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Hi Sabine, I have A7R5 in Nauticam housing and this is my preferred WA configuration (in this order): #1.: Canon 8-15mm with 140mm domeport and Metabones V adapter. With (more flexibility, even better as WACP-C, as even 180° diagonal is possible) and without Sony 2x TC (very sharp, but only 180° diagonal or circular fisheye view). This combo is quite travel friendly (25mm, 30mm and 35mm N120 extensions are required for housing both configurations). #2.: Sony 20-70mm f/4 behind Zen DP170 (best IQ as tack-sharp; 20mm may not be enough WA. Ideal for fish portraits) #3.: WACP-C/Sony 28-60mm (IQ similar to #1 with 2x TC, but widest angle is 130° diagonal). I never have been to Tiger beach, so others can recommend better specific configuration. I think when taking #1, you can take the bare fisheye lens for optimum IQ, but when you discover that you need to zoom in sometimes, you can mount the 2x TC and have zoomrange comparable to WACP-C, but 180° is still available when possible)... Wolfgang

Before I started to make photos UW, my wife was already making photos UW. I was the guide, overseeing the dive, looking for critters and also holding and positioning lights/flashes. This was very harmonic and we had a lot of fun (enyoing the UW world together is more rewarding than as a single person). This is probably the way to go, your wife taking over the duties of guide and gaffer (when she is part of your UW photography, it can be a lot of additional fun, also for her)... Since I decided that I want to make my own photos, diving is more caotic and less harmonic. We still show each other special motifs, but most of the time everybody is for himself working on her/his photos. We take care to stay within a resonable distance (not seldom this distance is, however, too long; therefore I take special care in servicing and maintaining our regulators/diving gear)... When diving in groups, I explain the situation to the diving base in advance and most of the time we dive as a separate buddy team, apart from the rest of the group, but we care to surface at the same place and time as the others (we are both experienced divers and I have CMAS3* certification (similar to PADI DM)). Only when conditions are challenging (e.g. strong currents and uneasy weather), we prefer to go with the rest of the group. Then making photos UW is less fun and a GoPro, instead of a FF rig, would do it ... Wolfgang

Again thank you all a lot for the highly appreciated information and discussion. A great stronghold of accumulated experience here... I have ordered now two Inon Mega M floatarms (650g bouyancy), a M67 lens holder for the arm and a Stix (FB10) float belt - to give some feedback... I will report here about my experiences after using them several times (together with the new Sony 100m macro in Nauticam 125 macroport 🙂) Wolfgang P.S.: regarding detachable floats to regular arms I have a budget friendly, robust and well working solution since years, that I can recommend (just to complete the extensive list given here; e.g.: https://engelnetze.com/en/float-cd-250g-buoyancy-91x45mm-14mm-center-hole/?_gl=1*9egji4*_up*MQ..*_gs*MQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQiApfjKBhC0ARIsAMiR_ItEz88oErkMq8qYquHvv4Mkluy26ew0lhVHPCk1WFpcA_tkt0rloYoaAtB9EALw_wcB)

I like diving in Egypt since the early 80ies, at least once a year. Red Sea is wonderful and close to Europe, but I must say that since (at least) 2000 it is overcrowded with scubadivers. Liveaboards can no longer be considered as a way to avoid the masses. Even to the contrary: last time when I was at the wonderful Dealdalus off-shore reef, I counted 20 liveaboards ancoring on the (protected) South side when beeing on top of the lighthouse, it looked more like a marina. Most species seen UW are therefore divers that produce air-bubbles (but one could still see and photograph the outstanding coral and encounter some hammerheads)...😑 On the last liveaboard trip few years ago, I was diving at Shaab Claudia, famous for grottos, caverns and coral garden (St. John area). There were divers from three liveaboards diving there simultaneously and it was just a mess. When I was trying to make photo in a narrow cavern, other divers were just crawling over me. When I would have known that it will be such a mess, I would have remained happily on board and renounced the dives (I know this beautiful diving place from many dives before)...🤣 In addition to the scuba diving mass tourism comes serious coral bleaching during 2023 and 2024, mostly affecting the regions south to El Quesier...😔 Is Egypt now cancelled from my list of scuba destinations? Definitely No - scubadiving is still good, Egypt is very budget priced, just four hours flight away and I have developed strategies to avoid the masses... #1.: We prefer housereef diving in small and quiet resorts that offer nothing but scuba diving (independent diving without guide and at any time you want). One can still produce beautiful photos, mostly macro, but also WA can be rewarding (when e.g., at the early morning before breakfast and before the other scuba divers come curious dolphins show up, it can be a unique opportunity for WA and will be a lifetime memory)... #2.: Special liveaboard trips, organized by and for UW photographers. A major driving force for the scedule of these trips is to avoid other liveaboard. E.g. on such trips, one organized by Alex Mustard, another one by the, went astray, Adam Hanlon, on each we had the famous Thistlegorm for two days just for us alone, accessible at any time (including night dives) for buddy teams of UW-photographers. Indeed perfect conditions, I think I never will book a "regular" safari again (I am not eager to go to such destinations, having multiple liveboards, masses of divers and air-bubbles and beeing forced to dive in hastily guided gruops)... For someone coming the long way from Canada, I recommend such a special "UW-photographer" safari (in case you want optimum chances to see sharks at the offshore reefs (Deadalus and Brothers) it should better be in autumn). Since one week is pretty short for such a long trip, add a week of independend housereef diving at one of the small scubadivers resorts... Wolfgang P.S.: I have done many liveaboard safaries so far in Egypt and all, but a single one, were good, many outstanding (In case you are interested, I can inform you about boats by PM)...

