Davide DB

The comments in this thread made me curious about the difference between the two types of batteries. Since I don't feel like doing anything this century, I asked ChatGPT 😝 I'm not responsible for errors or omissions 😇 Both Eneloop white and Eneloop Pro black AA rechargeable batteries are high-quality NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) cells, but they’re designed for different usage profiles. Here’s a quick summary followed by a more detailed comparison: Feature Eneloop (White) Eneloop Pro (Black) Typical Capacity 1900 mAh 2500 mAh Recharge Cycles Up to 2100 cycles Up to 500 cycles Self-Discharge 70% charge retained after 10 years 85% charge retained after 1 year Continuous Discharge Current ~1–2 A without rapid degradation Up to 3 A or more for high loads Min Operating Temp -20 °C -20 °C Price More affordable More expensive 1. Eneloop White (Standard)Typical capacity: 1900 mAh Excellent cycle life: up to 2100 charge/discharge cycles Very low self-discharge: can retain charge for years in storage Best for low to medium drain devices, such as: remote controls, wireless mice and keyboards LED lights, alarm clocks, basic sensors 2. Eneloop Pro BlackHigher capacity: 2500 mAh Lower cycle count: up to 500 cycles Slightly higher self-discharge (but still excellent for NiMH) Designed to handle higher discharge currents, ideal for: camera flashes, gaming controllers, motorized toys high-drain LED lights, professional audio gear Discharge Current (your key interest)Both are solid performers, but: Eneloop Pro cells are built to handle higher continuous and peak discharge currents — they’re better for power-hungry devices or short bursts of high current (e.g., camera flashes). Standard Eneloop (white) cells can’t deliver as much peak power but are more than sufficient for most everyday devices. ConclusionChoose Eneloop White if you want longevity, reliability, and a lower price — ideal for general-purpose use. Choose Eneloop Pro Black if you need more power and higher current output, even if it means fewer charge cycles and a higher cost.

The part about the sharp rocks is terrifying. I can't even imagine carrying gear on my back there. Is the emergency room close by?

I know that the well-known overheating problems with the R5 were fixed with firmware updates. They basically removed most of the first limits. It was quite embarrassing for them. Here in the Mediterranean, I know people who use it only for video and have never had problems. What temperature is the water? What resolution and codec do you use?

