Architeuthis

One can snorkel with whalesharks also in Tansania/Mafia island, near the delta of the Rufiji river. I have been there 2024 and 2025. On one excursion it was approx. 15 individuals. The excursion with the least whalesharks was 3 individuals. Several boats with snorkelers are usually present, but the activity was still o.k. (maybe one dozend of snorkelers around)... I returned on Sunday, 29.3. from the Maledives (Omadhoo island in Ari Atoll). Also there whaleshark excursions are offered, also from other close islands and resorts. According to divers, who have participated, at these spots there are around appox. 150 snorkelers plus several groups of scubadivers UW, producing a lot of airbubbles. We gratefully declined from participation in such an excursion... Wolfgang

My monitor is able for Adobe RGB and the water looks nicer when I view and process in Adobe RGB. Since my main device for viewing (a 2K projector) and internet are not able to display Adobe RGB correctly, I process and store all photos in sRGB (with few exceptions, when I know that the output will be in Adobe RGB). Also this photo is entirely sRGB...

I have Weefine 2300 (branded as Kraken in US). It comes with "Auto shut Off" function that shuts the light off during flash.. I put it to the housing (Nauticam Sony A7R5) via separate ball with long clamp. For coarse orientation, I use the white light occasionally. Most of the time, for searching as well as for focusing, I have just the red light on (this proofed to be very useful, many critters, e.g. shrimps anf basketstars, are not able to perceive the red light)... Wolfgang

Hi Rich, As far as I know, "Hue" and "Saturation" of the water is nothing one can adjust at the camera (regarding the RAW file). The actual color of the water is adjusted in post, e.g. in LRc, via the "Temp" and "Tint" sliders and (within the range of your RGB signals) you can produce virtually any color you like... Similar with darker/lighter of water, what can be adjusted as you like in post (but exposure to the right by ISO, shutter and aperture is, of course prefereable as the starting point)... It is just the balance of #1.: "Temp"&"Tint" between foreground subject and water that you can adjust by choosing the strobe temperature (or, alternatively, making a mask of the foreground and of the water and adjust this separtely) and of #2. darker/lighter ("Exposure") between foreground subject and water that you sleect by strobe power (or, alternatively, making a mask of the foreground and of the water and adjust "Exposure" separately I am not quite sure what you mean with "nice blue water column". For me the blue of the water in your second example photo looks good, but this is certainly a matter of personal taste. Maybe you could post an example where you like the blue of the water, so that one can understand what your goal is? Here is an example of mine, from my last trip to the Maledives (I just returned yesterday). Conditions for water were difficult as there was only little light in approx. 30m at approx. 08:00 AM, mediocre visibility (approx. 15m) and cloudy sky. Sony A7R5, Canon 8-15mm f/4 fisheye with 2x Sony TC at 30mm; 1/160s; f/9; ISO 400, 2*HF-1 with 4500K diffusers. Probably you do not like these colors, but when you tell me what you like, I think I can adjust the water to any color you would like to see: Wolfgang

Rolling shutter may be the problem in A7R5 video. I personally never saw any distructing distortion of subjects in my, very few, A7R5 videos. Others can commend the video issue certainly better...

Hi Assist, I am proud owner of A7R5 for almost three years. This camera is perfect for me, but I am photocentric and do (almost) no video. Many here have A1 or A1II for both photo and video and seem pretty satisfied with this camera ... I am sure A75 is very good for both photo and video for many here (A7R5 is perfect for photo, but few would go for this camera for serious video). SInce you have A7CII, you can decide by yourself whether both photo and video fulfills your demands (A75 will be better in both, but I believe that there are NOT worlds inbetween. I think in case A7CII is not good enough, A75 will also not do it)... Besides this, outstanding UW-photos or UW- videos can be produced with any of the cameras you consider. They all have high technical quality and the person behind the camera is, by far, the rate limiting factor... Maybe you can get a used housing for your A7CII and just go UW to make photos and videos (and then decide whether with A75, A1II, A7CR etc. the results will be better). Besides this, switching between A7CR and A7CII looks sexy to me (but a photo that is not good with A7CII will not become better with A7CR and a video done badly with A7CR will not improve with A7CII)... Another consideration is the lenses. These may be more important than the camera itself. Which do you have and/or intend to use? Wolfgang

I have the Nitecore NL2153HP with 5300 mAh for my HF1's. After a full day of diving and making photos (I seldom use the videolight), I have still 60% -75% of charge available. No need for more capacity...

I remember correpondence with Backscatter where they wrote me that the flash will shut off, when used with batteries that do not allow to draw a minimum of current, like e.g. 20A... Who knows what the outcome could be when inserting different kind of batteries, some with, some without built in protection circuits (maybe of different kind)? A shut off of the flash might be the least problem... => I fear that beeing too stingy can cost a lot more money in the end (At least the price of purchasing multiple different batteries before buying the right ones; not to speak about broken equipment). At the best one could save a couple of Euros, by taking the risk. This is opposed by total costs of many thousands of Euros for the entire rig... Wolfgang

price reduction: 280 Euro

price reduction: Sony 90mm macro lens (new: 799 Euro): asking 450 Euro Focus gear (new: 220 Euro): asking 150 Euro Macroport 105 (new: 440 Euro): asking 290 Euro selling together as set for 850 Euro (preferred).

