Nando Diver

@CaolIla Thanks, really interesting My travel agent works with emperor and i was looking for the offers I wonder if 14 days worth it, or 7 days is enough I have an eye of the Southern Shark Adventure and im also looking for the full moon and new moon to avoid high/low tides and stong currents The 14 days seems tempting.

Whats the Best time of the year for Maldives Liveaboard ? North or South ? Big pelagic, Whale shark, manta rays etc.

Today one of the divers in my group had the new Weefine WFH07 smart housing with iPhone 16 Pro. Looks nice and well built, it uses dedicated DiveIT App. It support RAW picture, 4K120fps video, HDR and ProRes It also has built-in electric drive air pump. But in my opinion the big selling point is the possibility to use strobes and connect optical cable to the weefine housing that match the iPhone Photo DiveIT app.

My advice to your gopro 11 Install FW pro labs gopro Permanent QR code for WB lock in specific profile (it locks WB 1 second after start recording) Permanent QR CODE for Bitrate up to 170MBs 8:7 Aspect ratio.. this will give you the best flexibility for 16:9 or 9:16 10bit 4K If you intent to edit your filming, match your gopro 11 with GP-LOG from the 12 https://github.com/gopro/labs/discussions/684

Ive being following very close the dji forum about OA5 Pro on the last 3 months and is not finished product, the camera have the same bugs since the launch date and users are being used has beta testers. Youtube reviewers & some influencers dont properly test the camera or they are paid to do it. Theres some exceptions like this guy on the video Chris Rogers & also DCRainmaker (this one i follow for years) With gopro 11 you can maximize the camera Potencial using the firmware gopro labs, increase bitrate, lock white balance or use 8:7 aspect ratio. I dont like filters and i dont recommend them, lights underwater makes all the difference. AOI lens are cheaper Backscatter lens has possibility to use red filter, but the distance between the lens and camera you will get vignette. AOI & INON lens are specifically made for gopro and dont have any of distortion. The larger FOV from OA5 PRO + wide lens still have distortion on corner/sides. show me some YouTube links from your buddy divers that are posting good unedited videos about OA5PRO underwater...im curious to see it. 😃

The New update for the Blackmagic camera app allow the Iphone 16 pro/max to film in Apple Pro Res HQ up to 4K120 FPS directly to the Smartphone (versions 256gb/500gb or 1TB ) .

The best feature of divevolk is the ability to use full touchscreen on smartphone. In Boot Dusseldorf 2025 they present an external bluetooth trigger/shutter, and they have a new Glass lens for macro (Diopter +18). Divevolk focus of their products is for smartphone use. For Mirrorless or DSLR the Easydive they built universal Housing with lifetime warranty. Over the years you only upgrade to any camera brand in the world and keep the housing.

Underwater Video & Photography competitions (at least in my country) have good sponsorship from government to promote marine life, tourism, environment, and its common the presence of Regional and National television broadcast. Last couple years attracted huge number of international filmmakers and photographers. The price is a steal example for 2025 : 420€ per person Hotel 4 stars for 8 days all inclusive in 2x island Paradises Free transfers airport hotel Free transfers hotel to diving sites Free Ferry transfer to another island. 8 x dives with nitrox (4 days) Water temp 22C to 24C Not included: flights Training sessions 30€ each (nitrox) Anyone with action camera/smartphone can participate in that specific category. Financially is very attractive. Had my first experience last year, and im going again in 2025. This year has big bonus, that is diving in two separate islands (Madeira & Porto Santo) I attach the program in Portuguese ( this its very recent) , but you can use this contact page to get the English version. https://www.instagram.com/madeiraunderwater/ https://www.madeiraunderwater.com/info/contato/ IV Madeira Underwater Photo and Video Open_2025.pdf

@Cutbacks_Ericeira it seems the seafrog uses bluetooth to control de stock camera app... the divevolk is complete touchscreen +50€ https://www.aditech-uw.com/downloads/sf-ph-01-pro-control.jpg

True, their lens are acrylic, quality is very low. Regarding the SSD + Divevolk case, theres a model LEXAR GO and would fit inside the divevolk + iPhone 16 pro, but is not recommended by divevolk to use underwater, this is what they reply to me. Small ssd are good options to save large video files while on vacations. Regarding the Iphone 16 pro or pro MAX, the blackmagic camera app will film up to 4K 120fps.

