fruehaufsteher2

Done, thank you!

Recently, here in Germany (FRA) always the weight of the hand luggage got checked, too. That means that I have either to restrict items or pay for extra luggage....

Thanks Chris, interesting! currently I am favouring Franco Banfi, but we had also contact to a German provider named wirodives (that look like a reseller). One other seems to be acottonphoto.com they have at least beutiful pics on their website

At least, that’s a start… longest is 10 days. any other advice?

I just thought about snorkeling with sperm whales in Dominica in 2024/2025. It seems really difficult because there are only few provider.... Has anyone here a recent experience and can give some advice?

The A7CR could fill the gap between RX100VA and A74 if having a small gear is the goal. With the 28-60 and WACP-C image quality should be great. But as the dome or wetlens has a significant role in overall weight, the advantage might be small over A74

Then have a nice trip and bring some good shots. I‘ll be there in November with Panocean/Behind the mask

Hi Wolfgang, did you order stainless? It wouldn't make any difference because you will never remove them any more - did I get that correect? ... so corrosion is not a big issue. And you wouldn't have to carry the 1mm allen key. Happy to hear that it worked out!

I am sadly pessimistic from the time the server fees are no longer paid. We once had a racing bike forum here in good old Germany with 100k members, more than 2k posts daily etc.. This forum died without a sound, although a large number of users tried to save it. DPreview is one of the few examples where a forum survived. But until then: Party!

...and if the remaining screw fits in the currently empty holes, then you could use this one as reference in any shop.

Interestingly the holes are not scratched as one would expect if there had been screws in the past. My recommendation: Call PanOcean https://www.panoceanphoto.com/, they are super friendly and have the ultimate knowledge about Nauticam. They might even be able to provide missing screws. ...uh diving in mountain lakes.... *shiver

I can only add as a user of the WACP-C and the 28-60 from Sony (+A7IV): Best investment ever. Useful over the whole zoom range, sharp and especially perfect lens for mantas, whalesharks and sharks. At Hanifaru we had very cloudy water due to massive plankton but it was anyway possible to take some shoots that at least I am content with.

Thanks, very helpful! What about the issue of light temperature? Is it possible to correct this from raw or do i lose color information?

Isn’t the 44 more interesting? Lightweight? Underwater Strobe - Apollo 44 *More details will be added once released by the Manufacturer Marelux has just announced their plans for a high innovative and revolutionary underwater strobe - being the first underwater strobe with TTl and High Speed Sync (HSS) and RC compatible. Also plans are to have this strobe work with a wireless trigger. On top of these innovative features, the underwater strobe wil also feature a full power recycle time of 0,8s, and a Guide Number between 32-44. Features: Maximum Guide Number 32-44 (on land) TTL, HSS & RC compatible UW strobe Comes with Wireless Trigger Fiber optic trigger port Dimensions: 3.6 X 4.4 X 5.8 inches Weight: 610g/21.5 oz (above water), -20g/0.7 oz (underwater)

Strobes are not allowed to not disturb the mantas more than necessary. filters might help but I don’t have any with me. So maybe I will overexpose a little to have more options to filter out green and blue..? I didn’t repair with photoshop but that’s the next step. Maybe today another approach. in this plankton soup the visibility will never be good. But mantas have to feed and it’s great being able to watch them open and close the mouth. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu1rE8zP9CV/?img_index=1

Already done. You don’t want to see the original….

Dear all, great thanks for your help. I tried today again, first with MF. No way… The distance varies between 1m and 15m - and the Mantas are coming out of the blue and disappear again in less than 30 sec. In this interval I have to take a deep breath, go down, and use the camera. So no time for adjusting. I have to accept that only the pictures where the Mantas are close will be good enough to keep them. But anyway, as the rate of missed focus is less than 50% the ones with correct focus are >50%. Enough for me. It feels like taking pictures in massive fog.

@TimG the distance varies very much. This is only snorkeling and Freediving so no way of keeping the distance. But it’s worth a try… setting to 4-5m and f11. @waterpixel the closer ones suffer from similar problems. If the AF recognizes the manta as goal then the pictures are tack sharp… Tomorrow I hopefully will try again.

Many of my UW pics are sharp. I use the A7IV, 28-60, WACP-C. But today in Hanifaru-Bay where there‘s a lot of krill (that‘s why the mantas are there) success was only 50%. Does anyone have a good idea which AF-mode to use? AF-C or AF-S? Subject tracking? Animal recognition on or off? Currently AF was set to AF-C, small field center, subject tracking, animal recognition. The problem of course is the backscatter, right? And if I was able to tell the cam not to focus close I would be happy…

Really exciting! But to clarify and without detailed specs: The FCP differs from lets say WACP-C mostly in the field of view (much wider) - is that true? WACP-C with 28-60 has 69°-130° - the FCP should go up to 180°?

I fully agree if you need the 2,8 aperture. The 400/2,8 and the 600/4 are in the higher price range (>10k), but I think this is similar to other manufacturers... On the other hand - I think many of the photography-addicted members here use their cam above and below the surface of the oceans, therefore it might be interesting which manufacturer has the best options for both use-cases...?

Sony has in fact very good wildlife lenses at reasonable prices - the 200-600 comes at a reasonable price and is extremely sharp, fast AF and versatile. Especially at the long end. But on the other hand Nikon announced a 180-600 that could be comparable in price and quality. Many of the recent bird pictures are with the A7IV and 200-600 https://www.instagram.com/p/CtzZAsHNdzN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Thank you anyway, I was just asking because I had one of the seafrogs housings with the original dome and it was assively positive and I had to add nearly one kg of weight.

Good to know! What about buoyancy with WWL and the plastic housing? Could be nearly neutral?

Why are you stopping down so much? Every lens has a lower resolution with higher f-stop numbers due to diffraction. An image sharp everywhere looks mostly flat.