RomiK

Whaaat?!!! Mexicans really don't like divers to visit! First they scam them at the airport and now this? So 5 days safari instead of $450 is now $900 extra? WOW!

it's a great effort 👏 but you can't be quite serious about the results being comparable... just download both pictures - Xeliminator and yours so the base is same and try to look in details... instagram maybe even though the scatter you left by the iguana head in the dark is horrible and in the blue is bad too... Xeliminator cleaned it up all and it's good for print even 1x1m after enlargement... Listen I don't mean to argue what simple things you can do with Lightroom but where credit is due credit should be given (xeliminator)...

I wouldn't say 'most' ... I would say 'some' scenarios... I would say most of the times we needed to remove backscatter from absolute shit conditions taken pictures like this Isla Fernandina on Galapagos... yes it is easy to remove backscatter from black backgrounds but we already knew that and did that. The 'other' pictures were major PITA...

I have had similar "effect" when experimenting with Sony 14-1.8 on 180mm glass dome. I removed 20mm extension pushing the lens further into the dome. And it looked similar to what you had. I think you need longer extension. Perhaps another 10,20 or 30mm depending on vignetting check. Although Nauticam states to use N120 Canon EF chart it depends on sensor position inside the housing. For canon EF-S 10-22 which has length of 90mm and minimum focus 24cm they recommend 60mm for acrylic dome. But I can imagine it's for Canon 7 housing while you have BMPC housing and your Tokina has 94mm length and 28cm minimum focus distance. Basically sink the lens as far back as you can so it doesn't vignette and you should be fine.

I too believe this tool will breath second life into many previously "not worth the effort" or "impossible to clean" images... as well as PS AI powered denoise and other tools do

Ha ha so funny!🤣 I asked for it on this forum and PM to retra - neutrally buoyant can with videolight good enough for macro and glove friendly controls - and three weeks later Retra delivers! 🤣 👏 Not that I would think they built it on my order but still 🤣 Well done @Oskar - Retra UWT ! 👏 I am from the camp really appreciating characteristics of undiffused light produced by circular tubes so it was a bit sad to see departure from those but one can always dream that the next MaxPro is going to have that. Once again well done! 👏👏

A note to all naysayers from a former owner of a software company (sold it and well) - things cost money. These money can be recovered only through sales. You thinking UW photography market is big? Look at subscriptions of UW market on YT for example. How many channels dedicated to UW photography ratings are there? How many Nauticam housings you think are being sold every year? I am grateful that someone got the balls and spent hundreds of some man-hours to tweak what caters probably many multiples sized market (astrophotography) for our needs... just think about it.

WOW! I can finally process so many images otherwise left for 'some day' 😍null

28-60 max length 75.3 (at wide) min focus distance 300mm => focus from front element 225mm 28-70F2 max length 155mmm (140+15?) min focus 380mm => focus from front element 225mm so it might do? Perhaps with WACP-C even more travel friendly for just a slight loss in perceived quality?

Update - and not a good one. Most of the Sea of Cortez group had to pay. Meanwhile another friend of mine from Chile living in Mexico arrived (from our recent Galapagos trip) through Cancun and wrote me: Before going through the x ray machine, I went to the bathroom and took the camera outside the housing and split it between my 3 bags. I didn't have any issues So it seems it’s safe to say one must consider the possibility to pay ransom when traveling to Mexico with underwater imaging equipment.

Sadly I must confirm this problem is ongoing and systematic. A friend of mine currently in Magdalena Bay in Sea of Cortez had to pay $400 on his A7S3 in Nauticam housing... ☹️

I have had WED7 2 years ago and used it on 40 dives. It was probably early unit and it was piece of junk. Yes once the HDMI cable was replaced with newer version I could finally see the image. But then the unit started to act erratically, the buttons were responding like on random basis. There was no way to update the firmware so I returned the unit. The screen wasn't really usable in shallower depths. Also buoyancy is less then optimal - it is a brick and need a lot to compensate. @DiversLens since you mentioned FX3 I am guessing you are serious about video work and will want to shoot Slog3 and perhaps deliver in HDR. I am shooting A1 - different sensor, perhaps similar philosophy but IDK. With A1 I am shooting based on waveform on my Shinobi monitor interpreting clean HDMI log signal into HDR HLG. This gives me maximum brightness keeping the waveform just at the top. At bright scenes my A1 monitor is unreadable while Shinobi shows beautiful scene. So to sum this up if your intentions are similar to mine then you have currently only two options for UW monitors - Shinobi/Ninja and SmallHD Ultra5. These Weefines and Supes won't work as they do not have HDR Log interpreting - but I would be happy if owners of recent versions would prove me wrong. Either way good luck, I am in awe what A1 sensor can produce. P.S. since I am also shooting stills I am contemplating to sell my Shinobi setup and splash for SmallHD - just because their PageOS and Nauticam interface might allow me access settings underwater or even create dedicated presets for stills and video. I can't see Shinobi on Nauticam website anymore. only Ninja. So my Shinobi setup might be for sale. But need to put my hands on SmallHD first.

