
Everything posted by Chris Ross
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Waterpixels Compact Systems Specialist
Welcome on board Maria, great to have you here.
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Magic Filters
Never used them either, I think I recall threads talking about using sheet filters to place between the WWL and port or inside. Note Magic filters don't recommend using their filters outside. Ballistically they allow you to shoot with a custom white balance and are well balanced between 5 and 15m depth maybe up to 20m. On the topic of blue filters, you lose a lot of flash power when using them as you lose light through both the blue filter and the magic filter. The flash acts like fill flash and doesn't really brighten up the image colours at all and will have the same look as your shots without flash , just the shadows are filled in. Basically you are trying the match the light spectrum of your strobes to ambient light at your current depth with the blue filters This is quite similar to the mixed light problem with video which has been discussed at great length on Wetpixel: https://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?/topic/69260-solving-the-mixed-light-problem/ The basic summary is the blue filter needs to be selected according to depth and match the magic/red filter and it only does this properly within a certain depth range. Hopefully you can access the old wetpixel site as it is blocked unless you are logged in. The result you get is balanced images but to me from some of the videos posted the the colours are a little muted. You can of course adjust WB in raw but you can only adjust it to ambient or flash lighting not both unless they match.
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Dominica Sperm Whale Operator Suggestions?
I've not been, a friend of mine Don Silcock had great success late last year, only references I can find online are his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AXMUUjrAf/ which has a series of photo posts, which you should be able to get to from the link, He doesn't mention specifically but appears he used Indigo Safais, which is also mentioned in this article from Walt Stearns: https://www.underwaterjournal.com/diving-with-the-sperm-whales-of-dominica/
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Canon 8-15 on OM-1 Zoom gear using housing control
Tried it out in the water a few days ago, and it worked seamlessly, zooming was as smooth as with a Nauticam gear on my 12-40mm.
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South East Asia Recommendations for late November
The changeover is relatively easy in Singapore and there is a transit hotel inside security - kind of beats staying up to meet the 2:00 am flight out of Jakarta and trying to sleep on the 3-4 hour plane flight to Sorong. You could even spend a day or two in Singapore shopping and trying out the local food. Very easy to get around there.
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South East Asia Recommendations for late November
There's all sorts of options available. Things to consider include that November is in Typhoon season, which could impact the Philippines. The seasons are quite variable throughout SE Asia depending upon how the Monsoon winds impact the area. In Thailand the wind is just switching to the NE Monsoon and it's starting the dry season for the main part of Thailand and beginning the wet season for the islands further south in the gulf of Thailand for example. In Indonesia, you've looked at Raja Ampat but there's quite the journey from NA. You could get to Lembeh Strait on Sulawaesi through a connection from Singapore on Scoot. Looks like a direct Vancouver - Singapore flight is available so that's a plus no transit in the US is probably a bonus. The diving there is always calm and not too much in the way of current. November through April with the change in winds you start to be able to access the reefs on the south side of Lembeh Island which have nice visibility and good conditions for diving around then. For example Divers lodge Lembeh goes out to sites on the south side: Divers Lodge LembehDiving in Lembeh Strait With Divers LodgeAt Divers Lodge Lembeh, we specialize in diving in the Lembeh Strait, an area known worldwide for macro photography and muck diving. I stayed there a few years back and enjoyed the diving- though be aware some of the sites have a lot of plastic pollution and there's a lot of stuff dumped in the water as it is right by quite a large city. Alternatively you could muck dive there and transfer to Banka or Bunaken on Sulawesi for reef dives. Some sites can have currents there. Another option might be PNG , though access is not the easiest. I dived Walindi last year and it features sea mounts in very deep water, currents not usually an issue. November is a good time there. Access via Sydney or Brisbane with a 3-4 hour flight to Port Moresby and a domestic connection to Hastings on New Britain. See: https://indopacificimages.com/papua-new-guinea/guide-to-diving-papua-new-guinea/guide-to-diving-new-britain/the-complete-guide-to-diving-kimbe-bay/ That site has an outline of the diving and logistics you really should be qualified for 30m and Nitrox helps with bottom times on the sea mounts. You could dive in Sydney as well on the way through if you came that way - good spot for Weedy Sea dragons. Water temperature about 18-20 that time of year , but subject to swell being low enough.. Any questions - let me know.
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I have a scratch on my Nauticam port!
