Giancarlo M.

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

On Amazon Prime Day, there is usually always a promotion for the PS and LR package. I just bought it. The price is a one-off payment valid for 12 months, at expiry it resumes the normal monthly price. I have been buying it on this occasion for 3 years now and there is a bit of a discount (€7.50/month)

I use the EF-S 35 macro, but it is APS-C lens. If you use an APS-C camera it is perfect, the only disadvantage is that you have to get very close to the subject, but MFD is only 13 cm. You can use the same lens on the new mirrorless R-series, but the camera will recognise that it is an APS-C lens and you will have a cropped file. On the R5 you will have a file of about 20mb. On Canon DSLRs, with APS-C it will work perfectly, on FF DSLRs you can use it in combination with a Kenko 1.4x multiplier, I tried it on my friend's camera and it is absolutely perfect, like having a 60mm. Another lens you can use is the Canon 100 macro on FF, although it has a small angle of view, it becomes more complex to shoot, but it's not impossible. Sigma 50 and 70 macro for Canon, they are nice lenses, as I wrote in the previous post, but their AF is extremely slow in addition to being stretch lenses, this complicates adapting the port

After years of travelling with soft bags for diving equipment, I switched to classic hard luggage this year. Obviously the weight is extremely important, I found a good solution with the American tourister suitcase that weighs only 3.6 kg. Unfortunately I always travel with 2 suitcases plus camera backpack and housing bag. I can simply tell you that I am very happy with the choice, because during transfers I am much more comfortable with suitcases that have 4 wheels. Also you are more anonymous at the check-in counter than with a diving bag.

I have never seen it in operation, so I trust your experience. But you would have to compare it, in water, with a more powerful torch to be able to make a proper comparison. I am using a torch that I bought in January, adjustable from 3 to 18°, which also does not have a great power output, but it does its job well and has a very clean beam, but comparing it with other torches, the more powerful ones have greater penetration in the water over long distances.

Ever since I discovered blackwater diving, I have fallen madly in love with it. As with underwater photography, you have to be a very good diver first, and perhaps this rule is much more important for blackwater. Diving in the dark, off the coast and in very deep water can be a bit stressful if you don't have a good experience of diving in various contexts. For those who have never tried it, I can tell you that your first blackwater dive will remind you a lot of driving your car at night during a blizzard. At least that was my first dive. Blackwater is mainly macro photography, larger subjects are much rarer to find. The lens par excellence is a 60 mm macro lens with a 1:1 ratio or similar or equivalent. Why this kind of lens? Mainly for the angle of view and the minimum focusing distance As I wrote in the article, unfortunately Sony and Canon owners are at a disadvantage because they do not have similar lenses, and the few that do exist have very slow AF. Although, in May on my last trip, I met an underwater photographer who was using on a Sony A7R3 the Nikon 60 micro lens with the Monster adaptor, updated with the latest firmware. He was enthusiastic about it and did not experience any problems. How best to use strobes? This is a more complex question than it sounds, as it is very personal. I think that the position depends a lot on the lens being used, changing the MFD and consequently the position of the flashes and the subject being photographed, bigger, more distant, smaller, closer, translucent or reflective, are all factors that impose a change in the position of one's strobes. The power should tend to be low, in order to favour a faster strobe recharge time. It is certainly a must to have a focus light mounted on top of the housing, it does not have to be powerful, but it must have a good aperture angle, so as to illuminate even a little far from the dome of your camera. A focus light that is too powerful could be very annoying to the subject you are photographing and will try to move away from you very quickly, making it more difficult for you to shoot. Another negative fact is that you might attract a lot of microplankton which again would make the shot complex. The search torch, on the other hand, must have a very narrow beam (6°-10°) and good power(> 1500 lumen), this will help you locate subjects as they swim through the water column. Blackwater certainly is becoming very popular, and more and more operators are offering this kind of diving. Always rely on dive centers that have good experience, have a good line with powerful flashlights and good guides. Going in the wild will only bring you great frustrations. Ask for information from those who have had experience so that they can direct you to the best dive centers. Certainly there are better times, where you can have a better chance of sightings, but there is no certain rule, the sea is complex and with climate change certainties are jumping. Again always ask those who dive locally, they will be able to give you more accurate information, due to their experience. However prepare to hear all the opposite of everything, there are those who prefer to dive with the waxing moon and those with the waning moon, those who believe that one time of year we are better than another... Perhaps that is also the beauty of it, to have little certainty and to be enchanted by what you will find, for me that is the most beautiful part.

Unfortunately for Blackwater, you have to accumulate the necessary experience, the more you do, the more you will be able to bring home a good result. There are many factors to consider, the moon, the tides, possible currents, surface wind, bathymetry. It is a dive that requires the diver to be a good diver and those who organise such dives to have the appropriate experience and the necessary equipment. Turn to professionals and not improvisers. I have read before about being tied to the boat for this kind of diving... it has been done in the past, but it is very dangerous, I strongly advise against doing such a thing.

Unfortunately it is not a good lens, the AF is very slow and makes you miss many opportunities. I experienced something similar with my R5 and the Sigma 70 macro Art, beautiful lens but terrifying AF, very difficult if you are not used to shooting consistently. You should try, the Nikon 60 macro with the Monster Adapter, to some it works, to others it seems not to work well.

