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Today we launch Underwater Italy, a new video channel dedicated to deep diving in the Mediterranean sea. The YouTube channel is a container through which me and my buddy Claudio Valerio narrate about our dives in the twilight zone, a depth interval, where coral forests, sponge gardens and millennia-old animals form ecosystems that have not yet been directly altered by humans. This is the so-called mesophotic zone, the bathymetric range between fifty and one hundred and twenty meters, which in recent years is proving to be crucial in investigating the impact of climate and anthropogenic changes on our seas. With our footage we want to unveil the secrets of little-known seabeds where scientific research and exploration confront the beauty of nature. Seabeds that are actually very close to the most common dive sites where hundreds of divers dive every weekend. And it is precisely in these spots, served daily by diving centers, that technical diving has redrawn and in some cases overturned the map of possible dives. It has given us the ability to combine two or more dive spots in a single trip or find new ones. This information quickly became the heritage of local diving communities, but transmitted mostly in oral form it is inevitably destined for word of mouth distortion if not oblivion. Hence an additional reason for preserving the memory of these environments and perhaps setting a baseline for future observations. Out there, a few hundred meters from the diving moorings, close to walls, shoals and wrecks is an unknown world waiting to be (re)discovered. In the coming weeks we will publish the first video. for now a small trailer only music and images. If you like it, please subscribe

I would really appreciate it if product "reviews" written by people employed or sponsored by the product manufacturer were obviously labeled as such. It is a dishonest practice to label something a "review" without disclosing any relationship between the author and the product manufacturer. In many industries in the USA, this would be illegal. It believe it is illegal in this case too, but I am not a lawyer. Simply as an example, I will point to the latest review of the Marelux SOFT snoot in UWP magazine #131. The author who is sponsored by Marelux says she was "lucky to get my hands on one" and "Marelux products are incredibly well made" but nowhere is her relationship with Marelux disclosed. At least the similar article posted on wetpixel.com stated that she is a brand ambassador, even if it is kind of tucked away at the bottom. Would anyone else like to see more honest product promotion in the content we depend on for education? I don't think it would have a harmful effect on product sales. My opinion of a brand would only increase if they were up front about the fact that they are supporting these excellent photographers.

Attention Members of the Wetpixel Forum Community! Given the current situation with the Wetpixel forum, a dedicated and trusted group of community members has taken the initiative to establish a contingency plan. We recognize the significance of preserving our community connections and continuing our discussions, even in the event of website downtime. This plan serves as a backup or alternative option that will enable us to stay in touch. Our intention is not to encroach upon Wetpixel.com in any manner, but rather to ensure that if the site becomes inaccessible, we can provide a means to maintain the camaraderie, knowledge-sharing, and passion for underwater photography & videography that have made Wetpixel such a special place for all of us. To join our newsletter mailing list, please CLICK HERE or use this link: https://form.jotform.com/232575186496166 Stay connected, stay informed, and let's continue capturing the marvels of the underwater world together! Best regards

I mentioned this before, on my own self worry that if something happens I set up a domain and a Invision board that I still had a valid license for. I did this as a fall out if the site goes down, that via boards, emails post we could spread the word and re-unite on another forum. Ive been really holding back on publishing that just for the fact im in hope of this resolving. but as a last resort to communicate I have that in place for us. The next questions are the content of the forums. The content, via archives or other methods I will say CAN be obtained. The forums are public... the copyright to the post are of those of the poster. Wetpixel's agreement on sign up we give rights a perpetual license for the site to reproduce our words. Saying that... looking at the Agreement... I found a problem or a blessing. We have all agreed to grant Wetpixel, LLC not Wetpixel, LTD so in my eyes.. this pretty much voids Wetpixel, LTD from controlling the post that we the community have created and in anyway that we would acquire the data it is the community's. On a new forum if put there We would need to add a new agreement. As well as some other verbiage on the post taken and way someone could say "I dont want my post included on this new site" and we would remove it. I presume that would never happen. I have a copy of the agreement printed and dated if such verbiage is changed from seeing this post. As well as it would be most likely somewhere on archive.org We would like to obtain actual backups which we have no means to do so at this point. this would be the best.. Well if Adam gave us server credentials would be the best option still and the most seamless way and Im hoping that somehow that happens. Ive sent many emails with no response. My end goal is to do everything I can to get this community space in control of the community its users have built. Once safe, let the community plan its own future. This is about where I am... -Rich

