Chris Ross

10 hours ago, Elvandar said:

Do you think that the L10 paired with a cmc-1 will be enough for a "Shaun the sheep" macro level? @kc_moses

I am still trying to understand all the new parameters (for me) mm, dioptres etc.. coming from GoPro, I never really cared about a lot of those spec 🫠

The answer is in the port charts, Nauticam publishes this data for all their wet lenses. The CMC-1 and L10 covers a field 33 x 25mm approx with the CMC-1 and working distance is 51-72mm. So a Shaun the sheep at maybe 3-4mm long will fill around 10% of the frame. With the working distance of 50mm, getting more magnification with other wet lenses will be a challenge as it will eat into working distance. Diopters work by allowing you to focus closer.

You can review the port chart to see what cameras allow more magnification - some of the Canon compacts will get you about 23x13 at similar working distance and the Sony RX100VII will get 16x10 at 90mm and even closer with more powerful diopters but lacks working room. The downside of the RX100 is the need to swap ports to get the best out of the lens with wet wide optics. The parameter here is the focal length of the lens, the longer the focal length the more working room and the higher the magnification with a given diopter.

If you really want some magnification you can't beat a interchangable lens camera, the olympus 60mm macro will cover 17x13mm without a diopter 10 x 7.6 with a CMC-2 with 30-93mm working room.

Port chart is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m9xE92aU7oWuZ5SohUoXAudpZSK_7EaX/view

11 hours ago, TimG said:

How much buoyancy do you usually need to add for a macro and a WA setup? I usually add Stix Jumbo floats to ULCS arms.

When I shot the Panasonic 8mm with Zen dome and also with the 60mm macro currently I used a pair of INON mega floats with 390 gr each buoyancy which was about perfect for both setups, being about 100-200 gr negative. I do see they now have a new model which has 460 gr which might be a little too much, though the Olympus fisheye is about 150 gr heavier which is about equal to the additional weight. I actually switched to using the mega arm with a 135 gr float arm I have since adding the 45° viewfinder, so I'm fairly certain the 460 gr float alone would work.

I pair it with a standard 8"arm plus a long clamp between the two. The arm is the Mega arm model S:

INON_global

4 hours ago, Terri said:

Thx all. I do have the WWLb1 coming might stick with that for now with kit lens. Going to do tiger sharks southern Maldives end of the year. Just looked up the Sigma MC11. Are they okay? Any limitations? Cheaper.

Believe it only does S-AF, can't do C-AF, so not so good for video, unless you are shooting with certain Sigma lenses apparently.

4 hours ago, Architeuthis said:

I fear even the Kenko TC is not possible with native Sony FE lenses. As far as I know, the Kenko TCs are produced only for Nikon and Canon EF, see e.g here: https://kenkoglobal.com/product/teleplus_hd_pro_1_4x_dgx/#specifications

Right I'd forgotten that so back to a converted 8-15 if you want a TC option.

12 hours ago, Architeuthis said:

This is interesting...

You say the Sony 2x TC will fit into the Laowa 8-15mm f/2.8 fisheye lens? In case it fits mechanically and electronically it will be very interesting to see photois made with Sony 1.4x and 2x TCs...

No I'm talking about the Canon 8-15 with Metabones in reply to the original question about a Canon 8-15 with Metabones, with 2x nose fitting into the Metabones which requires the latest version if I recall correctly as earleir versions were smaller ID. I 'll edit the text to make this clearer.

6 hours ago, Architeuthis said:

There are several factors:

#1.: the prodruding element(s) of the Sony TC(s): the mechanical exception, i.e. TCs that work with almost any lens, are the Kenko TCs, that do not have such protruding elements. Native TCs (Sony, Canon EF, Canon RF, e.g.) have protruding elements that make it impossible to mount the TCs on most lenses, except the lenses for that the TCs have been designed for...

#2.: The electronic communication of Sony TCs is often blocked by the firmware, even when the native TC fits mechanically, unless it is a lens that is approved by Sony to work with the native TCs...

