RVBldr

Do you use the nauticam with that setup or would those lenses fit with the ikelite? Because the 28-60 does seem to fit a lot of criteria in that case. Yes, I'm using the Nauticam NA-7AC housing.

Just my 2-cents as well, from experience on the 7AC for about 3 years,. I suspect I'm due for an upgrade when I can throw the $$$ at new body and housing. I've found there's basically three different configurations I use: 1) General scenarios: The kit 28-60mm is a nice lens underwater and gives a lot of flexibility. I normally use the WWL-1B for wider shots and carry the CNC-1 on a caddy for instant macro (even swapping in water with dry gloves). This has really served well and provides versatility for anything from a nudibranch to manta on a single dive. 2) Macro: I also used the Sony 50mm for a couple dives and it was a dog! AF is just incredibility slow. I have an adapted Nikon 60mm and it's a better. My general macro is the trusted Sony 90mm and I recently added an MFO-3 for blackwater and some of the bigger critters. I haven't tried the Sony100mm but keeping an eye on it, but could entail a new port. As such, so far everything is using the same port for macro. 3) Finally, dedicated wide angle: I have the adapted Canon 8-15mm fisheye and really like it, and use it with a Zen DP100. Great for CFWA, but I need to get a larger dome for sharper wide angle as the corners are soft with the smaller dome. The main issue with the 8-15mm and the 7AC housing, due to the OEM zoom that resides on teh port adapter, you had to install camera into housing/adapter port, then install lens, and finally, install dome. I created a printable zoom gear that lets me extract the camera/lens at as one unit, and uses the housing zoom gear rather than the port zoom gear.

We've looked into running object detect and identification models at the edge (on-device with smaller hardware) and the biggest issue ends up being compute and storage. Most models today run on GPUs, thus the massive data centers and the associated run-up in nVidia stock! We've been able to run some of the smaller models on-device, but without cloud connectivity, something like a species identification model may be a bit too far for current hardware. You may get something that will identify at a larger level (whale, shark, porpoise, etc), but granular ID could be tough.

Very cool Peter! I think we did Verde Island the day before your group went over.

Found this shrimp in the finger coral at Koloko outside Honokohau Harbor, Kailua-Kona, HI. Any help on this one? Resolution reduction lost hair detail on the front claws.

Really great video Peter! I see you got a manta fly-by as well, we weren't so lucky.

Ha! Yes, we most likely did as I was with the Silent World group! Looking forward to your videos! Being a fan of macro and muck-diving (living in Seattle), I thought Dumaguete had the better assortment of critters for sure.

Had a great trip to both Puerto Galera and Dumaguete this month with about 4 days in PG and another 3 in Dumaguete. Stayed at Atlantis Resorts for both locations, which was very nice with great staff. With half-moon phases, currents were minimal and visibility good. Everyone has their likings, but I can say the muck diving at Dumaguete was a favorite with a good variation in muck and reefs, as well as a trip to Apo Island. Also did a side trip to Oslob for the whale shark snorkeling, a bit of a tourist circus but the locals have figured out how to convert fishing revenue to tourist income. I'll spare the pretty reef and common nudi pics, but there's a great variety from the rice-grain Shaun-the-Sheep up to the larger varieties. Equipment was Sony A7C, 28-60mm/WWL-1B/CMC-1, or 90mm macro, or with the whale sharks, Cannon 8-15/Zen D100 dome (natural lighting).

Do you have the extension on the release tab? That makes it significantly easier with dry gloves.

Earlier this year, had a nice trip and stayed at Volivoli, about 2 hours from airport via van. Not really much of a house reef, but you can get the dives in for sure. Some of my pics were posted to this thread: https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/2386-fiji-volivoli-may-2025/

This is a link for Github .stl file, GitHub - CaliforniaCurrentsPhoto/snoot-adapter-BackScatter-to-Sea-and-Sea for an adapter from the YS-D3 snoot, to the Backscatter Optical Snoot if you have a YS-D3 and don't want to use th3 MF-2.

Just my 2-cents. Diving the local Seattle marine waters, I've tried the Marelux snoot on a YS-D3 and it's a very nice snoot with a knob enabled beam adjustment and battery powered aiming, but the downside is really the size and bulk. I've been pretty happy with my MF-2 snoot. I tried a basic snoot for the YS-D1's, but have found that the compact size of the MF-2 is really nice for snooting and much easier. There's a 3D print for an adapter to a YS-D3 to adapt the MF-2 snoot, but I haven't tried that in the water.

