OneYellowTang

The Sony A7 series (started with the A7III, A7RIV, and now the A7RV) with the 90mm lens (specifically shooting blackwater) suffers from the lens hunting (often) while trying to grab focus on translucent and semi-translucent subjects (think jellies, salps, etc.). There are a few shooters that claim this combination is fine shooting blackwater - that's not really the case - if you compare this set up with either a Nikon D500 or a D850 with a 60mm lens, there's a massive difference - you would need to experience this to really understand. The MFO prevents the 90mm lens from hunting about 80%-90% of time for most blackwater subjects -so it's very much a game changer in this scenario (actually, for translucent subjects, it's the difference of being able to get a shot or not - given the quick, 3D movement of subjects, etc in a BW setting). By eliminating the lens hunting for focus it has significantly changed the type of subjects my daughter is able to shoot with her rig in this scenario. For the Nikon Z8, I shoot BW with the FTZ adapter and 60mm lens. Hunting & getting focus is not on issue with this combination...I haven't decided if it's as good as either the D500 or the D850 with the 60mm lens, but it is fairly close (at least). The slight bit of extra magnification might be interesting on a BW dive - I might try this in Anilao in a few weeks.

This thread has been very useful for discussing the MFO. We have two in our family... I've been using mine on the front of my Z8+105 - no noticeable change to focus speed, however the slight bit of magnification is quite useful. I just don't ever take it off (unless I'm looking to shoot super macro). Where the MFO really shines is on my daughter's A7RV+90mm in a blackwater setting. This is a game changer... this combination is now more than useful shooting translucent and moderately translucent subjects. Alex M discussed this during a recent Underwater Photography Show episode...

Many Z8 shooters likely have already "discovered" this solution, but having only started diving with the Z8 at the beginning of this year (coming from a D850) I thought it would be worth posting the following. Egonomically, the Z8 paired with the NIkon 24-50mm lens and a WWL-C is hard to beat. Just returned from a quick, short trip to the Big Island of Hawaii and this setup was ergonomically great for shooting turtles (extrapolating to other larger subjects)... Most of the dives were dedicated to shooting smaller subjects but I did get a chance to test out this set up - definitely worthy of packing when I'm not committed to bringing the WACP.

@shokwaav Completely unrelated to the topic, but that's a hell of an image.I've seen similar in Cocos (but darker water) and in the Solomons (but not with the shaped "funnel" - where was this taken?

@scipionems Slightly off topic: you mentioned you used your A1 with the HF1 for blackwater dives in Anilao. I mostly shoot a Nikon setup, but my daughter has been shooting the A7RV... blackwater dives are a challenge, mostly because the 90mm is slow to focus. We've mostly switched to a Nikon 60mm with a Monster adapter- that's faster, but still not quite as good as my Nikon setup. What lens were you shooting with for blackwater in Anilao, and from your post I couldn't tell if you were saying the new Smart TTL Backscatter trigger worked well for blackwater or not? Was it useful shooting TTL on a blackwater dive?

@Giancarlo M. Chris provided some very solid information, nothing much to add there... Just a few additional comments: Tawali- pretty much the birthplace of muck diving, still one of the top 3 destinations in the world for nudibranchs. There is some good wide angle as well, but many visit just for the muck. Tufi - if they can't get out to the outer reefs (due to weather conditions) then it's all muck diving inside the fjords. This is good, but the outer reefs are what make Tufi special. I would be very surprised if you made all your domestic connections without an issue. Air New Guinea is notorious for long delays and cancelled flights. If you build in a bit of a buffer it can help, but you should just expect some connections are going to be delayed (up to a day or so). Having said this - the trip should be phenomenal. PNG was Raja Ampat before Raja Ampat was opened up, with the advantage of better visibility and more large marine life (although some of that has been fished out).It's still an amazing destination. As you've probably already heard, try to limit your time in Port Moresby as much as you can.

Lots of possible comments here, but I'll just share something tangential... Years ago (think "film" days), when I did quite a bit of diving in Thailand, I was on the old Ocean Rover when Mark Strickland was the cruise director/photo pro. He would dive with two big rigs... gently putting one down on the substrate and leaving it there (with a sign on the camera saying "I put this here, please leave it..."). He'd shoot one camera until ~36 exposures taken, then go shoot the other camera, before bringing both to the surface at the end of the dive. Two cameras, no lanyards, often even in a bit of current.

