Davide DB

Yes, I saw it. Very strange. I asked Pavel to give us some feedback. I hope he replies

No, it's not a typo. Marelux USA and Europe prices are 1:1 dollar/euro and Marelux Europe website specifies prices are VAT excluded.

Are you sure? I sat through hundreds of posts debating NiMh and Lithium batteries in total silence, soso I’ve earned my right to talk about this ! hahahaha I'm joking of course!

Fair point! If you're a photographer who just occasionally shoots video, pretty much anything works. But if the whole reason you're diving is to shoot video (like the OP here), then no, it’s not just about the person or their style, at least not mostly. Forgive me for being a bit of a nerd, but I’ve spent years watching you photographers obsess over every single screw on a strobe... 😂 so give me a break and let me do the same for video! 😜

I was looking at Marelux's European and American price lists, and we’re clearly living in The fabulous world of Amélie now, where housings cost more in Europe than in the US 😆

Hi Conrad, No, in the end, I didn't take the plunge. There were so many options, so expensive and complicated, that I played dead like an opossum in danger 😁 Let me try to summarize what I’ve gathered on the subject. Let's just say the path branches out significantly depending on several factors. To name a few: Local vs. Cloud use Personal vs. Shared use Windows / Mac / Linux You also need a tool with specific features for video that guarantees enough long-term reliability. I could spend months cataloging everything, only for the software company to go bust after two or three years, leaving me with a useless database. Working in the software industry for 30 years, I can assure you this happens much more often than people think. Kyno is school case. My use case was personal use, local storage, and Windows-based. You have to be careful with local use because some products only manage catalogs on a single hard drive. While that’s limiting but still doable for photos, it's simply impossible for video. I keep my videos archived on duplicated, offline drives. Initially I actually wanted to use Lightroom, since I've been using it for years for my photos and family albums. The major issue was that importing videos took ages because it kept trying to create smart previews for all the files. Not only did it take forever, but it often failed or caused my computer to freeze. It's a real shame because I was already familiar with its powerful tag and metadata management. Plus, you are tied hand and foot to Adobe regarding a limited supported video formats. I might be wrong, but even now, there's no hope for ProRes HQ and ProRes RAW. Choosing a video DAM is no easy task. Long story short, for my specific needs, this was the short list: Kyno (The "Zombie" is back): After being practically abandoned for years, it’s back with new updates. It’s the only one truly designed for a video-first workflow. It allows for "sub-clipping" (tagging specific segments of a clip) and can inject metadata directly into DaVinci Resolve. It’s perfect if you need to "pre-edit" or cull footage before moving to the NLE. AbeMeda / NeoFinder (Win/Mac versions) This is the "disk indexer" per excellence. It’s incredibly fast at creating "snapshots" of offline volumes. If you have 20 external drives on a shelf and you need to know which one contains "Clip_0042.mov" in two seconds, this is the tool. Keep in mind, metadata and tags/keywords yoy add are still in a proprietary database. DigiKam (Open Source) It's a big big project. It's the open source version of Lightroom and it has been active for over 20 years. Even if development were to stop today, the software would keep working, and the database (SQLite or MariaDB) is open and readable. There is no risk of proprietary lock-in. but more importantly, it can mirror every tag and metadata into standard XMP sidecar files***. While it started for photos, the latest versions (v9+) use FFmpeg to handle ProRes HQ and even ProRes RAW previews. It’s the database nearly futureproof because even if the software disappears, your metadata lives in plain-text XMP files right next to your videos. And last but not the least, it's free. Among the three, Kyno is the one designed specifically for video and the one I loved the most. However, the fact that it was basically declared dead for about three years after the company was acquired really made me stop and think. *** a note about XMP and a database while managing indexed files Imagine you add an "interviews" tag/keyword to your Clip001.mov files. When you type "interviews" into software like digiKam or Kyno, the information is instantly saved in the Database, usually a single file on your PC, such as digikam4.db. The tag is inside a system file on your main Hard Drive for speed. When you search for "interviews," the software doesn't scan all your external hard drives; it queries its internal database, which is tiny and very fast. The limitation: If your database gets corrupted or if you uninstall the program without having a backup of the database, the "interviews" tag vanishes, even if your videos are safe and sound on the external disk. To avoid the risk mentioned above, professional software uses XMP files. Since writing metadata inside a video file is slow and not supported in all formats, the software creates a small text file with the same name as the video but a different extension. Example: Video: Clip001.mov Sidecar: Clip001.mov.xmp or Clip001.xmp. The tag is written inside this text file in a standard XML format. If you open the XMP file with Notepad, you will clearly see the word: <dc:subject>interviste</dc:subject> It is for security and portability. If you take that hard drive to another computer with different software, such as Adobe Bridge, that software will read the XMP file and know that the video has the "interviews" tag. If you spend months tagging your historical archive in digiKam and two years from now you decide to switch to Kyno or another MAM, you won't have to redo all the work—provided you've enabled XMP sidecar writing. The new software will read the XMP files and import the tags automatically. P.S. before you ask, no Adobe Bridge doesn't work!

