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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.

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.

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

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!

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!

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?

Giving them a lot of money

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

I've been using the Inon 330 strobes for quite a while now, and I have been very happy with the performance and reliability of these strobes. But as lots of Inon users have experienced, they do have a couple of annoying habits. 1) The Bastard Button - There is a spring-loaded pre-flash control that needs to be depressed and twisted into a locked down position to prevent pre-flash. It has a tendency to accidentally pop up and start spoiling photos. Bastard!! 2) The Power switch rotates from Off, TTL settings, Full power, and Manual power. It's not hard to bump the switch from Manual to Full while adjusting the other dial to different power levels. All of a sudden, your strobe goes from 1/8 to Full Dump, spoiling shots. I have only occasionally run afoul of Bastard Button, but bumping into Full Dump mode happens way too often to me. While out diving a couple of weekends ago I had both happen to me on the same dive! Super annoying as it sometimes takes a few ruined shots in the heat of the moment before you notice the problem. I decided that this problem needs to be vanquished for all time! Now for about ten years I have been following developments in 3-d printing and toyed with the idea of getting one. This Inon button problem was the nail popping up in my path and a 3d printer was my hammer. While on the safety stop of the dive where I was bit twice, I had an idea of how to design a simple 3-d printed part that could fit the bill. I did a bit more research on printers and chose to buy a Creality 3 S1 printer. It's a highly rated printer that gets consistently good marks for ease of use, simple setup, and clean results out of the box with minimal tweaking. It was selling for $350 on Amazon with another $20 for a big spool of PLA plastic. While everyone else was watching the Superbowl, I set up the printer. It was pretty simple to assemble but required more work to get it calibrated and leveled. This printer has an auto-leveling feature, but for that to work it first needs to be manually leveled with four spring loaded wheels that adjust the print bed. A good Youtube video walks you through this necessary process that is not in the manual. This was likely a one-time only operation, and probably took about an hour to get a good grasp of how it worked and to fine tune the bed level. Once that was done the auto-leveling worked beautifully. The next step of was pick out a CAD package to draft out my part. This is by far the most complex part of this project. I decided to try FreeCad. There is a learning curve to use these CAD apps, but there are lots of tutorials on Youtube that will help you get started. I watched one getting started tutorial that provide enough information to get me started on my design. If took a few hours to learn and replicate the steps in the tutorial, and then make a first attempt at my design. My V1 attempt was to just make a 2D flat plate of my basic design to test out the fidelity of the printer. I was very impressed by how cleanly the part printed out. Smooth, no jaggies, precise and clean. I fitted it on the strobe, but a few dimensions were a faction of a millimeter off target. A little filing and the part would fit on the strobe. I made a few adjustments to my design for the off-target measurements and added the 3-Dimensional part of the design. I needed a springy arm to lock the Power Switch and a Cylinder to surround and cover the pre-flash button. This took another couple of hours with another tutorial and several attempts to realize my design in FreeCad. I ended up deleting and redrawing the whole thing at least twice as I gained proficiency in FreeCad and was able to clean up the initial trial and error mess that I started with. I finally had a design that was functionally complete. My V2 print came out really great and fit the strobe almost perfectly. I made the spring arm a few millimeters to short however and would need to make a final adjustment for that. I found a couple of other 1/2 millimeter tweaks for a better fit as well. Below is my V3 design that I took on a test dive this morning. No issues with it as all and it worked like a charm. It does the job of protecting the switch settings and does not interfere with normal use of the strobe at all. I'll upload this design to Thingiverse shortly for anyone else interested in making one of these for themselves. If I think of any more improvements or get suggestions, I'll keep it up to date. [ The current design has a 2mm base that fits over the electrical socket, and is held in place by screwing down the socket cap. ] [ The spring arm sits astride the power switch and provides resistance turning from Manual to Full positions. It does not press on the switch when in Off or Manual position. ] [ A protective cylinder surrounds the Pre-flash "Bastard Button" ensuring that it can't be bumped or released. ] [ Head on view of the installed part. ]

