Architeuthis

Did you test the Tamron 17-50mm f/4 yet, Massimo? The zoom range would be great, but the reviews say it is, optically, a less than average lens (se e.g. here: https://opticallimits.com/sony/tamron-17-50mm-f-4-di-iii-vxd-review/)... Wolfgang

It would be interesting to see how the new Sony 16-25mm G behind 180 dome performs compared to the Tamron 17-28mm (it is difficult to image that the Sony, in real life, would perform significantly better than the very well performing Tamron; just a slightly different zoom range (unfortunately, the zoom ranges of both lenses is limited))... For me, personally, the new Sony 16-25mm G does not have high priority, as I currently have more than plenty of lens choice for WA photos with my Sony A7R5: adapted Canon 8-15mm fisheye (140mm dome), Tamron 17-28mm overlapping with Sony 20-70mm (170mm dome) and Sony 28-60mm (WACP-C). On our recent trip to Providencia Island (Columbia) I left the Tamron 17-28mm at home, for weight/lugagge reasons... Wolfgang

Thanks... It says "...Marelux provides 2 years warranty for its housing body, cable (such as fiber cable and HDMI cable), and 1 year warranty for electronic parts and components made of silicon, rubber and plastic...". I guess the flash tube is regarded to be an electronic part?

Interesting (my eye doctor says I have beginning cataract, but it is not yet at a stage that would deserve surgery)... I did not know that bifocal or even trifocal replacement lenses for cataract surgery exist. I guess the advantage of trifocal is that you do not need external multifocal glasses for near sight? What are the disadvantages? I do not understand how you focus with trifocal lens in the eye: upper part of vision is far and when you look down it is near (similar to how it would be with external multifocal glasses) or is it different? What means "...focusing by hands..."? Wolfgang

According to the GNs (44 vs. 40), the announced Marelux flash should be brighter at maximum power when compared to the announced Backscatter flash HF-1 (In addition, the Marelux appears to have three linear flash tubes, while the Backscatter appears to have two)... Can anybody comment who knows the preproduction models (I am close to preordering two HF-1, since I would like to have more flashlight power than my current Z330 can deliver)? How long is the warranty on Marelux strobes and does it include burn-out of the flash tubes? Thanks, Wolfgang

I asked Backscatter and my local dealer (Panocean in Germany) about warranty on the HF-1 strobes: Backscatter gives one year of warranty ("...like our MF-2 strobe and 4300 video lights..." (they did not specify whether flash tube burn-out is included in this warranty), while Panocean gives two years of warranty that includes flash tube burn-out...

Maybe you can put the list with articles and series numbers somewhere in the Internet for the public. Than everyone intending to buying second hand could request a photo with series number before buying and this may lead to the burglers... Wolfgang

I thought that the snoot is compatible, because the BS snoot is shown in the system diagram here, but this seems to be another snoot (I think n adapter for taking into account the larger diameter would be enough): https://www.backscatter.com/images/article/content/Hybrid-Flash/Backscatter-Hybrid-Flash-System-Chart.pdf I am really tempted to preorder two (I already see myself using two of them plus two MF-2, covering everything I want), but it just looks too good to be true - so will wait a while until more reference exists... Wolfgang

It seems the flash is using two linear flash bulbs instead of a circular one. This is surprising for such a powerful strobe (Backscatter says that one battery can deliver 19.08 Wh and the number of flashes delivered at power level +2 is 375. This would give 366 Joule/flash. When not the full capacity of the batteries is used until the flash stops working, what is reasonable, there should be still > 300 Joules/flash!). I am looking for a more powerful strobe since I use a Sony A7R5 camera with FF sensor (with MFT sensor, flash power was always more than enough). The two Z330, that I currently use, come to their limits in bright tropical sunlight... The fact that the MF2 snoot is usable, the existence of different diffusers with different angles and color temperature and the possibility to easily trigger remotely makes this strobes very attractive. Not attractive to me is the fact that it is a hybrid strobe, but I guess the additional LEDs for the video light do not add significantly to the weight and/or size of the entire strobe... It seems this is a very innovative design. I am eager to read reviews by independent photographers. Also the durability of the strobes has to be seen. Wolfgang

GN40 UW. This sounds too good to be true. How many Joule (Ws) are used up for a maximal flash? How equal is the lightening over the entire field of view? Wolfgang