Congratulations to your new setup! To me, the sharpness in the edges of your sample image look o.k. I believe this is what one can get with WA underwater - more or less... Regarding extension, I remember that I once was using 5mm more as suggested by Dreifish (65mm instead of 60mm) and then I had got problems with vignetting at 16mm. Only with some photos, therefore I believe this was due to the IS. I also did not notice that IQ was recognizable different... I personally am more concerned about the drop in IQ (sharpness, microcontrast) in the center when using a 2x Sony TC, the fisheye lens without TC performs clearly better. IQ is, however, still o.k. with the 2x TC and since the WACP-C/28-60mm combo does not provide perfect IQ either, I preferred the Sony 2x TC/8-15mm over the WACP-C/28-60mm on my last trips, since often I prefer the 180° diagonal over the 130°. Also the travel weight is better (in case I take the WACP-C with me, I still take the Canon 8-15mm&140mm domeport in order to have the wider 180° angle in addition - my choice is to take the WACP-C OR the 2x TC (plus two extensions))... Just a side note about using different TCs with Canon 8-15mm on Sony FF with the 140mm domeport that may be of interest (subjective judgement, no objective resolution testing): I also have the Sony 1.4x TC and once tested it UW, as I was hoping to get better center IQ compared to the Sony 2x TC - at the cost of less zoom range. Surprisingly IQ was comparable, probably even worse, with the Sony 1.4x TC. I decided the Sony 1.4x TC is not a good combination with the Canon 8-15mm fisheye... The situation is different with the Kenko Pro HD 1.4x TC. This TC performs well together with the Canon 8-15mm. Maybe IQ is a little better compared to the Sony 2x TC, but I am not sure about it... Wolfgang

Thank you for the input Francoise. This looks like a great advise to me... To make sure that I understand you right: you say when big float arms (e.g. like Inon with 650g buoyancy each) are attached to the housing on both sides and nothing else attached to them (with e.g. a single strobe in the middle) one can adjust the "front-back" trim (that is painful to the wrist in case not balanced well) easily by turning the float arms forwards/backwards?

First, I thank you all for your highly valued input...👍 From what I read here the Inon float arms seem to be an excellent solution (good quality at approx. 30% of the price of Nauticam arms plus additional fixture for a lensholder)... When using a single strobe, I just do not have enough space to attach all the floats (to the non-float arms) to compensate the buoyancy of the rig as I do now with a two strobe macro setup (Nauticam A7R5 with 90mm macro plus SMC-1 on flip holder; I do not know the exact down-force without strobes, but with two HF-1s I need 2000g buoyancy and the rig is still slightly negative). => I am thinking of mounting two Inon float arms (650g buoyancy each) "naked" to the sides of the housing and mount the single flash to the middle. Plus a Stix float belt to the macroport (583g buyoancy; https://www.uwcamerastore.com/stix-float-belt-sx-fb10) and compensate the rest with detachable floats to the arm on the middle flash. Is this a good idea (the dilemma is, as Caolla wrote, that one has FIRST to buy everything and only THEN can test out...)? => Is a float belt on the macroport a good idea or is the belt an obstacle, e.g. when putting the rig on the seafloor to get a nice perspective? Has someone here experience with using a float belt on a macroport?

