Nemrod

David, cannot wait to see your new outfit at SD. JFYI and please anyone correct me if wrong. The only difference between the Nauticam WWL-1 and the Nauticam WWL-1B is the removable foam float collar on the WWL-1 and the integral aluminum float collar on the WWL-1B. Optically and in all dimensions not affected by the float collar, they are the same lens. The WWL-C is a different lens, more compact and is not the same optically. The WWL-1 lens assumes a 28mm and the WWL-C assumes a 24mm lens and both have zoom through capability. The WWL-C may not be as wide with some camera/lens combos?

I sort of like this concept for the new Canon R50 and the new little Nikon. Fixed port with water contact optics. But I do wish it had BBF and an additional auxiliary bulkhead port so it might be possible to have both a vacuum system and onboard charging. What is the flash sync speed for this R50? Looks like a nice outfit, hope it does good for you.

I use a Pelican Air for on the airline or in transit. But once at the dive site I use a Sam's Club bag, about $9. I have one that I have used for several years, even got rescued by a Bedouin gentleman in Egypt, I gave him more tip for finding my bag than it could be worth but he was so proud to have helped me!

Thanks for the brain drain. It hurts my head thinking about it sometimes. Thing is, I have two A6400 cameras widely separated in serial number. And UWT sent me a replacement with newer software way back, I mean, it is a now nearly a 5 yo camera and the same with the UWT trigger. None of them worked, not a different camera nor trigger. Beats me :(. I know one thing, this has put me off on (future) cameras that require an external $$$ trigger. At least with the A6400 I can sync off the built in flash which works perfectly, every time, all the time, just not super fast. And it eats my battery if I did not have a booster or onboard charging capability.

Thanks, it is none of those things, I wish it were that simple. The random loss of sync is unpredictable, random. It works perfect for a few shots, maybe twenty shots and then one or two do not sync, in the water or on my kitchen table. This in any camera mode, strobe mode, trigger mode with various strobes (S&S, D2000, S2000, S220, YS) and all sorts of cables (Inon, Divervision, Nauticam), with the trigger set to sTTL or M or anything in between. It syncs fine and then it does not. I thought at first when the camera wakes up after going to sleep but even with my booster battery and the camera never goes to sleep, same thing. Tried a different camera and three different UWT triggers. When it works it is great, but it is not reliable. I still like my camera and enjoy using it but next time it will not be a Sony though the above problem is not due to Sony (I think). Here are the irritating things about the Alpha cameras: 1. No native fisheye lens, zoom or prime. 2. No pre-flash cancel. 3. The 1/160 maximum sync.

I find the 16-50 kit lens works good enough for who and what it is for and especially when coupled with the WWL-1. However, if you can find a Sigma 19mm prime it is excellent with the WWL-1. As to triggers, perhaps there is some difference with the 6700 vs the 6400 but I have not been able to get the UWT trigger to sync reliably, mostly it does, sometimes it does not, random.

I will look at photos for minutes, even hours. As soon as a video pops on I am gone.

It is working for me also. With the battery pack removed the adapter can tuck in there. The problem I have is that the battery pack is the better solution for most uses as long as they are working and they work very well.

I got one of these and stupidly I did not realize that it was a USB-C and my A6400 is a mini-USB. The NA6400 can use a booster battery pack underneath the camera and I can stuff the wiring and adapter below the camera in place of the booster pack. The booster pack keeps my camera running for often a full four long dives. This is with the LCD screen running full time and using the onboard flash for sync. I do have a UWT board trigger but it just never really worked reliably, actually not very well at all, thus I use the camera flash for syncing my strobes. Which of course eats battery thus my desire to have an alternative means of charging my camera battery without opening the housing. I have two booster packs and they are going strong still so I guess I am okay for the time being.

I would rather an integrated product that consisted of an exoskeleton that interfaced mechanically and electronically with the internal photo module. Which could be replaced and upgraded with both firmware and software and with a one inch sensor or M4:3 sensor to keep it compact and travel friendly. A fixed 24-75/90M zoom integrated into a fixed port with macro and designed to use water contact optics for wide angle and fisheye perspective.

I have two Peregrine computers. I wear one on my left forearm and the other straps to the left inner Nauticam float arm. Why two, because two is one and one is none and I have had computers quit at critical times though never a Shearwater product.

