humu9679

Re the Tamron 11-20, if a lens is not commonly used underwater, then it might be hard to find a zoom ring or you might have to 3D print one. The Sony 10-18 is more common, for example. I just follow the manufacturers like any good sheep. If you really get into underwater imaging, you'll be impressed by the machined aluminum housings made by a couple manufacturers. Very sexy stuff.

All good reasons to stay with Sony. I also have a 6600. Seafrogs is cost-effective for the short term, and a way to dip your toes in the water without going crazy. I wonder about servicing though - can it be done, who does it, etc. Don't neglect the 16-50mm kit lens and wide wet lenses like the Nauticam WWL-1 (which is front heavy without flotation).

Oh, I forgot to weigh in on the RX100. Great system if battery life was better. The Achilles heel of this system if there ever was one. I had the mark II and mark V. You would need add-on macro lenses and wide lenses.

Hi Mark, All great comments above. I've used iterations of all three systems you mention. I would hold on to the TG camera because it's really small and has incredible macro if you ever get into that. And, as Chris Ross said, scuba diving is quite different from snorkeling. Far less physical once you're in the water, generally, and you can hang out with the fish in a more meaningful way. I have found the TG system harder to get great exposures, and it doesn't follow focus. But again, really small and portable. I had the Olympus OM-1 mk2, and like an idiot, developed an acute case of Sensor Envy and sold my kit with 8mm fisheyes (both Olympus and Panasonic (get the Panasonic - smaller and just fine)); 60 macro, standard zooms. They have the best lens selection and unless you need giant file sizes, or you can't shoot tight enough and you're cropping a lot, the half-frame M43 is great. Especially size and portability. I had mine housed in a Nauticam. I do shoot with a compact Sony A7c in a Nauticam housing now. Pretty good, with a decent lens selection, but no full-frame fish-eye. Do consider Nauticam's water contact optics, as they work beautifully. Nauticam have a new fisheye conversion port now but too pricey for me at this time. I think Sony has the best focusing system (e.g., continuous tracking) and the look of Sony's stills, plus pretty good video, are selling points. I don't love the 1/160th sync speed, but I get around that dialing down my ISO. The A7c is about the same size as the a6700, but APS-c lenses are way smaller. Eons ago I shot Canon EF in an Ikelite housing. Ikelites have a great price point, work well and have great technical service, but back then you really had to use Ikelite's strobes, which I found huge and heavy, and my experience with cable connectors was not as good, in my opinion, as fiber optics for every other system I used. I had an R6 mark 1, thinking I might switch back to my old standbys, but the RF system wasn't well supported early on. I stuck with the Sony. I don't think you can really go wrong with any of the three systems above. It just takes getting to understand what each system does well, and if you can't make that work for you, you can do like many of us and continue searching for the "perfect" system.

Congrats on the retirement and welcome to the "new" Waterpixels. I'm an old Seattle hand - worked as a The Seattle Times photographer in the 80s.

Welcome Seewolf! Happy diving.

Really nice. Thanks for sharing that.

Welcome to the forum Mark! What's the coolest thing you photographed in the Galapagos?

Gorgeous stuff!

Incredible! Lovely work.

I think I got a hit for you on inaturalist.org: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215075875 Striped Triplefin (Hecogramma striata)

A site that I use to ID critters is https://www.inaturalist.org AI gives an initial identification and the community may jump in and treat you like a toddler until there is a consensus that, yes, that is a fish. I like to upload everything I shoot there. And some of the photos are pretty bad.

Hi Neal. Shooting RAW, JPEG or frame grab? Close-up lenses seem to be a must on GoPros.

For hauling a housed camera a strobes on a shore dive, I use these lanyards with quick release buckles. They aren't the most robust, but they help.

Welcome.

Welcome! I, myself, seem to be far more active here than the other, similar, forum.

Agree with all the above suggestions. I typically unscrew the lenses after diving and rinsing just to prevent that.

Do feel free to look around and ask around regarding underwater imaging. There's quite a lot of deep-seated knowledge among the fine people here, and most aren't shy about sharing what they know. I was a long time above-water photographer, and I can tell you there's always something more to learn about shooting underwater. I was a Seattle Times photographer 1982-1990. Cheers.

Sold Inon S2000 strobes to @TeamHoover - who is a legit human, and a perfectly nice person online.

Really nice photo.

An excellent reminder on why we should be concerned about battery safety. Thanks Wolfgang.

Cool frames.

Welcome to Waterpixels, and I'm happy to note that you made your first purchase from Waterpixels' classified forum from me. Thanks for the easy and drama-free transaction. Give my regards to Puget Sound.

Nauticam NA-A6000 housing with handle. Good shape, usual water marks, body marks, working moisture detector. Comes with body cap, o-ring. $250 $200 plus shipping/insurance. -- SOLD -- Inon S2000 strobes. Nice strobes with a small footprint. Never flooded, work great. Comes with standard diffusers, and includes magnets for shooting manually. No YS or ball mount. Both $350 $300 plus shipping / insurance. -- SOLD -- Nauticam N120 port 41 #18704. Comes with o-ring, no caps or box. Usual water marks, some rubbing on bottom side of body. $125 plus $15 shipping /insurance. Nauticam 01245-Z zoom gear for Olympus 12-45mm pro. Never used. $110 plus $15 shipping /insurance. Nauticam 37174 SFE2070-z zoom gear for Sony FE 20-70mm f4. $150 plus $15 shipping /insurance #SEL2070 Prefer PayPal, and I will cover fees. I will ship via USPS. I will happily refund your purchase within 21 days if you're not satisfied. You pay return postage/insurance. You cover applicable VAT and taxes. #nauticam #a6000 #Inon #s2000 #oly1245

My impressions exactly! And the 28-60 kit lens makes a perfect travel companion mated to a WWL-1 and CMC-2. I traveled recently with the slow and much maligned 50 macro using the same 28-60 N100 Nauticam port, plus 30mm of extension, which worked okay. Regarding strobes, there's a bit of chatter about Backscatter's new Hybrid Flash - something to consider.