#3.: An exception is the arrangement Canon EF 8-15mm/Metabones V (Canon-EF to Sony FE)/Sony TC (1.4x or 2x), where the glassless adapter provides the space for the protruding element of the native TC(s) and the camera is communicating without problems with the TC/adapter/lens arrangement (It must be said, however, that this communication could potentially stop to work with any firmware update of the camera)...

=> It would be great in case it is possible to use the new AF fisheye lens with native Sony TCs, but it would be a very pleasant surprise for me in case it is possible (even if it is possible mechanically and electronically, there remains to be seen how the optical IQ is)...

Wolfgang

The biggest issue is actually that if they make this lens in SONY mount, it will mount directly to a Sony body, no need for a converter incorporating the additional back focus needed for the DSLR lens. This is what allows the Canon 8-15 to work the Sony TC with the nose of the TC inside the converter. I think also the exceptional optical quality of the Canon 8-15 helps it work as well as it does with the 2x. TC magnify the image and the aberrations so the lenses that work well with them are exceptionally good optics..

Certainly be nice to have a native Sony fisheye, but it would be restricted to the Kenko TC, which as I recall doesn't have as good optical quality in the 2x version compared to the Sony TC.

The PCB board I linked earlier would fit with next to two 18650 batteries I believe. I say 18650 as this would leave space for a battery holder so you can pull them out and place them in a separate charger. two by 3600 mAhr 18650s would give you just about 26 Whr in capacity.

Of course an off the shelf model would be simpler to hook up if you can get something close in capacity.the right size. This could be close:

Cygnett powerbank

It has PD so doesn't need a separate PCB it seems, does 9V 2.2A so not quite up to spec for solo running but should have plenty of capacity for you.

1 hour ago, Terri said:

I see the Canon 8-15 with Metabones adapter is highly recommended with the Sony FF. Is this the way to go? Adapter is pricey. Thx

Not much getting around it, occasionally you'll find an adapter second hand, I found one at about half price. You could wait and see on the Laowa newly announced but there maybe issues. If you have any interest in using it (edit: it = Canon 8-15) with the Sony 2x for an extremely flexible 180°diagonal fisheye that zooms to a 28mm lens equivalent in horizontal coverage then you need the I think the latest version metabones as the Sony 2x nose will fit inside it. Requires a custom zoom gear printed which easy enough as designs are developed and available.

1 hour ago, bghazzal said:

In the 2020 Reddit thread Chris posted, people mention that 9V/3A (27W, which is high) might be a a rounded up figure to cover a max power draw situation.
Some people had success, in 2020, with Anker power banks.

It seems it is reported that the 9v/3A supply is required for solo operation without a battery and if the a lesser power bank is hooked up it will just top up of supplement the battery but won't attempt to run the camera solo. One way to test is to connect a power bank of 7.2V output to the camera and see if it will operate and draw down the battery bank.

Given the limitations of the space available in the housing it's likely a custom solution is needed and it only needs to supplement the main battery.

The link above to the module would work but looking at the size of it I suspect you have trouble squeezing it in. I had a look and had trouble finding a lower power smaller module, maybe the wrong search terms?? I would guess a 10W module would do the job if the camera is happy just receiving a trickle charge as it runs. I found some phone charger module which I would guess might work:

ali express

to use you would need to wrap it it and solder on positive and negative wires and plug in a USB C cable with the right spec.

A good way to start would be work out what size and how many batteries might fit in the available space. You could use a AA battery to gauge what might fit.

The quality looks pretty decent into the corners in the sample photos, seems quite heavy at 650 gr, though the Canon 8-16 is no lightweight either at 540 gr.

Hi Tyler, welcome to the forum, enjoy the forums!

Welcome Craig, I'm Sydney based mostly diving Kurnell, where's your local dive site?

