SFEgr

I have sent you another message, hope this one reaches you!

Yes - but - the housing for the OM-5 does not include the flash trigger, it is a $240 add on, making the OM-5 housing $175 more than the OM-1 housing and the OM-5 housing is designed larger than necessary to take a flash that is no longer in production. Rather disappointing as I had looked forward to this housing and am now quite put off the brand; my fault I didn't notice the detail before purchasing the camera. Thank you all for the education on what to look for in strobe triggers! Very helpful.

Exactly. Thanks for your careful response Chris. That is an interesting and resourceful approach going to the Nautical charts. Didn't occur to me. 😞 The numbers do correspond to my observations with the Sony/Seafrogs assembly. In that case the Sea Frogs dome has a sort of built in extension of about 45mm or so to the commence point of the dome curvature. And with this assembly if I pull the lens back (mimic an extension) I can only pull back 1/4" or 7mm before I get vignetting. So yes, with the OM/AOI set-up it seems I will be at least 6-10mm further forward of the Oly 8mm (with the 22mm extension) or 22-26mm short (with the 52mm extension). As the Viltrox leaves me with a 7mm wide the former is risky and the latter would certainly vignette, and probably badly. As I live in a place far from any shop that has any of these housings in stock, I will likely stick to the safety of prescribed housing/lens combinations unless someone has actually tried the combinations before. But I just thought I would put the question out there in case anyone had.

Well, I might be mistaken as I have not handled the housing, but I was watching this Utube video and the case looks a wee bit bigger than I expected, and it housed the vertical flash, like in the Isotta. It just seems more vertical allowance than other designs.

My second question in one day! So... I am muddling through trying to guess whether a OM5 + Tokina 10-17mm might work in an AOI housing. I do not own or have access to an AOI housing yet. The - short question - after trying a Tokina in a Sony/Sea Frogs housing, and finding it fit (sort of) I am trying to find how much space there is in an OM/AOI set-up. If I could get the separation between the flange and dome in an AOI that would be great, but that measurement is a bit tough so even an estimate between glass element of a 8mm fisheye and the dome would help. The - Long - background I tried putting my Tokina 10-17mm on a Metabones (non 'speed boost') on my A6400 into a Sea Frogs housing behind an acrylic 6" Dome and it fits pretty good I think. But I know squat about optics so I tried it in the bathtub and the FOV is reduced a bit but seems quite serviceable. (Brings a 24 inch ruler down to about 22" at about 5" from front optic, 4" from acrylic dome under water) What I can measure on the Sony set-up is Metabones Flange to Flange = 25.8mm (1") Metabones flange to Tokina front glass at 17mm = 99mm (3.9") Metabones flange to Tokina front glass at 10mm = 96.7mm (3.8") Sony flange (in housing) to inside face of acrylic dome is 130.8mm (5.1") So I suppose my lens glass to dome is about +1" Then I put the same lens on a Viltrox EM-M2 ii 0.71x on an OM-5 and quite interestingly the camera tells me the widest view is 7 degrees (???) and it is well wider than the Sony combo. And at that width I get the built in shade 'petals' coming into frame - a little bit. It still seems nice and sharp, so I find myself wondering if this combination might fit into an AOI housing. Their domes are 8" so it might be nice. (???) Viltrox Flage to Flange 18.5mm (0.73") Tokina flange to front glass is 71.6mm (2.81") Tokina + Viltrox Flange to front glass is 89.5mm (3.52") Tokina + Vitrox Flange to Front 'petal' is 91.4mm (3.6") - 94mm at 17mm lens position Lens assembly widest Dia. 74mm (2.91") The Oly fisheye 8mm is 80mm but I don't know if that is flange to glass or rear element to petals. The Oly 12-40 pro is 84mm. So I am looking at being 6 to 10mm long but I am not sure it that is a big deal. I sure would appreciate any comments or insights!

Ahhh, thank you cerich, that makes sense. Recovery speed and HSS. So there are technologies (HSS) that the older designs don't have. Thanks for the answer.

It appears that the new(ish) AOI housings continue the curious tradition of providing a big 'bump' on top for the old Oly flash unit. Doubly strange as these flash units are no longer included with the OM series camera purchase bundle (as I believe they used to be included). Has anyone here used the old Olympus FL-LM3 flash in these housings as well as any of the choices currently promoted by sellers of these housings - all of which are many times more expensive? And might offer any comparative comments in ease of use? For me, I would prefer a more svelte housing but since the cavity is there for a big ol' flash unit, why wouldn't i just use the cheaper trigger? Oh yes, I know from Troporobo's post that these older strobes are no longer made but they can be found kicking about. tx, Simon

I agree with what you say Ross, but while I have no personal experience with O/U shots I am always reading that the larger the dome the easier the O/U shot is to make successful. And I think that is what the OP wants the dome for. Could be wrong as I have no practical experience.

