Dave_Hicks

Strobes not included, or a mistake in the item list?

You can do that no problem. If you are using TTL you need to make sure your flash trigger will support the HF-1 in the same modes as the ys-d2.

You'll be very happy with the Z8! Let me know when you buy a 24-50z lens and I'll send you one of my 3D printed Zoom Gears for the cost of postage, saving you a bundle. I'll even toss in an 8-15 gear if you need one of those too.

I made a designed an add-on fix for the Inon 330 "bastard button". It was actually the inspiration that prompted me to buy my first 3D Printer! Inon 330 UW Strobe - Button Lock by AwkwardSwine - Thingiverse

I am at once intrigued by the possibility of entering competitions and put off to an even greater degree. I can echo the sentiment of Caolla above, but it goes beyond that for me. I take pictures for fun, to share, and to challenge myself to learn and explore wildlife photography. Once you start entered pictures into contests, it becomes about competition, status, and seeking the approval of others. It starts to feel too much like work, and I'm retired. I don't want to compete like that anymore and risk sucking all of the joy out of the process based on the inscrutable judgement of others. Been there and done that.

Those carabineer clips are the worst. They can be difficult to remove from a d-ring quickly. Suggest you get bolt-snaps instead. I do a lot of high current diving including the places you mention and i have a big camera rig as well. I have found a single reinforced coiled lanyard to work very well. (A closed loop of bungie cord attached inside the coils ) Clip it off short when not holding, with the camera attached by the right side handle. Bolt snap clips it to your right BC shoulder d-ring.

They can use a nikon 8-15mm FE with their Z6 and a small dome. It is not as cheap however.

No, it won't work. Not supported by FTZ as it's an old "screw lens".

This is one of the super-powers of the Mirrorless cameras. You take a shot, and it appears in the eyepiece. No need to move at all, lose your subject, recompose, etc. This is super useful for macro and super macro shots. Combine it with a 45deg viewfinder and you can't beat it. I never use the LCD screen back at all. As a result, the Z8 battery life is amazing. Four dives and 1000 images are no problem.

Lightroom mask creation is a breeze now with AI assisted masking tools. Very powerful and much faster than it used to be.

It depends on the strobe. I never used diffusers at all on my Inon 330 or Ikelite 161 strobes and set AutoWB. Any adjustments to color temp could be made with WB in post. With the HF-1 strobes I am using the 4500k diffusers despite the drop in power. They are colder than the Inons and I like to look with AutoWB using 4500k. These strobes are extremely powerful, so I don't worry about loss of light. I rarely use more at 1/4 or 1/2 in my local green cold-water locations anyway. I have not used them in tropical waters yet, and I will experiment more when I get the chance later this year.

You are very welcome to use a Nikon FF camera in DX mode. I do this all the time when taking bird photos with a long lens. I have occasionally used DX underwater on the D850/Z8 cameras with a wide angle zoom like the 8-15 or 15mm FE. I even add the DX/FX switch button to the i-Menu to make this a quick and easy toggle.

Soldering iron. I have fixed a few broken strobe triggers for fellow divers in the last couple of years.

Welcome to WaterPixels!

#1 ASA #2 PETG Both are UV, heat, and water resistant. ABS is not geat with UV, but you can coat or paint it.

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.