Hopefully, I can clarify a few points raised regarding the legalities here and which is the best route for the aggrieved parties to take. I am a UK police officer, and work as a custody sergeant which means I often have to make decisions on whether a person is sent to court for criminal offences or not. I have no affiliation to Wetpixel other than being a forum member, I have never met or spoken to Adam other than messages on these boards, I have not booked any of the affected trips and I have not seen the updates from Alex. People are getting confused over whether to take civil action, or to try the criminal route. the simple answer is with the limited information provided so far in these threads it could yet be either. Although there are lots of grey areas and interpretations, let me provide a couple of examples. Example 1. Adam has businesses and uses the cash flow generated from the trips in his businesses. His intention was to fulfil his obligations and everyone gets to do the trips. However, due to business or heath reasons the cash gets tied up elsewhere and his businesses crash owing money - this needs to be challenged down the civil route. Example 2. Adam wants a new Mercedes but doesn't have the money. He sells the trips with the intention to buy a car and never return the money, making up excuses as to where the money has gone. He has a new car, you have no dive trip - this is then a criminal fraud case and the police should take the lead. Obviously there are numerous other possibilities but hopefully this helps distinguish. Should the case be criminal then I believe Adam lives in the Lancashire constabulary area, so if this is where the correspondence is sent from then they would take the lead. Contacting Scotland Yard would achieve nothing as they are London based. Regardless of criminal / civil then I would strongly advise going down the civil route for money recovery, as in my experience, the chances of full reimbursement following a criminal conviction are practically zero. Go with your credit card issuer, insurer etc to get your refunds if at all possible. I don't want to get further involved in this as I have no dog in this fight, and don't intend on advising further on specifics, but hopefully this might point people in the right direction Mike

Hi, i would like to share my latest scuba/landtrip video with you. https://youtu.be/NbuPVry06A0 I know its a very controversy topic in the dive community to visit the Faroe Islands . I think if you only pick scuba destinations which treat nature and humans ethical and respectful correct, the list is very short Enjoy watching! Alex.

(28-60+WWL-1B) With Strobes: And finally, a few shots taken with strobes using the WWL-1B. The frogfish is an adult nearly the size of a dinner plate.

Any news on Adam Hanlon? A lot of us are concerned.

If you do reach him and the information is revealed to be accurate, I would hope he is reassured that there will be empathy from most….even though it is a very serious situation.. there is always a solution, even in the darkest of times.

I remain stunned to learn about the affair and wish all those involved success in finally finding a solution. You have all my sympathy, as much as this will help... For underwater images, WP is a more unique than rare community that has barely survived the onslaught of social networks for years. I have always compared it to the DPreview of diving. I hope this tsunami does not give this community a final shove.

Hi everyone, I'd love to share some photos taken during my first year of underwater photography, with my TG6 and Backscatter MF-1 strobe. These photos were all taken at various shore divesites in Victoria, Australia, from September - November 2022. It's primarily macro since my current setup isn't conducive for wide angle. I've sinced moved to Vancouver, Canada, and will hopefully be doing plenty of diving here soon as well! However, I'm also looking forward to diving again in Australia in the near future! Eventually I would like to experiment more with wide angle, and also potentially upgrade to a MFT system which will help me get the increased image quality & manual control I am craving, while keeping a more compact size. Any critique and feedback is welcome, I'm here to learn!

Just to follow up on this, my Nikonos 13mm to Sony E mount conversion appears to be a success. Autofocus and aperture work just like a native Sony E mount lens. Focuses right up to the front element. I still need to do some real world testing (I've been testing in a tub at home since it's winter), but hopefully I can start offering this conversion to others within several months. So it looks like the 13mm will live on into the mirrorless age!

Just wanted to share and discuss with other video shooters using A7SIII. Until this trip I have been shooting always in SLOG3, however for this last weekend I tweaked a HLG profile and shot exclusively with that. I found it fine to use, although colours can be a bit odd to my eye. Always keen to hear from and learn other Sony shooters settings for underwater video. Enjoying the process. All shot in 4K 4:2:2 10 bit, 60fps, PP10, HLG, with A7SIII, 28mm F2 inside WWL-1, using a combination of nitescuba NSV80 lights which I'm currently testing, and my existing Keldan lights.

I recently got the Nauticam A7SIII housing to shoot video and am very happy with it, shooting with the 28mm F2 and WWL-1 that I bought on this forum from @Phil Rudin I just tested the Sony A1 in the same housing today, thoroughly checked all buttons, dials, etc and wanted to just share to anyone who needs to know, the A1 works perfectly in A7SIII housing. I know for the Nauticam A1 housing they sell the adaptor tray for the A7S3, but this is not required if you have the A7S3 housing.

Wolfgang sent me a PM and asked me to comment on my experience with the AF performance of the Sony A7RIV and Sony 90 macro and the Canon 100 macro on Canon dSLR. I was a long term Canon dSLR user (20D, 40D, 50D, 7D, 7DMkII and 5DMkIII) all with the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro. Just over a year ago I changed to Sony A7RIV. Initially I used the Canon 100 macro on the Sony with a Metabones adapter but changed to the Sony 90 macro after 3 months. My wife still uses my 7DMkII with the Canon 100 macro so I was able to compare all combinations of camera/macro lens possible just now. Room was dimly lit. Results varied based on what focus point setup I used on each camera/lens. With all focus points in play and cameras set to AI Servo (Canon) AF-C (Sony) the winner in grabbing focus quickly was the 7DMkII/Canon 100 macro with the A7RIV/Sony 90 macro a very close second (it was occasionally faster than the Canon). The A7RIV/Metabones/Canon 100 macro was a distant third (Which is why I got the 90 macro 12 months ago when I did the same test). When I changed to my preferred mode of shooting with each camera - AI Servo with Expand AF (Canon) and AF-C and Tracking Flexible Spot (Sony) - things changed. The A7RIV/Sony 90 macro was first grabbing focus fastest and holding it better than the 7DMkII which came a close second. The A7RIV/Metabones/Canon 100 macro came third. Points to consider: Before I switched to Sony the 7DMkII was by far the best low light focussing camera I had ever used. Depending on how you set up the autofocus system the A7RIV is better than the 7DMkII with their respective native macro lenses The effect of the Metabones adapter on focus performance will differ from lens to lens. While the Canon 100 macro is slower on the Metabones adapter my Canon 8-15 fisheye (for which there is no Sony equivalent) focusses much faster with the Metabones adapter on the A7RIV than it did on the 7DMkII.