Hi guys! I've just came back from Tiger Beach and had an amazing time photographing exclusively with the WACP-C. I'm using it in a Hugyfot housing with the Saga port adapter, tailored to perfectly match the Nikon 28-70mm F/3.5-4.5. I've been able to use the full zoom range. As Edward Lai mentioned on his previous post though (regarding the new port adapter Nauticam is designing), an issue is that zoomed down to 28mm and focused at a subject touching the front element of the WACP, a very slight vignette shows up in the corners. During this trip I've never shot under this circumstances (shooting @28mm I'm photographing as wide as possibile with subjects within a certain distance, not touching the dome) and this issue was never a problem. The overall image quality is very good, I'm happy with the sharpness and contrast. To me, the main benefits of this combo in comparison to a dome port solution are: 1) Flexibility: paired with the 28-70mm the WACP-C gives an enormous zoom range. While that doesn't compensate for an incorrect tecniche (as we all know it "get close to your subject" is paramount in underwater photography) the zoom capabilities allowed me to compose much better zooming in and out as if I was on land. It allowed me to fill the frame with the subject and to keep undesired divers, bubbles or fins out of the corners of the frame. 2) Transportability: I've packed everything, housing, camera, WACP-C, 180mm dome port, 2 Nikon lenses, 2 Retra strobes and all accessories (batteries, charges, fibers, etc) in a Thinktank backpack. With the 230mm dome that would be impossible. 3) Less drag: my rig is much more compact now and have less drag underwater hence I'm able to respond and compose faster while shooting, which translates in less lost opportunities specially for fast moving subjects. I won't enter the corner sharpness discussion. To my observation on the field (not on a controlled test environment) the results are pretty good. One characteristic of the WACP-C that may be an issue depending on the shot is that it flares while shooting straight at the sun. The flares are not ugly and may also be used creatively. Below I share with you some WACP-C photos

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..

This trip was my fiancee and my first real attempt to put together a trip video. With two of us, we were able to split wide and macro duties during the dives. Primary equipment used includes: Wide Panasonic GH5 II Panasonic 14-42mm II MEGA O.I.S. Nauticam WWL-1 Keldan 2-stop spectrum filter for WWL-1 (should have used it all the time, but initially only used it in brighter conditions) Divepro G18+ with ambient filters Macro Olympus TG-6 Kraken Weefine 3000 lumen ring light We know there’s room for us to improve and we’d appreciate any feedback. We’ve already learned so much from the users of this forum. This is the first of several videos we will put together for the trip, so if you’d like to see more please consider subscribing on Youtube. Thanks for looking!

I am sure that at some point the manufactures will figure out the best posable combination and then an argument can start over that. Until then trial and error works for me.

