Dave_Hicks

Found an absolutely gorgeous Mosshead Warbonnet (Chirolophis nugator) on Sunrise Reef in Gig Harbor. (About 1 hour south of Seattle in Puget Sound.) This is one of the most amazing fish of the Pacific Northwest. With it's ornate and detailed camouflage mossy head dress, bright red color, and patterned body it's got a lot going on. This one was quite large at about 20cm and more colorful than most of its kind. So of course I had to shoot it! I was carrying a wide-angle lens setup, hoping for big GPOs and Wolfeels. Nikon Z8, 24-50mm, WWL-C port, so really not ideal for this small subject. The WWL-C optics closed the gap however! I zoomed to 50mm and flipped the sensor in the DX 1.5x crop mode to achieve a near-macro framing. My big, high-power HF-1 strobes were powered down to 1/8, angled in, and didn't blow out the scene. I'm happy with the result! Even though I forgot to roll the ISO down toward 100 for a macro subject I can't see anything negative at ISO500. Nikon Z8 w/24-50mm, @50MM, WWL-C, f13@1/200s iso500, Pair of Backscatter HF-1 strobes: I found a Giant Pacific Octopus too, snuggled in a den: Nikon Z8 w/24-50mm, WWL-C, f11@1/160s iso500, Pair of Backscatter HF-1 strobes:

Buy some 2-part epoxy resin and paint it on the seam after gluing the removed cap back on. Use two or three coats, 24 hours drying time between each.

Thanks for setting the record and product plan straight!

I really like the MF-2 plus snoot combo. I use it most of the time for macro shots and don't feel it is lacking capability due to power. I sometimes use it for wide angle as well without the snoot. I have been able to key light a larger subject at distance with the snoot while using the HF-1 the light the larger scene. I find it has enough power for this use case which is more challenging than macro.

I have the WWL-C (pretty much the same as the B) and while i do usually burp it I sometimes forget to. I have never noticed any defects in the photos from bubbles. They are there floating at the top but don't seem to be in the frame at all. I dove it yesterday and forgot to burp. No bubbles here:

I have the Nauticam dual flip, but the Saga model looks nice. Very similar looking hinge. Honestly, the clips on the Nauticam are a pain and they get all scratched up on the sand. I never actually unclip them anyway, I just pull the diopter open and break past the clip. So the clips don't really work and you are likely better off without them. Looking forward to your review.

Too bad. Meanwhile... FYI - I am adapting this for Retra so there is an alternative to paying them $150 per strobe for a few grams of plastic.

Totally Agree. I remember shooting ISO 400 on my D70 or D300 years ago, and there was noticeable noise in those shots. Even then the basic noise reduction in LR cleared it up nicely. On any FF camera from the last 10 years (D800+) this is just not an issue. An ISO 1000 shot on my Z8 looks better than ISO 400 did on my D300. And the neural-net based NR features in almost any post processing software is amazingly effective at cleaning up artifacts that you only see in a 200% crop. I took some ISO 800 shots a few weeks ago in dark, murky, particulate filled waters with 5–10-foot visibility while looking for Sixgill Sharks in Seattle. The Z8 handled them great! These were all taken with a Z8, 60mm w/KRL-09 wet-wide lens, ISO800, f8. No AI image processing was applied to these pictures. Shot at point-blank range.

Did you find that your Image Quality was ruined by using ISO 320?

What ISO did you typically use on you images?

I think my diffusers must still be in the box. Does the snoot even fit over the strobe with the diffuser installed? The OS-1 snoot has an internal diffuser and a focal lens inside it. An additional drain on power or the need to remove the add-on diffuser to install the strobe just seem like problems to me.

The MF-2 snoot does have optics. And don't use the diffuser on this strobe, it does not have power it can afford to lose.

If your shots are dark using the MF-2 or Snoot, and you have adequate aperture and ISO you probably don't have the lights aimed properly. It can take some practice with the snoot in particular. Even a small aiming error will result in dark shots.

I see value in the MFO-1 in improving the focal range of a 105mm lens. My other longtime favorite diopter is the SubSee+5, which allows closer focus, maybe 1.2 magnification, and improved sharpness. But it only works in very close distances. Beyond a few inches I need to remove it. The MFO-1 does all that but has a bit less magnification. The advantage is I pretty much never need to remove it as it can focus out to a meter at least.

The MF-2 is great for FF Macro. Feel free to bump up your ISO to 160-250, which is what I do. I mostly use it with the snoot and shoot F11-F18 all the time. I pair it with an HF-1 (previously Inon 330) as a secondary fill light, but mostly on low power and with a reduction ring. The MF-2 is the primary light in most of my Macro shots. (edit) I never use the diffusors and mostly shoot it at the top 2 power levels. (6 & 7} Here are a couple of shots from a few days ago taken using the MF-2 on FF. Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, MFO diopter, f16@1/200s iso200 Backscatter MF-2 strobe & snoot + BS HF-1 strobe Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, MFO diopter, f14@1/250s iso160 Backscatter MF-2 strobe & snoot + BS HF-1 strobe

It might be cumbersome with a giant MFO-3. I would be reluctant to mount/unmount these during a dive.

I would guess in the range of 250g of buoyancy based on my design for the Port60. If the overall housing is smaller than N120 housings, it might be less as the diameter would have to be smaller. Just out of curiosity, how would you go about machining a hollow object with aluminum? This port floats I made include a recess and screw holes to bolt it to the port. I have no idea if the mounting holes could be made, or if it would even be practical. Maybe just attach with friction.

Yes. 3D printed and tested to 100 feet. It adds about 300g of buoyancy and helps balance the system when I have diopters attached. I have designs for the Port87, Port60, and Port60+20mm extension. I haven't shared any of these yet because they are a complex print with a number of custom configurations. Plus, it might spring a leak past the depth I've tested. I need to take it on a few dives to at least 140ft to stress it more.

One of the things that i don't like about the OS-1 snoot is that it doesn't work well unless you burp it underwater. I would make an effort to ensure your adapter will allow air to escape and fully flood the assembly.

The BS OS-1 snoot uses a diffuser and a lens to focus the beam. I feel like this works significantly better than a simple funnel type of snoot. I made restriction rings of the HF-1 strobe, and it includes a full spread 78mm wide angle restrictor, 60mm macro, and 38mm super macro. At 38mm it is snoot-like, but the beam will spread with any distance. The OS-1 is significantly more focused due to its lens and has less spread.

3d design for Canon 8-15 nauticam gear: https://makerworld.com/models/778776

Awesome! I revised the design a little to improve durability a bit. If you need another copy be sure to re-download.

Take measurements with a digital caliper of the diameter (mm) of to the zoom ring. Mount the lens on the camera, then measure distance from the mount to the base of the zoom ring. I can try to make you a zoom gear. Pay postage and i will send it to you.

That looks like a long lens. What port setup do you need?

Please try again with JPG photos.