vkalia

Thanks @Chris Ross - much appreciated.

Ha, funnily, I read this literally JUST before opening up Waterpixels just now. However, the 10-18mm only has a 105 degree diagonal FOV - I prefer wider. A LOT wider. That said, I do wonder if I should consider something other than a 50mm as my general/do-it-all lens. Perhaps for this, I should consider a WWL or some other wide angle converter. But that's something to think about for later. Worst case, I can just my Olympus/Nauticam setup for general shooting.

Also, a question about using the 8-15 on an APS-C body: does the image circle cover the entire sensor at 8mm or do you have to zoom in a bit to 9mm? And any idea what is the approx diagonal angle of view at 15mm, on a crop sensor?

Thanks for the additional info on the WWL-1. To answer your question above - yes, while the fisheye is the primary lens I use, there are times/sites where I want a "generalist" lens. For me, a 50mm lens has worked really well for this in the past. This would be the secondary lens (well, this and a 100mm macro for specialized macro-focused dives).

Thanks, folk. Good to see that i havent missed anything. @Giancarlo M. @Chris Ross thanks for the EF-S 60mm recommendation. I will pick that up as my “swim about” lens. I was originally thinking of the WWL-1 as well but have read a lot of reviews about needing to stop it down to f11 to get acceptable sharpness and stuff. The extra flexibility will be nice but it isn’t essential - in many way, sticking to one type of photography on a dive helps me stay a bit more focused (no pun intended) with my shooting. I dont think i will get the new rig before my Feb trip to Maldives but i certainly hope to have it for Tubbataha in April. 🙂 Cheers! PS: I will likely sell my current Oly camera, the housing, the 7-14 and the matching port. But i may pick up a newer MFT camera and Nauticam housing, to have a second smaller/compact camera system. But that’s down the line.

Folk, after a long time, I am thinking of changing my camera system (this will only be the 3rd model i will be using underwater in 20 years of u/w photography: Canon 20D initially, then an Olympus OMD camera for the past 6 years). I had asked earlier about Canon vs Sony for Nauticam, and got some really useful info, which i dont plan to get everyone to repeat. In the end, have decided on a Marelux housing. I may yet keep my Oly setup as a backup or for compact travel. The plan is to get a housing for my R7. Reasons for doing so: - I already use the R7 for wildlife - The Tokina 10-17 lens is my perfect u/w lens, as I enjoy wide angle photography the most. From my tests, i should be able to live with the AF speed on it for my shooting - i have some legacy EF lenses that I can use with this setup, atleast for now (EF 100mm macro, mainly, manually focused if need be - i have a 17-40 as well, but i dont see that as being very useful underwater) I’ll be carrying over my Supe D-Pro and Inon strobes with this system (they give me all the power i need). Is there any reason to consider a Sony A6700 instead of the R7? I can use the same Tokina with it, with an adapter and buying another macro lens isnt the end of the world. The A6700 has better video (a small benefit, given that i occasionally will be shooting content for marketing/social media for my dive center) and possibly slightly better tracking AF, but for the typical speeds at which fish move, i dont think the different is noticeable. I can’t think of any, but just running a sanity check to make sure i am not missing anything. Also, what do you guys using the R7 use as a general “swimabout lens”? For me, that used to be a 1:1 Sigma EF 50mm macro, but that has horrendous AF with the R7, and is a no-go. Wondering what else is there. I’ve been out of the gear loop for a very long time, as you may be able to tell. TIA!

Lovely! I’ve been toying with whether or not to take a group there, and this post is increasing my interest in doing so. Thanks for taking the time to post such a detailed report.

For me, there is one iconic photograph that stands out - David Doubilet (I think it was him) had a photo of a pod of orcas that were making a bee-line for the ocean, after having been trapped in Antarctic ice for a while (courtesy of an ice-breaker opening up a channel for them). There isnt much to the image in terms of fancy lighting and such - just a line of orcas. But the moment that was captured…. ooof. Despite the still, you got an immediate sense of the sense of purpose with which those orcas were hauling ass. A perfect example of what @Luko was saying about just capturing the magic moment perfectly. For the life of me, I can’t find that photo anywhere online. PS - thanks for those links. Some gorgeous images there. And a reminder to me to get out of my shooting habits - i would likely never consider taking such wide angle shot from such a distance. Maybe i will try something like that in Egypt in August.

