Yorkie88

Thanks Chris! Yep I am limited to manual only as the MF-2's only do TTL for Olympus. Even the newer MF-3 model only does Sony TTL with their own trigger.......and I'm not buying a 3rd trigger 😁 I re-read the manual and I think I'm going to go with this an option: Underwater Strobe Manual Mode (set by underwater strobe dial switch): Set underwater strobe dial switch to M mode without pre-flashes. Adjust strobe light intensity by the dial switch on the strobe body. Shooting in this mode, it is strongly recommended to set TTL-Converter also to M mode (by camera menu “WL” command), to exclude Pre-flashes in system (for energy saving). So I'll keep WL on in the camera so the trigger is in no pre flash mode, M on the strobe and manually adjust the power on the strobe. If I feel the need to try HSS then I'll switch the strobe to HSS mode and set a faster shutter speed on the camera. I just tested it out in a dark room and it seems to sync up and capture the strobe in the test shots, the only difference I could see between HSS and M on the strobe when using bon HSS speeds was the brightness, but I assume that is because HSS won't go below power level 4 as per the strobe manual, so I think I'll just use M by default and switch to HSS mode if needed.....which is unlikely really 😁 I will use trigger mode 0 and avoid HSS as a fallback option if the above doesn't work! Cheers!

I've just booked a last minute trip to Amed, Bali in a week so I thought I'd better start getting my gear ready - but I had some issues with my strobes last year in the Philippines, and I haven't got around to figuring it out properly yet........so I wondered if one of the more experienced folks would be able to point me in the right direction 😁 All of my issues last year were user error/incompetence - due to me having no clue about manual strobes and getting everything together last minute (there's a pattern emerging)! I've just got a Macro setup at the moment so I'll be taking: Sony A7RV + 90mm + (Subsee+10/Inon UCL-165) 2 x Backscatter MF-2 UWT 11075 Trigger I've previously been in touch with Pavel, who said that setting the dial to 7 (Retra Pro Max) works for the MF-2 too, so that's straight forward - the thing I'm not 100% sure on is the camera settings. Should the settings be something like this: MF-2 in Manual mode, camera in Fill-flash with WL OFF for non-HSS speeds MF-2 in HSS mode, camera in Fill-flash with WL ON for HSS speeds Or, seeing as there is no TTL at play, should I just leave WL ON in the camera all the time, and just flick between Manual and HSS on the MF-2 when changing shutter speeds? Do I need to be aware of anything specific to the MF-2's around the learning function and any potential pre-flashes from the trigger? I was thinking WL ON might mean no pre-flash, so it might be easier to keep WL ON all the time, so the MF-2 would just learn no pre-flash everytime anyway? Any advice would be greatly appreciated - thanks! Attached some of the luckier (and quite edited) shots from last year to try and make it more interesting than a wall of text 😁

That looks great! I'd been trying to design it with the ball mount parallel to the base.....but your design made me realise it can just stick up and still fit in the drawer, and that means it's a smaller footprint for the grids too! And the buttons having their own holes will stop it rotating in the holder. What do you use for the modelling? I need to learn how to do the basics and get my drawer tidied up 😁

Have you got any tips for making the trays? I've been trying to make one for an MF-2 for a while but I'm hopeless with the 3D models and designing 🤦🏻‍♂️ I measured up and drew the outline, ready to use https://www.tooltrace.ai/ but I can never quite get it right

Ah, thanks! Think I'd probably be a bit nervous to put that on an expensive body..... although I guess the normal ports are just an o-ring too, but less vintage Cheers

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but how does it all seal up? Is there glass in the nauticam adaptor (I can't tell from the pictures 😁)? So the camera is in the housing as usual, but with no lens attached, then the adaptor is fitted as a normal port would be and the lens just connects on the wet side by bayonet? Or is there no glass in the adaptor, but a seal between lens and adaptor? (Not planning on getting anything like this but just curious) Thanks!

Maybe have a look at submitting it for festivals like the ocean film festival in Australia! Looks like it's too late for this year (as it's in March) but maybe you could submit it for next year? https://filmfreeway.com/OceanFilmFestivalWorldTour

I think the 11075 is the one recommended for the A7RV - not sure of the actual difference though, if they're both Sony then maybe they are interchangeable. @Pavel Kolpakov may have some insight on the differences 🙂 Have you tried the "0" setting on the trigger so it's not doing anything too fancy and is just in manual mode? And are you using multicore fibre optics? Also maybe check the flash compensation setting in the camera, if you are in manual mode for the trigger, or if you have WL on in the camera settings, then setting that compensation to a + number might make the led brighter.

