Colin

I've used the WACP with 28-70mm on several trips over the past year and am impressed with its versatility of FOV range. I believe that is about as close as you’ll get to having your cake and eating it; for now, with full frame. Some examples. At the narrow end (70mm->75degrees): http://www.underwaterdisplay.net/dive63/FJ190513_3215.jpg http://www.underwaterdisplay.net/dive63/FJ190514_3382.jpg At the wide end (28mm->130degrees): http://www.underwaterdisplay.net/dive64/MOR20191007_5670.jpg http://www.underwaterdisplay.net/dive64/MOR20191004_4678.jpg Downside is weight in lugging this beast down a beach but once in the water it’s a thing of beauty. In Moorea recently we did a lot of swimming in the blue and there wasn’t much difference in water resistance (possibly less) between my rig and those using large domes.

https://vimeo.com/89280331 The starry toado (pufferfish) baitball encounters are rarely captured - these open water visitors don't last long after being blown in by easterly winds as snapper quickly decimate them. Rikoriko cave is claimed to be the world's largest sea cave - by volume. Northern Arch, known for its squadrons of sting rays soaring the currents. Middle Arch, another of the many arches which contribute to making this island group such a visual feast. And to think that if this had not become protected over 30 years ago there would be little left to experience of the amazing moving window of marine life. Enjoy, Colin

It's a self built quad - a little larger than a Phantom, waterproof frame and more stable in windy conditions. https://vimeo.com/71177626

https://vimeo.com/86675525 The Fiji Siren has been operating in Fijian waters since October 2013. I enjoyed a seven day cruise in the following month (voyage #4) and again early this year;16-26 January 2014 in hot summer weather and glass calm conditions - one of the most enjoyable live-aboard trips I have been on to date! This short video provides both top down and underwater perspectives. The ten day trip route gave the opportunity to spend time at many of Fiji's best dives sites; offering everything from big fish and cetaceans through to macro critters. Areas such as Nigali, Namena and Rainbow Reef would be difficult to collectively cover from land-based operations; particularly during a ten day window where the nights are often used to travel from one location to the next. The comfort and convenience of this well run live-aboard provided excellent opportunities for photography and diverse underwater experiences. It’s a somewhat dreamlike feeling waking up in the morning to a new dive location and time passes all too quickly. All footage was taken using the Fiji Siren live-aboard boat as a base. Video was shot with GoPro Hero3 - mainly under a quadcopter with both 3-axis and 2-axis brushless gimbals. No post stabilization used on the aerial footage. Stills (macro and wide) were shot with Nikon D7100 in a Nauticam housing with Ikelite DS160 strobes. All video processing was done using GoPro Studio 2. Still images were imported into GoPro Studio 2 after resizing and downscaling. Music by 3 Theory, ‘As We Go’. More images at: http://underwaterdisplay.net/dive52/ Colin

Thanks Drew.

Thanks Chris and Phil. Since results may vary using the same port size across different brands of housing (because of minor variations in the port focal node distance), I'm particularly interested in feedback on use experience with the specific combination of Nauticam Nikon D800 housing with the Zen 200mm and Zen 230mm domes. I currently get passable results on DX sensor with the Tokina 10-17 and 180mm dome. Colin

If you've used both ports: Zen 200mm and Zen 230mm domes on the D800 Nauticam housing with Nikon 16-35mm and Sigma 15mm lenses I'm after your feedback... Can I get away with the smaller of the two ports? Obvious factors to me are price and portability but are there significant differences in UW image quality in relation to sharpness, edge sharpness and other factors? Thanks, Colin

I recently received a copy of the book accompanying the series and am impressed by the overall quality. Hardcover, 312 pages: Life: Extraordinary Animals, Extreme Behaviour (Hardcover)

The project I'm about to embark on requires the use of InDesign CS2 (on Windows) rather than the more recent versions. This is due to exchange of files and the legacy edition my counterpart is using. I'm having some difficulty sourcing this older version; in particular the Windows media kit. Adobe are willing to issue me with a downgrade license and are of course happy to sell me CS4; however, I specifically require InDesign CS2 on Windows. If anyone would like to find a home for an unused plus uninstalled version of Adobe InDesign CS2 for Windows OS which is surplus to their requirements (and which has not been used for upgrading to later versions) please let me know. I'm located in New Zealand. Thanks, Colin

Thanks for the entertaining read Looking forward to seeing the images. Dive safe, Colin

Ken Glad you have made it out to the Knights - it's definitely something special! I believe your images are of the following. The moray is a grey moray eel (Gymnothorax nubilus) - each eye has a grey horizontal stripe. The "corals/anemomes" are zoanthid polyps. The nudi is a Tambja verconis. The blenny is a crested blenny (Parablennius laticlavius) although more fish of this type encountered here are triplefins (there are more species of triplefin in NZ waters than anywhere else). Conditions recently have been excellent with very good vizibility. Water temp at the moment is 20C / 21C - I'll be out again tomorrow. More from last week: http://www.gans.co.nz/dive/dive37/ Cheers, Colin

I have just completed a brief dry test with positive results (33 images). Histograms appear reasonably consistent prior to light fall-off. By contrast, in manual mode complete overexposure occurs from f8 thru f4.5 (Tokina 10-17mm @ 1/125). It will be a couple of weeks before I can test this fully in water but initial results do look promising. Colin

Sure Craig Results varied across the exposure range from complete blowout at f3.2 to underexposure at f22. In contrast, a Nikon SB800 Speedlight light on the same subject gave consistent / correct exposure throughout this range. When the TTL unit was rotated to manual setting the strobes worked fine and I was able to use them manually for the remainder of my Solomons trip. Ikelite were very attentive to our issue and the units were replaced. Once I am able to test I'll report on results. Cheers, Colin

Both a friend of mine and I have one each. We are using them with Nikon D200s; one on a Sealux housing, the other on a Nexus housing. Both with DS125s. We initially received these about a month or so ago but had to return them due to malfunction. We have just received their replacements and we are in the process of testing. Cheers, Colin

Sealux offered me two wiring options for their Nikonos style (flexible pin) port: one with only two 'active' wires connected, the second with all five pins wired. I chose this latter option and have found it works fine with 2 x Ike DS125 strobes on manual settings. I believe that the cable required for this setup would be Ikleite part#: #4104.32. This is the 'blue band' cord, 'Nikonos connector to two SubStrobes'. I also found that I could get their original, non-digital cord (I have one of these too) to function by blocking the contacts as described on the Ikelite website although this is not a particularly elegant solution. Here's a wiring diagram for Sealux with all 5 pins connected: http://www.gans.co.nz/dive/rig/NikonosWiringPOC/image004.jpg Colin