2 hours ago, bghazzal said:

Bumping this thread, I am now the owner of a Nauticam NA-A1 housing and future owner of an A7SIII. The A1 housing does have space for a flash trigger which I won't use, and I'd be really really interested in practical (and safe) battery options for the camera, since I will be shooting video.
I've considered the USB charger bulkhead, but currently have an HDMI bulkhead on the housing's M16 port, and will have a screen at some point in the near future, so I'm really interested in in-housing battery solutions

Has anyone managed to find a system that works and doesn't fry cameras too often?

Thanks!

Do you know what the voltage limits are for your camera? I found this about A7SIII power bank requirements:

Seems like it will accept higher voltages and Sony recommend 9V #A power banks and won't run the camera without battery unless it gets a handshake to show it is getting the exact voltage it wants to run the camera, but should supplement the battery if it's in place with a lesser power bank. So two parallel -two series 14500 batteries in holders (4 total) - about AA size would give you 2000 mAhr at 7.4V or 14.8 Whrs, just need to wire some holders to a USB-C cable and not worry about electronics too much and charge them in an external charger. you could use a velcro tie wrap to keep the batteries in and velcro padding on as needed. Might be a good option if you had the space. Nitecore has 1000 mAhr 14500 batteries.

It is interesting to note that even though this lens and the Canon RF100 achieve 1.4x magnification, when you add on wet lens they only achieve minimal gains in magnification over what you would get with the 1:1 lens they replaced.

The Canon RF 100 with SMC-3 achieves 2.3x with 30-100mm working distance while the Canon EF 100mm macro gets 2.2x with 46-97mm working distance.

The Sony 100mm gets 2.4x with 34-100mm while 90mm macro gets 2.3x with 47-103mm.

This is due to the lens reducing focal length to focus in closer, this is a feature of all internal focus macro lenses and becomes particularly prominent as the magnification increases. You might initially think you'd get much more, but the shorter focal length means the power of the SMC-3 or any other wet lens is a lot lower and the peak magnification is achieved at a shorter working distance.

It would seem based on theBackscatter review that a 1.4x is a decent option if you were chasing small skittish fish with Sony 100mm macro

9 hours ago, hellhole said:

Yes. I tried the smc2.. and oh my... Good results but hard to nail down. Smc1 is easier to manage.

Good note on the particle bit.

I think the answer is with a 1.4/2x you are always further away than you would be with a bare lens and with a wet lens. With a 2x you can match nearly a 100mm macro with an SMC-3 (2x vs about 2.2-2.3x depending on which macro lens). Basically more water between you and your subject which will degrade the image.

If you back off to get 1:1 with a 100mm_macro/2.0x you have the reach of a 200mm macro, so if you had a 100mm lens with 300mm focus distance and 150mm working distance at 1:1 you would double that distance with a 200mm focal length lens depending on how much the lens reduces in focal length to achieve 1:1 with and IF design. It gets worse as you progressively shoot larger subjects.

A 1.4x might be a good compromise to give a bit more working distance compared to the bare lens and wet lens at a given magnification.. Also bear in mind that the longer focal length of the lens + TC combo will give you significantly more magnification than the bare lens with the same wet lens. For example the m43 Pany 45mm lens gets 1.6x with CMC-1 while the 60mm macro gets 2.0x (both 1:1 lenses) and 60mm is near 1.4x 45mm. so the new Sony macro might go from 2.4x with SMC-3 to 3.3x with a 1.4x and 4.8x when used with a 2x.

So a 1.4x/2.0x locks you into smaller subjects than a bare lens/wet lens combo does and the impact would be noticeable I think in the 0.5x -1:1 range and lower magnifications unless the water was crystal clear. It may work well for skittish mobile subjects like small fish if this was the sole subject of your dive.

You might also degrade AF performance with the 2x at max magnification again depending on lens/body combination

On 5/17/2026 at 12:50 AM, Dave_Hicks said:

The vacuum circuit in my NA-D850 is much longer lasting than what is in the NA-Z8 housing. Something in the newest generation of these circuits took a nosedive in performance. I've heard similar tales of woe from newer Nauticam Sony housing owners as well.

