Nemrod

You did not say what system you have. Unless you are shooting an OM Systems camera or a TG you will not have TTL capability with the Backscatter strobes. Possibly with a Sony only if the housing has room for a rather large and clunky and expensive and proprietary trigger to insert. Probably beyond your needs but the Retra Maxi has the largest power range of any current strobe from barely a flash to huge power! And has universal TTL. The price Delta between the HF1 and the Maxi is not that much considering the two products. The Maxi is maxi! And neutral in the water without floats.

Age is a state of mind.

You know, these days, 50 yo is barely grown up.

Cozumel. Fly by shooting, lol. Between dives now, heading back out shortly and may even leave the camera in the room since I already have it set up for tomorrow. What fun is that!

Just an update. Have the incredible Retra Maxis strobes in the water now for two weeks and several more dives yet. There is a learning curve with them. But the reason for the post, the sleeves I made from an old wetsuit arm and especially the @Dave_Hicks bumpers are performing fantastic to protect my beautiful, shiny silver Retras from all that nasty marine stuff! Thanks.

I like the turtle and the snapper. Nice shots. Those who have never dove Cozumel might not appreciate how difficult it can be to deal with the current. Pretty much fly by shooting often difficult to get framing and settings adjusted, one chance at a shot and zoom away.

I have found that sometimes the battery end contacts form an oxide layer that increases resistance. Spinning them in the charger will help them to make better contact and complete a cycle.

Simple question. Is it possible to install the Nauticam bayonet system to an AOI housing 67mm threaded port?

The point made about the camera lens possibly being more flare prone in some, could be? Could explain such varied experiences with the same optics. The photo with the beautiful gar fish, very shallow, very bright sun. Challenging conditions for sure. For laughs, Canon A570 P&S, Ikelite case, Inon WAL with glass dome, shot right into the sun with some cool lens reflections that look like planets. Photo sucks, lol, what do you expect for a 5MP antique! Darn thing had manual aperture, iso and shutter! Shallow and bright, a little flare in the lower right corner. Surely the WACP could do as well!

Is the Z6 limited to 1/200 for strobe sync and the OM1 can get 1/250? That would be annoying but not a deal breaker since I have dealt with 1/160 on my Sony pop up and 1/200 with the UWT trigger. But my Canon goes to 1/250 and it does make a useful difference shooting against the sun up shallow.

I do not believe a WWL would flare as in the photo above. That flare really surprises me.

One 128 card per week plus one spare.

Never used a WACP and understanding that people can have strong opinions and varied experiences, but I cannot recall ever having a flare issue with the WWL-1. I do not think it prone to flare. Less so than my dome. But my dome is acrylic, not one of those high dollars Zen glass domes ;). And I like to shoot back into the sun. Photos with WWL-1 and either a Nauticam NA-R50 or NA-6400.

Hmmmm, maybe the OP needs a Dave Hicks cover for his rare S&S lens! Maybe I do too for my Nauticam dome ;).

I always keep my lenses covered entering and exiting. My WWL hard cover is drilled for a piece of cave line and bolt snap. The cover is always attached to the lens safety line or clipped off to my scooter ring when in use. My CMC lenses and dome port have neoprene covers which likewise have a small bolt snap for me to clip them off to the camera when on the lens or to my scooter ring in use. Ikelite has several full neoprene covers with a zip drawstring that are easier to slip on than the bikini type. I use one of those on my 4.33 inch Nauticam dome. And, of course, a bolt snap.

Yes, same thought here. I was of the thinking that the WACP would be at least as good as the WWL and IMO the WWL is not prone especially to flare. Flare has not been a problem for me in thousands of shots and I love to shoot back against the sun for CFWA and other WA shots. This photo, divers and boat, is fairly horrid, I missed the moment but it demonstrates that the WWL does not flare. In fact, I cannot recall ever seeing flare though I am sure it can occur, any lens can flare into the sun. The fish ball photo shows flare, Canon S90, Inon UFL165AD (acrylic dome), a lens that is prone to flare if not careful, I have never had the WWL ever do anything like this under much worse conditions.

I have never owned or used a glass dome with a WA or FE lens. However, I have a 4.33 acrylic dome and a fisheye and I find the WWL much sharper corner to corner and much less prone to flare shooting into the sun and general internal reflections. I too am curious as to why the various flavors of the WACP would be prone to flare? Such would certainly be a part of my "dream" system, I thought. Flare can be artistic but it can also be quite annoying.

I usually will burp my WWL. It is bayonet and floods quickly and does not retain a large bubble. But jumping in hurriedly, I usually will find a myriad of tiny bubbles on the glass dome, rear element and port. I have found that if in a hurry swishing the camera about a little and fanning water to the dome and bayonet area will clear most of them rapidly without burping. I am pretty fast at burping the lens, maybe ten seconds but a lot can happen in ten seconds I suppose. Yes, that can be a disadvantage to a water contact optic.

The non removable port housings like the new AOI for the R50 and the two from Nauticam for the little Z and the R50 should not be thought of as full feature rigs. They are meant to offer larger sensor alternatives to the now extinct pro-compacts and are intended as grab and go travel systems. Toss in your flavor of WWL and a CMC and some travel friendly strobes like the S220s and it will all fit into a sub carry on size case. All of that will go in the little carry on with the camera ensconced in the housing, no gears, no tray to attach, no unreliable trigger that needs batteries and multiple domes and ports and multiple lenses. I can get everything in the case but for the hard float arms. Standard arms and Stix floats might go. Not even getting into the CMC-2/1, I can cover a fairly large range of FOV with up to the dome focus and zoom through.

Inon strobes are terribly simple. No Phd needed. The new Retra Maxi is even more so except for the user assignment to the U mode for either the video or pre-flash cancel! What is UI? User Instruction? Y'all read instructions!

If it is GN36 then it will be in the same power class as the Atom and Marelux Apollo and unlike the Marelux it has pre-flash cancel and unlike the Atom it has standard TTL capability.

You probably are right and It is okay with me. As long as they use over the shelf batteries that I can at least order and not some sort of $ proprietary pack that will be discontinued next year. But, regardless, the Inon Z360 is AA batteries :(.

Not sure AA batteries are a handicap. What with all the evolving regs. The case and battery chamber are as always so it is surely four AA batteries. So is the Retra Pro Max with a booster for eight. I am kind of burned on Inon due to the lack of support and warranty in North America. I have tried to get repairs, no go, sent off in desperation to a popular repair place and he has had my strobe for over three years now. Photo from Bluewater Photo site:

Of course they did because I just bought Retra Maxi strobes. I knew it! Darn, well, it was past due a couple of years. And I wanted power but I would have been okay with this 🫤, maybe.

And the trigger module has to fit in the housing and I doubt it will go into the NA-6XXX series housings. It certainly will not in mine.