Dave_Hicks

Great video Bronson, it was fun diving with you on this trip.

Southen California, Monterrey, Puget Sound, and Vancouver Island are where you want to spend time. There are actual dive resorts on Vancouver Island with world class diving. April is excellent in the PNW.

Maybe so if deep enough, thus the cap. Aren't these rated to 300ft? I have seen a few friends diving without the cap by mistake. That is really fun to point out to your buddy at 60feet under! 😧 BTW, i had the o-ring go loose on my pressure valve after a number of years. Be sure to check it and replace if it shows wear.

I got this working a few months ago, with 200x65x65mm floats that sandwich on to standard ULCS arms. I tried both PLA epoxy resin painted, and ABS with acetone smoothing to seal them. Both worked to 100 feet. However neither was superior to STIX jumbo floats from a dry weight vs buoyancy comparison and i worried about robustness. I don't think it is possible to make these water tight to 100+ feet without secondary treatment (epoxy, acetone) unless you make them with so many walls that they weigh too much and loose some potential buoyancy. The Stix material is just better and fairly inexpensive. It was fun to build them though! On the other hand the custom Nauticam port floats that i made for the 60mm and 87mm ports are working great after dozens of dives and trips around the world. I made these with PLA but plan to redo them with ABS to save weight.

Probably not. The cap is a secondary seal. The vacuum valve itself is the primary. The older models had a valve you had to twist open/close, the newer ones have a one-way valve with a push button to release. The cap is to prevent those primaries from getting dislodged while underwater.

Find some used Inon 330s. They are a better match for your criteria and needs.

I have been using Nauticam housings with Vacuum pump with the D800, D850, and D850 for maybe 10 years now. I never had any issues, damage, or degradation to the pump. Most of that time I was diving almost every week and doing 100-200 dives a year with the housing. So while these thing clearly fail now and again, I don't see it as a weak point or bad design.

Good idea! I just made my own anchors with TPU stuck on with 3M double sided rubber foam tape.

But where will I sell my Ikelite D70 housing now????

Had to look up that word!

Below is a photo of my reinforced lanyard: I just loop a length of bungie cord around the webbing, thread it inside the coil, and add a couple of small zip ties to keep if tight and flush. I like these lanyards as you can clip it together to keep the camera close or unclip to hold at arm's length. The downside is the flexible coil can sometimes separate from the hard plastic anchor points. I've had it happen a couple of times myself, fortunately not while diving. The bungie provides cheap and clean redundancy.

Perhaps you are missing the point. If you observe a great diver they usually have their arms crossed in front of them. Add a camera and they hold the handles. My point is your hands are not needed to maintain trim and buoyancy. I am unclear on what you find to be a such breach of safe diving practices. However I don't want an online spat so this is the last I will comment on this topic.

While it seems to me to be utterly mad to drag a DSLR sized camera around dangling on a tether, I guess there are different diving styles. I spend most of my time diving very close to the terrain. Usually 6 - 12 inches, maybe less while muck diving. Obviously dangling a camera is not going to work. My primary dive light is also attached to my camera, so I need to be pointing the camera to see. (Note: I mostly dive in the PNW around Puget Sound / BC and you need a light 95% of the time for both illumination and buddy visibility) However, if you need your hands free during typical diving situations then you are just not a good diver. With proper buoyancy control and trim, you don't need your hands. Hands and arms fluttering around waste energy and increase air consumption. The argument that you need hands free for "situational awareness" is nuts. I'd hate to see that person driving a car with their arms flapping around all the time. I have a lanyard always attached even though I am holding the camera. You are one emergency situation away from losing your camera if it's not clipped on. And I have had to assist or rescue other divers many times. I frequently dive in strong currents ascending buoy lines and often shoot DSMBs, so I need the camera clipped on and hands free on ascents.

Use a coiled lanyard. Problem solved. I reinforce mine with a loop of 4mm bungie snaked through the coils as I've had these coils detach after some years of use.

You should be holding your camera with both hands nearly all the time. It should only dangle on ascent if you need to hold a line or something. If drag a big camera rig, it is going to get f#@ked up. When I muck dive I am horizontal, frog kicking a few inches over the sand. The camera is in front of my face held in two hands. There is a camera mounted focus light acting as my primary light so I can find critters. How are you with trim and buoyancy? Perhaps that is the real problem?

