for the sort of cold-water wide angle that I often do, the WWL with a zoom is much more useful most of the time. If I've got great visibility, sun, and interesting subjects I'll use the FE.

It's a good idea to soak the housing and handles with all screws removed (don't forget the ball mounts) as the sockets can get pretty encrusted with salt.

Now that port you could eat off of! (But please clean it again afterwards) 😃

I would not remove the handles too frequently, but it is worth cleaning them every year or so. (About 150 dives a year for me) Soak all parts in a 50% vinegar bath or use an ultrasonic. I have not seen the handles strip but i have seen the ball mounting plate on top of the handles strip as they take a lot of torque. Fortunately this is a $20 replacement part.

No problems! 3D printing has a bit of a learning curve, and it's not just fire and forget. It's getting closer to that, but it does require some reading, some trial and error / learn by doing, and some iteration to get the right output. This particular design does require a bit of effort as it uses two separate materials: PETG and TPU. If you friend has not printed with these before they may need to make a few attempts to get it right.

STL files are a universal format, and they should open just fine in most any 3d printer slicer application. Perhaps try another popular slicer program like Orca or Cura. You can then convert them to any other format that you desire. You can do this yourself and don't need a 3D printer in order to run the applications. Your friends Flashforge printer came with software that can load STL files, and output the native g-code used by that model printer. This software is generally called a "Slicer". Most 3D models you can download are going to be STL files and need to prepared in the slicer to customize how it prints. There are endless numbers of YouTube videos that can explain how to use any 3d printer in this way.

Not trying to be critical, but honestly it looks like you sneezed on the glass dome! 😅🤢 You should wash that off and take a better picture.

I was messing around with this Reduction Ring some more and updated (improved I think) the design. I was having some issues getting it to print successfully in ASA due to some layer adhesion issues. I decided to flatten the cone which has the added benefit of making it simple to make a 2-color print with White on Black text. It's also easier to add/remove the ring from the strobe. I test dove it and it worked perfectly. Makerworld link is the same and updated with the new design.

Thanks for sharing!

More like the BS HF-1 strobes. Specs are very similar.

I've had the Backscatter HF-1 strobes since the early summer and have really enjoyed using them. They are fantastic for Wide Angle work, but I also use them for Macro photography. My typical Macro lighting setup uses a Backscatter MF-2 snoot-strobe as the primary and the HF-1 for fill lighting, usually on very low power. One of my dive photo buddies uses the Retra strobes and add their Macro Reduction ring when shooting macro. I was inspired to make a Reduction Ring that would work with the HF-1s. I've seen one other design for an HF-1 reduction ring, but this one allows the use of flat diffusers at the same time. I always shoot the HF-1 with the 4500k flat installed as the strobes light is quite cold otherwise. I've built and tested this setup now and used it on a Macro dive this week. I also did some wall shots for comparison purposes: These wall shots were done at the typical macro-settings I use, set to 1/4 power on the HF-1. The Reduction Ring is a two part system. A TPU rubber bumper ring that you can leave permanently on the strobe, where it will have the benefit on protecting the front leading edge from scratches and scrapes. My pair already has a number of dings in them after just a few months. The Reduction ring itself is hard ASA or PETG plastic and slips snuggly over the rubber ring. I used an aperture of 60mm for this design, which seems to work well. You can download and print your own set of HF-1 reduction rings from: https://makerworld.com/en/models/865305 A few photos from my test dive with the setup of the HF-1 Reduction rings and MF-2 snoot strobe:

I would be willing to bet that within a year or two we won't see any UW Strobes still in production that still use NiMH batteries.

+1 to that, and every dive light and focus light, phone, and laptop in existence. Using NiMH batteries is not a moral high-ground.

Those look great! Definitely get an account on Printables, MakerWorld, or Thingiverse to share. I have a bunch of Zoom & Focus gears shared out as well. I think sharing is one of the coolest parts of the 3d printing DIY philosophy.

I agree that BSX can do some cool stuff, especially with complex foregrounds. My point is you can do most of this work without such a tool. I cleaned up most of the scatter and didn't do a single spot removal. I only went after the water, not next to the head, which could be easily removed as well with the same technique. A little follow-up spot removal on subject could finish it up. My hesitation on BSX is that overreliance on tools like this might reduce the impetus for photographers to improve their composition and lighting skill set to reduce backscatter, add depth, and make a great image in the first place. I guess I am just not looking forward to a bunch of plasticized UW photos that look like they were shot in a studio and not the real world. Not ever extraneous spec in an image is an imperfection.

I'll stick with Most. It just requires a little practice using the tools. Here is my edit of your picture doing pretty much what I described above, except I removed the unsightly branch. The invert was not helpful in this case, so I omitted it. I only addressed the background, not the subject. I think your picture is great, and it just needed a little cleanup. null

You can remove most background backscatter in bulk right in Lightroom with built-in functionality. Linear gradient mask over background water containing BS Subtract subject Intersect color range on black Invert mask Drop clarity and texture toward zero Lower black level This takes about 10 seconds and does the job in many cases with black water. Similar variations work with blue or green water as well. Reducing clarity and texture of background water containing backscatter does 90% of the job. Tools like BSX are lot more effective in complex scenes with foreground backscatter intermingled with the subject.

Here is the same Lumpsucker before it alighted upon my strobe: Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, +5 diopter, f16@1/200s iso250 Backscatter MF-2 strobe & snoot + BS HF-1 strobe

Is it still a snoot shot if the fish is sitting on top of the snoot?

I went diving last night near Seattle looking for Pacific Spiny Lumpsuckers. I found one very quickly and spent some time shooting with my MF-2 + Snoot and an HF-1 for fill lighting. This little lumpsucker charged at me and decided to settle down right on my MF-2's snoot! (you can see the aperture card sticking up) I carefully maneuvered the snoot in from on my 105mm lens and moved the HF-1 to light up the scene, trying not to upset the little fish the whole time. I got of a few shots as it squirmed around on the snoot, and this was the best one! I was also trying out a macro reduction ring I 3D printed for the HF-1. It seems to do a pretty good job! Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, +5 diopter, f18@1/200s iso250 Backscatter MF-2 strobe & snoot + BS HF-1 strobe

I used to use the 3mm plastic core cables, but some strobe models like the older S&S units had inconsistent triggering with that material. They are also more fragile than the 613 multi-core fiber. It's cheaper, but not as good in my experience. With the multi-core available at about $7 USD per meter in the USA, it's really not expensive for what you are getting. I make my own 3d printed connectors as well, using PETG & TPU. I've shared my most current design for 2mm fiber connectors at the link below. I would love to see your connectors as well if you have made them available to share. I am always looking to learn from other's great ideas! https://makerworld.com/en/models/846729

Shooting wide angle reef scenes i am shooting at least iso400, up to 800 if the ambient light is poor.

Just download StarNet++. You can run it from the command line or a simple Gui applet. It's about 80% as good as this app, but free. But honestly, you need to use these tools with a app that supports masking and layers. Fortunately they are plenty of non Photoshop solutions for that too.