Rich W

They're so far behind the competition now time wise this has to work or the company is finished.

Ive work on liveaboards so from that point of view, generic advice, deck space is limited. You might get away with 1 person with a personal tank but if more than that have the same idea there really isnt space. Theres also the issue fresh water is a finite resource so constantly refilling/emptying personal rinse tanks isnt great for that. Depends on the boat of course. Decent boats will have a rinse tank thats clean, fresh and hopefully policed so people arent putting mask soap or god knows what in it (all boats im on camera buckets are separate from the rest of dive gear buckets...and dive gear is only rinsed at the end of the trip). As a photographer, ive had a camera setup destroyed in a rinse tank. Left it there while i legged it to help untie the mooring line. Came back and a "helpful" entitled teenager with parents had put their dslr setup in the tank on top of mine (a Canon 70D in ikeite housing, 8" dome and 2 DS161 strobes in a black bin isnt hard to see), found resistance to their housing so rammed it as hard as they could. This crushed my at the time ikelite, snapped the dome port off and flooded/destroyed the whole setup. Rinse tanks are for rinsing not leaving. Swill it, remove it, take it away. If it needs further washing use the shower (if fresh water) when you wash or whatever. If you bring anything at all, make it a cooler bag type thing and nothing rigid. And be mindful of fresh water usage etc.

Im in Japan and buy a load of stuff there. Just ordered a Nauticam. Websites are indeed awful. Not sure about Retra but Mic21 (big dive shop chain) are the nauticam main dealer and they do answer in English to emails. They have some English speaking staff in shops at certain times too. Fisheye are the distributor/importer and they organised my housing, in English via Mic21. If theres something specific there you want its worth contacting Fisheye https://store.fisheye-jp.com/ (distributor) or Mic21 ( https://www.mic21.com/foreign/english.php ) via the emails. Replies are quick. You'll get 10% tax free. Unsure about Retra though - maybe contact Retra themselves and see if there are dealers? If its general electronics, Bic Camera (10% tax free plus 7% for no clear reason if foreign), Yodobashi (tax free) etc. Websites are woeful but good enough to find stock in which shop. Shops themselves you can get by with English and translation apps. FWIW tax free currently you dont pay it at all. Its deducted at purchase. From October its changing to claim back at airport.

Not sure that will matter as i can just set that after the event in LR as its Raw anyway.

I should have included that really. My display is a correctly calibrated DCI-P3 (95%) on both laptop and when home, the external screen. Output is going to always be sRGB as output is for screen use and rarely if ever printing. Its LR/PS so is using higher than 8 bit colour. I dont see banding or things falling apart, its the default "look" causing me issues. Viewing software is ICC aware as well. Camera matching.... Historically ive never found any of those actually come close to matching the camera (either in camera or applying the same in Canon DPP). Camera landscape comes closest to making the water blue but at the expense of messing up saturation on this or other colours. Ive tried with my own preset but no amount of fiddling with calibration or the HSL gets something really useful, certain now an import preset "starting point" level. The DS161s are basically half stops from max down to i think -6 stop adjustments. Generally if i have diffusers on then anything less than -0.5 stop (ie one click down) is too little. Without diffusers i can get to maybe -1.5, Shooting at 10mm (APS-C Tokina fisheye) and subject distance is typically closer than forearm length ish for turtle/reef shots. In the above examples max distance is about 1m. most are 20-30cms. Macro i can go down to -3 or -5 but for wide angle i just cant throw enough light onto them to get loser than iso400/f8 most of the time. Might be positioning related, no idea. I dont think tubes lose output with age that much (they're about 15 years old). Ive never been able to get satisfying water colour starting point from any of the 4 (i think) Canon DSLRs ive used underwater over the year and not found a useful picture profile (or preset) yet as a starting point. For obvious reasons i dont like/want the one click "adaptive colour" to do "things" on every image as a starting point.