Giving them a lot of money

I replied to someone heading to Socorro in another thread, but I decided this topic was worth its own thread, since so many people struggle with this issue. Since I started shooting video underwater, I've been bedeviled by the mixed light problem. Years ago, few cameras apart from Canon DSLRs could dream of being able to white balance at depth. Then, along came the Panasonic GH5, and slowly camera makers followed suit. But what about supplemental light? The problem is that when you're white balanced at depth, the output of 5600K video lights look red. If you white balance to 5600K to match your lights, then the ambient color looks terrible. And unlike strobes, almost video lights almost never have the sheer power to overwhelm daylight enough to get good color unless you're very close to the subject. What you really want is nice ambient white balance, and supplemental light that looks "normal", i.e., like natural light at depth. The secret is to white balance for the ambient light at depth, then adjust your video lights so their output matches the ambient light color temperature. That way, you get a nice, colorful ambient light exposure, with a little more light on things close by to bring out detail and color, but without any weird color casts. For example, consider filming sharks. Ambient light only with a good white balance may look good when filming them from the side, but when the animal swims over you, it becomes a silhouette. It's alot nicer to throw some light onto the shark's belly so you can see some detail. But if you add light from normal 5600K video lights, it looks all red or pink. You want it to be white. And even though you can get a nice shot of sharks from the side with ambient light only, without extra light, you miss out on the beautiful iridescent colors in their skin. With good light, you will see flecks of gold and other colors in their skin as they swim by. Around 8 years ago, Keldan released cyan heads for their original Luna 8 lights, and few people took notice. I remember then Nauticam rep Chris Parsons lamenting that he was having a hard time getting people to understand the idea of using cyan video lights to get better color underwater. After all, isn't a lack of red in underwater daylight the problem in the first place? I was an early adopter of the Keldan cyan idea, but I never could get it to work very well with my GH4 (w/red filter) or the GH5 (without red filter, as it could white balance at depth on its own) Even with the GH5 white balanced at depth, I could never get really clean whites. I was in the Revillagigedos a few weeks ago, and finally had some success getting decent ambient color with a mix of ambient and supplemental lighting. The rig was: Sony α1 Nauticam NA-α1 housing Sony FE 28-60mm F4-5.6 Nauticam WWL1-B wet lens Keldan Spectrum SF -2 red filter (a frameless filter placed between the flat port and the WWL-1B) Keldan 4X lights with SF-12 Ambient filters. I shot mostly Slog-3, but I also tried HLG. My experience was that, with Slog-3, I was at 6400-12,800 alot of the time in order to punch through the red filter and at the same time overexpose by about 2 stops required by this profile. This means quite a lot of noise, but Neat Video does a good job of cleaning it up. I shot one dive at the boiler with HLG3, and I think going forward that will be my go-to profile. You don't have to overexpose it, so noise is less of an issue. If you nail the white balance, you get very nice color and good dynamic range. But remember that you have a little less room to work with it than slog-3. Still, HLG3 grades very easily, once you drop a corrective LUT onto the clip (I use the Leeming LUTs). Once that's done, I found that only minor corrections to contrast and exposure and saturation were required. Simple corrections and easy to do. Another benefit of HLG3 is that you can use the footage later to deliver for HDR displays, if you like. Here is the workflow for HLG in Final Cut Pro. My advice is to try HLG3.BT2020 in XAVC 4K S-I at 60P, 10 bit 4.2.2 For Slog-3, I am using the Phantom LUTs, and have found that the "Ice Blue" LUT works beautifully for underwater footage. After applying the LUT, only minor corrections to contrast, saturation and exposure were needed. Just a few clicks... The Keldan system is brilliant. I was able to get nice color with ambient light at the Canyon cleaning station, where you will be at 80-90 feet. It's nice to have good ambient color and be able to put some light on the animals without the red cast. With the Keldan red filter (on your lens) and cyan filter on your lights, you get a nice clean look. I credit a deceptively simple little tool for making my life underwater alot easier. If you're serious about video, YOU MUST have a good gray card at a minimum. And a color checker is also very useful as a color reference when finishing your footage. The Keldan color checker/white balance card was INDISPENSABLE. I had it on a small retract, so I could just grab it for white balance, and I'd also sometimes flip it over to show the Xrite color checker side at the beginning of a shot. I hold it at arm's length for white balance. Really, I cannot emphasize how valuable this thing is. Don't think, just buy it and thank me later. The attached video shows my wife, Karin, photographing a silver tip at the Canyon. It was shot in slog-3, probably at about ISO 3200 or 6400, XAVC 4K S-I (600 mbps), 10bbit 4.2.2 at 60-FPS. Noise reduction with Neat Video. Keldan SF-2 red filter, and Keldan SF-12 cyan light filters on Keldan 4X compact lights. Depth was 85-90 feet, proving that the SF-2 (rated for 2-15 meters) and SF12 (rated for 10-18 meters) work well together, even beyond their respective depth ratings. Notice that the lights don't have an overly warm cast, even though at 30,000k, the light temperature is a little lower than ambient. I found the SF-2/SF-12 filter system to work well from safety stop depths all the way down to 100ft. Karin with Silvertip Graded.mp4