Ive dig a little more into MotionCam discord and its seems the App is going in right direction with RAW output very fragmented android market doesn't help. Not all lens available in the smartphone work with the app Not all available resolutions are available in the app, especially 4K60 Not all Android versions give the same access to the app Not all smartphone manufacturers give API access to the app Some smartphone need to have customised android version RAW output is very task intensive. The developers seem to be very knowledgeable in what they doing but im same cases their hands are tied due the reasons above. So ive turn my attention to the Iphone 16 Pro and 16 Pro max The Blackmagic camera seems to be the best app for filming and now it's possible to choose different type of bitrate. For HEVC (H.265) the max bitrate is 81Mps in 4K60 For Apple ProRes 422HQ 4K60 the minimal write speed is 220Mbps For Apple ProRes 422 HQ 4K120 the minimal write speed is 440Mbps Apple ProRes 422 HQ: A higher-data-rate version of Apple ProRes 422 that preserves visual quality at the same high level as Apple ProRes 4444, but for 4:2:2 image sources. With widespread adoption across the video post‑production industry, Apple ProRes 422 HQ offers visually lossless preservation of the highest-quality professional HD video that a single link HD-SDI signal can carry. This codec supports full-width, 4:2:2 video sources at 10-bit pixel depths, while remaining visually lossless through many generations of decoding and re-encoding. The target data rate of Apple ProRes 422 HQ is approximately 220 Mbps at 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps. With the new Iphone 15 pro e 16 pro & Max its possible to film 4K60 using HEVC format, for ProRes 422 HQ format 4K60 is possible only with blackmagic camera app, the stock camera app dont work Only the Iphone 16 pro & Max support 4K120 ProRes 422 HQ and is required a specific SSD attached. Scrolling through Reedit it seem lot of filmmakers are using Smartphones with External SSD attached.. For us Underwater divers, at the moment, i think theres a solution that requires the following for 4K120 in ProRes 422 HQ Iphone 16 pro (256gb, 512gb, 1TB) Divevolk Max Plus Lexar Go Portable SSD 1TB or 2TB Print customs case The iPhone 15 pro size is 14.6cm The iPhone 16 pro size is 14.9cm The lexar GO is 2.5cm total size iPhone + lexar is 17.5cm The divevolk cases are 18cm

@Maria Munn There´s any underwater case for the iPhone ( with touchscreen support ) that let us fit some SSD for external storage.. ?? Because to get 4K60 with ProRes 422 HQ its required external SSD ProRes 422 HQ models 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB iphone 15pro 4K60 (only with external ssd minimal 220MB ) iphone 15pro Max 4K60 (only with external ssd Minimal 220MB ) iphone 16pro 4K120 (only with external ssd Minimal 440MB ) iphone 16pro Max 4K120 (only with external ssd Minimal 440MB ) this article cover all the supported models https://www.idownloadblog.com/2023/09/28/how-to-record-prores-video-iphone/

Small Spider Crab not very happy with divers 😂 For some reason the FW Labs assumed the DIVE=1 has permanent so my last videos have excess of reds, try to fix it with davinci resolve. But im not very happy with sand color. Visibility was not the best.

I want to share this info about Motioncam pro Motioncampro for android is a unique app that work on android smartphones that capture the RAW FEED from camera sensor and everything is converted "on the fly" to log process into video. Motioncam > image signal processor > Raw image file > encoding While other stock apps Stock app > Image signal processor > post processed > encoding This means that whats inside the Raw file is whats the sensor sees. Ive being watching few youtube videos that are very impressive, like this for example Mirrorless 5000€ camera VS 1200€ smartphone Canon R5 MARK ll VS Xiaomi ultra 14 8K RAW 12 BIT 8K RAW 10 BIT Motioncam Or Iphone 15 PRO VS old Android Smartphones with motioncam Motioncam pro FAQ What means "RAW_SENSOR" in advanced settings? "RAW_SENSOR" is a 16bit container with 10bit worth of data! Most sensors capture data in 10bit! MotionCam cam write on external ssd? Yes it can is important to have an USB 3.0 connection For what is used "Split Raw" from settings? The biggest challenge in order to capture raw data, is to have the the speed to write it so on older devices you can try to imbue the speed by allowing a secondary write thread (for example you can write in dual mode 1. internal 2 external SD card, or 1 internal 2 external drive), this should improve overall capture time Why i cannot see all the lenses in MotionCam? Unfortunately on some devices access to Raw Camera Api is limited by the manufacturer eg: Samsung Tele lens Also sometimes is limited trough android version eg: Oneplus 8 Pro Android 11 has access to all lenses, while in Android 12 only main camera How to capture RAW data on SSD or any custom folder? MotionCam captures by default on a private internal folder were data cannot be accessed by "File Explorer". If you want to capture on SSD (or any custom folder) select PHOTO mode then click on Options Wheel , there click on " Select Video Storage Folder" button

Anyone using Android the best app at the moment it seems to be the motion cam pro (29€) with ability to export RAW on Android smartphone, theres a support discord group for more information https://www.motioncamapp.com Regarding the IOS the most popular for video its seems to be the blackmagic camera app specifically optimised for the iPhone and with inclusion of LUT. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagiccamera For photography Photon or Halide for IOS seems to be good options https://halide.cam https://photon.cam