Giancarlo M.

I mostly used the Canon R7, on my last trip I started using a Sony A1. I have never tested HSS on the MF-2s, the R7 with a manual trigger can get to a syncro of 1/400 without seeing the curtain, even the A1 I can use 1/400 without any problems, so I don't consider it necessary for my use. If you have a Backscatter or UWT trigger you should have no problem using HSS on the MF-2 as well. This is the link of the arms that I use https://www.flex-arm.com/it/bracci-carbonio/bracci-quick-release-sgancio-rapido/braccio-in-fibra-di-carbonio-quick-release-sgancio-rapido-doppia-sfera-25-mm-lung-24-cm.html At the end of April I will leave for Lembeh and I will have on test the new AOI UIS-P1 strobes to their new trigger, I will use them mainly in BW but the trigger should be compatible with the MF-2 and I will let you know if it will work properly and if the power will be good.

I have been using MF-2s for almost 2 years just for macro photography and they are more than perfect. The power is more than enough for what you need to do. No need to carry around bigger and heavier strobes for macrophotography. Only recommendation is to equip yourself with a quick release to use them with the snoot as well, I bought arms with a built-in quick release and would never go back for the great convenience. an excellent alternative are the AOI UCS-Q1s, I have already tried them and they are a bit more powerful.

I received this morning the reply:

Hi everyone, I wanted to share with everyone my experience with the Monster Adaptor LA-FE1 with Nikon AF-S 60 micro and Sony A1. Last year, after seeing acquaintances using the Monster+Nikon 60 micro combination on Sony bodies I wanted to look into it further and eventually decided to try this combination. I was advised to use the Monster's FW 6.0 which is supposed to be better performing and after a bit of testing with the Nikon 60 lenses we realized that only the serials from 22 onwards worked better, the 20 and 21 series were slow. Ground tests, were very encouraging, AF was good and tracking was also working well. But like all things, in the end the real test is in actual use. I spent 10 days in Anilao in early March and had a chance to try it out. During the dives I saw right away that this combo would go a little down on smaller subjects with little contrast ( small jellyfish, mantis shrimp larvae, ect.) while it worked better on higher contrast subjects ( paper nautilus, squid est). Unfortunately, however, the situation worsened when the camera froze completely. It happened to me 2 times in the water and once on land before diving. The camera froze for 5-10 minutes and only then turned on again, while on the last day, I panicked a bit because it wouldn't turn on again. After trying 2 original batteries, I tried a Patona battery and only with that battery did it turn on with the Sony 90 macro, with the Monster+Nikon it would not turn on. The next day my Sony A1 started working properly again. A similar situation happened to my friend Scipione who was on vacation with me and has the same configuration as me. I wanted to report this experience to prevent others from making this mistake. I cannot tell you, whether it is a communication problem with the camera body or something else. My friend with Sony A7RIV did not have these problems, according to him.

I also did similar work on a sample of macro lenses of various brands and with 2 Canon R7 cameras with 60 and 100mm and Sony A1 with 90mm. By March I should complete the article I am writing. I have slightly different values from yours with the SMC3 with the 90 minimum working distance from the lens 50.73mm and max distance 104.73mm, all tests were taken in seawater. I still have difficulties with the calculation of the magnification ratio, I used a sheet of graph paper for the shot. I would like to understand how you performed the calculation. I attach a shot with Sony A1 + 90macro + SMC3 minimum distance

For Inon Z330, I can only recommend the snoo Marelux and Snooty. Or you can consider buying an AOI UCS-Q1 strobe and with an adapter you can use the Backscatter snoot. This configuration will be more compact and have a better autonomy than the Backscatter strobe.

Hi everyone, a good friend of mine has won a 4 week trip to PNG and since I will be accompanying him I wanted to ask if anyone has had any experience of travelling to PNG. We will be staying in 4 resorts, Tufi, Tawali, Lissenung and the Walindi. For our convenience we will be arriving in Port Moresby via Manila with Air Niugini, this will give us a 20kg plus on domestic flights. The resorts as payment accept credit cards and some also accept payment in euros, but I would not want to travel with too much cash. The power sockets are all 220v with Australian-type sockets. As a photography genre I have seen that there is also a lot of macro so I will have to bring both macro and wide. Thank you in advance if you can give me some advice and a brief summary of your experience.

I was able to try the AOI strobe + snot Backscatter MF2 combination on my last trip to Anilao, with the adapter made by Flex-Arm. Everything works perfectly, plus the combination performs better, compared to the original, as Aoi has slightly more power and more battery life.

Curious about this adapter, I got it on Amazon 2 days ago. It works well, although I must report that compared to the Metebones V it is slightly less responsive. Tested with Sony A1 and Canon 8-15, Canon 60 macro and Canon 100 macro L lenses . I will be returning the Tokina today

It was also not on the list last year, but was present on the stand of PanOceanPhoto, their dealer in Germany. Most likely it will be like that again this year, it will be on the stand at some retailer.

