Nemrod

I shoot mostly WA and CFWA and portrait shots. I rarely do macro. I use the screen and while I did briefly have a VF I had traded for I sold it off as I just did not use it. Fortunately or not ;), I have a prescription mask with bifocals and the screen is just fine for me. Edit to add, I want to make it my byline, I am not a pro, I am barely an amateur, I manage to take a lucky shot once in a while.

My new NA-R50 is loaded for Cozumel in a few days. I still have my NA-A6400 Sony but it is staying home due to concerns over Mexico "import" fees. My NA-R50 came from another forum member and I purchased the Pro Kit options and brackets through Reef because I like two strobes I really like the outfit. I already have the CMC lenses and the WWL-1 and these are what I used most of the time for my Sony rig despite having other options. I do wish that Nauticam would provide a corrective air lens, a (semi-affordable) fisheye water contact lens and a bayonet flip holder. Maybe they will at least address the flip holder. I had a (used) VF for my Sony and sold it off. I just prefer the screen for WA and CFWA and fish shots and that is what I mostly do. A VF is nice for macro but I can do without for my purposes. I may purchase the extended VF for the NA-R50, maybe. The R50 shoots great and the housing is exactly what you expect of Nauticam. And the rig packs up nicely. The Nikon rig might have been what I went with had the opportunity to purchase the R50 had not come along. But that reasoning was mostly based on the independent controls for the Nikon vs the Command dial for the Canon. It turns out that in use, the Command dial for ISO, f stop and shutter speed is fine, better than fine and is not an impediment. I also set the AF/MF button to shortcut so I can rapidly shift between manual strobes and TTL strobes.

I bought a Nauticam WWL-1 way back like around 2019, oh, so long ago ;). I first used it and still do with a Sony A6400 in a Nauticam NA-6400 housing on the Macro Port 45. I use the WWL-1 with both the Sigma 19 Art lens and the PZ kit zoom. Most of my shots are around f8 to f11 but I am not afraid to go to f5.6 and I have done some available light with the faster Sigma lens that opens to f2.8 with the WWL-1 (wrecks and things like that). People, other divers, ask me what I am taking pictures of. They want to hear me say frog fish or seahorses or dolphins or sharks, something that is a clear subject. Then I show them my photos and they wander around the image with their eyes trying to find the frog fish. There is not one. I take pictures of the light. It is the light, the way it streams through the water, the reflections and texture of the reef. As such, I just do not care a flip about extreme corner sharpness if even any of my equipment can produce extreme corner sharpness and I do not care. I take photos to please myself for fun. And because I find the expression of light in the underwater world fascinating. So I am possibly an "isolationist" also. Now I have come to own the Nauticam NA-R50 Pro kit. At first I thought, such an odd idea and then it dawned on me that I already had the WWL, the CMC lens duo and want a MWL and then realized just how much stuff I could leave at home with my Sony rig. Domes, additional ports and lenses I obligingly carried just because and instead just concentrate on getting the pictures that I enjoy with the water contact optics I was carrying and mostly using anyways but now with the R50 only. Well, as soon as I take the camera on a trip in a few weeks. And pool tests show the IQ overall and even in the corners to be more than adequate to my purposes. The R50, at least my incomplete practice shooting, is cleaner at higher ISOs than I might normally use with the Sony. I think I gained almost a stop. So what I did at f11 and ISO200 I might now can do nearer to f16 and ISO400, maybe.

Epoxy or super glue might work, in particular the super glue, but I would probably still use a dab of E6000 instead. The super glue or epoxy will leave glue residue on the housing if the bumper is removed again or needs replacing. The E6000, with some effort, can be picked off leaving the housing clean. Not specific to this but I always try to consider that (what) if Plan A does not work, how does the remains of Plan A impact an opportunity for a Plan B. This methodology keeps my options open and prevents me from becoming stuck between a rock and a hard place.

There really is not enough information to go on here. But I will suggest E6000. It is a strong and flexible adhesive that sets up clear and might work here.

With Nauticam now offering both a Nikon and a Canon mirrorless in fixed port housings with the bayonet also fixed they really do need to add a few things to their catalog. A minimal 1.2X or 2X converter and a bayonet flip holder. And not specific to the fixed port housings, a quality air dome corrective lens to restore FOV to the lens and improve corners of the naked flat port. The concept of a teleconverter UW for this purpose is flawed, placing more water and particles and whatever else between you and the subject. I think you will just need to get closer or failing that to zoom in processing by cropping. What you are describing is a minimal crop so you will not loose much IQ and in some ways may improve it by cropping out the corners of the flat port images. As much as I have come to dislike DH regulators of recent, I do notice that I can get closer to some critters using them than with a SH. This due to the exhaust bubbles being less noisy and more hidden from the sensitive critters view. YRMV.

