bvanant

Just to clarify a point. The YSD1 (at least mine) were made in Japan not in China and sourced using mostly Japanese components. As for comparing strobes to cameras, I suspect that there is at least an order of magnitude (probably a factor of 50) in terms of cameras made and strobes made. It is not clear to me that the D1s have major issues. Mine are at least 5 years old, and while there was a firmware upgrade for battery issues, mine are still going strong after more than 600 dives (probably 50k flashes). As for Ikelite, maybe I am an outlier but I do in fact know their service facility quite well. Bill

"Minor correction here, but that wouldn't be anywhere near 300DPI. It would be around half that. The 16MP sensor will do prints that size, but it will start to break down on the quality a bit. I've got the same sized sensor in my E-M5mkII and have printed large, but it definitely doesn't have the same detail as an 11x14 would. " There are a slew of good up-rezzing programs (Topaz for example) that can take your 16MP file and make it into 20x24 x 360 DPI with good results (a lot depends on the photo of course). Bill

Chris: Can you compare the Panasonic 30 macro to the Olympus? Bill

I have all three lenses (the 45 mm Zuiko 1.8 is not a macro lens, max magnification is only 0.11) and I think the IQ of the leica is the best but lately have been putting a lot of mileage on the 30 macro. Fast focus and nice Bokeh. I use the 60 if I am shooting small stuff where the diopter is most useful. Bill

If you really are 50% macro then I think the RX is not the optimal choice. For you, I think the GH-5 option is more useful if you really are doing 30% video. The lens choices are better for the u4/3 than for the Sony. BUT I would avoid the all in one solutions. For macro nothing is as good as a dedicated macro lens and for WA you might use the WWL but it is large, heavy and expensive compared to a tiny dome port and an 8mm Fisheye. I don't think you could tell the EM-1 from the GH-5 in terms of stills but for video the GH-5 is more optimized. Cheers Bill

Interestingly both S&S and Inon both claim their strobes to have GN of 20, the backscatter results show a smaller number. The Inon has GN 17 with the diffuser, the S&S with diffuser is about the same. Bill

The difference while it looks like a lot is less than a stop (a stop is 1.4, square root of 2) relative difference the YS01 is 1.16 GN brighter. nothing to worry about especially for macro. When I shoot mine in macro I am mostly using them at like 1/2 power Bill

Do you mean light i.e. video light or strobe. If you look at Richard Salas's stuff, much of it is shot with a single strobe. If for video, then buy another light seems like good advice. Bill

Dry suit seal should work as well Bill

Nothing like that yet (about 500 dives on mine) Bill

Terrible news. Photos from the Ventura fire suggest that this was not a simple Li Battery fire, the boat burned down to the waterline. We have been on this boat numerous times and safety was always stressed during briefings. Only the people awake at the time (crew) got off. Our prayers go out to the families Bill

Do it yourself. Single fiber cable is really cheap, the 617 core multi-fiber is like $7/meter and a 2 meter cable with two end plugs from Inon will have about $20 in parts. Coiling is easy, Bill

A seamstress is exactly what you want. Or more appropriately perhaps a tailor. Quality Tailoring in Long Beach is quite good Bill

Larry's will be a whole bunch cheaper than the Saga. Bill

Yes, in the water is fine for up to 3 folks, any more and it would be a nightmare. Fortunately for me we were only shooting macro things (head on portraits) with no wide angle. Me trying to teach wide angle? I would pay money to see that. Glad I could supply giggles. BVA