I got some of the cheap ones (BGNing) to try out and they seemed ok to me - not that I had anything to compare to! I think I used 2 x 5 inch and 2 x 8 inch, with those long clamps with the hole for a shackle to keep them far enough apart to fold up together. I haven't used them all that much so can't really comment on the long term usage, or quality - but they did the job and didn't leak in the week that I used them (20 something dives in Dumaguete). They look to have a threaded rod all the way through to stop the end popping off.....but I haven't taken them apart to confirm! https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003127674881.html I do think I might need even more lift though so might need to reconfigure things a bit! The stix collars look good for the 90mm port 🤔 The clamps I used were these but nauticam do ones with shackle holes too (handy for lanyards): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006060100346.html The required bow shackles were quite small, I think an m3 or m4 shaft from what I can remember.

Seems like AOI manufactured those for Fantasea (from https://underwater.com.au/shop/ucl-05lf-macro-lens-67mm.html) Fantasea UCL-05LF +6 Macro Lens - cat # 5115 - AOI lens UCL-05LUCL-05LF (made by AOI under code UCL-05L)

I'm not getting out often at the moment so I'm not really looking for now. Thanks for asking though and good luck with your sale 🙂

Yeah I had that zoom out option switched on, I think it still cuts the corners off slightly (it was back in June so can't remember exactly) - I think I turned it off as I found it easier to see less of the display but bigger if that makes sense. I'd say zoom out shows pretty much all the screen, maybe the far corners are a bit hard to look at but I would be looking in the centre mostly anyway. I tried to use my phone to take a picture of the viewfinder with the zoom out option on and off - not sure if it's useful or not though! Tricky to take a picture, you can see more with your eye I think, as you can change angle etc.

I have the old model on my A7RV, I guess that's 1:1? It fits and you can see most of it at the right angle...... it's my first viewfinder though so I don't think I can offer much actual opinion on it (didn't want to pay thousands for the new one and potentially find I don't like it) - I found it quite hard to use, but expected that to happen. And I'd probably find the 0.8:1 hard to use too!

I think they might all be the same port - their aluminium housing catalogue shows a lot of different housings but all the ports are in one section and all start with SF125 (I'm assuming they're 125mm wide?) https://www.seafrogs.com/Download/1828674072319315968.html https://www.seafrogs.com/viewfilebizce/1852611896599064576/%E9%93%9D%E5%A3%B3%E5%AE%A3%E4%BC%A0%E4%B8%89%E6%8A%98%E9%A1%B5v2_%E5%94%90%E5%89%91%E4%BA%91.pdf

Congratulations to @MatthewSullivan - cleaning up a few categories!

I did have the diffuser on the whole time I think 🤦🏻‍♂️

They look great - they should both hold themselves in, I like the look of the springy one for a bit of wiggle room on the distance between the holes, and also a way to hold itself in. I don't think the TRT one has any glue or anything so I reckon either of these would work well! You could always take some blue tac (or that sugru stuff) and stuff the leds in without a holder too as an emergency option!

I really struggled with the same setup as @Architeuthis when I was in Dumaguete (even down to taking a snoot and not using it!). I thought the shots were darker than I expected (after copying other people's settings). I use the NL2160HP batteries so should have plenty of power available. I got a couple of decent shots but I feel like they were more down to luck than judgement or skill! I just put it down to my lack of knowledge/experience in manual strobe usage, which it probably was mostly, but I'll be following this thread for any tips! Sounds like bumping the ISO up would be a good thing to try next time I actually get in the water!

But it says it's safe and supported by Windows 😂

I don't have calipers and my UWT is fitted so it's a bit awkward and possibly not 100% accurate, but centre to centre looks to be 26mm (measured left edge to left edge from the top which should be the same), bore looks to be around 6mm - guess a 5mm LED would work best for it. I can't really measure the depth, but the turtle trigger bit that goes in the hole (https://www.trt-electronics.com/shop/led-adapter-for-nauticam-sony-housings/6/) is 10mm long to the tip of the LED. I had to get these for the wet side too as I had the push fit connectors on my fibre optic cables: https://www.nauticam.com/products/optical-fibre-connector-for-nauticam-to-use-with-262162-pieces

Great detail on these! That first one is amazing! I really struggled to get good shots of them last month.....maybe I need an SMC instead of the cheap Inon diopter 🤔 (any excuse to get more gear)

Do you have a multimeter? Could you measure the remaining one?

Those will be specs of the drive itself, rather than the enclosure - seems to be getting tricky to find the real specs of the drives these days, manufacturers seem to swap out components for some models and don't always make it clear!

I think the MF-2 is the way - I don't have the port or WWL for wide angle anyway (I've always preferred macro!)

Sorry, I forgot to mention that! It's the Sony A7RV. Thanks for the test ideas - I'll give some of those a try and see if I can figure out manual strobe, it seems like most people end up using that anyway 🙂 I don't have the magnet for the strobe (second hand, didn't come with it) so I'll try and figure out TTL for that strobe as an option, but ultimately the MF-2's are probably what I want to be using......the D-2000 in TTL was my "trying to be lazy" alternative! I realise it's also pretty half as old as me so I'm not surprised things aren't designed to work with it nowadays 😁 For the MF-2, in case it's useful for anyone - the Retra Pro Max setting looks to work for the HSS feature