The aluminum build quality seems good and, basically, they seem to be "strongly inspired" by Nauticam’s design choices. However, the devil is in the details, so we don’t know anything yet about the design and durability of the buttons and levers. I also still find it difficult to navigate their port chart; the info seems scattered across several web pages. I would suggest hiring a good web designer to start with! 😁 Actually, we need alternatives that help lower prices and basically make this hobby accessible to as many people as possible. It feels like we are heading in the opposite direction instead. Then there's the lock-in factor. Switching systems usually forces you to rebuy all your gear, which is a huge financial hit.

Hi SadaWeb, Welcome aboard! We hope you will enjoy the forum. Ciao

Ciao Kalani, Welcome onboard!

Hi Krissy, Welcome aboard! We you will enjoy the forum.

Nope, Panaleica 45mm and Pana 30mm share the same port 45.

I don't get you. Do you like the M conf. or not? That video simplified things a lot but it's really a good start to dive into the trimmed camera rabbit hole. Thing is that I have a sort of M conf. but I never film with it. It's more a carry on configuration. While filming I extend the arms and light come from above. I film in that position only when I'm mid water. When you are near the bottom, lights at the same camera level creates an overexposed visible area on the sea floor. So the perfect videoconfiguration doesn't change (or changes slightly) the trim when you move the lights. Ciao

Yes. At home I had the classic light brown masking tape so I painted it with a sharpie.

Hi Pavel, Sorry for going off-topic. Any chance to get some feedback on Alu Sea Frogs housings? P.S. I see some marks of ruined/discolored paint similar to the Nauticam ones.

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Good question! Do you dive with o without lights? Judging by the videos I happen to see, this is an underrated topic. And it is one of those subjects where photography and video diverge. Personally, I prefer everything to be neutral or slightly negative. Right now, my configuration is 300 grams negative, and I carry a small 500-gram weight for any macro shots (I use small legs by default). Long story short: in video, bigger is better! Beside being neutral buoyant, the most important thing is that everything is trimmed; this means that if you let it go, it should not tilt with the port facing up or down. Because even if it is neutral, you would be forced to apply constant pressure with your wrists, which is inevitably transmitted to the footage. So, I repeat, the trim is really important. On this topic, if you are starting from scratch, this old video by Vanessa Cara-Kerr is very well made. It is part of an entire playlist with all the basics of underwater videography. It is a pity that for some topics that deserved further study, Vanessa refers to future videos that were never made.

Masking tape and then a black pen.

Yes, per Nauticam port chart, with wet lenses the zoom range is limited to 28mm

We need an expert programmer from the "Upside Down" to fix it, but maybe playing this song is enough to put everything back in place 😁

We’ve received reports of a glitch at the bottom of the home page. It seems to trigger a total inversion of reality. If you find yourself in the Upside Down, don't panic. Put your headphones on, listen to Kate, and prepare yourselves: the 31st is coming, and it's going to be a hell of a finale. 👽👽👽

Hola Julio, Welcome aboard! Ciao

Hi François, Welcome aboard! Ciao

The lack of a monitor on action cameras underwater is definitely a huge drawback. IIRC there was that insane Weefine housing with the external monitor mount, vacuum system, and wet lens. But once you add lights and buoyancy arms, you’re basically looking at the same size as an M43 system. And in the end, you’re still using an action camera which, no matter how good it is, will never be on the same level as a mirrorless. The same goes for macro,which isn't even true macro, just close-up shots. It’s the same story with smartphones. At that point, wouldn't it be better to just use them for what they actually are? Why not just embrace their speed and ease of use? Maria has shown so many photos created with great creativity while staying true to the original nature of these tools.

GTom, do you dive/snorkeling shallow? Tropics or temperate water? For tropics and shallow dives a good filter is enough. Snorkeling doesnt require any filter while deeper or temperate waters requires lights for sure.

I had the cheap acrylic Nauticam 4" dome. I was never satisfied of sunballs shots. For that you need a real glass. Nevertheless the whole kit was extremely compact with zero extension. Those ports are tailored on native lens. This is me 14 years ago with that dome on a GH3 housing.