I do not have Nauticam housing/flash trigger for Canon, but I have Nauticam flash triggers for both Olympus and Sony and Nauticam housings for EM5II (just sold), EM1II and A7R5. Fogging and battery issues are probably similar... The batteries for housings and flash triggers (both CR2023 and CR2450) last usually long (1-2 years with approx. 70 - 100 dives/year), even when one leaves vacuum and flash triggers on overnight, e.g. when diving in the early morning is planned and I want to sleep as long as possible. I always have a bunch of of spare batteries for replacement with me and sometimes this was already required (I have a spare flash trigger with me also, just in case)... The Nauticam housings are very resistant to fogging (I do not use silica gel packages). I had fog only twice so far: #1. I assembeld my NA-EM1II on a rain day (=constantly raining from 00:00 to 24:00) at the equator in a small hut covered with banana leaves and water was dropping in at some places. On the subsequent dives I had fog on the domeport. This happened just once, all the other dives were without fog... #2.: I assembled my NA-A7RV, also on a full rain day in an apartment in Tyrol/Austria. On the subsequent dive in a mountain lake there was fog inside the domeport. When I inspected the housing later there was a tablespoon of water inside (neither vacuum system nor moisture detector indicated this). Responsible for this tablespoon, that for sure produced the fog, was either an extension where a part got loose because of the lack of screws as provided by Nauticam (there is a tread on this somewhere here), or just me being sloppy when assembling the housing and trapping the water unintentionally - I will never know for sure... I had numerous other dives in cold mountain lakes with Nauticam housings and never had fog on them ... Wolfgang

The macroport 60 is sold now...

These items are sold now...

When the camera is attached into the Nauticam housing the distance of the sensor to the opening in the housing, whre the (dome)ports are attached is different between Nauticam housings for Sony and for Canon DSLR (EF mount). The Nauticam adapter compensates for both the Metabones adapter and the additional distance of Canon DSLR housings... => Beware, these distance differences between Sony and Canon DSLR housings may be different for Seafrog housings... Wolfgang

When I consider the way I make macros, I believe (hope) a long tele lens may be useful for really small critters to get some reasonable distance between front of the assembly to the critter. Usual magnification ratios 2:1 and more, where one has almost to press the front element at the animal to get such magnifications at shorter focal length (also lighting becomes a problem then)... I am excited and surprised that 2:1 may be possible with SMC-1 plus the 70-200mm f/4 at 200mm (??; this is what I get with Sony 90mm plus SMC-1 and the 90mm lens has already 1:1 by itself, not 1:2 as the 70-200mm f/4). I did not expect this from the specs... => For me, a lens longer than the Sony 20-70mm behind domeport is not really interesting for medium sized fish, as 70mm is already long for UW and provides enough distance. An exception may be documentation of behaviour of individual and very shy species, where photography requires longer lenses, but IQ will suffer then... Wolfgang

Thanks, very interesting, especially the possibility to use the closeup lens to reach real macro capability of 2:1 (comparable to the Zuiko 90mm lens, but, of course smaller sensor and hence more magnification relative to the frame size?)... Is the Marelux closeup lens more comparable with Nauticam's SMC-2 or SMC-1? Wolfgang

Regarding MFT, I have used EM5II and EM1II for years. I know the 12-50 lens behind a flatport was very popular, but cannot say anything from own experience about his lens. I never purchased it, because I cannot imagine that 12mm behind a flat port gives decent IQ. Same with the 50 macro capapbilty. The Pana 45mm and Zuiko 60mm are excellent macro lenses in comparison. I believe the 12-50mm is a Jack of all trades, but not really good in any category. Better to prepare a dedicated rig and have really good IQ... I have used the 12-40mm lens behind Zen DP170 for fish portraits and it is excellent (But now, with A7R5, the 20-70mm is even better, as I have 20mm (instead of 24mm equivalent)... Wolfgang

i can comment on the Canon 100mm IS macro with Metabones adapter on Sony A7R5. It works and I was using it, but AF is much worse than with the native Sony 90mm macro. C-AF& tracking works very well with the Sony 90mm, but performance is poor with the adapted Canon. IQ with Sony is at least as good as with the Canon. I finally have sold the Canon. Of course more native, well working, macro lenses for Sony would be desirable, but this is not in sight at present... I have the 20-70mm Sony and use it with Zen domeport DP170 (170mm). IQ is very good and the focal range is very good as well. Especially the 20mm that already provide reasonable WA and the possibility to zoom in (70mm is enough, you cannot zoom in endless in water, IQ suffers with distance). I think the 24-100mm is not well suited for UW: 24mm is substantially less WA as 20mm and 100mm is too much. You must not forget that you need a domeport, not a flatport, to get good IQ at 24mm. With a domeport you cannot use 100mm very well for closeup as the domeport is big. In addition, the 24-100mm is not a macro lens. Better use a dedicated lens as Sony 90mm macro with flatport for photos with long focal length... Wolfgang