Diving cold water weekly, no issue with dry gloves and taking on/off lens. I use a WWL-1B with the bayonet mount so it's on and off frequently depending on the subjects out and about. As Dave mentioned, yea, sometimes a fisheye is great, and sometimes you go with the macro depending on the junk in the water. Summer in Seattle is macro season for sure. Last November, God's Pocket had some nice viz for sure.

Would be interesting to see some blackwater examples when able. Trying to optimize a FF Sony always seems to be a challenge.

Negative, just the CMC-1 bayonet attachment on the 28-60mm kit lens. I wasn't anticipating a lot of macro so left the 90mm and port at home this trip.

For future reference, I had a CMC-1 stuck on a bayonet adapter and tried various methods including a strap wrench. All no-go. The one that did it for me was to hit the aluminum adapter ring with a heat gun and that will expand the ring just very slightly and allow the release of the lens threads.

Volivoli has a very nice camera room, secured at night, with probably 12-16 stations with plenty of room. Dive Ops was pretty good, but depending on how many are on the boat, it can get a bit crowded for sure. There's no pier/wharf, so they back the boats up at high tide, but use a small skiff to run folks to boats when the tide is out. The staff is also awesome and very friendly; I'd give high ratings overall to the entire staff.

Had a very nice, first visit to Fiji and Volivoli this month. Although the water visibility was a bit meh, the reefs look to be in nice shape with the obligator explosion of color in the soft corals. Not a lot of the bigger critters but a fair assortment of nudis and smaller fish. I found I had a LOT of nice reef pics. Travel was fairly easy with direct flight from Dallas to Fiji, followed by a 2-hour van ride. Much more relaxed then trying to reach the outter reaches of Indonesia! Camera is a Sony A7C, YS-D1/D3 strobes, 28-60mm/WWL-1B/CMC1, or Canon 8-15mm/Zen DP100 small dome.

I've used the 10bar floats for years and tend to like them, even cutting them down as necessary. I still use two Nauticam arm floats + two standard arm with 10bar, but I tend to pack the floats in dive bag or other bags to save space in the camera box.

I don't think it's as nice as the straight Sony 90mm macro, or the 60mm Nikon micro/CMC-2, but it does a nice job. Lots of versatility, I did manta shots with the WWL-1B, then swapped to some nudibranch pics with the CMC-1, so you can't be the in-water flexibility from big to macro. While we were there, we heard it was sold out through '29. I can see why!

12 days at Misool Eco Resort (Raja Ampat, Indonesia) in FEB, about 33 dives. Way too much fun with a lot of varied conditions and photo subjects. Always happy for the critiques! Pics shot with Sony 7AC, 28-60mm kit lens, and either WWL-1B or CMC-1.

I shoot that configuration with Sony 7AC, but use the Zen DP-100 (it was a cost consideration). With that dome, the corners get a bit soft but it works for CFWA shots. I wasn't a big fan of the zoom knob on the extension port as you had to install the lens after installing the camera body then install the dome, so I printed a zoom gear that would work with the knob on the housing, allowing me to install the camera/lens as one unit. There's one fisheye on this page, but most of the wider angle were shot with the lens at 15mm. Jim Piavis - Browning Pass (God's Pocket) at 8mm the lens hood shows in the shots, but with the Zen, it's removable as needed during the dive.

@Dave_Hicks Any idea how much closer you're able to get with the MFO-1?

Had a great trip to Indonesia which included 3 dive days at Lembeh Resort - what a great place to dive if you're into muck diving. Visibility was OK, but not too much better then what we find here in Seattle, although a lot warmer! Here's a small set of some of the usual critters and all pics were taken with Sony A7C, Nikon 60mm Micro lens/ Monster adapter, and YS-D3/ MF-2 strobes. Due to weight limitations, I decided to leave my Sony 90mm macro at home as I thought I'd do some blackwater diving (although that never came to pass). Snoot pics used the MF-2 and associated snoot.

Hi Ross, good to see you here, you did a dive with us from Silent World a couple weeks ago. Great little shop you have there at the resort!