Fabian

Hi both, thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it! So in conclusion, AcePro2 with the Isotta housing, the I could use the AOI lens in the shallows (found an adapter for that one) below 60m, for the deep stuff it would be just the camera. Technically clearly preferred. Unfortunately, that brings the cost up quite a bit, as the Isotta housing is about triple the price of the Seafrogs. Or, I skip the technical diving part and stick to a cheaper housing for the AcePro2 🤔

Thank you Wolfgang, yes, this image was taken with the 2x TC but at 16mm. They indeed are not very shy, but sometimes I do have to zoom in a little bit, and below F8 I wouldn't want to shoot. I'll tru to find StuartVs posts on scubaboard, thanks!

Hi all, GAS is striking again. I think I'll get myself a action camera to mount on the big housing, place on the bottom for some BTS material, take on non-photography deep technical dives for some purely documentation uses. I'm way to lazy to do some serious post editing, if I cannot do it on my phone, I won't do it. Now I'm struggling with: GoPro 13 vs Insta360 Ace Pro 2. What I found so far: Quality OOTB seems to be superior in AcePro2, especially in low light. AcePro2 seems to have a wider FOV, which causes issues with the AOI lens. I could not find a suitable housing (depth rating ~120m) which is compatible with the AOI lens I could not find any deep rated housing for the AcePro2 Battery life is superior in AcePro2 Can anyone confirm my analysis or point me to where I got something wrong? Any suggestions what you'd pick in my place? Thanks all!

Hi all, I'm currently in the Azores, and shooting bluesharks at Condor Bank. Besides being fascinated by those amazing animals, I'm looking to get some good pictures. I've had success with shooting manual (both camera and strobes), but as they circle around it's one picture against the sun, the next one with the sun in the back. This leads to a lot of under- or overexposed shots (especially with the sun, it's the white ball of death). I thought about switching to shutter priority (1/160 or 1/200), auto-ISO (limited to 100-800) and maybe even TTL. Setup is a Sony A7IV with a Canon 8-15 on a 2x teleconverter (so even open aperture would be 8 at least), 140mm dome, Turtle TTL trigger and Retra ProMax strobes with diffusors. Does anyone have been in the same situation and has tried it or found some arguments for or against the idea? Probably giving it a couple of minutes next time just to try, but I'm really curious what the community thinks. Thanks all!

Hi CaolIla, within Germany, I'll cover the shipping costs. Best, Fabian

Selling my barely used anglerfish V3 trigger, optically and technically in great condition. A great piece of equipment to trigger remote strobes without electronic sync cords. Price: 240€ or best offer. Located in Germany, shipping worldwide at buyers cost.

Hi all, I'm more and more getting into self modelling, as this allows me to work on images without testing the patience of my buddies if I want something specific. Works all fine, except I still miss a good mount for a remote strobe on my back or side, illuminating the area behind my back. A fixed mount is easy, but since a lot of the caves have restrictions, I managed to bump the dial a few times, and accidentally changed settings, leaving me with no possibility to fix that underwater. Does anyone have any idea, how to build something where I can remove the strobe underwater? On the back is probably impossible, but maybe something more towards one side? Appreciate all input! Thanks!

If the site admins are willing to testify to my wife, that my account was hacked and the IP was from any country but Germany? 😅

I'm actually considering it... not even 2000 on the trigger counter... question is, would there be an offer that would make it a win win? I'll probably take some pics of the strobes on the weekend and think about a reasonable price.

I like the idea, seems a fair way to make customers happy. Maybe @Oskar - Retra UWT can comment on the technical aspect (which would be a prequisite for any upgradeability)?

Appreciate your input regarding safety @cerich ! I have managed to give to overall idea a try, and thought I'd add my experience and safety measures taken to the forum. Safety before the photo dive: Location is a cave I know very well, easy to dive. I've dived the cave two days prior to the photo shoot for a tmx dive, and during deco selected the spots for taking pictures. Aimed for a depth of ~8-12m, close to the exit (<200m) checked for silt (tried to stir some up by slapping the bottom), and then picked spots where there was none. During the photo dive, I first prepared the spots, i.e. adding REM markers few meters before and after (not visible in the photos), in case of loss of visibility (which is highly unlikely, see the commet about silt) that would give me directions in less then a minute. CCR: additionally to monitoring the CCR as by habit, I've checked PPO2 after each task, before moving to the next one. I then set up the video lights for the images (2x6000+1x15000 lumens; learning: I need bigger ones or I'll use remote strobes the next time to avoid high ISO and slow shutter). Afterwards placed the camera on the tripod, did some test shots without model to set the light to my liking (strobe position and power). Once that was sorted, switched the camera to interval shooting (~30-45sec delay, 10-20 images every 2-5sec). Changed powersettings on my divelights, started the interval series, swam over and posed. Outcome? Attached one as an example. Overall, I'm really happy with how everything went. I found it a really enjoyable and relaxing dive, time was no limitation (dive was about 2h, CCR still had 4+ hours scrubber capacity at the end), no model that wants to see more of the cave and gets bored, plenty of time to try and adjust. The only thing I'll change for the next dive is remote light, either strobes (preferred for images) or more powerful video lights (preferred for setting up and managing). Longterm, I'll replace the 35€ tripod I bought for trying this. Is this the new way of underwater cave photography? Certainly not, but for some caves, I will definitely work like this.