As part of a broader freshwater project we happened to dive in the small lake of San Giorgio a Liri. the idea of editing this two-minute video comes from the fact that there are dozens of videos of this spring but none returns the magical atmosphere that surrounds you by putting your head underwater. And so one feels like searching for the Naiads, beautiful and immortal freshwater nymphs that disturb the spirit of those who catch a glimpse of them emerging from the waters. Beliefs that embody the ambiguous feeling of fear and attraction to the waters. So far no Naiads and Nereids but only many sticklebacks! P.S. Getting usable images was a nightmare because of gas bubbles sticking on the port!!!

With an MF2 you have additional highly portable spare strobe and excellent snoot. I'd get that. I often shoot even wide angle with an Inon 330 and MF2 + Snoot. Put the snoot on a bungie+boltsnap and pop it on and off as needed. This was shot with the Inon 330 up top around 11pm pointing down and the MF2 (no snoot) at 3pm pointed inward. Long arms used, 32 & 24 inches.

Rock of life is a dive site located in Browning Passage near Port Hardy, on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. The dive starts out in a beautiful kelp forest and the landscape slowly transitions into a sheer wall that cascades down into the depths below. As the name would suggest, this site is teeming with colorful life. Enjoy 2 minutes of footage from Rock Of Life.

Took a trip to Southern Leyte, Visayas & Malapascua, Philippines to see Thresher and Whale sharks among other beautiful creatures aboard the Philippines Siren. Had a great experience with threshers and my first time seeing them. Being still and not finning towards them allowed them to be curious and come closer and investigate bubble blowers. Here's a video of the experience. Lost my first drone on this trip! But, managed to recover it from it's water death and get the files off the SD card.

It's been 30 minutes since launch and Nauticam STILL don't have a housing for it!... (s)

Repeatedly I see treads with legitimate complaints about diving in guided groups. Unguided diving on intact housereefs is a good alternative to escape this guide/peer pressure. I greatly enjoy to be stationary for a week or even longer and to go for UW photos whenever I want, stay as long as I like UW at a single spot and come back repeatedly to the same spot at different times of the day at different lighting conditions and activity phases of the animals. Not that I would say that such a location is worth to travel around half of the globe and stay just there, but for UW-photographers from Europe, the Red Sea is practically in our neighborhood and such a location can easily be booked in combination with Safari trips (preferentially dedicated UW-photographer Safaris)... Here I report about the Rohanou Beach Resort, that is located just between Hurghada and Marsa Alam and can be reached almost equally well from both airports (https://www.google.at/maps/place/Rohanou+Beach+Resort/@26.0251668,34.3240436,5120m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!3m8!1s0x144cc623bf59e185:0x69b138953037c755!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d26.0251668!4d34.3240436!16s). We have visited this resort several times since 2017 and I find it a good place to take photos UW. It is a simple, but nice, 3*-4* accommodation providing tasty and non-sickening half board or full board and can bee booked, also including flight, for little money via several internet platforms: The resort with diving base (called "Wonderful Dive") is located at a small and sheltered bay (have a closeup look at the google link provided above). Therefore diving/snorkeling is possible all over the year at almost every weather condition. The diving base also organizes dive trips by Jeep or dayboat, but so far we never have participated since the housreef is more then enough for us. Starting from advanced divers certification (e.g. PADI AOWD or CMAS 2*) and after a first "check-dive", divers can go for unguided dives on the housereef as long and as often they desire, from sunrise until sunset. To cover longer distances at the housreef, a Zodiak is available, except in the early morning before the breakfast. Diving at the housreef is simple, after registration at a list in the divingbase one goes down the jetty. At the end of the jetty bottles with compressed air or Nitrox are located. After additional buerocracy, i.e. measuring oxygen content of Nitrox, and filling out additional forms, the submersion can begin. Here is a view from the divingbase to the jetty: .. Ideally the UW-photographer brings a slave with her/him that acts as a buddy, supervises and guides the dive and carries tiresome, but desired, additional equipment. In the early days, when only Lisi, my wife, was an UW-photographer this was my part , but since 2017 I have my own rig. Also two UW-photographers are a perfect combination. In lack of a buddy, one could look for another dive partner on site or take a personal guide from the diving base that can be booked for little money... The following photos are from the part of the housreef that can be reached without efforts by entering and exiting directly from the Jetty: School of Red Sea füsiliers (Caesio suevica). A school of Loudmouth makerels (Rastreliger kanagurta) is stationary and can be seen on many dives. The housreef is also good for macro photography: A group of purple eyed coral gobies (Bryaninops natans). At the very end of the bay, in shallow waters, ghost pipefish (Solenostomus cyanopterus) can be spotted. Also guided and unguided nightdives are possible on several evenings of the week: Reticulated hinge-back shrimp (Cinetorhynchus reticulatis) at night. The south part of the housereef is called Zerib Kebir. It is best reached by Zodiak and the exit is at the jetty. This dive contains nice caves and grottos. For this dive we prefer to take a private guide, not only to find our way in, but also our way out : Another diving spot of high quality for UW-photographers is "Nemo City". This is a divespot in the north, outside the bay, where at about 30m depth dozends of splendor anemonies (Heteracta magnifica) live together with numerous clownfish (Amphiprion bicinctus), domino damsels (Dascyllus trimaculatus) and other partners in symbiosis. This spot is reached by Zodiak and one can dive all the long way back to the jetty or alternatively set a signal buoy and get picked up again: I hope this trip report is of interest for other UW-photographers, that are from time to time in this region. Comments on the photos are highly welcomed, as well as on the compression procedure (I reduced the long edge to 1024 or 1280 pixels and the adjusted the JPG compression to give files between 90kB - 100kB)... Wolfgang