Yes, amazing. I wonder if there is any link some kind soul might offer to 'a dummies guide tutorial in optics'?

The center image if the 5 photo medly on the manufacturers web page shows a funny little knob (focus?) protruding from the side barrel. I assume that is removable?

I don't have a Z6 or a Nauticam housing but I love this. Nice work. One step closer to the mythical universal housing!

What are these .heic files?

So true. And as lights are almost always 'overhead' and on cantilevered armatures - heavy lights can be a royal pain on your wrists keeping your kit level. Maybe on black water dives you can strap them under. The unfortunate side of this is that big high output LED's need to dump a lot of heat - the easiest way to do that is with a honking big lump of aluminium - at least that is the logic above water. Or maybe it is just a perceived value thing - heavier is better.

That photo of 'Aerial view of one of the Goraici islands' is awsome - I want to come back as a crab and live on that beach.

I will add my 2 cents here! I have 4 dive lights that loosely fit this conversation. My biggest concern apart from the basic dependability is flicker that can become evident in video footage. Faults in low grade switching electronics are not always visible to the naked eye but your camera will catch them. I have an Archon D34VR (8 years old or so and about 120 dives) 32650 battery. Good solid slider controls (wish one was Red and the other Green as the light gets flipped around and I sometimes get confused). The switching protocol is however obvious. Solid light with slight flicker below 30%. Reliable. Abused to the max and keeps on working. Would buy another. Then there is an Archon D37VP (5 Years old and about 80 dives) 18650 batteries x 4. Good Solid Sliders. Solid light but not appreciably brighter or longer lasting than the D34VR but way heavier and bulky - makes traveling with it a pain. But does have spotlight which is useful. Solid light with slightly more flicker below 40%. Would NOT buy again Third was a Kraken Hydra 1500 WSR. (2 Years 25 Dives) 21700 battery. This has become my go-to light as it is so compact and capable (auto off on strobe flash) but the single button switch is tedious to cycle through and can cause you to miss a shot. I have found some of Krakens gear just plain awful - Underwater Phone Case for starters - but I have no trouble with recommending this light. No discernible flicker to below 10%. Would buy another. (may be the same as NiKolousz Weefine Smart Focus 7000 above) My wife has a BigBlue Model ? (6 Years old and about 60 dives) 26650 battery. Best battery management compared to the above 3. but also uses the sub-optimal single button selector as the Kraken so my wife wouldn't buy another. Ordering batteries from Ali is a crap-shoot. Archon batteries are now commonly fake. the old stand-by TrustFire are often fake now as well - so that's another issue. The battery in the Kraken is great, has its own type c input for charging.

Wonderful, thanks for all the detail. Looking forward to the second installment!

@ Lewis88, Good point. And in all fairness, not an unreasonable investment... if I didn't change my cameras every 50 to 60 dives. my bad on that score. But at least you can keep the ports, so maybe I should dive in. @'121, mmm, back to school... thanks!

As valid as all the above comments are, I am still using the VPS-100 system. And until I have a better system, I replace the plug with due care - but bumps happen and do worry me. I have done 45 dives with the '100 so far so lucky. The pump is absolute crap, a silly joke compared to the cheap and available alternates out there so that is the first thing to change. Mine might be an exception but it takes 45 pumps to evacuate - I lose count using a dome. A SeaLife generic pump takes 5 or 6 pumps. And my battery died after 5 uses, so carry spares.

Thanks, I may go that route ... the two are both around the same price here in Toronto, between 200 to 300 CDN so once I understand the hardware, I can go get one. I understand the Sigma allows for firmware upgrades - for what, I have no clue, so maybe that would be a better bet.

Oh, OK then - I was under the assumption that when movement and focus is an issue you just set at infinity-1 and with a 7 or 8mm all will be in focus - but I have no experience yet - here to get up to speed. I was refereing to the Samyang the fits the small 4" domes in the 'frog housings so I figured Nauti would have an option.

I am kicking around the options for fisheyes and it is looking like I will be needing a Canon to Sony E adapter for my Sony a6400 (maybe upgrading to a6700 but unlikely to FF). I am fuddled with the various Metabones models. There is the Series 5(V) as well as the 'Ultra' as well as previous generations, but is there a difference or 'best choice' for underwater use? I will probably end up with a Tokina or Canon Wide FE zoom but I doubt I will be zooming much and would probably be happy with a Prime. I will be putting it a a Salted Line with 6" dome. Thanks for any help. Simon

The Tokina seems to be a legend in the price point, but there seem to be a number of fixed focals FE's at or around 10mm that might not require converters for Sony use. Why are these mostly never mentioned?

Encouraging idea. Here in Toronto we passed a ban on Shark Fin Soup - it was overturned for being culturally racist. 🙄

Great, thanks for sharing! quite liked the soft backgrounds in many of the sequences.

Wow, you sure got friendly with that octopus on that Cozumel 6-2019 dive! Great shots!