insomniac

I know this isn't the answer you are looking for... But I'll sell you mine if you are interested. I've owned it since 2018 but I've only used it a few times underwater. I've actually used it more on land (in a pinch), but never really got into video and I can hand hold my photo's. I spent close to a grand on it, it has the medium carbon fiber legs + hub + 3-way pan head. The fully articulating pan head is what sets it apart from everything else on the market. That said I know it can handle large systems just fine underwater as mine is about as big as they get. The disadvantage underwater is it's going to take a bit of setup time (but I have a quick connect plate as well to makes this easier). The advantage is huge with the pan head; it's exponentially easier than trying to adjust all three legs to get it perfect.

Yeah, that's likely, Nauticam has a small dome port adapter for the RX100 VII housing so I would hope they would be able to build something similar if they choose to make a housing for this camera. They could also make a flat port that just requires you to zoom to 24mm first, and then that could be compatible with some of their water contact optics.

This new "vlogging" camera looks like it may have some real potential for underwater use. 1.4" sensor - 4k 30p downsampled from 5.7k (image stabilization), 16-50mm full frame equivalent lens, big battery. I'm excited for a new compact camera to potentially replace my wife's aging RX100 VII camera. https://petapixel.com/2025/02/19/the-compact-powershot-v1-is-canons-answer-to-the-sony-zv-1-mark-ii/ Note: Not initially planned for US market (but that's why there's Japan)

Well, it looks like they realized how stupid / expensive this idea was and abandoned the project. I pre-ordered 2 batteries as I hate having to travel with + charge 16 batteries twice a day during long dive trips. I was thinking this "upgrade" would be a better option than buying new strobes after I invested so much into these already. But I guess I will cut my losses and most likely sell my Retra Pro Max's in favor for something else... They held onto my money for 4 months, and processed the cancellation / refund today and sent this email:

I would recommend UWT over TRT. TRT has some known QC issues that their support usually resolves; but semi-permanent install of the UWT is superior.

Some stickers with your email / phone number on them!

such a good deal (sarcasm). The recommended HF-1's batteries come in at less than half this per wh ($4.15) and don't lock you into a proprietary battery pack. I'm so annoyed I am giving them more of my money. #regrets

Whoops; sorry if I didn't make it clear (I wasn't attempting to blame Retra for that). There's too many variables, and I assumed it was most likely Turtle's issue. I can add to my story, that they sent me a new trigger free of charge after my complaints (I just sadly haven't been underwater to test it yet). If anyone has a Turtle TTL + Sony + Retra combo working well; please let me know. Or if you can recommend a different trigger; that would be appreciated (PS: I don't need or typically use use the TTL feature of a trigger; I shoot manual 99% of the time).

Since Backscatter's customer service was brought up on this topic as well; I too would like to contribute my two cents / experiences. I also owned/own an MF-1 and backscatter replaced the unit once for me with no hassle (even shipped two day air for it to arrive prior to my trip). Unfortunately, I had another problem with it which was out of warranty and they asked me to send it in regardless. They determined it could be repaired for a fee of $134; I rejected this and decided to buy a MF-2 instead (they offered a 5% discount on that purchase). So overall not a great but an overall satisfactory experience (especially as it was made all made in China so wasn't a huge investment or loss). Fast forward to my Retra Pro Max buying experience. Fully kitted out it cost me over 4k; but I figured "buy once, cry once." This was far from the case. I had a horrible time trying to use the strobe in Lembeh; I had major issues with flash sync and even though I had two Turtle TTL converters, I had trouble finding one to reliably work (even after contacting both supports and trying various firmware settings). And then to add insult to injury I was the first to discover a firmware bug when using the 8AA battery backpack; and I fried my focus lights early on in the trip (not a huge deal; but I was looking forward to that helping on some shots). I also despise some of the "UX" decisions they made with these strobes. You can't just "turn them on" you have to first go to the "battery / test" function and wait for many seconds to get a result and then you can finish turning them on. That is insanely annoying and stupid to me. I gave them this feedback and they told me, "it is normal for the strobe to be turned on first in the Batt/Test mode. This mode allows the flash to perform essential system checks, ensuring there is no water inside and verifying that the correct batteries are inserted. Please turn the switch to Batt/Test for a few seconds until the Retra logo appears, and then you can switch to the mode you wish to select." Also, if you forget to turn the strobes off after the dive (even if not using them) they will relatively quickly drain the battery down to 0%. So there were a few night dives where I had 0% battery left, and had to quickly come up with and replace 16AA batteries... After my trip was over I sent in the strobes overseas for warranty service and it was completed relatively quickly. As an aside; on my trip to Lembeh I also lost a $65 diffusor on the trip (user error); and I asked them to replace it for free (for all the hassle I had and the $$$ I spent). They refused to do that; but did offer a one time 15% discount on the overpriced $65 diffusor. I really like they lock in place firmly; so firmly that I didn't put a backup tether on them; but I must have forgot to "lock" them one dive and lost them (unlike the Z330's diffusors which have to be tethered as they fall off almost every dive). Anyways, I quickly discovered they were not going to budge and offer me a free replacement as a good will gesture for all the troubles I had after spending over 4k for their products. All this to say. Nothing is perfect. Cheap and expensive stuff underwater often fails or is lost / stolen. It sucks (have backups if possible). There's no such thing as buy once / cry once in scuba. There's always buying and crying regardless of what option you end up with. As much as I hated to do it; I ordered these expensive add on battery packs. It seems like less of an inconvenience than selling my whole setup at this time; at least the strobes will be neutral or slightly positive. Hopefully the giant battery packs sticking out the end doesn't bother me too much. It's funny that they advertise how much lower profile the 8AA batteries fit in the Pro Max than the prior models, and then they create this monstrosity. If I could do it all over again; I would have never bought these strobes; but at this point I made my bed and now I am going to lie in it.

I bought a pair of the Retra Pro Max's with the boosters, neoprene bumpers, reduction rings, soft diffusors, reflectors, macro rings, the works (over $4,000 USD) back in October. I pretty much spent my life savings on these things. I've only used on one trip to Lembeh and I had entire dives where my photo's wouldn't sync as their was an issue with my flash trigger. I ran into low battery issues on the repetitive (long) dives when they did work (for some reason they worked better in daytime than night). Carrying 32 batteries sucked; so this adapter interests me only because I am already so invested in these strobes. That said, I am also just considering cutting my losses and selling them while I can still recover a decent amount of my "investment".

I can tell you that I unsuccessfully attempted the hot/cold water trick after trying everything else under the sun. What I can tell you is what not to do. DO NOT ever turn on an induction stove and put your lens in the pot. It instantly shattered. Now I try to remember to take my lens off the adapter/holder after each dive day; and if I forget I am content with knowing it's there forever now.

I'm on all the scuba related forums as this handle; looking forward to contributing here vs. wetpixel.