This has been annoying me for the best part of a decade so now im revisiting just thought id ask. Going back to basics after doing very limited UW photo for a few years and awaiting new housing. How are people getting nice blue water column shots? For reference im using Canon (RAW) and DS161 strobes (4800K colour temperature) and processing in Lightroom Classic. Whatever default picture profile i use produces different blues but none "nice" They all tend towards green or on darker/bluer ones the saturation looks hugely excessive and the whole image has a cartoony look (im not adding any extra). Typically shooting 1/160 to 1/250 and ISO 400 ish (any lower i cant seem to get enough strobe output. On 400 theyre 1 stop off full without diffuser. ish. subject dependent).. Well aware of shutter speed controlling the background water brightness but this is specifically the hue and saturation i can never get correct. WB is auto or daylight (but RAW so doesn't matter - i adjust after the event). I can get the foreground colours correct but not the ugly background. A few examples. These are raws just spat out as jpgs with no editing hence messy look, deliberately to show what i mean. First example the odd, saturated, fake look of the water behind. This in about 10m in indonesia. f/8 , 1/160th, iso400. Picture style "Adobe Colour" Here the light/green hue and so on. f/8, 1/160th, iso400 @ 10mm. Nusa Penida...So its blue in reality. Background just looks odd. Again saturation. f/8, 1/200th, iso400. Nusa Penida in about 15m Similans somewhere. Greeny, light blue. Not pleasing. 1/100th, f8 ISO200. Gili Air, Indonesia in 6m Plenty of other examples. Shots deliberately not edited to show the default issues. What are peoples workflows for a starting point "nice" blue? Ive tried standard, faithful, landscape (helps foreground, oversaturates background) with ideally Canon? What can i do to get the images less cartoony? Reduce foreground light too? "Camera Landscape" shifts towards blue but seems to over saturate at the same time. FWIW the new "adaptive profile" run gets the water to a nice blue on most of them but its a black box. I have no idea what or how its doing it so dont like it instinctively. Added bonus tips, less "vivid" or cartoony looking images. Which maybe lighting related.

Would have to bite my tongue over some of those things after quite a few seasons working there. Ive got a "hall of shame" list of divers grabbing/sitting/kicking coral and the like. Certain liveaboards are common offenders, as are certain groups. Rangers, yup park fees and sometimes work permits of the guides along with checking the number match. They also transfer the illicit alcohol bribes from the boat captains/dive centres to the shore that way. The worst offenders i see with cameras (and worse, selfie sticks) are guides. Again certain groups, certain boats. Want to take a group photo sat on a table coral at Tachai? Your guide will help with that. Strong current at Ko Bon? No issue - the guide will line you up nicely on the ridge all holding live coral so you can enjoy the show. You get the idea. Not all guides/boats - there are some very good ones there But certain ones and certain boats you can pretty much guarantee what you'll see underwater. The camera ban thing wont be enforced at all and is generally targeting the wrong group. I did consider putting the hall of shame into an article or photos online but realised i might want to go back there and dive one day so havent done so. The poor quality there starts with the guides and drops downhill from there to the people they supervise.

FWIW Resolve does have an Auto on the primaries (top left). A word of caution though, i generally find it terrible.

My ikelites are electrical fired so not sure if they applies or not. (That said, i do mostly wide angle so seldom above 1/120th anyway even in the tropics).

Last update, thanks for all the help and advice for options i hadnt even considered. R7 housing ordered as well now and should have it in 2 weeks. Very useful advice and completely changed my original line of thought.

Ive tried both. I find Resolve Studios NR, even the new "AI" to be less good and a lot slower to render. Neat Video i find excellent. HOWEVER, i think only Resolve Studio has OFX plugin support so you couldnt install NV inside it to use anyway without buying Studio.

Update to that, ive decided to go R7 option. Ill wander into town later to buy one. Yup im aware the R7v2 has leaked but that will be a good while before theres a housing, if any. Now if only nauticam dealers would answer emails from someone trying to buy a housing. Tried several over the last week and no reply!

Second hand Tokina came today, works perfectly and looks like new. for $100usd. I'll get a second as a spare. Ikelite here is listed but in reality stocks no things it seems. I leave Japan end of April for Malaysia then to Indonesia where my dive kit lives so trying to find a battery either here or Malaysia, or Singapore or Indonesia which complicates things (i spent roughly 50/50 time Asia v UK). The re-pack does look fiddly and id need to find a spot welder. Maybe OK as a last resort. I'll keep hunting. Its irritating Ikelite sell DS165 and 232 strobes with the same battery, new but seemingly not the batteries now. Last time i bought, admittedly 5 years ago, everyone stocked the packs and they were half the price. Switching to Z240s if any come up might be a better idea long term as i hate the things due to the bulk anyway.