Hi, its me again with another Saint Helena video. This version is longer as my previous edit. The long version is more or less subdivided in caves&tunnels, Mobula and whaleshark enounter, wrecks,... For impatient viewer i created chapters in Youtube Enjoy!

Hi, id like to share some fast moving pictures from my last trip to the South Atlantic, to an island named Saint Helena. Saint Helena is mainly known as the last exil of Napoleon Bonaparte. The marine environment supports a diverse aray of marine life. Nearly 780 marine species have so far been recorded from St. Helena, at least 50 are endemic. Its also known as whaleshark hotspot, especially the whalesharks themselves Above the water line you can find step cliffs, surreal red and darkgrey desert landscapes, highlands covered with flax and fern trees and fortresses built into the cliffs should protect against freeing Napoleon. A longer version will go public the next days. Enjoy!

One of my favourites from a recent trip to Moorea in French Polynesia. Shot on Sony A1 + 16-35 2.8 + Nauticam Housing

Hello Everyone, We will add a 29.3mm Port Adaptor to our lineup for using the WACP-C with the Nikon 28-70mm F/3.5-4.5. A very minor issue is that at the widest angle (the lens zoomed to 28mm) and focused to a subject closer than 10cm from the front element of the port, a very very slight vignette (almost invisible) may appear at one of the corners. Edward

Hi, spent two weeks diving in British Columbia, North Vancouver Island. Because i felt a bit lazy and didnt want to became stressed i changed my lenses only once. The first week i kept the wide angle lense, the second week i only did macro with my EMWL setup. A good approach as i find. Moreover it was my second trip with my RED Komodo, but this time in a more colorful environemt compared to Greenland icebergs on my first trip. Enjoy watching!

last weekend we went dove the 'Flagpole' dive site in Hood canal, it is probably one of the best diving spot in that area, and behold, this easily wingspan 10 foot plus giant pacific octopus decided to come out of its den and say hi to us. absolutely once a life time experience for myself. shot on 1dx + retra strobs, WACP1 7-1 by Joe Hua, on Flickr 13-1 by Joe Hua, on Flickr 12-1 by Joe Hua, on Flickr 2-1 by Joe Hua, on Flickr 1-1 by Joe Hua, on Flickr

In November I managed to steal an adventure from and otherwise difficult 2020. After getting Covid-19 tested, keeping a temperature log and donning two masks, I ventured to the Socorro Islands for the first time with the GH5 on the Solmar V. I head read all the report of camera housings getting taxed going through customs, but we got the green light when tapping the button and all was good! Spent 8 days aboard the Solmar V with masked crew and divers. The crew was happy to be back at sea again after being shut down for months. I was happy to be back in warm water. Below is the video of the adventure.

After many months of lockdown in which we have done everything possible to cultivate our passion for diving, finally we are back in the sea and the island of Giannutri (Italy) welcomes us in the best way. Punta Pennello shoal with its forest of black coral (Antipathes subpinnata) surrounded by forests of Paramuricea clavata and Eunicella cavolini is a riot of color and life and reminds us that the Mediterranean mesophotic coral has nothing to envy to the tropical seas. A short video by @MarcoP.