MY PRECIOUSSSSS

Since this topic comes up again over time, I am opening a thread to discuss it and gather data and ideas in the future. 👴🏽 Stix foam cubes have always been a very good and solid choice for floating arms. Their big advantages are: They are made in different base cube sizes, which fit into normal aluminum arms. You can get the floatation you want by adding/remove them or even cutting them. Because they are modular, you can easily change them quickly between dives depending on the lenses, ports, or lights you are using. They also look sleek ☺️ They have somehow, some limit too: They are only guaranteed down to 40 meters. This means they cannot be used for technical dives. I tried them myself at 70 meters, they became like marshmallows and the camera was like an anchor. They are specifically thought for arms and not for other special uses, like collars for wet lenses or pads to use as a base for a video housing. Even though compared to the cost of other parts of underwater camera gear, they are cheap, they are not cheap overall. Also, many of us have always been interested in the dark side of DIY 😈 So, let's see what a possible alternative could be. The option most like Stix foam is high density closed-cell PVC foam. High-density PVC foams are very important materials in making strong, light composite products. They are not just light fillers. They are made to be strong inside materials that are key to how well "sandwich structures" work and stay together. These PVC foams have mostly closed cells and a special connected structure. These foams are made to be very strong and last a long time. Important features of these materials include that they soak up very little water, can stand up to chemicals very well, and hardly let any moisture in. The most famous commercial name is Divinycell. Ther are countless types for different markets and uses. I linked directly the most suited and cheap for our use case. From the datasheet you can download, I'll give you a spoiler right away: for recreational diving, the H45 type is good, while for technical diving, the H60 or even H100 type is good. The codes tell you its density in kg/m3 (I'm a metric guy, good luck to those who use Imperial). The only column we care about is its compression strength. I would use the minimum value. So: Unit H45 H60 H100 MPa Minimum 0.5 0.7 1.15 Bar 5 7 11.5 Depth (meters) 50 70 115 Hence, a material with compressive strength of 0.5 MPa (0.1 MPa = 1 Bar) can theoretically withstand the pressure at 50 meters depth in seawater before starting to deform. Someone would like apply a safety factor in real applications. Personally I would use H100 for everything. I used Divinycell as an example because it seems to be an industry standard and the more common. But there are other similar products out there. All of them have a similar chart, so the idea is the same. (Corecell, Klegecell, Airex, Termanto, Nidaplast) It's worth mentioning that there are also partially pre-cut panels of cubes that would be perfect for collars. Where can you get this material? Is it expensive? It depends on where you are in the world. The material itself is very cheap, but if you buy from distributors, it's usually sold in panels as big as doors (1 meter by 2 meters). So, the cost becomes quite high, and it's also too much for what we usually need it for. Again, where you can get it depends on the country you are in. Below, I will share some personal ideas. Maybe you are lucky and you live in a part of the world where you can find this material online or hardware stores or model shops. Distributors are the main place to get it. Try asking for a demo sample, like a piece that is 40x40 cm and 4 or 5 cm thick. In the sea world, this material is very common for building the main parts of boat decks. It gets covered with resin or wood. So, small and large boatyards have a lot of it, including many leftover pieces from cutting. If you are lucky, it's easy to get some for free. High-density PVC is the most used material for fishing floats. Specifically, for deep nets, they use floats that are guaranteed to work at depths over 200 meters. Here in Italy, there's a big company that sent me a box full of floats for free. They said these floats didn't pass their quality tests. But actually, they are perfect; they just have tiny cosmetic flaws that I couldn't even see. I specifically chose the large, cylinder-shaped ones. They don't look good as they are, but they can be cut, painted and used as basic blocks for what we need. You can, of course, also find it through some brands that sell diving and underwater photography gear. But the words "diving/underwater photography," and "cheap" are oxymorons. 😄 Two links: https://www.easydive.it/en/accessories/arms-and-accessories/floats/floating-square-easy-float.25.html https://www.adval.it/_eng/galleggiamento.html One last word on how to work with it: You can easily cut it with a wood saw or a utility knife, and you can sand it just like balsa wood. It can also be spray-painted. 10 years ago I got a demo panel of about 40x40x5 cm. With a pencil, I drew squares the same size as the Jumbo Stix, and the carpenter cut them for me. I also had him make off-center holes, like the Stix, using a hole saw. Hundreds of tech dives with them. I've got these two pieces of THALAGAL for my monitor, and I guard them like precious jewels, considering they cost an arm and a leg! My precious treasure of fishing floats is waiting for the next project. Please feel free to add corrections, links, and suggestions. Ciao

Yes, they are guaranteed up to 40m. First time with the Jumbo Stix at 70m, at the beginning I didn't notice their shape but I felt my camera very heavy, then I realized they were completely crushed. They got back their original shape on the boat, after a couple of hours.

I'll start by saying that I'm not very good at this topic, but generally speaking, the Insta360 X5 has two sensors, one for each lens. This is the normal design for cameras that take 360-degree pictures for people to use, like the Insta360 X-series. Each lens takes a picture of a part of the area (a little more than 180 degrees). Then, the two pictures are put together by the camera to make one round 360-degree picture or video. the overlapped part is used to remove the stick. The X5 has two 1/1.28" inch sensors. Rumors says that the new Osmo could have two 1" sensors. In both cases you get an image as having one sensor. It's difficult to assess how it works exactly Before they launch the camera. Sometimes you have to read the fine prints 😉

If you do tech dives just keep in mind that below 40 m, Stixs will shrink like marshmallow. Been there done that. As Chris pointed out, closed cells pvc foam with a density of 25/30 kg/m3 is the safe choice. EDIT: I correct myself, a density of 45 Kg/M3 is the minimum for rec dives and 60-100 Kg/m3 for tech dives.