Nauticam clamps can be had with shackles. Shackles can be found lot's of places and in different sizes including on Amazon. ULCS makes these adapters to go on existing clamps: https://ulcs.com/product/ac-lhc2-camera-lanyard-holder/

I put the handle lanyard atop the first set of arms. There are also two bolt snaps there which I clip together. The purpose of the bolt snaps is that they hold the arms tight together and I can clip them to the shoulder D rings to secure the camera for shore diving or climbing ladders. The coil lanyard goes to my crotch strap scooter ring and is always attached. The short tether lanyard is for clipping to the scooter ring on my BP/wing for three point security to prevent the rig from swinging if I were to trip shore diving or banging into ladders. The two bungee loops on the outer clamps are pulled over and around the clamps at the grip handles to furhter secure the strobes and outer arms from flopping and flailing about if I have to jump in with camera rig.

That is a good idea. I think I may try that, thanks. Not for my WWL but for my 4.33 dome that often goes naked and I go paranoid. I could do as you suggest, cut a section from an old wet suit leg that is of the correct diameter and make it the right length. Then cut a circular piece and use AquaSeal to glue it into the leg piece. Making a cap that will slip over. Then sew in a bungee loop to help hold it in place and add a bolt snap. Good idea. I would still clip it to my scooter or butt rings to get it out of the way. I often dive in just a rash guard and swimsuit so no pockets or zippers to stuff things into.

I have tried to use neoprene covers in the water for domes and found them to be difficult. As well salt crystals can form and even sand can accumulate on them which is not good for your lens dome. I understand the OP and many divers here use a conventional BC, I am diving a backplate (Oxy textile Ultralite usually) and VDH or Oxy wing. These are fitted with a one inch crotch strap that has both a front scooter ring and a rear "butt" ring. Clipping the cap off with a bolt snap to the scooter ring, again, I never notice the cap. The cap does not hang down because it is buoyant. I think it floats up between my legs, really do not know as I never feel it or see it. Occasionally I will clip it to my butt ring, especially if there is not a sausage clipped there. If you look closely at the attached selfie might can see the WWL-1 lens cap between my legs. I am pretty clean in the water. In hundreds of dives I still have my cap and unscratched lens. Yes, those RIBs are hell on unprotected domes. So are rinse tubs. I ask the crew not to put my camera in the rinse bucket but sometimes, before they learn to accommodate me, they do. Another issue I have with the neoprene covers is I have not been able to tether them and they invariably go away and hide, usually forever. Anyways, everyone has their way of doing things, this is mine ands it works for me but it is certainly not the only way.

I always go in and come out with the cap installed on the WWL-1. During the dive I clip it off to my scooter ring on my crotch strap. I never notice it and it causes no problems or drag. My WWL-1 is also secured to the housing with a lanyard. I do these two things because there is not always a bottom that can be reached and I have seen too many scratched domes which usually happens during handoffs to get on and off the boat or during shore entries. The cap is slightly buoyant. Again, I never notice the cap clipped off during the dive. The security lanyard to the lens itself does not interfere with my removing the lens to burp it but certainly provide piece of mind. Not my WWL-1 and NA6400, but some years back during a poor handoff to me in rough water, the crew dropped my camera (FIXS90) on the deck and knocked the wide angle water contact lens (an Inon with dome) off the port which rapidly disappeared into the depths. It was a drift off Jupiter, it was gone and we were gone. However, the boat went back later and found my lens and got it back to me so all ended well. I drilled two small holes on the periphery of the WWL-1 cap. I pulled a piece of cave line through and then attached a bolt snap which in use clips to the lens lanyard which clips to my Nauticam handles. When I remove the cap upon entry, I clip it to my crotch strap scooter ring. My camera housing coil tether also clips off to the scooter ring. This method is not new to me, I began doing this after the lost lens incident. I have my old Canon FIXS90 rigged nearly identical to my Nauticam NA6400. There are no scratches on my 15 years old Inon lens and not a single scratch to my now 5 years old Nauticam WWL-1.

The Inon lenses typically are Type 1 or Type 2. It is possible to get the rings through DiverVision (?) to convert them. This conversion moves the rear element fore and aft in relation to the port:

David my belief system is that the UWL-H100 will work but that the UWL-100 will not :(. Here is my NA6400 fitted with the UWL-100, Port 35 and 35mm lens. The lens front element is very close to the port glass. Unfortunately for me since I all ready own it, the old UWL-100 just did not work (yet, not entirely given up). As large as the Nauticam WWL-1 is, underwater it handles well and I have no difficulty poking it into tight spots. The reason I was fooling with the UWL-100 was I had thought as has been suggested to remove the dome for a more compact semi-wide angle range lens.