I know the thread title is a bit dramatic but I am frustrated and concerned. My understanding is that Wetpixel is owned exclusively by Adam Hanlon, and all income generated goes to him. I think those of us who booked the Red Sea trip or were due compensation for running trips, or were entitled to refunds from other cancelled trips, etc., have strong concerns that Adam has gone down a dark path of theft and deceit. Yet our desire to maintain Wetpixel as a source of information and discussion causes us to be conflicted. We don't want Wetpixel to die. I certainly have valued my participation for the past 16 years. So, the website stays up, advertisers still send money to Adam, trips remain advertised and the posts about fraud and theft drift to the bottom of the forum and won't be seen. Already the relevant threads in the trips section are dropping to the bottom of the page and soon will be lost in a sea of posts about other topics. Only the 50-60 people he stole from will care and we may just drift away. Or, he stops paying the hosting site or the web developer and the site goes dark? According to the website, I can still book a trip to the Bahamas later this year by emailing Adam@wetpixel.com. Will new trips be offered? Will anyone say anything? Will more people will be defrauded? If someone new ends up on this site, they might not even see any of this. By allowing this situation to drift away, we, in effect, become passive accomplices to any ongoing fraud. To be clear, Adam took $8,600.00 from me for a liveaboard trip, some of which was paid long after he failed to pay for the boat. he pocketed the money and is still reading this forum and profiting from advertising here. That does not feel right. Does it? Tell me why I should not notify advertisers other dive forums and post threads here every day or two warning new visitors and others who may not visit the trips page about the situation? Adam is not going to "sell" this site while it is producing money to him and as I understand it, he remains in exclusive control. maybe if Adam sees the resale value of the site declining due to adverse publicity he will feel motivated to pay off his victims in the hope of preserving whatever value "Wetpixel" has? It is not right to just let this thing die off and to "write off" the people who were ripped off or to be ripped off in the future, in the name of having a website forum to enjoy. I know there are discussions about "saving" wetpixel and the current theory seems to be to just "wait and see" what Adam does, and do nothing to jeopardize the site in the meantime, but for those of us ripped off, or at least for me, that does not feel like a solution. And in my view, that is now how to deal with criminals. I have copied all the relevant threads and am on the cusp of making this as public as possible, including warning the website advertisers and the liveaboards and/or resorts who have provided services to Wetpixel. After all, I have a vacation week coming up soon that I won't be diving, so I will have time. I am guessing Reef and Nauticam and Backscatter, etc. will not want to be seen as having a business relationship Adam going forward and at the moment, Wetpixel and Adam are the same thing. Let me say that again Adam Hanlon and Wetpixel are one and the same, and they ripped me off, along with many others. My guess is that if Adam is not making money from the site, he will abandon it and then someone else could take over. But allowing him to profit from it makes us part of the problem. Maybe I am wrong. if so, what do you suggest?

It does make me feel better to be sure that information about Adam's fraud does not just drift to the bottom of the threads or get watered down, resulting in someone else getting ripped off. I sense that some people don't really care about this, since they were not victims, and some people care more about the "survival" of the website than they do the behavior of Adam and the victimization of Wetpixel members. I want to be sure this information gets seen as widely as possible and also that what happened does not just fall off into the realm of "some people claim that he failed to pay some bills" or whatever. Keeping this topic alive will not result in any of the people who were ripped off by Adam to get their money back, and perhaps nothing will, but keeping this in the public eye is the closest I can come at the moment to try and help other potential victims and perhaps cause some pressure or inconvenience for Adam. It is pretty clear that Adam believes he can get away with this and continue in the dive and photo industry with no repercussion, and perhaps that is correct. I don't live in the UK, so my access to more formal means of seeking some sort of "justice" is very limited. Yeah, it isn't too hard to find Adam, but lots of people here have no idea what happened or have the impression that he has disappeared or may be laid-up in a hospital somewhere, etc. I am sure that those who don't want to see this can set an ignore function and not be bothered.

There have been a number of threads about making DIY optical cable on this forum. One of weak points of most of these DIY's is getting the right connectors. The solutions range from buying connectors (at about $10 a pop or $20 per cable), re-using connectors from old cables (which may require drilling them out and gluing fiber) to using random bits of off the shelf hardware which may have poor fit and finish. I've tried all of these solutions. A few months ago, I bought my first 3D Printer and have been making a bunch of Scuba/Camera related parts. My latest project is a set of custom designed connectors for Optical fiber strobe cables. I think these are at least as good as the OEM cables I've seen from Nauticam, Inon, etc. And it had the added benefit of being really fun to design, print, test, and refine. I've been testing these connectors for the last several weeks and have done a bunch of dives with good results. If you have a 3D printer with some TPU and PETG or PLA material, you can print these out at a very low unit cost. You will need some M3x6mm nuts and bolts and 2mm fiber to complete. I've just uploaded the design and STL print templates to the public sharing site Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6134211 Thingiverse Details: Inon Style Optical Fiber Cable Connectors https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6134211 Make your own optical fiber cables using these connectors paired with 2mm fiber. I used both 613 multi-core fiber cables and cheap TosLink cables. The design assumes 2.2mm OD for the cables. This design contains two styles of connectors: A 90deg elbow and 180deg straight connectors. The elbow part is printed with PETG. PLA will work but may not stand up as well to the elements. The actual connector parts are printed with TPU. These parts must be soft rubber, so no material substitutes are possible. The 90deg Elbow part snaps together and is secured with two M3x6mm nuts/bolts. These can be purchased from many sources like Amazon. The TPU connector and strain relief parts fit in the groves of the elbow. Thread the optical fiber through the TPU parts and align them into the elbow before screwing them together. The TPU parts should be snug enough to hold the cable secure with no adhesive. If it is not secure, you can apply a small amount of silicone-based glue to the cable as you thread it into the TPU parts. Using glue may make it difficult to reuse the connectors should a cable get damaged. Use the connectors in combinations that work for your camera rig. I like a 90deg connector on the top of my Nauticam housing and a 180deg connector on an Inon or Backscatter strobe. With a Retra strobe a 90deg connector will work better. I have found these connectors to work well with a firm connection that is installed or removed with appropriate resistance.