I believe you should be able to replace the glass/acrylic element in most ports I recall seeing a replacement element fro one of Nauticam's domes advertised on a website some time back. Best to contact your dealer to see what can be ordered. You would need to order a dome and a replacement seal - it's usually an o-ring. Of course if the dome is acrylic you may be able to polish it out.
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Where to travel with pregnant wife?
If you don't mind cold water Sydney has great macro opportunities - though there is nothing like macro guides available. You could also find good things on the great Barrier Reef . I thought of Thailand, but the good health care is centered round Bangkok precisely where the good diving is not. The other thing to consider is if there are guides who are good at finding macro subjects, they can be notoriously hard to find. The other thing to consider is any restrictions that travel insurance might impose, not to mention that it's probably a little early right now to know how the pregnancy will pan out - that is to say if any conditions arise that increase risk.
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Retra Pro Max - Accu issue
I leave batteries in INONs almost all the time and I have had zero issues, diving 3-4 times per month over nearly 10 years. Springs also tend to fatigue from repetitive flexing flexing once and keeping it that way is less likely to cause an issue. With INONs at any rate you can replace the spring clips or work on them as they are a separate piece.
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Nauticam port options for wide(r) angle but not dome
I keep forgetting the expense of doing anything with the N100 port system with the expensive adapters plus rings. They really need an N100 small dome so you could use something like the sigma fisheye lens and the sigma adapter. The flat port they offer is around the same price as a 4.33" N120 dome. The only native N100 dome is the 180mm dome or you can get a N100 WACP.
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Nauticam port options for wide(r) angle but not dome
Depends on how fussy you are about image sharpness, 105mm is generally regarded as pretty good through a flat port and 60mm starts to show degradation towards the edges on full frame, but even the 105mm has some degradation which is part of the sales pitch for the new MFO to correct this. Something like 35mm is probably OK. In smaller formats a lot of people use 24-28mm equivalent lenses with flat ports, but would probably be pushing the limits of full frame. It gets progressively worse as focal length reduces and as you go from centre of frame to the edges. So there's no true line in the sand beyond which it suddenly becomes unacceptable. It also depends on what you want to shoot, 28-40mm range is a bit of a no mans land UW not particularly good at anything except perhaps fish portraits, so could be disappointing potentially. For not a lot more you could perhaps find a small dome and fisheye to do CFWA and wide angle macro shots, which may align better with your macro interests?
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Aquatica housing bulkhead question.
Thanks for the update
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Photographic Gear Prices in USA after Trump's Tariffs
Doesn't seem that way when travelling and resorts in Asia set prices in $USD or Euros, the currency markets obviously has different ideas! But seriously, it's down to high markups by the distributors, small populations mean small markets and the distributor has effectively a protected monopoly to bring stuff in. It used to be really bad before but now prices seem to be set by the cost to import through grey channels more or less.
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WACP-1 VS Canon 8-15mm Fisheye
I find it generally better to compare horizontal fields as a lot of the stretching of the image in a fisheye is in the corners. As to whether a fisheye will be a good option -, it really depends on what you are shooting. I know Alex Mustard has chimed in a number of times with the view that just comparing fields doesn't give you the full story, it's the subject pop which brings it forward in the frame that is what you are after. As you zoom in this impact slowly goes away and is quite mild at the equivalent of the the WACP at it's widest. The WACP has similar distortion to a zoomed in fisheye. This table shows the fields of view at the extremes of the the 8-15 with 1.4x and the WACP. You can see this in zoom ratios. The 28-70 is a 2.5x zoom but in the WACP the zoom ration is 3.1x. Similarly the 8-15 is a 2x, but becomes 2.6x and this is at a reduced zoom range of 11-15 on the zoom ring. as an aside using the full zoom range on micro43 gives a 4.3x zoom ratio. This is due to progressively cropping the stretched corners, these corners stretch more the further you go from centre. You can see there is minimal overlap between the two in terms of horizontal field which is what sets what you can fit within the frame much of the time. I've added rectilinear equivalent focal lengths as well - this is the rectilinear focal length with the same horizontal field. In terms of fisheye effect, if you are at 15mm whether it's just the lens or it's the lens plus 1.4x (~11 on the zoom dial), the fisheye effect is there. As you zoom in it reduces because you are progressively cropping out the stretched corners.
