DreiFish

One question -- is the general unshaprness/blurriness of the background (area 2+ meters in front of the camera) here caused by water clarity, or is it the AOI lens limiting the focus range of the Action 5 to a narrower area right in front of the camera with infinity out of focus?

Both the Wide Rocksteady (12mm) and the HorizonBalancing Dewarp crops look decent as far as image quality in the corners goes, though I think I prefer the 12mm. The HorizonBalancing Dewarp introduces a tad too much pincushion distortion in the corners for my tastes which the more fisheye-like Wide Rockstead counterbalances. Corner shaprness is not great, but.. it's not bad. Definitely better than without the wet lens. I guess we can conclude from this thread that the AOI wet lens works best with a ~15mm field of view on the default camera. Action 4 and 5 don't have a setting that gets you exactly to 15mm, so the 12mm Wide Rocksteady might be the best bet. I've downloaded the raw footage from Bio and I'll try to play around with it a bit to see what flexibility it offers in terms of color correction and post processing. Thank you very much for sharing those files, Bio!

Any findings to show that either the Action 5(4) or the Ace Pro 2 (original) play better with the AOI or INON wet lens options? We'd be using it exclusively for video, not photos as a complement to our housed cameras. Given that size is the main factor, I don't think a housed iPhone is a viable alternative even if it has some image quality advantages. I want something compact and uncomplicated for scenarios where a housed full frame camera is not ideal. Basically, I don't need/want 10 bit and a lot of post processing if the OOC results are adequate, so it's not a dealbreaker either way between the Ace Pro 2 and the Action 5. I do seem to recall some findings here on Waterpixel that the AOI lens interacts poorly with the Action 5's wides FOV leading to attrocious corners, which would be the main dealbreaker for me going with the Action 5 over the Ace Pro 2. Otherwise, I slightly prefer the DJI from a 10 bit, better battery life, brighter rear screen (at same 2.5" size) perspective. And the integration with the DJI wireless mics is a nice plus for topside. I've owned plenty of DJI drones, so I'm comfortable with their ecosystem and generally hold them in high regard as a manufacturer. Regarding the GoPro -- my wife has an Hero 8, and part of my reluctance to buy a Hero 13 is that I question whether it would be a meaningful upgrade in image quality given the same sensor basically. The 1/1.3" sensors of the Ace Pro 2 and Action 5 seem more promising from that perspective, and I've never really found the GoPro footage quality to be adequate for my standards. While I definitely appreciate the more developed ecosystem of accessories like the AOI monitor housing for the GoPro line.. none of that can really make up for the image quality limitations. It would be nice if the Action 6 comes out with a 1" sensor. It would bring me back to the days when I first started filming underwater with a Sony RX100 12 years ago 🙂

If you had to buy an action cam today, which would you buy? I just watched about two hours of reviews.. and well, the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 and DJI Action 5 both seem overall better than the GoPro, but not sure which to pick between them. Interested in using it topside (50%) and underwater (50%), likely with a wet lens. I have the AOI wet lens already. So corner sharpness underwater is one consideration.

Seems DJI is accelerating its product release roadmap in general, potentially as a strategy to hedge against higher U.S. import tariffs under a Trump administration.

I placed a pre-order for the 2 Retra Maxis and was recently advised by Oscar that, due to overwhelming demand and potential complications ramping up production, the shipment would be delayed at least until April 28th. Retra offered to cancel and refund the order if that delay is too long. I'm.. a little concerned that this is quite reminiscent of the recent production issues they had with the Lithium battery packs for the circular flash tube line (though this time, for reasons of too much demand rather than too little!) Not sure what I'm going to do yet, but thought I'd share this info here for others interested in these strobes, which look great on paper 🙂

The R5C housings are bigger (at least Nauticam) which is both a benefit and a downside. I own it.. so had plenty of first-hand experience. On the benefit side, you get better stability and ergonomics for filming in the water (e.g. separate, proper cinema zoom and focus wheels), and the space for a USB-C battery pack, which are both great things. On the drawback side -- it's bigger and more expensive, significantly heavier.

Edited.

Vs. Z8/z9 -- better ambient light custom white balance Vs. A1 - 8k60, 4k60 downsampled, in-camera raw Vs. R5C - better dynamic range is pretty much the only thing I can think of

A further price drop -- willing to sell the entire package for $600/strobe or $1300 for everything.

Indeed, seems Retra pushed the flash tubes (I imagine they're the same as used in the YS-D3 and Backscatter HF-1) just slightly further, and put a slightly brighter, slightly better CRI video light on there. Still, can't complain about the end result -- if you're in the market for the Backscatter HF-1s, you should also seriously consider the Retra Maxi, since price is very similar and Retra arguably has a better range of accessories atm and build quality. What I especially like is the even higher battery capacity (550 full power flashes vs. 375 on the HF-1); the even faster recycling times (claimed 50fps vs 30fps -- though how that translates in practice to more practical 1-10fps shooting speeds remains to be seen), and, most importantly, same weight and similar size with better boyancy characteristics (only -20g negative). Plus, better controls. If cross-shopping, I guess it comes down to how interesting/important the Backscatter HF-1s ambient light filters are to you and which strobe has a better TTL implementation -- though those are really niche features for most. Excited to try them..

Hmm... on first glance, it seems to be a Retra version of the Backscatter HF-1.... Does it use one straight flash tube, or two? The claimed GN of 46 seems a bit high for a single flash tube strobe. Any information on recycling times or Watt-seconds?

Unfortunately, you're running into limitations of physics here, because of the way dome ports produce a curved virtual image, which is what your lens is focusing on/filming. On an APS-C sized sensor, that means you really can't be below F8, and F11 is probably better in order to get reasonably sharp corners. The only things that can help are a larger dome or shooting at less wide focal length. Things start to improve around 20mm (FF equivalent) and get pretty good by 24-35 mm. But if you want to shoot at 11mm (16mm FF equivalent), you need both a large dome (230mm preferred) and narrow apertures in the F8-F11 range. Getting a different lens might improve things slightly, but the issue is that the center of the image and the corners are at different focal length because of the curvature of the virtual image created inside the dome. Lens quality can't solve that. Only a larger dome or a narrower aperture can. Since the Blackmagic camera is also ISO limited.. you basically either have to bring a lot of artificial light into the scene or look into wet contact optics like the Nauticam WACP-1 or WACP-2

Detailed review from Gerald Undone: + Dynamic range is class-leading in video (13.5 stops), better than A1 (12.9 stops) - Still no easy way to set white balance...

Price drop to $800/strobe and $200 for the trigger. $1500 for everything.