Cheers. Thats what my take was and seems my best option. It should allow reuse of what i have within reason and upgrade in pieces. This is looking at my best option for now. Been out of the game too long with my existing setup. Didnt realise everything has changed. Battery repack might work if i can find instructions. The packs maybe sealed though. Ikelite does have the same pack on all strobes so i thought they'd be easily available as they used to be. Seems not though. They did have a LiIon battery upgrade but that also seems to have disappeared. FWIW hate the strobes, too big, too bulky but again they work so cant justify changing those yet.

Looking at the Nauticam charts (a lot has changed since my last shopping...) it looks like the 10-17 will work in the existing 4.33 acrylic dome via a N100 - N120 adaptor. RF > EF adaptors i have. There appear to be 32 second hand 10-17s in Japan now so ive just ordered 2 (which i can use on 70D anyway). I normally carry the 70D inside the housing (in the hold as i havent found an airline for years that allows more than 10kg hand luggage). Typically my dive kit without camera is about 27kg then a further 13kg for housing, dome, camera, lens, strobes etc. At the moment im leaning towards an R7 bought here tax free with a 10-17 (could also use my 60mm macro and flat port) an double up as a spare body or wildlife body for land use. Housing is surprising about $200usd cheaper in Singapore than Japan but thats wiped out by staying 1 night in SG. FWIW most of my stuff is pretty reef shots with the odd pelagic if i get lucky. I do maybe 1-2 day of macro per trip before getting bored - its nice in small doses. I really want to do more video. The old 8 bit, non log on the 70D is the big thing holding me back. R7 looks good for that. Can anyone see any major downsides of the R7 > Adaptor > Tokina idea above? Obviously i can change lens to 8-15 etc at a later date. Next issue are my strobes. Or specifically, where to find an Ikelite battery!

Im not against an R7 and a smaller setup to be fair would be very nice. Oddly, Facebook memories reminded me it was 9 years today i got my Nauticam 70D housing. FWIW i used the 10-17 on land with the R6 via adaptor just to see and its "interesting". Not usable. Isotta housing look interesting but im not sure just how much of my old nauticam stuff i can use. Would the current mini dome for my 10-17 work on an R7 with the RF-EF adaptor inline or would be be too close? Would the dome even fit ? What about my electrical strobe firing connector and so on? I cant find a lot about them. Main issue is Isotta seem to be small Italian based company with no real external or Asian dealers. How are they for support or spares in the real word? What bits are compatible? Sticking to Canon instead of OM would mean its a surface space and i can use my EF/RF lenses on it as a backup land body in addition to all my batteries. which makes things easier. At the moment the R7 option is worth exploring i think - hadnt thought of that until dipping into this group. Edit:- It appears my Tokina 10-17/EOS 70D housing uses N120 port and the R7 is N100. Thats a blow. Keep the ideas coming - all very useful.

Just looking now, no UK or Japanese Isotta dealers that i can see. If i bought Isotta in the UK with VAT its about 3500 Euros for housing only(they dont seem to have R7 anyway). Nauticam R6m2 in Japan would be about 3,600 euros with tax free so not really any practical difference when looking at those amounts. There do seem to be Tokina 10-17 second hand lenses in Japan (its not been made since 2022) which helps a little. Main issue is travel bulk. Im already paying hundreds of dollars excess on a standard trip with land camera, lenses, drone etc so adding a different body (and likely backup) isnt ideal. My logic being if i can use the same body for land and underwater it makes that and a spare easier logistically. Not ideal as the R6 is discontinued but the R6m2 isnt yet. IVe had ebay and other watch lists for 2nd hand R6 housings for over a year and they rarely, if ever come up. All the options here look sub optimal unfortunately. Made worse by the fact i cant find a DS161 Ikelite strobe battery anywhere at all. UK had none in stock, Japan has nothing, Malaysia has nothing that i can see. My ancient 70D is fine for stills but i really want 10bit and log video as thats the real bottleneck. Im using a GoPro currently as its actually better given the difference in the age of the tech.