Foreword Are you using a correct fibre optic cable? Make sure you have set single shot on your camera, don't use burst, this will mess up your strobe. If so, turn off your strobe, make sure you have set single shot, turn it back on and take a test shot. This should work properly.

Hi Oskar, thank you for participating, actively on the forum. For me, it is very much appreciated to be able to speak directly with companies. I would like to ask you, if you can answer, why didn't you make the new battery outside and not inside? Thank you in advance

the answer they gave you is correct, if you use the flip you need to remove the adapter ring, if you mount it directly on the door, without the flip, you need to have the adapter ring mounted

Innovation and making improvements in products is always a great thing. I had 2 Retra Pro and used them to my satisfaction, wonderful light, nice product, nice design but I never could stand the batteries because of their lifespan and I refused to buy the Booster, it felt like a tease. That is, a nice and powerful flash, but if I have to use it for good and to its full capacity, I have to add an extension cord for the batteries and run around with 32 AA batteries and their chargers...what would be the point of that...in the end I sold them for that reason. Retra created a "sporty Mercedes" with a 10-liter fuel tank ... you go to turn on a track, but after two laps you have to pit stop to refuel ... IMO, they wanted to try to put a patch on the continuous release of new competing products, which now, almost all of them, mount lithium batteries with performance on durability, clearly superior. I am reminded of the phrase: "The mountain has brought forth a mouse" That said, I understand, in part, why Retra has always been hostile to lithium batteries-I have personally witnessed the " explosion " of a lithium battery and seen the effects on a battery flooded with seawater. But technology moves on and these are the challenges, each company makes its own choices and presents its own products and it will only be the customer who will make it clear the choices were correct. I hope to see in the future that battery inside a Retra strobe and not outside with that horrible extension battery, also because in the last few years underwater strobes have multiplied so much, from the dominance of Sea&Sea and Inon now we have much more choice of products and this "competition" should make it so that we as customers can have higher quality products at a more attractive price.

If you already own an R7, I find that it is the best option and you already have optics that you can use right away. You also have mastery of the camera, so you already have a much better advantage than buying a new brand and starting from scratch to study its functions and menus. I own both R5 and R7 and I use the R7 purely for macro and blackwater. The 50 macro is a 0.5 lens and not 1:1 as a magnification, I suggest the 60, which works excellently. I honestly find it a best buy camera, the value for money is really high. I use it with the EF-S 60 macro, EF 100 macro L and EF-S 35 macro. If you plan to use it also for Wide or CFWA you can use Tokina 10-17 or 8-15 Fisheye Canon both excellent solutions.

Hi Mark, save yourself time and money, and go straight to the MF2 with its snoot. I currently use 2 MF2s with their snoots for macrophotography. It has good power and the new MF2 uses a 21700 battery, but if you shoot a lot, I recommend replacing the battery between dives if you do 2-3 dives in a day. I attach a few shots taken at Anilao and Bali recently

I had no problems with the Nauticam manual trigger, I used AOI 613-CORE fibre cables

I selling Nauticam M67 Flip Diopter Holder for M77 Macro Ports, in good condition. The flip is for all M67 lenses but the mount on the port is M77. Hand pick up in Pero area (Italy), shipping to be agreed (I can ship all over Europe, except UK)

Selling Nauticam macro port 41, N120 attachment, very lightly used in perfect condition. Hand pick up in Pero area (Italy), shipping to be agreed (I can ship all over Europe, except UK).

This is the best site for coral identification, the book is hard to find http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/page/home/

Hi Tim, I don't have direct experience on Utarom Airport (Kaimana), from what I know, is that it is only connected to Sorong with Wings Air Company. So you have to get to Sorong first and then to Kaimana. Sorong is not worth much as a city to visit, but if you have a long time to wait, arm yourself well with mosquito repellent. Malaria is present in Sorong. Flight cancellations are quite frequent, if you have to book flights directly always try to have a good safety margin between flights. Most flights leave Jakarta for Sorong after midnight, there are very few flights in the afternoon (it's a 4-hour flight). To get to Sorong I recommend Garuda, which is the most reliable, and always gives a bonus underwater baggage, but you have to check your flight schedules and departures from Jakarta to fit everything in well.

the inon's photocell is very sensitive, you only need to remove the protective cap, you can place your inon 240 on a tripod or stick, as soon as it receives the light from your main strobe , it will be activated immediately.

I would personally choose the reducing rings. The lens you will be using has a minimum focusing distance of only 10 cm, this will mean that you will have to get very close to the subjects you find and such a wide reflector you will have a lot of backscatter. I have a similar lens with a minimum focusing distance of 18 cm. I position the strobes at about 30 degrees, but one of the two I position at a greater angle to get slightly wider coverage, so if the subject is between 20 and 40 cm from the lens I am sure I will give it the correct illumination. I have been using Inon z330s with reducer and now I have started using D-Pros again with a homemade reducer.

Nauticam recently introduced a very helpful accessory. The USB-C camera-housing connector. This should help charge the camera even on a small boat with a correct power bank and also download photos directly from the camera without eliminating the housing vacuum. This should be very convenient to those with battery life issues. https://www.nauticam.com/products/nauticam-usb-c-bulkhead-with-usb-c-connector