Now it is sold :)

Thanks all, appreciate the feedback and input! After careful consideration of all factors (i.e. losing my patience), I have taken the conscious decision (i.e. thought "f*** it") and as a pragmatic solution did some minor changes (i.e. bought new strobes). Had a first test dive with the Retra ProMax, and they are much easier to position to avoid flare. In conclusion, I congratulate myself for being responsible and only taking the minimum measures needed to solve this issue 😁😇

Reducing the price to 300€

Reducing to 330€

Hi there, Did anyone try this? Not sure if I want to, but the buddy that is willing to model does not want to go into caves. I'm fairly experienced in cave diving, but not shooting in caves. Basic idea was: camera on a tripod with interval shooting enabled, swim around and pose with a slave strobe on my back. Pretty sure, it is going to be as difficult as it sounds easy, so looking for experiences, helping me determine if I want to go down that route or not. Cave to try it would be a shallow one (less than 10m) with little silt, dive time virtually unlimited with a CCR. Thanks everyone, appreciate all input 🙏

Not yet, but the wifi wasn't to stable on the surface already, so I don't think it will make it trough 50cm of water. Maybe worth a try for remote contoled splitshots.

Thanks all. I'm playing around with usb control on the surface, so far the best solution seems the Sony desktop software. Remaining pain point is quickly setting focus point and then triggering. If I get that fixed, I'll move on to finding a waterproof cable connection.

Hi all, My challenge are the shy fish in rivers nearby, so I thought why not place the camera on a tripod, pull a USB cable to my laptop (or phone), control it from there. Additionally, I would not need to worry about battery levels in camera. Now surprisingly, I couldn't find a bulkhead (M24 or M16) to run that cable, all I found are remote controls for the shutter, which seems a bit too much 2010, not 2025. Did anyone build something like this from of the shelf parts? If so, which parts, and how long can the cable be without issues in signal transmission? Longest I found is 5m (4.9mm diameter), that could be a bit short, I was hoping for 10m (there are boosted extension cables, but not waterproof, but that should work). Thanks!

Dang! That picture from the retra page explains a lot! I had the small hood mounted and the rotating shade positioned towards the lens, but I'm probably never going to shoot without diffusors again. I'll have to buy diffusors again (lost one of them), or I move towards other strobes anyways (I'd prefer a bit quicker recycling time, so maybe Backscatter HF-1). Correct, not an apples to apples comparison, it was rig-against-rig, more of an "let's see how you are doing this while underwater". The dome I've been using is a Zen 230mm, but I have the same issue with the Nauticam 140mm.

Hi everyone, question to those that have been shooting multiple strobes in wide angle photography. Do you see a tendency, that some strobe models tend to produce flare more easily on the sides of the image compared to others? During a recent dive, I compared my strobe positioning (2x Inons Z330, shooting a Canon 8-15mm with 2x TC @16mm) with the positioning of a buddy (2x Seacam Seaflash 160d, shooting a Tokina 10-17 @10mm). I had to pull my strobes significantly further back and I can still see flare. The difference I guess is more curvature in the Inons glass compared to the Seacams, but that is pure speculation. Maybe someone else can share his or hers experience in that regard? Thanks!

Reducing the price to 370€

Selling my Inon 45° Viewfinder for Nauticam, had it on my Sony A7IV housing. Condition: technically flawless, outside has some signs of use, nothing serious. Got some adapters with the viewfinder, but have no clue what they are for 😅 if anyone knows, please enlighten me😇 For all questions please ask, and if you're worried about buying stuff online, we can have a whatsapp video call for verification that both the viewfinder and me are real. Price: 390€ or best offer. Located in Germany, shipping worldwide as long as you pay the shipping. Payment: PayPal Friends or PayPal with buyer protection (buyer adds the fees), bank transfer, cash upon collection. No returns or warranty.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this impression of the pricing. I'd certainly be willing to pay for it*, but yeah, the effort went in during the astro photography plugin development, they now probably trained the same AI with a different set of pictures. So I'd be willing to pay the same as for the astro plugins. *if it works with my older PS version, going to try this

What do you guys think about the pricing?Looking at the price: might be fair from a time saving perspective, but comparing it to star removal plug-ins for astrophotography, I feel it's a bit of overcharging. Haven't tried it yet (probably next weekend), and still need to figure out how to implement it in my workflow. I use capture one to edit and organize my pictures, only export lower resolution pictures to my NAS to have them available on my phone. I only open photoshop for object removal/serious work on backscatter removal for pictures I want to have in high res for printing/selling... if that would be a capture one plug-in...