I am thinking to purchase one, maybe two, high buoyancy, float arms (When using only a single strobe with snoot for macro photography, I do not have enough space to mount all floats required to the single remaining arm)... When I look at the prices for float arms, I see that a single arm can cost around 200 Euros (e.g.: https://www.nauticam.com/products/90x170mm-carbon-fiber-aluminum-float-arm-buoyancy-450g). While I find it o.k. to pay hundreds or even thousands of Euros for lenses, camera, housing and similar sophisticated gear, I find this price for a comparably simple item of equipment rather daring... In the internet I see that similar float arms can be purchased at a wide price range from a variety of sources, also at substantially lower prices. The range goes from other brands with good names, similar to Nauticam, but substantially cheaper (e.g. Inon, just to name a brand) down to brands that are known for budget prices (e.g. Seafrogs)... My experience with cheap and highly priced simple items is not always the same, so far: #1.: I have a set of regular Nauticam arms (S, M, L and XL) and the quality is good. Previously I was using a set of budget arms ("D&D"). The only difference that I was able to detect is, that the Nauticam are slightly lighter, what is a small advantage when travelling by air, otherwise the "performance" is pretty identical. #2.: The clamps are a different story: The ones from Nauticam last now for years, while the cheap ones lost their grip after about 1 year. Here the saying "buy cheap, buy twice" applies and I always would buy Nauticam clamps again.. Hence my question whether there exist differences in performance and durability between different manufacturers and whether someone could recommend budget priced float arms that are of good quality... Thank you, Wolfgang

I have another question: from what material are the contacts in the battery compartment made (gold plated as the Max Pro II?)? Thanks...

Hi Oscar, I have a question about the electrical contacts of the new Retra Maxi strobe: What material are the contacts made from (gold plated?)? Thanks, Wolfgang

The contact marked as "Corosion..." is exactly how my contacts looked (but the corrosion was much less intense in my case). Here the photos of the contacts after cleaning, rests of the stain can still be seen (unfortunately I did not make photos before). One strobe was working after cleaning (upper photo), the other not (lower). Backscatter said better send in both since the problem will reappear soon...

I was in contact with the service department before sending in the strobes and have send photos of the contacts (after cleaning with a Dremel tool and with alcohol). I was told the reason are the contacts, some "stain" from corrosion (there were still remains of this stain to see on the photos). According to Backscatter, this can happen even without direct contact with water (and there has never been a contact with water)... At present the strobes are at Backscatter for repair and they will tell me the details after the repair. I will report here then...

Maybe it is the high current draw from the special Li+ batteries... I believe it is no wonder when contacts become corroded after flooding or after exposure to (salt)water drops, but these issues did never occur with the strobes I used so far and I never experienced problems with the contacts (the other strobes I was using so far were all powered by AA cells)...

I once saw Alex Mustard pouring Coca Cola into the battery compartment of a flooded flash of a workshop participant and incubating for a while. It helped...😊 Can one recommend this kind of treatment, does someone have experience with it? P.S.: Like Chris, I fear that the HF-1 contacts are made of inferior material. As I wrote already, I have never experienced a similar problem so far with several YS-D2s or Z330s over many years. Now two HF-1s died practically simultaneously within 2 days because of the same problem, after approx. 20 months of usage... (I have tried to clean the contacts of flash and battery with alcohol soaked glass cleaning paper when I was still in Tansania, but this helped only in one case and only for one additional day, so I decided it was probably flooding and corrosion of the internal part of the flashes and stopped using them, what was probably wrong (lets see what Backscatter will report about the repair)) ...

I am just wondering how you managed to clean the contacts of your HF-1s after the flooding... The reason I am asking is that I recently had a problem with both of my HF-1s that are now almost 2 years old: I did not flood the battery compartments, nor did I drop droplets of (salt)water on the contacts. Both flashes stopped working during my last trip to Tansania in November 25. After sending photos of the contacts to Backscatter it was decided that the problem is some kind of "stain" on the contacts, arising from corrosion. The (very kind) service department of Backscatter said that this "corrosion" can built up just from humidity or other kind of moisture, no flooding or water droplets required... The flashes are now at Backscatter for repair (the contacts will become exchanged), but I am afraid that this phenomenon will come again. I am not aware what I did wrong. I tread the HF-1s the same way as I was treating five S&S YS-D2 and four Z330 before and these strobes never made any problems with their contacts. => It would be great to know an efficient procedure for contact cleaning that I could do also during a diving holiday abroad (last one was not so revealing when making photos with the single remaining MF-2 (o.k., I could practice a lot of macro snooting, to say something positive on that issue)...🙄). Thank you, Wolfgang