All, I'll start by mentioning I've been to Cocos a couple of times and Malpelo once. Maybe once or twice on those trips I remember wishing I didn't have a large camera rig to deal with in a heavy current situation (which was always a temporary feeling). We're headed for Galapagos in a couple of months (I know, wrong time of year for the big stuff, but my daughter's university break dictated the timing of this trip). I've been reading about potentially heavy current dives up at Darwin and Wolf, as well as potentially 1-2 other spots. I'm also aware that you could end up not experiencing these conditions as well. This isn't enough to likely to get me to leave my rig on the LoB, however I am thinking a bit on how I may want to secure the rig to my BCD and have it enough out of the way so I can have both hands free to anchor myself on the rocks, etc. A single lanyard is an obvious starting point, however a Z8 in a Nauticam housing with dual strobes swinging around in a current (as your pulling yourself along hand over hand) may be secure, but doesn't seem ideal. Thoughts on best practices here? I've dived in some reasonably heavy currents with my rig in the recent past (Shotgun & Castle Rock in Komodo, Devils Highway in the Solomons) without worrying about this, however Galapagos seems like it could present a next level challenge - maybe it's the rocks, or maybe I've been reading too much 😉 Looking for suggestions or any advice for those that have been before.

As someone mentioned above, I always travel with a spare Nauticam strobe trigger. I have had one go bad on a trip, and I've also sold 2 on my last 2 trips to folks that have had this happen to them. I sell them at cost, and replace them when I return home... I've field repaired the wiring on one previously as well. The other one (also mentioned) is I travel with a spare battery charger. I usually have my 16 position battery charger, but always carry the eneloop pro 4 position quick charger as well.

@bvanant If you found the rhinopias then I'm pissed for leaving early 😉 BTW - that was my image of the Paddleflap... taken at the point (where we didn't see a whole of nembrotha...)

@Davide DB Well said, however there is a bit of revisionist history in the argument you make. Apple was not the first company to create a smart phone, and actually there were Android devices availabe on the market (made by Danger) before the first iPhone was released. I understand the argument you are making, but both Japan and Korea had internet enabled "smart" phones (with app stores widely available) well before the iPhone. Several of the manufacturers still exist today (although most now standardize on Android). Apple did well to consolidate the market, however only a small bit of this was due to technology, the rest was through coerce the "app ecosystem" to within a walled garden (the app store). Without arguing the ethics of this, consider that just last week the founder of OpenAI (the creators of ChatGPT) and one of the original designers of the first iPhone & iMac have now partnered up to build a new consumer wearable AI-device that is being designed to replace phones altogether (as they have already stated). I think we've already seen the "peak smartphone..." moment - the future will be something else. AI-driven, much more personal, multimodal (input & output), more attentive, and less of a distraction.

And yet... I have two young adult children (ages 19 and 21), both have been diving since ~12 years old, and both picked up underwater photography a few years (and at least 50 dives) later. One shoots with an A7RV, and the other shoots with my older D500. Above water they only take pictures with their iPhones, posting on Instagram, etc. However, underwater they continue to choose to shoot with their (relatively) big and bulky rigs. In part because they have invested enough time and learning to understand some of the nuanced differences of what they can capture with a fast AF, manually managed exposure system. Even they are a bit of an anachronism -their friends both thinking they are a bit cool but odd for carrying such weighty systems. I think we will eventually see a majority of underwater shooters using things like iPhones, but I don't think we are in immediate "danger" of this in the next few years. Certainly every new u/w photographer end up evaluating options like this, however I see the more serious folks in this group eventually step up to compacts or small mirrorless systems. I'll wait to see if/when my kids look to make the switch to an iPhone underwater - that will be a key indicator for me. As for me, I recently moved from a D850 to the Z-8, however next week (heading back to Anilao) I'm bringing along my D850 & 60mm as well, because there is still a significant gap in performance when shooting blackwater.

Lots of good info being shared here... I would just add - we've done the PG-Anilao combination several times, and new prefer "just" Anilao. It's target rich, easy to get to, and diving is very good (another big fan of Crystal Blue here). In addition, PG can be crowded, the harbor is a mess (but you can avoid this area), and Sabang at night is a bit of a dump. I am headed back to Anilao in about 3 weeks... Re:mandarinfish - there are a couple of spots were they are consistently (like nightly) found, however I (now) much prefer blackwater diving in Anilao (vs. any other night dives or dusk dives). If you are interested in blackwater dives, Anilao is easily one of the best in the world for these dives (and it's very easy here). We were back in Lembeh this summer, and the guides showed us a spot where the mandarinfish can now occasionally be found out swimming in the coral during the day. They were both less skittish, and easier to shoot (although no mating behahavior during the day).

Anilao is also a decent location to see rhinopias... they are not common, but they are definitely found more frequenly than in many other locations.

Actually the White Valley (La Vallée Blanche) dive site off the main island of Tahiti historically was very good for diving with tiger sharks. They no longer allow the fishermen to dump their fish bycatch here on the way back in to port, so the tigers are a little more elusive these days, but can still be found fairly regularly.