The Sigma 19 does not require me to zoom out the vignetting present on the kit lens at 16mm-19mm range. The Sony does not keep the zoom sticky so when the camera goes to sleep each time it awakens I have to reset the zoom to or beyond 19mm. The Sigma lens is also sharper and better IQ being a fixed focal length. It focus quickly and just works very well with the WWL-1. As well, the kit lens really needs to be at 20mm to clear the corners and the Sigma has clear corners at 19mm so the FOV is very slightly wider and seems a little cleaner perhaps in the corners. Is the Sigma 19mm worth getting, I cannot answer that for you. I enjoy using it but just as often grab the kit lens, deal with the annoying non sticky zoom for the ability to zoom and frame on the fly. With the Sigma, well, I zoom with my fins.

I have the older Kraken 1500 and I like it still. I like that it has a mode that momentarily shuts off the focus light when the strobes fire. But, it from time to time requires me to beat on it for it to work. I found that the little battery spring was flat. I fixed that. Then, oddly, after many dives and despite a good rinse down, I found severe corrosion, as in pieces missing, under the saddle clamp where it abuts the forward light section, happened in one day of diving. I used emory paper and black paint to repair and so far, so good. But it is evident that I will need a new one sooner than latter. L&M may have thrown in the towel too soon :(.

Mine will flash red blue at start up sometimes and then sometimes not, on the same battery or even a new battery. When I sent my housing in for service after five years (more or less) I mentioned this phenomena, and they could not replicate and all checked out normal. So, I go on a dive trip, and guess what ------. I just ignore it now and change my batteries on a regular basis. Thus avoiding the scary steady red!

I remove my main housing O-ring with each opening and lube it and clean the sealing surfaces. Early on with my then new Nauticam housing I had the steady red light and got confused thinking it meant water inside. I quickly dumped vacuum and opened the housing. Of course, some drops of water went inside just as you describe. I was near Reef Photo so took it there straight away and they cleaned and checked everything over for free. Then I refreshed my read of the OM ;). I sometimes get the alternating lights when I turn the system on. Usually after a number of dives in a very humid place. Beats me but once pumped the green light stays steady. I flooded my FIX/S90 and found a tiny piece of black hair wrapped on the case O-ring. Since my wife has short brown hair and mine is some sort of not black hair it was not mine or hers. Where it came from who knows, perhaps the room service ladies. My fault for changing batteries in a hurry and in a dimly lit area. DAN sponsored insurance covered.

I got to use David's NA-R50 camera rigged with my old single D2000 and my Nauticam WWL-1 (not B). Any question that the WWL-1 with the foam collar will not fit, it does perfectly. I am mightily impressed with this little rig. For a nearly compact camera size outfit using water contact optics, it is very capable and svelte in the water and should be travel friendly. Sorry for not being more photogenic myself but the NA-R50 is quite cumly. (photo by DHaas)

I keep a couple of microfiber cloths in a baggie or dry pocket in the bag. I will pat the water compact optic down after a dunk in the rinse tank. I try to keep my camera in a Sam's Club bag between dives. I usually bring a bag of microfiber cloths with me on each trip and use them up over the duration. I have not really had any problems with permeant water spots but what peeves me is a Nauticam housing getting all of the white spots. I try to pat it dry after rinsing. But I am there to dive, not maintain photo equipment so to some extent my water contact optics, ports and cameras must be capable of living in the real world of hard knocks. But still, I like my stuff to look new. The above pertains to between dives when transported by boat, Jeep, camel or Isuzu or flip flops. Rinse tanks for between dive dunks are not even available at some or many locations. Once back to base, I soak the camera and run water over all of the controls exercising them and the optics. Then wipe it down with micro cloths and gently blow dry with an electric rechargeable blow gun.

Sorry, I should have included the board is set to 0 position.

I am sorry I have caused an argument. The sTTL mode when selected overrides the "bastard" switch /ACC cancel switch. The switch does nothing in sTTL (ACC) mode. When the strobe mode is selected to Manual mode the now active ACC switch must be properly selected for pre-flash or no pre-flash expected. The ACC switch does not select between two types of sTTL, one ACC and one not, but both utilizing the pre-flash for exposure control when the strobe is in sTTL mode.

Thank you for that explanation. I never could see that with several compacts I have tried with my Inon strobes. I had a film SLR that had off the film real time flash exposure, or at least I was thinking it did. But digital as you say, I cannot think of any. All digital use a pre-flash approach to TTL strobe exposure. I think, as you suggest, that the two positions on the mode dial are possibly then ACC-sTTL/sTTL and thus no longer a need for the switch and again explains why there are a correspondingly two Manual modes?