Id rather use the R6 (full frame) purely as i already own one. The Nauticam website lists the R6 Mk2 housing as being compatible with the Mk1 with a "supplied kit". https://www.nauticam.com/products/na-r6ii-housing-for-canon-eos-r6-ii-camera "*A conversion kit is required for use with the original Canon ROS R6" That at least means i could get an R6 mk2 (which is still made) and likely available second hand for several years longer even though the Mk1 no longer exists. Splashing money on an R7 body and new housing just to use a lens not made since 2022 doesnt seem a great idea. Ultimately i use my 10-17 currenly about 90% of shots at the 10mm end, rarely going to 17mm. FWIW i do very little macro at all. Typically 1 day on a week long trip if its somewhere nice but thats about it so WA is my main interest here. WACPs and so on as well as being costly are heavy and luggage weight is another huge issue. Not ideal getting an entirely new system and then the luggage weight issues as id still be taking my R6 and the surface lenses on trips as well. Im already paying through the nose for excess fees sadly. If the 8-15 goes full frame above 14mm or so it might be tolerable as thats roughly the same as my existing 10mm now provided i remember ot to zoom out. I might be able to live with losing the zoom as im not sure id go wider than that anyway. Hard to say really.

My current ancient setup of a Canon 70D in a Nauticam housing/DS161 strobes and Tokina 10-17 with mini dome is basically EOL. The Tokina is sticking on aperture blades a lot and seems to be discontinued with no way of obtaining a new one. Going on that im looking at upgrade options. I have a Canon R6 (mk1) for land use so the obvious route is to house that. Nauticam housings for the R6mk2 according to their site can also take the Mk1 with a kit they sell. Has anyone tried/done this or knows much about it? That would seem sensible to me as i could use my Mk1 and a potential future Mk2 so extend the lifespan rather than have a disontinued housing for a discontinued body. Further to that, lens options. Primarily i do wide angle. The crop 10-17 isnt an option so looking for equivalents. What WA lenses are people currently using commonly underwater? Full frame fisheye, rectilinears and so on? Id want roughly the same field of view as i got previously. Im not a fan of full frame fisheye with large circles that need cropping though. Canon 16-35 or similar or is that too narrow given its not fisheye? Sigma 15mm f/2.8 ? Canon EF 8–15 mm ? Im happy to adapt EF lenses and not need just RF. I already have a RF-16 f2.8 FWIW. Its been so long since i looked at options can anyone suggest common lens WA setups and ports to go with the nauticam (or other options, WACP or whatever) ? Strobes i guess ill have to keep for cost reasons but im currently utterly unable to find a new battery for my DS161 which is another issue. Ideally i want to stick with Nauticam although i know i cant actually use the port or anything from the old setup sadly. Id look at buying likely here in Japan as with tax free etc its over £1,000 cheaper than the UK cost. Or happy to consider second hand - they never seem to come up though.

Interesting video. I still want to do it. I was in Japan for 9 months last year with my gear and at one point from Izu could literally see the lighthouse. I couldnt persuade my partner to go dive it (used to work there) and English speaking centres which id need on my own didn't have the best reputation so it never happened. As above, Japan is big enough in terms of population it doesn't have to rely much on external tourism and cultural differences so deals with its main market only. That said, some places, in particular main island ski resorts do now seem to be advertising, changing and trying to get foreigners in. Large group diving is common, arguably even popular in Asia and yes as a photographer and as a guide i hate it. 35 min dive times i could cope with i guess if its that or nothing. The "full service" style diving is very popular in the Caribbean as well with the American audience. Personally i dont like it - as a guide the best indication you have of a diver you've never met competence is watching them set their gear up. If its all done for them the chances are they cant recognise problems and other things. In the Caribbean we literally had people with 200+ dives who had set their gear up on the OW course and never since. THAT said, from a business point of view its much slicker in the mornings getting everything setup and ready. No talking, delaying, wandering, faffing. Even more so if its rental. Its still on my list for sure, maybe this year. Although i really want my R6 housed for better video...

Only just discovered this forum as another one i used appeared totally disused... New name here (formerly gnirtS) but same thing. From Wales, often based in Asia. PADI/BSAC instructor, various OC/CCR quals, photographer since about 2006 and dabble, very badly, in video.