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Metabones adapter Canon to Sony EF
The Mark V seems like it has a bigger bore which allows you to use the Sony 1.4x with it and the 8-15 if that is on your radar and further the Sony 2x works with it as well. See this link: https://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?/topic/70078-canon-ef-8-15mm-fisheye-questions/&do=findComment&comment=444015 This link talks about using the 2x: You would need to check if the bore of the Mark V is big enough to allow this. There is some suggestion on other threads that the earlier versions might hunt a little more/
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Photographic Gear Prices in USA after Trump's Tariffs
it's already more expensive in the USA for Nauticam at least on an AUD basis compared to buying here in AU. Backscatter price is $USD 5272, which $AUD 8481. The local Nauticam dealer lists it for $AUD7332.
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Nauticam housing, EM-1ii camera body, one lens with port, three flashes
Fixed
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Ikelite 5510.11
this is one I found: https://www.ebay.com/itm/256829859148?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&google_free_listing_action=view_item another: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1690693281147291/posts/3885323085017622/?_rdr Saga is not on here, you can contact through website: https://sagadive.com/en/product-category/frontales-y-aros/aros/aros-adaptadores/saga-aro-adaptador/
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Retra Pro Max or Kraken KR-S160
I think there are a few aspects to the choice. Retra has a wide range of accessories in addition to their snoot options like their reducing rings to help tame the strobes when shooting "regular" macro as opposed to snooting. Depends if this is of interest to you. I didn't research if Kraken offers this as well. I think the weight savings are probably the biggest argument the weight in water is significantly different 300 gr vs 150 gr (Retra with booster it's 60 gr without booster) so that's less floatation required as well. The strobes are about the same diameter but the Kraken is longer by about 50mm (25mm less when packed with booster installed). One reason to take both caps might be to use the regular caps when transporting to help squeeze the strobes in and pack the boosters in checked bags perhaps? Size and shape as well as weight may make all the difference depending on the dimensions of you bags.
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Aquatica housing bulkhead question.
The thread mentioned is an imperial thread size 1"14 TPI is ANF 1", 1"UNF it seems is 12 TPI. So it's a finer thread than UNF. Compared to M24 x 1 the pitch is coarser however. The pitch is the distance between consecutive peaks on the thread, the M24 x 1 is 1mm pitch and the !"x 14 the pitch is 1.8mm. Be interested to see what makes the Aquatica thread more reliable? Good to see we found a solution.
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Ikelite 5510.11
I'm assuming that you need this for an older fourlock housing which Ikelite doesn't support anymore? A couple of options, first post here in the classifieds with a wanted to buy. If you don't succeed there you may need to get one custom made. Saga does custom work and may be able to help. There are probably some others around, The fact the adapter is threaded makes it a little more complicated. BTW there's one on Ebay now but it comes with a 5DMkIV housing and looks like one in Australia too on a a facebook group.
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Sea&Sea YS-D2J Stuck on Orange
According to the manual if it is lit orange it means ready to fire in pre-flash manual mode. So you are saying it stayed orange and did not change to other colours when you turned the dial? You could try the reset sequence in this link: https://scubaboard.com/community/threads/sea-sea-ys-d2-strobe-failure.577325/post-8607810 It will likely change the custom mode to factory default, but might get you going again?
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Kenko Teleconverter and Nikon camera bodies
Hi Tim, I've confirmed the full description is: 1.4x TELEPLUS PRO 300 N-AFd DG I'm also informed it was previously used on a D500 with a 10-17. Now being used on a Z8 with an 8-15.
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Lens for Canon G camera
Sorry, still not sure which camera you are referring to, the only Canon G cameras I am aware of is the G series compacts like to G16. Is it an EOS DSLR? Full frame or APS_C? this will all impact what lens to choose.
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Backscatter HF-1 Strobe battery compartment flood
Whether or not an o-ring can withstand reverse pressure depends upon the design of the o-ring groove. A surface o-ring like used in Ikelite and the Nauticam housings with removable backs cannot as they rely upon the external pressure pushing the housing back into contact with the o-ring. A piston o-ring such as INON caps or the HF-1 should be fine Lubrication can also be an issue on clamshell and piston style o-rings. The o-ring needs to be able to slide back and forth in its groove to press up against the sealing surfaces and form the seal. If the o-ring hangs up up it might prevent the seal from forming. I note with my Z-240 strobes I apply a very thin layer of lube to the cap inside surface and it screws on very easily. When I come to remove the the cap it is often quite tight, like as if the lubricant has washed away. If you had internal pressure the o-ring would need to move. Internal pressure is relative - you could have higher internal pressure from taking your strobe to a higher altitude. Having said that I often leave the batteries in for extended periods after a dive particularly if I only do one dive. So far I've been fine.