humu9679

Sweet! That's really good news.

Welcome (back)!

For BW I agree. The Sony 50 macro on my A7c was slow to lock on, but good for tracking.

I did have a pair of Nauticam float arms that failed several years ago, but I think that was one of the early generations. I believe Nauticam has some kind of warranty now.

@bvanant I'm impressed by Nanette's BW video. Great stuff. I cannot fathom how you handle focusing with the LX10 @bghazzal I was on the #SmilingSeahorse 18-25 Feb 2024 and we did one BW dive. My Sony A7c and 50 macro struggled to keep up with the critters -- shooting stills -- and my first BW dive was a big fail. Re lighting, it seems the lightbox technique over lights the whole scene, and I wonder if just bilateral side lighting would do the trick? Probably best not to light up everything in the water. @christophe chellapermal It was a very nice trip on the Smiling Seahorse (SS). Franck did not come on this trip, and I believe the SS was the first dive operator to offer BW dives in the Andaman Sea.

Sounds like you set everything up right. The MF-1 manual says it will work out settings after making a test exposure, as Chris also noted. And it probably doesn't matter if you're 1st or rear curtain, and I'm sure you're setting the camera the rest of the camera correctly. If you have another body, you can try that. Or try another flash trigger. Maybe a call to Backscatter will be helpful? Is this a new or used unit? I recently tried shooting the new Backscatter Hybrid Flash - 1 in a burst (middle speed, continuous), and I was getting every other frame exposed, but the first frame was exposed. This, on an A7c.

Nauticam's are top notch, but you can split the difference and get Ultra Light (ULCS). Haven't tried Puluz. Also, you can change the o rings on both Nauticam and ULCS balls when they wear out. ULCS dimensions are: off the shelf: Buna size 2-209, or Danco #95 15/16 x 11/16 x 1/8. For the style afficionados here, Nauticams are a nice blue color.

@sharkypeeps Just seeing this now, and I'm running an Olympus TG-5 with Kraken hydra 5000k lights. My Dive-X blacktip travel tends to nose down as configured. I removed one of the two plates in the nose cone. You might consider adding weight if you're nosing up.

My experience with DSLRs made using a viewfinder necessary because live view was so poor. I'd argue now that unless your framing needs to be very precise, you might not need a viewfinder. The YS-D3s are pretty light underwater, like 20 g, so it seems buoyancy for the housing/camera/port/lens is what's necessary. Consider looking at StiX floats if you're using aluminium arms like Ultra Light or Nauticam. They're easily adjustable. They look cheap and unimpressive in photos but they're actually quite good. The "jumbos" displace 181 g each, "large" (which are not very large) displace 82 g, and the macro port float belt displaces 567 g (I have a hard time keeping this on the port, but zip ties are my best friend here).

@Johno1530 That looks fantastic! Big money there. Now you only have @ChipBPhoto to blame if it all goes to shit. 😁 May need the Sea & Sea type fiber optic adapters if you didn't buy them already. I don't get why Nauticam couldn't bundle them with each housing. The flip diopter holder is great, but adds weight to the front end of the kit. Consider a ring float or something similar.

Hi Jake. Welcome! I'm curious to know which Sony APC-c camera you're using? Lovely landscapes on your website. Cheers, Craig @js47

Your focusing in the crab video seemed to work out okay. I think you might like Sony's latest AF. It will allow for tracking of small critters once you've locked focus. The hard thing would be keeping them in the frame.

Welcome to Waterpixels Dave! Were you on Wetpixels?

I've seen Mark Smith's images of birds in flight. Pretty amazing. I'll be following with interest the exploits of videographers on this site, and I would hope you would divulge any technical details to the newbies here.

@Davide DB I've been a still photographer for more than 40 years, and only recently began dabbling in video. I am very surprised to see so much manual focusing going on with serious videographers. My supposition is that AF in video is akin to point and shoot in stills, considered amateurish and certainly hit or miss. I figure videographers will come around when AF performance improves. I'm curious to see what videographers think of AF performance now.

That's super. Except I'm not sure my nerves could handle baggage handling like that. I'm curious to know if you had to choose one set-up (8-15mm, WACP-c or 20-70mm), which would you choose?

Aloha and welcome!

Holy cow! I'm bringing you along on my next liveaboard Dave!

Yes, the hotshoe is far different from conventional hotshoes and the contacts are very fragile. Good thing the Nauticam trigger works from the primary center contact. I have had the UW Technics trigger occasionally stop working, but when I turn the camera (A7c) off and on this resets the unit and it works as usual. So far. Fingers crossed. On a side note, I typically expose manually. I also have used the Turtle. Hated charging that thing. And the Nauticam trigger, which worked fine.

@Johno1530 Here's Nauticam's port recommendations:

Welcome @doubleender Nice photos!

@Craine How did you find the Sony body and Canon 60mm combo? Work okay for you? Or a bit of hunting, slow to lock, and good tracking once you locked focus? On another thread @vkalia was looking at adapted lenses, and though quite a few folks have used this combination, it's always good to get updates. Thanks.

@vkalia "I have to admit, the idea of a 60mm lens and water contact optics giving me FE or WA is very attractive. But i am not convinced about how good those wet optics really are. If my lack of success with the 7-14 continues or if i decide to keep the current setup for a little longer, i may sell that onwards and try a Nauticam MWC (the 60mm to wide angle wet lens) - although more than the price of the lens, paying $320 for a simple metal hinge kinda chaps my rear. " Macro to wide port sounded great to me until I read the reviews and having to stop down so much to get acceptable sharpness. The wide angle and fisheye conversion ports reportedly are much better. From what I read of the Kraken KRL 09s, performance seemed passable, and for the price maybe okay. But another shortfall may be the need to use a 60mm which is a bit short unless you're using a cropped sensor.

@Chris Ross "Zooming in the get your framing is a better option than cropping IMO. " Exactly. Shooting full frame is The Way.

@vkalia I am impressed that you are able to manage so many systems. Something I don’t think I’d do very well. I hear Fuji’s video is good but I would consider Panasonic if you’re really interested in great video. Other people here are far better versed on shooting video but I would go with the GH7 if I was really dedicated to video. Regarding adapted lenses, I’ve only tried Canon EF lenses on an R6. I found the lenses slow to autofocus, hunting a bit too much. If you’re wedded to a specific lens, though, you can find a way to make it work. I’ve never used the Tokina 10-17mm but people do swear by it. I’m coming around to the idea that the future will lie in water contact optics. I use the WWL-1 now but would love a WACP. Cheers.