Well, that is clearly not the case. Looking at that link, there is no mention on Nikon Z-mount as you say. Nauticam should update the page. The WWL-C does work with Nikon Z-mount mirrorless cameras. Just dig a bit deeper and look at the N120 Z-mount port chart where it is documented. The Port Chart shows the WWL-C configuration with the 24-50mm Z-mount lens. The full zoom range is supported. It's a great setup, and pretty compact. The Port6 that it mounts to is very short, like a 20mm extension. It ends up being smaller than the WWL-1B on Sony with the 28-70mm lens which requires a much longer port.

Sure, it's fantastic and the best option for Nikon Z Mirrorless cameras. I also have a Nikon 8-15 fisheyee, but that is for a more limited scenario with big reef scenes and very clear waters. The WWL-C with 24-50 will handle both wide and near-macro in more varied water conditions. Here are a couple of shots with this setup I took last week at God's Pocket in BC, both during the same dive: Nikon Z8 w/24-50mm @50mm, WWL-C, f18@1/200s iso125, Pair of Backscatter HF-1 strobes Nikon Z8 w/24-50mm @24mm, WWL-C, f11@1/80s iso400, Pair of Backscatter HF-1 strobes

Thanks! I have been using Duramic TPU95A. I use their PLA+ and PETG as well. I picked this brand based on Amazon reviews when I bought my first printer last year. I've been happy with Duramic filaments and stuck with it. The Bambu Generic TPU profile works well, and I just print it fairly slow at 75mm/s. I use some Bambu ABS & ASA as well. Amazon.com: DURAMIC 3D TPU Filament 1.75mm Black, TPU Flexible Filament 95A, Soft TPU 3D Printing Filament, 1kg Spool, Dimensional Accuracy +/- 0.05mm, Black 1 Pack : Industrial & Scientific

When I travel I always have 3 strobes. Currently two HF-1s and an MF-2. I've had strobes die on me on liveaboards once or twice and loaned my spare to another diver too.

If you get a Nikon Z8 you should buy a WWL-C and the 24-50Z lens (get it used, it's cheap). This combo is so awesome you will use it more than anything else. It's a compelling reason not to consider any other housing than Nauticam. Pair that with a Macro using one of your adapted ports, and you may be good to go. Hit me up for a Zoom Gear on the 24-50Z, it will save you $250.

I have to say that it's awfully nice to have a backup strobe. Is $200 worth the loss of redundancy? I end up loaning spares to friends more often than I use them myself.

The rubber grip collar on my WWL-C fell off after a recent dive. The soft rubber probably got cut by a rock while taking a photo at a low angle. I made a replacement rubber collar on my 3D-Printer using TPU rubber filament. This material is tougher than the original rubber, and I added a couple of Loops to the design on each side to enable the addition of a lanyard. As you much often remove the WWL underwater to release bubbles, a lanyard is a good idea to avoid dropping it. (loss/damage) I don't know how common this problem of cutting the collar is, but the lanyard loops make it a useful enhancement regardless. I used fishing line and a spring clip to attach the port to the housing. Cosmetically, my design looks identical to the original. I printed in black, but one could make this in any festive color of your choice. The design is freely available at: https://makerworld.com/en/models/637896#profileId-563389

I printed these with supports on my Bambu FDM printer. I also tried without support (of the internal cavity) and it was just cleaner with. On the Bambu with AMS there is a cool trick where you can print with PLA or PETG, then use the other filament for the support interface layer. They don't stick together well, so the supports pop right off very cleanly. The AMS automates swapping between filaments.

Welcome! Always glad to see more PNW divers. I'm in Seattle and we have an extremely active dive community here, with tons of amazing diving around Puget Sound. Between Puget Sound, Hood Canal, and British Columbia, we have the best diving in North America. If you are not diving at home, I strongly encourage you to look into it! You'll get in a lot more diving and improve your photography skills quickly if you can just drive yourself to a day of great dives with friends. Cheers, Dave

Nice! Tight is better than too loose, you can always do a bit of sanding if needed. I have found that they stay on really snuggly underwater even if loose. Not sure if the holes will have an impact. Couldn't you just flip the print orientation to avoid adding holes?