So I was trying to avoid being involved in this discussion but I cannot stand idle anymore with all the Apple fanboys being out in force. Time to ruffle some feathers xD Firstly, as some put above, you should concentrate on things, in this order: 1) screen - 4K and make sure it covers 100% of whatever spectrum you are working in (ie. SRGB, AdobeRGB, DCI-P3). Ideally go for OLED, these usually have 99% of each color spectrum and provide an unparalleled image quality. 2) RAM - 16GB would be enough but given the low prices there is no reason not to go with 32GB just in case. Aim for speeds matching CPU ideally, so for AM4 you want 3600 CL16, AM5 6000 CL30. No need for anything faster. 3) SSD - helpful when opening larger files, since RAWs can be 20-30MB on average. No need for PCIe 4/5 speeds unless you are running database for 300 users. Firecuda 510 models offer a nice choice now with enterprise grade reliability, PCIe 3 3000MB/s speeds and prices as low as 90 EUR per 2TB 4) CPU - basic 6/8 core. AMD AM4 platform is a great choice price wise (so say 5600X/5800X + B550 motherboard), unless you want the latest AM5 instead (7600X/7800X + B650). If laptop aim for 6800h(s) or 6900(h) Lenovo 7 Pro or Asus Vivobook 16X are great choices if you are in US. I would avoid Intel at this point - AMD motherboard allow for CPU upgrades in the future (though AM4 is EOL), Intel does not, so for a new gen CPU you will need a new motherboard, increasing the cost of any upgrade later on. Also you better have your own power plant if you have Intel, they are notoriously not energy efficient. Vladimir Putin approved. 5) GPU - whatever, can even go with integrated one (in case of 6800h(s) or 6900h(s)). This barely matters in photo editing. Secondly - Apple....what can I say other than - do yourself (and your wallet) a favor and stay away, its a fashion accessory not a computer. Hardware made by company known for their greed, locking users in a limited ecosystem, and making sure more eWaste is being produced by making every effort to make the devices irreparable and even unusable after support is dropped, including designing those to fail or be obsolete as soon as possible (just look at the battery throttling on iPhones to make older models look bad and force user to buy new ones, or that lovely lawsuit about Ipod battery) Also price wise is a complete nonsense, to give you an example: -Apple MacBook Pro 13" (2022), M2 8-Core CPU, 256 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM lists at 1199 EUR (USD). And absolute joke for a hardware that should be forbidden to be sold in such low spec configs in 2023, as it is nothing but eWaste, capable of perhaps internet browsing. 256GB SSD? 8GB RAM? in 2023? really ? For comparison: -ASUS VivoBook Pro 16X OLED Ryzen 7 5800H, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, GeForce RTX 3050 - as low as 1134 EUR, 4K 16" OLED screen, more RAM, more SSD space AND a dedicated GPU (so you can even play some games). M2 CPU has advantage in some workflows (vs older gen x86 CPUs) but that will be of 0 use in photo editing. And according to leaked benchmarks latest AMD 7xxx mobile CPUs will blast M2 to outer space. And 6000 series is not really behind, trading blows with Apple, you can find some interesting, non game benchmarks below, including Darktable. Literally 50/50 split vs 6000 gen. https://www.phoronix.com/review/apple-m2-amd-ryzen And then there is what perhaps gets me most - SSD upgrades. On PC? Go to any shop, pick your SSD (like above, 90 EUR for 2TB), install in 5 mins utilizing only screwdriver. Sell old one to recover cost of the upgrade. On Apple? Uuu sorry, we are such a great company we have now soldered the SSD to the motherboard. You cannot upgrade it yourself. Now come to our shop where for a lowly price of 1000 USD we will sell you that 2TB (actual price from Apple.com). You will have to send the laptop over, trust us with your private data, and no, you cannot sell your old SSD. We might throw it to the bin actualy. Och and my second favorite - 1000 USD monitor STAND. That is some expensive furniture. Apple might have its advantages, if you are in 0.000001% of the people who actually utilize their specific OS or ARM architecture. And I can guarantee you that editing photos does not qualify. And if you feel like you have too much money, I am sure there is yet another WACP or something you can spend it on.

To: Rabbit Fish, Alex Mustard and Phil Rudin, Sorry for my slow response as I don't always have the time to read posts here. The production WACP-C has a rear opening of 65mm, more or less the same as the "Dry Lens" prototype that has been with Alex. We have thickened the metal rim a little for production. Our team did have a serious overlook that a perfectly-matched Port Adaptor hadn't been built for using the WACP-C with the Nikon 28-70mm F/3.5-4.5, which should have to be a little shorter than 35 mm. We are working on the solution and should be able to decide the correct dimension by tomorrow. Edward

When I get on the boat without my camera a hola of happiness starts and my buddies uncork a bottle of prosecco