Damn, Diggy, you making me blush now. 🙂 Been a while since jumping off the boat to rescue an idiotic golden retriever puppy, eh?

Right, sorry, i did mean the 100-120 adapter. And that high speed sync is definitely a neat feature to have - agreed. Also good to know! Cheers!

Thanks for sharing the info about the optical cables, guys. I recently picked up a couple of D-Pros and was a bit concerned about the idea of it not working with a Nauticam trigger. My own short notes about the D-Pro: I switched to the D-Pros recently - replacing a mixed pair of one Inon Z240 and one Sa&S YS-D2J. I had a pair of Inons - flooded one because i twisted the O-ring and didnt notice it. At that time, the Z330 had just been released and were hard to find, so i got the S&S. Decent enough strobes but the battery life was hit or miss, and one strobe died after 2 trips - and S&S told me to go pound, claiming there was some internal O-ring that i needed to service annually. I tried out the D-Pros in Raja Ampat recently and am very pleased with them so far. The big changes i have noticed are a *much* larger beam spread (to the point that a lot of my images had backscatter on the sides because i was pointing these strobes the way i was my Z240/D2J) and a significantly better battery life. I can get 2 days out of these strobes, whereas with the Inon/Z240, even a third dive would sometimes be pushing it. Having one less thing to do in the evening after a day of diving is always a good thing, in my books. The weight/bulk is a downside. I could easily fit my Nauticam/MFT housing, ports and strobes in a small, nondescript Lowerpro shoulder bag - but that’s a bit of a struggle now as each strobes takes about twice the space of my older ones. The lack of granularity in the power ratings isnt a big thing for me - any small adjustments in exposure, i can make with aperture. I do find them more powerful than the Inons/S&S, and have mostly shot with power at a 3 or 4 setting - so plenty of power for me and I dont really see the need for more. OTOH, even the Inons were powerful enough for me, with me rarely maxing out their power - so maybe its a “me” thing. Overall, am very satisfied with the strobes, atleast for now (2 trips in). The fantastic battery life and significantly wider beam are the main drivers for this. I am, however, going to remove the diffusers on the next trip. That beam doesnt need to be any wider. 🙂

Oof. This is good to know, thank you - as is the bit about the choice of lenses for photos vs videos. Honestly, video isnt going to be my prime use case but I need to spend some time figuring out my priorities. I dont see myself using a rectilinear WA for my photography - i much, much prefer the FE. So need to figure out how that’s gonna work together. Honestly, that’s what i am leaning towards. But doing my due diligence about the Sony as an option - the superior video was a very attractive option but @Barmaglot has given me a few things to think about that I hadn’t considered. FWIW, I havent ruled out the Panasonic GH7 either - that would be the simplest upgrade: buy a new housing, buy a new camera, done. I actually use a Sigma 50mm macro lens in an EF mount. The autofocus is not as fast as Canon’s USM, but it does offer 1:1. I just ordered the Canon adapter - let me see what the performance is like and then I’ll figure out what lenses i need. Am also going to try to find someone who has an A6x00 and see if i can try it out with Canon lenses.

Gotcha re the 3D part. Getting one printed shouldn’t be an issue - i have a few friends with 3D printers. I may hit you up for the schematic if you go that route, if I can’t find it online. Thanks again, everyone, for your help. It’s starting to come together now.

I looked at the Kraken and Weefine options and apparently, there really isnt a very good swivel option for them. You have to screw/unscrew them every time you want to attach/detach them. I have one of these wet lenses for my backup TG5 system and it takes approximate 12,683 revolutions to attach, so I am not gonna bother with that. And yeah, stopping down to f11 or f14 to get good shots isnt exactly a screaming recommendation of quality for a $2000 optic.

Hi Lewis - may i know which particular port adapter you use? They all have some extensions built into them - trying to figure out which one i may need,