BobbyV

FWIW, I've preordered the 70-200/4 II for topside work to replace my 70-200/4 FE. I wasn't even thinking about underwater use, but I am intrigued by the possibility of mounting it with a teleconverter, extensions and a flat port, if that's even possible. I didn't order it thinking it would work UW, but I'm intrigued by the possibility. The 70-200/4 is a much more useful optic for me and it's the type of lens that goes with me everywhere anyway. I wouldn't really know where to start trying to figure out a port solution, but I'm open to any suggestions if anyone has them. Edit: I'd only be planning to use it fixed at 70mm

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the main advantage with the OM is closer focusing? I.e. if you were to take images with both setups at the same 15 cm distance, crop the Sony image to the same frame, and compare vis-a-vis it would achieve almost the same result (but as you say, slight edge to the Olympus) because the pixel pitch of the sensors is similar I can't remember if Nauticam makes a solution to use TCs with the Olympus or Fuji, but I'm guessing that would give those more of an edge on working distance P.S. Sorry for hijacking the thread with this discussion

That's good to hear about the 90 FE working well on the A7RV. I am definitely leaning that direction, I've found the CMC+28-60 a useful "back pocket" tool, but it has a very limited, unforgiving focal envelope that makes it almost not worth the bother for certain types of subjects or conditions. Of course my lack of skill with it is a factor. In hindsight I wish I had just invested in the 90mm port versus the CMC-2 etc. At one point I was even toying with the idea of a secondary m43 macro rig, but I found it rather disappointing that working distance is comparatively small on the new OM 90 (8.3cm at 1:1). The 80 macro Fuji is another option, which in my experience is a phenomenal lens, but working distance at 1:1 from front element again is only 9.8cm

I've got the A7RV housing but I've been hesitating on a macro solution beyond the use of diopters on the 28-60. The FE 50 has to be one of the worst lenses I've ever used so I'm not going near that one again. I used to have the 90, but at the time the focus was terribly slow and so I got rid of it, but I've heard it's much better on the newer bodies. It's too bad the 70-200/4 II is out of the question. As stated above the magnification is more or less static throughout the zoom range which would have been nice. The comments above about using the Nikon 60 piqued my interest as that would seemingly open up the possibility of CFWA using a Krakel KRL-09 or MWL-1 I'd like to see Sony update their 90 and also release a 60. I'm guessing the long rumored 100/1.4 will not be 1:1 but more likely a portrait lens with 0.5x or less

I'm missing one or two, but I have down in my log book that we dove the Zoo, Great White Wall, Jerry's Jelly, Coral Gardens, Cabbage Patch, and Fish Factory. We did not visit Purple Wall due to conditions that day. I don't know if it was another site in the Strait or the same one, but we also dove a site called Fish Factory off Vuna Reef. Jerry's Jelly, the White Wall, and the Fish Factory off Vuna reef were the standouts for me. There were also a couple other sites we were able to do near Savusavu, but I can't recommend the dive outfit I used there (long story). Needless to say, I could have stayed there for a month and not gotten bored if I had the means to do so. One of the DMs asked if I would mind diving the same dive site twice and I just laughed. I can't imagine getting bored there but I guess it must happen. The variation between these sites and even at the same site really kept things interesting.

Thank you very much for the feedback. Admittedly, I still have a lot to learn about underwater scene lighting, and one thing I wasn't prepared for was just how close I had to be to light a wide-angle scene of the reef with the strobe power I had. One issue I kept running into with the YS-D3 II's was having the overheating circuit turning on and being unable to take consecutive shots until it cooled down. I found that I needed to temper expectations on distances and coverage and lower the strobe power more often than not.