The Mediterranean Sea is super hot. From Spain to the Balkans, including Portugal, Italy, and Greece, the first heat waves set new temperature records between late June and early July. In El Granado, Spain, it reached 46 degrees Celsius, which is a new high for June. In many places in Southern Europe and the Balkans, temperatures went over 40 degrees Celsius. These temperatures used to only happen in late July. In Serbia, June 25th was the hottest day ever recorded so far. In Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, it reached 38.8 degrees Celsius, which is the highest ever for that city (BBC). In Paris, part of the Eiffel Tower was closed because of the heat. In Greece, south of Athens and in Crete, the first fires have already started. In Turkey, more than 50,000 people had to leave their homes because of fires. In Italy, the Ministry of Health put 21 out of 27 cities under a "red alert" because of the extreme heat. According to the United Nations group on climate change, heat waves are happening more often, are stronger, and last longer. This is because of climate change caused by people. It's not just the air and land, but also the sea that feels the unusual warming. On June 22, the European Earth observation program, Copernicus, reported a big heat wave in the western Mediterranean Sea. This was especially between the Gulf of Lion and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Surface temperatures there were more than 5 degrees Celsius higher than usual for that time of year. The next day, the Mediterranean Environmental Studies Center found the average temperature of the Mediterranean Sea was 25 degrees Celsius. This high temperature could make extreme weather worse and harm the balance of sea life (Costa Blanca Daily). A few days later, on June 29, Copernicus reported a sea temperature of 26 degrees Celsius. This was the highest ever recorded for June.

I have the single flip holder from Nauticam, and its position must be at 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock. The flip has two parts that fit into two small cuts on the Nauticam flat port. I don't know if it's the same for Nauticam's double flip holder.

It's a little off-topic, but not too much. Many updated versions of lenses are coming out (and honestly, some were not needed). But the fisheye lens is still a missing piece. Also, the old Canon 8-15 mm lens is no longer made. In the good old days of M43 cameras, both Panasonic and Olympus quickly add their fisheye lenses to their catalogs. IIRC, Olympus even had a PRO version. There must be a curse because Panasonic has never made a fisheye lens for its L-mount full frame cameras. It's a conspiracy! 😆

We have an old thread on scootering and taking images. You could open a new thread or just continue here:

Welcome aboard!

Yes, that's true. But not everyone can afford to put an Alexa camera in a housing. So, people make compromises 🤑 And if you look at the monitor table in the pinned thread, the price difference is not small. Ciao

They are very similar. Both have the joystick and N100 port. The only clear difference that comes to my mind is that the A1 housing has an M24 port for HDMI 1.4 and 2.0 while the A7SIII housing has an M16 port which fits only HDMI 1.4. Nauticam has probably decided to make fewer types of housings and now only sells the housing for the A1. Have you tried to contact Nauticam USA or Backscatter?

Welcome aboard, We are happy to have another underwater video fan here. We hope you like the forum. Ciao

That's a great point, and the OG R5s are pretty easy to find used

Amazing quality images and perfect editing. Bravo! I see one of the shrimps goes down to the nudi's feeding mouth. Does it eat the same things? Thanks

Do you know the exact weight of the Fotocore MR6 monitor? I wasn't able to get this info. Their previous model was over 700 gr negative

When I set up my GH5 many years ago, that's exactly what happened. The housing, with a 6" acrylic dome port, was almost neutral, but it kept turning dome-up, and I had to apply a fair amount of force to keep it horizontal. I ended up adding a good 700 grams to the dome's neck, and at that point, I had to start adding flotation arms. It was a never-ending spiral. Unfortunately, a camera's shape is the worst for this. It's the most important detail for a video setup, and that's why video housings are shaped horizontally (more angle to work with) and usually have a lot of air inside.

Okkkk now it's clear. Thanks

Terrific project. Ho do you add the weights? Is it possible to add some legs for macro work without removing everything? Ho do you plan to mount the monitor, behind the housing? Thanks

A question, maybe a silly one. I was looking at the Nauticam N120 Canon Port Chart, specifically for the Canon EF 100 F2.8 macro. The table generally lists SMC/CMC and then (being FF) gives the working distances and magnifications for SMC-1 and 2. It seems like SMC-2 is much more powerful than SMC-1. However, for the CMCs that I use, it's the opposite: the CMC-2 is less powerful than the CMC-1. So, is it not possible to know the magnifications achievable with CMC-1 and 2 by looking at those for the SMC series? P.S. I'm using the EF 100 on a M43 system

I've had several GoPros and I've never had a problem. You probably got a faulty one. For your use case, just grab the best deal you find. DJI's frame distortions can be mitigated by using a smaller FOV.

Absolutely true. Unfortunately, for most "shilltubers," video autofocus (AF) demonstrations boil down to someone just moving back and forth, or in and out of the camera's frame on a tripod. This is one of the rare videos where a camera's AF is explained in detail for both photos and videos. And, as I mentioned, even for a very advanced camera like the A6700 (I read that its AF is the same as the A7R5), the AF sections are different.