Filmed during my June 2023 trip to Galapagos. Best watched in 4k.

I am using the Canon R7 with the Tokina 10-17 and RF100 macro lenses in a NA housing since december 2022 and a couple of trips to Bali end of december and the Philippines in May. (I was equiped before with a Canon 70D) In a nutshell my thoughts : the AF is a quantum leap from the Canon dSLR, even though I know the member above has had some issues with it : it is first quite touchy to setup and tune but once you get it, it's fantastic. the RF100 lens is the best macro lens I ever used, so sharp. There are downsides which are listed above with the NAR7 housing but I really liked that it is much smaller than the NA dSLR housings. You can check out my most recent pics here : some examples wide angle or macro:

One from Tulamben, the ever cute Shaun the Sheep nudibranch (Costasiella kuroshimae) Shaun the sheep nudibranch by Mike, on Flickr Sony A1, 90mm, SMC-1 and retra snoot Mike

Since most of the comments in question were in my posts I would just like followup with a response since my friend David Haas and Adam have gotten involved in one way or another. In this thread and another I did not post in Adam pointed out that 121's remarks were overly aggressive, argumentative, dogmatic and hectoring. To me they make several unfounded assumptions and and give the impression 121 knows me in some way which could not be further from the truth. First I will go back to my original comments meant for the original poster who was interested to know it anyone had used this lens. My response was yes I am in the process of testing the lens with a 230mm port and 70mm of extension. I also described what I thought the advantages of the 20-70 over the more common 24-70 and 28-70 loses could be. Above in all caps are my responses to 121 some of which are the subject of Adam's post above..

Hi, in November I have been on a liveaboard in the south of the Red Sea, afterwards i went diving from land for a week. With the necessary patience, I was able to film a lot of natural behavior. Enjoy watching! Alex,

Some shots from where i live Place called Fethiye which is at Aegean coast of Turkey

Hey guys! My name is Tom Park and i'm a Dive Master and Pro Underwater Photographer from Australia. I get asked this all the time so I made a video with my top 5 tips and tricks to improve your UW photos. I hope you all enjoy and learn something from this Happy shooting! Tom

Hi, i would like to share my recent video from Norway. It features land- and underwater timelapses. Only the scallops are slowed down to half speed, the stripped ratfish are at original speed. It was shot at the coast in the area of Utvorda and in Trondheimfjord. Several scenes in the video are shot on the Nauticam EMWL lenses Trondheimfjord is a great spot to see deepsea creatures and deep water corals in moderate dive depths, even when its dark during a day dive Enjoy!

Making good use of all the tools you have available to capture underwater video is very important, and I've come up with a list of 5 reasons why foreground elements is so essential to use for underwater videography. These are tips that can be utilized almost anywhere and it's a great set of ideas to add to your existing shot types. I hope you enjoy them

Hi, my name is Marcell Nikolausz. I’m a hobby underwater videographer originally from Hungary, living now in Germany. There was a recent discussion about the underrepresentation of videography topics at wetpixel. I also missed discussions about the lower budget video solutions. I’m very much interested in the latest and greatest tools the professionals are using, but those equipment are way beyond my budget and it’s true probably most of the readers of wetpixel. So I thought, I initiate a discussion about low-budget videography. Is it possible at all? I started with underwater videography already during the film era using a Minolta dynax 7000i in an Ikelite housing. That time the acceptable video quality was really expensive, while I could easily afford the same film David Doubilet used (but my photos were still crap in comparison but not because of the “sensor quality”). Especially wide angle video and proper lighting was achievable only for bigger film crews. Today, a cheap action camera has a better quality at a fraction of price what was available 20 years ago for professionals. I get into videography when I purchased a sony nex-5 and I explored that it has a video record button but I was not really hooked at the beginning. The real change happened when I got a GoPro HERO (entry level version of HERO 4, approx. 130 Euro) and started to play with it and decided to get more into videography. I watched many videos on youtube and vimeo but most of them were really bad with lots of shaky camera movements causing sea sickness on land. The other major problem I recognised was the bad colours but somehow I expected it. So I wanted to make completely different underwater films. I watched also many BBC documentaries and films from professionals. I especially liked the work of Howard Hall and it was clear that he used tripod a lot. So my first suggestion is to use some kind of tripod or some other kind of stabilization for your camera. My first solution was a flat rock. I glued a GoPro mount on it and attached my camera. I also tried joby gorillapod but it’s too light for such small cameras. My second solution was a modified aluminium tent-peg. (see picture below). Not much later I invested into a second camera. Instead of a top GoPro I bought the much cheaper Yi 4K (around 200 Euro that time). (It fits better to the low-budget videography). The camera choice will be the topic of a next post. Overall, it was really fun to use these cheap cameras and I created a short film that I entered to the actioncup video competition. It’s a German video competition focusing mainly on small cameras and it has a category for action cameras. My movie won the freshwater category. See the movie below (Sorry but the text is German but I hope you will watch it anyway): Overall the budget of this movie was around 400 Euro. One short footage from this was even used in a bigger TV film (broadcasted in Slovakia) Next post will be about low-budget but relatively good quality cameras.