Nice works Chris!

To work, it works, but the slowness of the AF is frustrating. For slower subjects it may be fine, but with others it is really challenging For the Nikon 60, I think that the models produced before 2013, we have problems. From those I have tried. The serial numbers that start with 22 or 23 work, those with 20 give problems. For serial numbers 21 or from 24 onwards I have no cases

Hi, I can confirm that the 90's port is compatible with the monster adaptor + Nikon AF-S 60 micro, I recently bought a Sony and have yet to try this combination live and during a blackwater. The recommendation I was given is that the monster adaptor is updated to the latest firmware 6.0. Some Nikon AF-S 60 micro work quite well while others don't, I'm trying to figure out why and am working out a theory. Excuse my ignorance what is the AC-11 adaptor?

With Lion Air, you won't have any problems buying the extra kilos you need, the real problem is the reliability of the airline. Always check well before you leave, flight cancellations unfortunately can happen and Lion Air does this from time to time. In 2023 I risked missing my intercontinental flight because Lion Air cancelled my flight from Sorong to Jakarta

For over a year now I have been using the Canon R7 for photography, mainly Macro and Balckwater. For Macros I recommend the Canon EF-S 60 macro in addition to the 100 you already have. For BW I recommend the Canon EF-S 35 macro AF is very performant if you have equally fast optics. The Tokina 10-17 is not bad, but the Canon 8-15 is another quality and you can also consider in the future the RF-S 18-45 combination with the Nauticam WWL-1 lens. You will have a lot of fun with the R7 underwater, I think it is currently one of the best buys as an ML for underwater photography.

If you are not in a hurry for the purchase, I am starting a new project for an article on the forum, just on wet lenses, in testing I have retrieved, AOI Pro series +12 +18 + 23 , Weefine +6 + 12 +23. I'm going by the Italian distributor Nauticam today to retrieve more lenses to test. The purpose is just to verify the real magnification ratio, and working distances. If I have time even at different apertures. By the end of January everything should be ready

Have you discarded the Sony 30 mm macro? it's not a great lens but it might be the most convenient solution on an APSC. Zeiss works very well for photos, for video I can't give you feedback, a friend of mine used it this year on an A1 and it was very good. We are talking about a Zeiss optic, qualitatively they have few rivals I read on Monster's site that it is not compatible for video, only for photos

I can talk to you about my experiences at APA. You return to the resort after the first BW, as I had written to you the BW sites are very close to the resort. This helps you to replace the batteries. I always found more subjects in the first BW, in the following BWs the amount of subjects decreased. I went looking for temperatures in the data base of my dive computer, you should expect a temperature of 24 to 26 degrees. I recommend bringing a windproof jacket, even if it's a short trip, wearing it after the dive will help you be less cold when you return to the resort.

February is a great time for Blackwater in Anilao. The water temperature is colder at this time, so a 5 or 7 mm is recommended if you are particularly cold. I have been to the Anilao Photo Academy many times and I can recommend them. They come out practically every night to do BW if there are guests who want to do BW. As for logistics, the dive spot is very close to the resort so when you are done you go back to the resort. The first dive is around 19:00 but if you're alone I doubt you'll be able to make a second dive, so I suggest you contact the resort directly. In January 2023 I was with a group of 5 friends and we asked to do 3 Blackwater per night, APA organised everything perfectly for us.

Hi Alex, you have a good lens for a good start in macro photography. In the beginning, even if the Sony 90 is not quite 1:1 as a ratio, it will be perfect to make your experiences. When you get the hang of it you can move on to additional lenses, and here a whole new world opens up. There are many brands and the users of this forum will be able to give you advice on their own experiences. Subsee is a good compromise to start with add-on lenses. I had the chance to try, on 2 trips to APA in Anilao which is an AOI test centre, all the new AOI UCL Pro series macro lenses. I personally think they are the best I have used to date, both in terms of quality and ease of use. After I was able to try them out thoroughly I bought all 3 lenses, it's a big amount but I fell in love with those lenses after using them. I attach a few shots

what a bad situation, if they were superficial scratches, you could polish the glass with cerium oxide, they use it to polish scratched glass, but if the groove is deeper, the only solution is to contact a Nauticam dealer and ask for a quotation for replacing the glass dome.

Hi Nick welcome to this forum!

If anyone is handy with 3D modeling, here is an example to adapt the Garmin to the MTB, it could be done similarly for divers, or with the sphere or hole for fixing on floating arms such as INON https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5398630

https://www.nauticam.com/pages/port-charts https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C3ooUMe7kn-X2glO9kPfzvdlvV8iNAyU/view?pli=1