Thanks. I have the old Inon UWL100 from previous cameras but it will not work with the APS-C size sensor. At least I have not gotten it to. However, I am aware the UWLH100 does work but Inon has I think discontinued this lens for some reason. I imagine I could find a used one. I like the Nauticam lens because it was inexpensive (well, not really). With dome the H100 is not much smaller than the WWL-1 but without the dome that is a good bit smaller and lighter. Inon lenses come in Type 1 and Type 2, I forget which is which but generally they can be converted from one to the other. The difference is how much the rear element protrudes. Here I am in the Bahamans with my old Ikelite and Oly 5050 and the Inon UWL with dome. I wish it would work with my Sony but it vignettes and the corners and periphery are horrid. I have tried with a 35 port and Rokinon 35mm prime, still no go.

This is an elementary question that I should really know the answer to but I do not completely. I have the Nauticam 4.33 dome which is used with the Sony S6XXX series (and others) with the Sony 16mm pancake and with both the wide angle and the fisheye snap on converters. But I also have a Rokinon 10mm fisheye lens. It produces cleaner images for surface photography but it is manual focus and manual focus aperture. I would preset probably f11. But I would either need to have a gear printed for focus or preset focus. Domes produce a virtual image, can I preset focus to that virtual image and then not really need to worry about focus? If distant or near dome objects are not clearly focused it really does not matter perhaps for CFWA and fisheye shots? I once had an Ikelite bubble housing with a Nikon FM camera. I recall presetting focus and aperture but for the life of me I have no idea where the slides are from some of those shots nor do I recall if it was okay or not. I do not remeber.

I see no reason that even using the current battery port of Inon that a booster pack could not be designed as an accessory to screw on to the existing design for longer battery cycles between charging, stacking the batters four by four. I too am skeptical of huge GN claims from numerous manufacturers using four AA batteries. But it probably is time for a Z420. The recycle time and battery life would be compromised for higher power shots but most shots are not done at full dump and when they are it is CFWA stuff that is not going to swim away so it is possible to endure a longer charge cycle perhaps. Maybe. Anyways, I am interested what is offered. The new product does not need to be as powerful as the big Retra or that chunky but strong Backscatter strobe. An increase in power, addition of HSS and maintain the current form factor, weight, buoyancy and reliability is enough. A GN of 33 to 40 is enough but for all but the most demanding FF shooters.

I am in for the ZXXX quite possibly. I replaced my D2000 strobes (dead and dying) with two S220 strobes because there was nothing else I could afford that was as compact as the D/Z Inon case that promised the reliability track record of Inon. It would be nice if they also had HSS. I wonder if they could use the same case as the Z330 but include a peripheral heat sink sandwiched between the dome and the body. Not as heavy as the Backscatter strobe. A GN in the 40 range would be nice.

The SeaFros dome looks interesting and inexpensive. But I do not think it will thread into the Nauticam 67mm to bayonet adapter? The Nauticam adapter requires the lens rear element to protrude considerably. What I was wanting to do is to have the ability to go from CMC/SMC to the Wet mate lens. Thus the need for small size. I would park the unused lens in the dock which is attached to the bottom of my Nauticam housing. I have a dome port with fisheye lens, the WWL-1 and Inon H100 and those cover wide angle well for me. I also have the CMC macro lenses. What I do not have and apparently is not made is something small and light and dockable that covers the normal view angles of a 28-75mm (kit type) lenses. It is kind of strange in way that such a thing is not made. Here is a photo of my NA6400 rig with the WWL-1 in the dock and CMC on the port:. To be clear, I was just playing around, no way I would swim around with the WWL-1 hanging on that dock, just much too big and too cumbersome to be practical. However something like the Wet Mate lens that started this thread that if designed for APS-C/FF cameras would be much more compact. Oh well 🙂.

I have been speaking to David. He has a lot of unique ideas 😍. Per the vendor, the lens should work with one inch sensor compacts. I did not dwell on that question as I have an APS-C. But, what we really need, at least this ---> we<--- is a wet mate air lens for larger sensor cameras that simply restores the air FOV of the camera lens for in water use and reduces edge distortion and pincushion. Not a big ultra wide angle lens like my superb $WWL-1$ or similar. Something much smaller and lighter when the mission really only wants a normal lens perspective and FOV. Oh well, still looking.

Okay, just to bring this to an end. I spoke with the vendor and they will of course take the lens back. Per my discussion with them this lens is intended only for compact cameras and will not work with an APS-C sensor camera. Not the vendors fault and I should have done more homework but really, nothing in the description of the lens or any information I could find would have told me that it was designed only for small sensor compacts. I guess we know now. Thanks, James