This is interesting, My old housing had 2450 cells they seemed to last forever, but my OM_1 uses 2032 cells, not sure why they would reduce the size, not exactly short of space, maybe as it's the same cell used in air tags?? The 2032 cell seems to be fine for an extended trip, I left it on for 3 days before opening at on epoint and did about 20 dives over 6 days and continued using it for local diving afterwards. Sounds like your Z8 is worse?

IF you are indeed getting that sort of life it seems like a good option and worth trying out.

Welcome to the forum, good to have you here, feel free to post away with any questions.

2 hours ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Rechargeable 2032 batteries:

https://a.co/d/07wLBk3T

So you don't need to care if the battery runs down.

Looks like their capacity is only 45 mAhr while a CR2032 is 235 mAhr - though that is to 2V so effectively about half of that to just under 3v where Nauticam vacuum alarms signal low battery. I like the idea of a rechargable bettery though- one solution might be to find a rechargable Li battery that you could wire in place of the coin cell holder., something with a small enough cross section.

It was certainly down when I checked.and showing as being on hold in whois, maybe it was switching domain provider at the time.

22 minutes ago, Nemrod said:

I have mostly ULCS and Nauticam clamps. The ULCS are US standard 1/4X20 and 1/4X28 (fine). The M6 is quite close to 1/4X20 which is slightly larger in diameter. You could possibly convert your M6 outer clamp to 1/4X20 by running a tap through it and then thereafter use the ULCS clamp knobs in your preferred color. Use a permanent thread locker (271 or similar) on the outer clamp half. Just a thought, have not tried it.

Problem with doing this is you cut through the anodizing on the threads meaning it's more prone to corrosion and the thread won't be as strong. It would be quite easy to strip the threads out. There's a few different brands of clamps that offer coloured versions, including nitescuba or you could convert to full ULCS clamps.

Just clicked a link to wetpixel and got a server is down message. Also checked on downforeveryoneorjustme which confirmed it is down. It was up just a couple of days ago. Is this finally the end of an era?

45 minutes ago, Nemrod said:

He would have to release vacuum and then turn the switch off. Upon rearming the circuit with the "switch" of some sort he envisages then restore the vacuum. But he would not have to open the housing.

I just open my housing in the evening, give everything a once over and then close it back for the next day and pull vac about 30 minutes before departure or when convenient. But, I recharge between dives or at lunch as needed without having to open the housing on the boat or a sandy beach or some other undesirable place.

Alternatively leave it on for a day or two and then turn off without releasing vacuum it should continue to hold.unless you do something like drop the housing or otherwise subject it to load. I think the vaccum valve from leak sentinel is designed to allow you turn it off.

30 minutes ago, Jens H said:

I would like to pimp my system with colored T-knobs for my clamps:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1595469-REG/ultralight_ac_tk_sr_splashy_red_t_knob_for.html

However, I am not sure if they would fit on my clamps from H2OTools:

unterwasser-fotografieren.de

Any idea if they would fit? I am not sure if the H2O-Tools are maybe metric (ultralight are us/inch) or have another thread pitch)?

Thanks for your help,

Jens

It's almost guaranteed to be metric unless it is made in USA or possibly in Canada. You could pickup some colourful anodised clamps on the likes of Temu or Ebay for about the same price and just use the handle perhaps - the clamps themselves may not be great, more than likely same thread but no guarantee and the anodizing may not be great either so potentially disposable items. My Nauticam clamps are m6 x 1.0 FYI.

There's no lenses listed working with the WWL-C from Canon apart from the little 24-50, if EF lenses nothing at all, the 28-70/80 kit lenses are said to not work with the WWL-1B, so seems unlikely this lens would work with either of the WWL.

I expect it should do pretty well behind a 180mm dome though.