I changed from Oly EM1II to Sony A7R5 about a year ago and do not regret it, I really enjoy the camera... The big pluses, to my experience, are the 14-bit raw files for postprocessing (the sensor delivers data that are really worth to be digitized at 14 bit, it is not just a matter of the A/D converter) and the 61 M-pixels (for cropping)... C-AF&tracking on the EM1II was already o.k, but is better now on A7R5. In addition, subject recognition (mostly eyes) works very well sometimes, but not always. A7R5 AF is probably the best available today, but a camera with perfect AF still has to be built... The big disadvantage of FF vs MFT is the lens choice and size (both WA and macro). The lens choice for A7R5 is o.k., but not superb as it is for MFT. An example: I am currently in Providencia/Columbia with Lisi, my wife. The main subject here are Carribean reef sharks, that come quite close to photographers. I use Sony 28-60mm/WACP-C with A7R5, she uses Tokina 10-17mm/DP100 with 1x glassless adapter. We both have 2x Z330. Very similar range of AOVs, but her rig is substantially smaller (it is like a childrens's rig compared to a rig for adults 😋...). I envy her a little during transportation, but not so when it comes to postprocessing in LR... Another example: EM1II with Pana 45mm macro (45mm is the equivalent lens to the Sony 90mm macro, not the (better) Zuiko 60mm) gives similar results compared to A7R5/Sony 90mm/SMC-1. The EM1II/45mm rig is very small and handy, while the A7R5/Sony 90mm/SMC-1 is a monstrum. When I say comparable results, I mean just the size of a critter at 1:1 (=1:2 for FF) that you can photograph to fill the frame. The sharpness and brilliance of FF is clearly better compared to MFT... But here are other examples also: I was using the Canon 8-15mm with 140mm dome and 1x glassless adapter with EM1II. I use the same lens with same dome on A7R5 now and the rig sizes are pretty the same, but the AOVs are very different (too much for the reef sharks here, they do not come close enough. I could have left the Canon 8-15mm and the 140mm dome at home, but who knows for sure in advance?)... For normal range I used Zuiko 12-40mm with 170mm dome on EM1II. Now I use Sony 20-70mm with 170mm, what gives similar sized (but already substantially large) rigs, but better zoom range with Sony 20-70mm (and even better IQ compared to the already brilliant Zuiko 12-40mm) => At the end I believe that there is no advantage without disadvantage and vice versa...☺️ Wolfgang

I rememeber you have the manual s-Turtle version. Can you confirm that it is possible with this version to switch between 1st and 2nd curtain via camera menue during the dive? Wolfgang

I am now on Providencia Island in Columbia and the story was more complicated as expected: I wasted two days of diving with strobes not working as they should... The reason is that the switching between 1st and 2nd curtain via camera is only possible, when the trigger and flashes are set to TTL, i.e. The WL flash mode on Sony A7R5 is set to "ON". When the trigger is set to work manually, as I want it to be (A7R5 WL flash mode to "OFF"), the 1st and 2nd curtain can only be set via the software on the PC. I have both Nauticam and s-Turtle2 smart triggers here, so I set s-Turtle to 2nd curtain and will use Nauticam or s-Turtle, depending on what I want... Balazs gave good advice during the entire process. He writes that the manual version of s-Turtle is able to switch 1st vs. 2nd curtain during the dive and he will exchange my trigger for the manual version, when I am once back... Wolfgang

I have Weefine 3400 focuslight and the red light is very useful for nightdives (during the day I do not use any focus light in most cases). At the beginning of the nightdive, I use the normal white light and as soon as I see a critter, I switch to red for making the photo. Focus is more difficult with red light, but most critters do not see the red light... Wolfgang

The Metabones adapter is the glasless 1x smart adapter (not the 0.71x speedbooster that is recommended by Nauticam)?

I just now had a videoconference with Balacz from Turtle and the problem is solved... The problem was that one needs to turn "OFF" the Wireless Flash mode in the A7R5's menue (Exposure/Color>Flash>4. Wireless Flash "OFF"). This function was ON in my camera... THEN one can select all different flash modes as listed above, also "Rear Sync" , from the A7R5's menue (Exposure/Color>Flash>1. Flash Mode "Rear Sync, Slow, etc..." (I have now assigned the "C4" custom button to "Exposure/Color>Flash>1. Flash Mode", in order to be able to switch between 1st and 2nd curtain just during the dive and from the housing, without having to take the trigger out of the housing and setting the curtain sync via the laptop...) This is really great service by Turtle triggers, I only can recommend this company...👍 Wolfgang

I have new information from Balzs Kurz from Turtle: he writes that it is possible to switch between 1st and 2nd curtain via the camera menue (and hence UW): "Dear Wolfgang, I see that the information did not go through perfectly. So, I mentioned MANUAL flash mode. This mode is the WL mode, as SONY does not recognize such a mode as manual flash mode. The settings for WL mode can be done here: If WL mode is turned off, then "TTL" mode is activated. In this mode, everything can be adjusted from the camera, like first curtain, second curtain... In the setup software you just need to choose the TTL characteristic. I hope these information are better and you can got a complete picture. 🙂 Regards Balazs" => By setting menue point 5. to the appropriate flash it should be possible to switch between 1st and 2nd curtain via the camera menue. I guess the operation of the strobe, whether manual or TTL, is then selected directly on the strobe... => Was somebody able to confirm that it works with A7R5 (i.e. selecting between 1st and 2nd curtain in manual (and TTL) flash mode during the dive via the camera menue? Wolfgang