Hello all, I’ve been playing around with the Panasonic Lumix LX10 (LX15 / LX9 in some locales) for underwater video, and finally got around to collecting some of these test shots in a reel. I’m sharing this test footage because there’s not much compact camera based underwater video footage around, and I think it might be of interest to people looking into compact cameras for underwater filming. I added some captions / subs which can be activated for information on shooting depth, light and equipment used, as well as site and conditions. The conditions were far from ideal in most cases (working as an instructor-guide, I can only bring the camera when I'm not leading a dive), too deep, bad viz etc, but I found it interesting to experiment with this compact camera, push it a little to see what could be extracted from the resulting footage. This LX10 test footage was almost exclusively ambient light, in Japan and Palau (Micronesia) where I currently work, mostly with a Keldan Spectrum SF -1.5 filter gel, and an Inon UWL-H100 wide conversion wet lens. I first used a generic wet red filter (Howshot) on the UWL-H100 (not happy with the colour balance) before switching to a far superior (Auto) Magic Filter gel taped directly on the Lumix lens (inside the housing), then finally to a Keldan Spectrum SF -1.5 filter gel, also taped on the lens, which is now my primary filter. Magic Filter and Keldan came really close, but I found the Keldan Spectrum to offer more options for working in post. I would say the main issue I had with the Keldan filter on this camera is the water column blues, which, under certain light / shooting condition, can feel a little too vivid, as in the shallow second-last clip, which would require more desaturation / luma work in post to make it less day-glo... While most of the footage is shot in ambient light (which is my favourite way of shooting), some of the macro footage was shot using artificial lights (2x Archon D11V-II 1000 lumen video lights), with an Inon UCL-165M67 close-up lens (and a homemade quadripod on the nudibranch shots). The camera is housed in a Nauticam NA-LX10 housing, with a Nauticam tray, and float arms to compensate the over -1.5kg negative buoyancy in salt water... The camera is shooting in 4K at 30fps (no zooming in needed to avoid vignetting with the Inon UWL-H100, thanks to the camera’s 36mm crop) , in manual exposure, using backbutton focus (focus peaking for macro), and manually white balancing every 5m or so using a WhiBal white-balance card. The picture profile used is Cinelike D (CineD - there is hack to load and save it in the LX10), with sharpness, noise reduction and saturation at -5, and contrast at 0, and the footage was graded in Final Cut Pro X. I find the footage to be sometimes a little too crisp, despite sharpness being at -5 in the profile. Stabilisation is very average in 4K and autofocus really not the best (but I work with backbutton focus, which solves most of the issues), there is no option to add a monitor, and battery life is good for 1.5 dives on average. But beyond obvious limitations and its age, the LX10 is still a very interesting compact camera for filming underwater, with a good fast lens, and I was quite surprised at how much colour information does make it to the sensor, much deeper than expected. cheers! b

Some recent pics from mid 2023. Good number from the FL Keys, some from Curacao, some from my home of New England. Most shot on Sony A7R IV with Ikelite housing and Canon 8-15mm Fisheye, some with old Panasonic Lumix G7 with Ikelite housing and Olympus 8mm Fisheye Pro. Let me know what you think!

Regarding Chris comment about Olympus RC flash, Marelux already has a housing for the very popular TG-5/TG6 supports both. With two fiber optic ports. Geo, My understanding of the MTL setting is that it is used when shooting multiple images as in several frames per second. If say you are set for five frames a second at power level three with most current flash heads the light will be most intense on the first flash and less intense on the last. The MTL setting regulates the output so that the light will be more even over all five frames. Regarding the three Marelux offerings the Apollo 33 with GN33 is in a range with the most popular brands like Ikelite, Inon, ONEUW, Retra, Scubalamp, Sea & Sea and more all having products around the same power output and with a verity of veering features. I think it is clear that the Apollo 22 (GN around 22) will be smaller with with less features and a lower cost while the Apollo 44 (GN around 44) with be more feature rich at a higher price point.

Just adding my two cents here... I've been using a Nikonos 15mm with a Sony a7C setup and it's been exquisite... The 20mm equivalent FOV is more narrow than what's most popular these days however IMO it gives a much more natural look to photos, almost like you're not underwater. It's hard to describe, but the "look" of photos from this lens are unique and very pleasing. It works awesome for hyperfocal use and if shot at f/8, you can pretty much set it and forget it. My favorite uses for it are video and natural light reefscapes. Perhaps above all, it's insanely small. Won't make much of a difference if you've got a whole lighting setup, but if you forgo strobes, the setup is smaller than anything else of this quality. There is one significant caveat - because of the way the Nauticam adapter functions (not attached at all to the camera body), it is possible that when mounted up, the focal plane of the camera is ever so slightly too close or too far from the lens (the manufacturing tolerances on the Nauticam housing/adapter are simply not tight enough to match what's required by lenses this wide). In my case, the camera body was a tiny bit too far away from the lens, which meant that the lens couldn't focus to infinity. Using digital calipers, I discovered that it was only off by 0.5mm, but that was plenty to make the lens way less functional than I wanted. Fortunately, all I had to do was manually file down the front of the camera plate by 0.5mm, and now the setup works flawlessly. The lens is totally usable wide open - there's some vignetting and the DoF is pretty shallow, but it's tack sharp even at f2.8. Corner sharpness is way better than any rectilinear / dome combo I've ever seen. Video looks awesome because of the sharpness and near-total lack of distortion. The fact that all of the underwater scenes in Avatar 2 were shot exclusively on this lens should speak for itself... If you're willing to invest some time and effort to make sure your flange distance is spot on, it's 100% worth it. I'm including an example shot from The Bahamas to demonstrate.