I am happy to share my latest video-interview with Max Ammer, the pioneer of diving in Raja Ampat, West Papua in Indonesia. About 30 years ago, Max came to Raja Ampat in a search of World War II relics. This is a story about how Max built the very first dive resort in Raja Ampat - Kri Eco Resort, and later - Sorido Bay Resort, about conservation efforts of Max and his partners, training local people and building the very first electrical boat in Raja Ampat. Video is shot with Sony NX80, and a few clips with Sony 7Rii. ENJOY. https://youtu.be/vcmAxOhLgEM

Hi, I would like to share a video from my last trip to the river Traun. The river Traun is the most varied dive spot i know here in Austria. Mainly you dive in a dammed area of the Traun with moderate currents. There you can find a sunken pump room, 500 year old roads from the period of salt shipping, beautiful light under driftwood and under the trees at the shoreline and much more. If the conditions are good, its possible to dive the Canyon at the Traun waterfall. The dive gear has to be roped down, the scuba divers has to jump or climb down the steep rocks to enter the water. The Canyon offers a magic scenery with its washed out rock face, cascades and the crystal clear water of a spring pot Alex globaldivemedia.com

Hey all! I've just finished a group of video tutorials designed for all levels of u/w photographers to speed up their editing workflow: -> tutorials.brentdurand.com/editing The videos (and companion articles) cover Presets, Collections and Target Collections, Watermarks and more. Are there other topics you'd like covered? Shoot me a DM if so. Thanks, and enjoy!

Hello everybody, I just returned from a 3 week trip to Indonesia. My first week was spent in Lembeh with NAD Lembeh and had the opportunity to go on my first black water dives. Needless to say I quickly became addicted and didnt miss any dives. A quick review of my experience with NAD Lembeh. I will echo most of the reviews I have seen on the website regarding my experience, it was phenomenal. Although this was my first trip to Lembeh and thus have nothing else to compare it to I will say that I will not be staying anywhere else during any future visits. I had a nice room by the beach, bed was very comfortable and AC worked to perfection. The food was fantastic, and they were very accommodating since I am vegetarian. The dive boats are great with ample room for all on board. The staff carry all your equipment to and from the dive boat and set it up, including the camera. The camera room was very ample with lots of charging space. There are computers to edit/post but I did not take advantage of this service. Since I was in a room by myself I had my own dive guide/buddy/photographic assistant which was Andri. He was great, very patient and never in any rush to move on. It didnt matter whether we spent 30 seconds or 30 minutes in a subject there was never any rush. Here are a few shots taken during black water. Critique highly encouraged. Many more to come including during regular dives. Many more posted on Flickr. Larval wonderpus Blackwater-2 by Karyll Gonzalez, on Flickr Blackwater-2 by Karyll Gonzalez, on Flickr Larval mimic octopus, maybe? blackwater-7 by Karyll Gonzalez, on Flickr blackwater (1 of 1) by Karyll Gonzalez, on Flickr Larval long arm octopus blackwater (1 of 1)-5 by Karyll Gonzalez, on Flickr Larval Long Arm Octopus by Karyll Gonzalez, on Flickr blackwater (1 of 1)-6 by Karyll Gonzalez, on Flickr

I think the answer will depend on what you mean by underwater photography. Carrying a gopro on a stick is a very different thing than diving with a full kit with tray and dual lights and strobes, with macro and WA swap-able lenses. The amount of dive time will also vary by person. Before you branch out from gopros I would say you need to be able to do a few things consistently and without much thought. Buoyancy is key. You need to be able to maintain your buoyancy even when other things are happening to divert your attention. Particularly early on with photography, trying to figure out the settings and just working the camera takes a lot of focus and with newer divers once they pay attention to that, buoyancy and situational awarness start to fall apart. Once you can keep buoyancy when task loaded that's one sign you are ready Situational awareness. Photography can consume most of the attention your brain can give it until certain things become ingrained through experience and muscle memory. That goes for the physical muscle memory of working your gear and your camera as well as the familiarity to be able to do both without much thought. You should be able to function all your normal dive gear quickly and easily without much thought. S drills, lost mask, reg recovery, etc should be very proficient, and you can do them at any time. Adding a camera system in the middle of these can cause real problems if this isn't able to be handled quickly and easily without much thought. It really helps to get very very familiar with any camera system on the surface, and then with a few shallow dives to work out where your problem areas will be. Each person is going to reach this experience level at different times so its hard to say X number of dives will get you there. If you are diving with a group of divers and one or more is mentoring you, ask them to help you work on some task loading exercises, and work through any buoyancy issues when doing them. You can work on camera familiarity on land. Also if someone in your group shoots, see if you can buddy with them and them let you shoot on a dive to see where you are. If things get to be too much work out a plan to just hand stuff off.