@Oskar - Retra UWT - the idea was a bold move anyway given the size of the market and these retrofits rarely work for all to be a must have. If I could suggest I'd like the next gen retra to be in a form of neutrally buoyant can with glove friendly controls and battery pack supporting 3-4 amps fast charge over usb-C. With the life expectancy of strobes I am sure by the time you go to market there will be enough demand for upgrade and new acquisitions. Cheers.

I travel with 26 batteries (2 spares) and 2x 4bay USB-C chargers and have 8 batteries charging at any given time. If one of the strobes drops below 50% I quickly change the 8 pack or I do it every 2nd dive no matter what. no issue on a 4 dives per day chasing the big guys on full power like last week in Galapagos. 50-80 full strobe power shots per dive. P.S. I am using 2450mA IKEA NiMH (made in Japan variety)

I wouldn't have it on these (semi)snorkel trips any other way. One thing are optical parameters and what not and another handling the dry weight and underwater mass... I think the old say 'it's not the camera it's the shot stupid' applies triple on these encounters.

urrgghh ... I don't like the movie/photo switch and don't like this part from Nauticam A9III manual : * lift up the Still/Movie/S&Q lever as well as the Focus lever and make sure both lever control on housing are aligned with camera controls before installing the camera into housing slide the camera tray back into the housing along the tray rail with focus switch you at least see visually where the control bracket drop but the movie switch is on the other side and so it's not visible...

This example shows scenario where camera focuses on the bubbles hence they are sharp and also exposure reflects that. In the other examples camera was focusing on subjects in the water hence the bubbles were unfocused if this explanation makes sense

@Floris Bennema - and here is a good example of what @ChipBPhoto mentioned. This happens in my experience with WWL1 rarely so far but it could and does happen.

that's like impossible... for bubbles not to form no matter bayonet or not (I do have bayonet)... the bubbles will show as round spots under certain light conditions - lighter background. Attached pictures are from that one dive I didn't do it (file names show date and time of exposure). The next dive they were gone. And no it's not a dirty sensor 🙂 Now I do believe that since the bubbles need some affinity to stick that by using some kind of nano coating or shampoo treatment the bubbles sticking could be minimized but I did not do any tests for that. But unless one enters the water really slow the bubbles will form, that's like given. Also in a spray bubbles from divers below... not often but it could

This should be framed and put on the wall of every hybrid shooter. Myself I try to do both photo and video on a single dive and more and more I am finding myself with the idea of dedicated photo and video dives as my hybrid dives produce great pictures, great videos but rarely both... lighting, workflow, mindset, lens choice... all in play

Stick to the dome stick to the dome stick to the dome... corners are unimportant - bubbles are... Just came back from Galapagos banging my head for bringing WWL and not the dome... so much action happening during first seconds of the drop and I can imagine a lot of Orca and whales actions are going to happen from zodiac at snorkel... I found WWL-1 to be important for captures such as fish bowl, wrecks, corrals perhaps but for anything frame centric - not really. Having said that this whale shark photo is at 28mm - widest - WWL view - and its eyes are - ehm - less sharp than I`d wish but it was cloudy at Darwin combined with 20m depth - not much room for better than F5.6... but I still have had more or less controlled condition if you could call paddling with your foot like mad fearing for life to keep up with the shark 🙈 and I am sensing the Orcas and whales encounters will be more dynamic. So I'd bring the dome and also 20-70 F4 for days you want to do close ups.

IF they could squeeze in a realtime AF tracking in video WITH visible tracking point now THAT would be a game changer... other than that we can only ask Santa to bring additional fish animal AF 😂... For photo they COULD bring AF bracketing (for macrophotography). Other than that I am happy with what it has. The HDR video I am able to get out of this gen through custom WB - SLog3 - HLG interpretation on Shinobi with waveform controlled overexposure - PQ no LUT conversion and HLG export in FCPX ... it's pretty awesome.

What do you do when after 6 months your dentist clears you for diving? Book a Galapagos trip with 2 weeks departure time 🤣. But OK 🙂 - for fast and flexible (or furious 🙂 there is great saving on Galapagos live aboard Oct 17-24 https://www.zubludiving.com/liveaboard/ecuador/calipso?from=2024-10-01 And so my wife and I are going. While my better half will have iPhone16Pro in Divevolk housing and one weefine smart 10k video light I am scratching my head what to bring and still travel light. For sure I am bringing Sony A1 body, Shinobi monitor and Retra strobes. But then - video lights? I am thinking useless for big stuff and sharks don't like them anyway - 16-35 and/or 20-70 in 180mm glass dome? Are splits really important and nice over there? - or 28-60 and WWL1-B and then kick my head when I start shooting after drop forgetting to clear bubbles? 😂 - is macro really an afterthought in there or are some dives macro friendly? - if macro is yes what about EMWL130 in that environment? I remember Socorro and Cocos were all about the big stuff. Macro and video lights were utterly useless. Is Galapagos itinerary the same? Thanks anyone for chiming in!

Great idea. I will entertain embassy in Prague with the help of my friend who runs larger diving travel Operations (he also owns safari boat in Egypt 🙈). Let’s put some pressure on 🤟

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