If the subject is stationary you can safely try combinations like 1/25 @25p or 1/200 @25p nothing really changes except the exposure. Regarding the position of the lights (macro and WA). My shots are largely taken in depth where the light from my lamps is predominant. The plasticity and trdimensionality of an image is largely given by the shadows. the shadows are our friends! Yet I see so many people who insist on lighting their subjects with two headlights on either side at full power. We only get the effect of flattening the image. The lights should always be placed at the top. When I place them on the side, I always keep one at half power to create shadows. That's why the snoot effect from above is so beautiful. Years ago I practiced macro with a diving flashlight on a day when sea conditions were prohibitive. Just finished a storm, visibility of one meter with lots of suspension and a strong swell up to 30 meters. I was in full sun but by illuminating only the subject I was able to give snoot effect. These are throw-away images, but just to give an idea.

I have read several times how difficult it is to centre the subject with a snoot without having a built-in guide light... Here, I would like to patent a macro lens with a built-in guide light exactly in the centre that would allow me to see where the hell I am pointing the lens. Follow me for more macro tips!

This is an A1 housing and also works using the M10 mounts provided. I use the extra balls to mount lights, the sending unit for a ring flash and more.

Despite only shooting one Sony camera ever underwater I still have an interest in UW shooting evolution and follow along....I see all manner of gear on my hosted trips so it's in my interest to continually learn from other's experience with new gear. As to how well the new Sony 20-70mm lens may work for certain shooters I'll wait for Phil's zoom gear testing plus manufacturer's advice and real world shooting versus calculated measurements. With decades of shooting and him generously sharing his insights he has no axe to grind and just wants people to enjoy underwater photography! We've known each other for over 30 years and is a straight shooter :) I'm sure his insights will be more relevant than dry land "calculated guesses". David Haas

Always there for you, I could not pass such an opportunity for a flame war, it is sometimes too quiet around here xD

Fun fact for those who own the Nauticam NA-A1 housing for Sony A1 if you remove the small stop on the camera tray (pictured) the A7R V fits perfectly into the housing and the back closes without the chance of damage to the new thicker LCD screen. All of the controls I use for the A1 seem to work on the A7R V as well. Resolves my dilemma about needing a second A1 as a backup.

I’ve used the 28-60 + wwl-1b on my A1 extensively over the last 9 months and they’re a fantastic combo. Autofocus is quick and reliable and the images are tack sharp. What I love the most about this setup is it’s flexibility. ~80% of my shots are taken at 28mm with the WWL-1 on, but when I need a bit of zoom to reframe smaller subjects I can zoom through to 60mm behind the WWL-1 (15% of shots) or even take the WWL-1 off for fish portraits (5% of shots). If I have strict baggage allowances on a trip this is the one lens combo I’ll take. If I’ve got more wiggle room in my luggage I’ll also throw in a Sony 90mm macro lens and a Canon 8-15mm fisheye. If I’ve got both, I pick and choose between the 28-60 and the fisheye based on the subject matter, whether I want to do split shots, etc., but they both take beautiful images. I’ve pulled together some sample images from the last 9 months here if you’re interested: https://www.shanesmith.photos/Recent-Adventures/Underwater-2022/Sony-28-60mm-Sample-Gallery

Hello together I had the opportunity today to compare both options wapc-c and wwl1-b. I can't say anything about the image quality, but the WACP-C focuses over water at a short distance of about 1m, it can't focus anything over it. so for me it can only be used very limited for splits. in terms of size, weight and price, there isn't much of a difference compared to the wwl-1b. With the photos you can get an idea of it yourself and it's certainly not bad to add up and compare the prices of all the parts you need for each setup. do i want a dry solution without worrying about the air bubbles between wetlens and port and can i do limited split? > wacp-c would I like to be able to take pictures without a wide-angle lens and maybe even with a Markodiopter attachment, but this is also very limited and I have to take care of the air bubbles between the lens and the port > wwl1... I haven't tested either option under water and that's just my personal opinion. Of course, it could still be synonymous that one optics delivers better image quality than the other...maybe :-P