Hi Rich, Since you mention Tokina 10-17mm: It will be optimal for R7, but not for R6, since this as an APS-C type lens. I remember reports from people using the Tokina with FF cameras (it seems this lens has an extraordinary large image circle), but this is probably not the IQ you are expecting for spending $$$$s dollars for the entire rig... For FF you may want the Canon EF 8-15mm fisheye (or the new RF version) but these lenses are nor as flexible as the Tokina on APS-C (or on MFT (with 0.71x speedbooster)), they offer just switching from circular fisheye to 180° diagonal fisheye and back... Wolfgang

I do not recommend to buy a new housing for an old camera model. In the end you will want to upgrade soon and the used housing will not be worth much on the second hand market, since nobody wants the housing. Maybe you can get a second hand housing for R6 at a reasonable price. If not, it is more economical to buy both new housing and camera model (but camera model with latest technology). You will use the combination longer and also get a better price for the used housing, when you once upgrade...

I cannot help here, but I am wondering for what purpose this upgrade serves? Compatibility with type II extensions?? P.S.: Here I found the reasoning for this upgrade: https://www.seatech.co.nz/blogs/product-information-new-releases/nauticam-n120-port-adaptors-lock-mechanism-upgrade?srsltid=AfmBOooyQBblQAv47WZo8VCaB5ediSh_z5-Od3lE8k-gK-E7EASGpSjz

I got the Backscatter Sony flashtrigger that is able to trigger the HF-1 in HSS mode and tested out by myself (with Sony A7R5): When the "drive mode" is set to "slow" (3 fps), only every 4th image is lit by the strobe and the other three are black... => This means that drive mode is not working with HSS. The flash fires after every (approx.) 1.3s ... For fast sequences one has to remain in the regular "manual mode", within the limits of the flash sync. speed.

My personal experience with strobe service is extremely bad with Sea&Sea (Europe; located in Netherlands), time span was approx. 2-4 years ago: I had four total losses (YS-D2) and it was not possible to contact them or get any response from them, nether by telephone nor by EMail. The service is(was?) practically non existing... Completely different situation with Backscatter (just now): Two HF-1 had their electrodes corroded. Very fast response, quick and kind handling (although at present there are problems in sending items between US and Europe and the repaired flashes are, at present, delayed in the customs; this is, however, not Backscatters fault)... Wolfgang

I did not test for FF, but made comparisons between Nauticam 140mm and Zen DP100 for MFT (the tread is in the old forum). If existing, the differences were minor. Maybe for FF there is some improvement with 140mm domeport. More important for sharpness in the corners is probably the correct extension and stopping down,.. A clear advantage of the 140mm dome is, that one can put the lens together with the hood into the domport, while with DP100 one has to remove the hood. I believe this can improve IQ substantially, as this minimizes the stray light from the flashes falling into the optics (together with the hood on the domeport)... Wolfgang

Eizo coloredge is probably the best, but also the most expensive... I cannot compare to other high quality monitors for photographers since this is my first monitor of this kind, but my BenQ SW270c does what is expected from a monitor in this class. Approx. 1 year ago the monitor failed and I had to send it in for repair. It turned out repair is too elaborated (more or less a total loss), but they send me a refurbished replacement monitor (same model) for free on goodwill basis, although the warranty was already over since > 3 years. I can recommend this brand... Wolfgang

With the 2x TC the 8-15mm fisheye will become a 16-30mm fisheye (not 50mm)... According to calculations for equisolid fisheye, 16-30mm will be 170° - 85° diagonal angle of view (AOV). According to Nauticam's portcharts, the FCP-1 with Sony 28-60mm will give 170° - 74°, i.e. pretty similar AOVs... => I would say that the Canon 8-15mm & 2x Sony TC is some kind of "poor mans FCP" (it does not seem from the reviews, however, that FCP provides better IQ) Wolfgang

Interesting that both are nominally 4500K. In your side by side photo the Retra looks clearly cooler (but maybe the Kelvin designation refers to the output at the end and the spectrum of the Retra strobe is different to the HF-1)...

The flat diffuser from Backscatter that is on the Retra strobe seems to be the 4500K one. What color temperature does the Retra dome diffuser, mounted to the HF-1, have?

Can you please give a link to the second review/comparison of the retra Maxi strobe (I cannot find it via google)? Thanks, Wolfgang

Did someone test out the maximum possible, blackout free, fps rate when the HF-1 is in HSS mode? Thanks, Wolfgang

I have a naive question on HSS generally: When camera and flash are operating in HSS mode, but one selects a shutter speed slower than the fastest flash sync. speed possible, is the maximal flash output still reduced, compared to manual mode?

Hi Michi, I normally use the Nauticam 35.5mm N100/N120 adapter plus the 25mm&35mm N120 extensions (totally 60mm) for the Nauticam 140mm domeport. When 8-15mm fisheye alone, I take just the 30mm N120 extension... User Dreifish made careful testing for ideal positioning with regard to entrance pupil and recommends 5mm more. I tested this also, but did not find a noticeable difference in IQ and often the raw files showed vignetting, probably due to sensor IS and unstable holding of the setup...

Hi Michael, I used Sony 1.4x, 2x, Kenko 1.4x HD Pro and Kenko 2x TCs with the Canon 8-15mm. One can use them all... It is difficult to predict how a WA fisheye lens will perform with a TC, as all TC were not designed for this use... I got best results, regarding IQ, with Sony 2x and Kenko 1.4x HD Pro, the other two TCs performed less good. Surprisingly, Sony 1.4x performed not better (maybe even a bit worse) compared to Sony 2x... With Kenko 1.4x HD Pro the extension is the same as with Sony 2x, so you can use the same zoomgear (at least one can use the same 3D printed extension ring for the "regular" Nauticam zoom gear, that I am using)... Wolfgang P.S.: I have both WACP-C/28-60mm and Canon 8-15mm with and w/o Sony 2xTC. On my last two trips WACP-C was left at home (Subjectively, I find IQ pretty comparable and prefer the 180° diagonal over the 130° of WACP-C (the Canon 8-15mm w/o TC can also be used on some dives and clearly performs optically better than both WACP-C or 8-15mm&2xTC variants (but is, of course, less flexible)))