First, I wanted to start by thanking the various people on this forum who helped me immensely with setting up my rig. I would not have been half as successful without the help. I came from shooting a small rig (Sony RX100 series) to the Sony Full Frame A7RV +Nauticam with WACP-C, 28-60 lens, and YS-D3II strobes. Needless to say, what the rig is capable of exceeded my abilities, but I plan to use it for a long time and will hopefully one day be able to bring it justice. I would like to share some of my highlights from the trip, any photo C&C is welcome As for diving in Fiji, I had an excellent experience overall, and was surprised at the good health of the reef (both hard and soft corals, fish, etc.) While the smaller fish are in huge abundance, there is a lack of bigger fish, and for this I do wish Fiji would consider making the strait into a marine protected/marine conservation area. So the focus there is primarily reefscapes and small fish, with the occasional nudibranch. For this reason I kept the wide angle setup on for the most part, mainly because I wanted to master the use of it. Someone interested in fish portraits or macro might do well with the standard lens+bayonet diopter, or perhaps the macro on a few dives. The small stuff, when found, was outstanding, but few and far between. The exception to that would be at night when tons of small things came out on the reef like crabs, shrimp, etc. Highlights for me included diving the great white wall (at the appropriate time to see the Dendronepthya) the array of colored soft corals and swim throughs, and the massive Turbinaria reniformis cabbage coral. Night dives were also rewarding as a lot of the small things come out like shrimp and the like. Lastly I'd like to mention that while Fiji is in the tropics I was happy I brought my 5mm suit and way too many divers on my boats had inadequate exposure protection. It's so much easier to flood a warm suit than to try to be warm after getting cold due to lack of proper exposure protection. There was a lot of "tough" people out there who tried to swing by with shorties and the like and I could tell they were suffering. I can say the 5mm was just about perfect for me.

Phil, this is a great help, thank you. I wasn't aware it was possible to mount the extra ballheads like that on the Nauticam.

I finally got my rig in the pool, and right now it's about a pound/half a kilo negative which feels more or less fine. However I think I'm likely to add another center float as I agree with the earlier mention that having the dive computer mounted on the camera would be ideal and I'm more likely to check it often, despite the drawback of the float slightly obscuring forward vision. I found it slightly annoying/awkward to constantly have to let go of the camera to check air/depth. If something happened to the camera I'd still have my back up SPG and a secondary computer on my wrist. @Phil Rudin I know you use the marelux products, I'm curious if you have their Y ball mount adapter I mentioned above, and whether you are able to test it on a nauticam grip? This seems like a much more elegant and less fiddly solution than the multi-clamp, if it works.

That's too bad. It does seem like a pretty simple/lightweight solution for dialing in buoyancy.

FWIW, I think I'm going to forgo the Kraken adjustable floats for the time being and just add another 240 gram 50x250 float to the other side, and add/remove foam floats (maybe a ring float around the lens port) if needed. The center float while it seemed good at first it makes the system a bit wider and more unwieldy with more bits sticking out. This alternative will put me at about 400-500 grams negative which from all I've read sounds generally favorable. I figure I'll always have the option to do a center float now that I have the multi clamps.

One alternative I was considering is this marelux Y mount but I have no idea if it works on Nauticam hand grips, perhaps this may allow me to mount the float closer to the port and out of peripheral vision.

So the 50x250mm float and the multi clamp came in unexpectedly early today and the rig is mostly there with the exception of the last two arm floats. I have to admit, I'm having some second thoughts about the center float and something I hadn't considered, which is that the float basically blocks forward vision in its current mounting. I'm wondering if anyone has any different ideas about mounting it, or maybe it's not such a big deal in use and I just need to get it in the water and find out. Or perhaps I'll need to get a different set of arm floats and forfeit the center float.

@Interceptor121 I see you have the neoprene covers for the strobes. Is there any functional benefit of those other than keeping the strobes a little more protected?

For what it's worth I decided to go with a 50x250 center mounted float (240 grams) and the two adjustable kraken floats (320/each). I figure the center float will be a great place for my sola video light, dive computer, and maybe a GoPro. I'll share some photos when I have it all together.