zzz111

These are really coooooooool, thanks all for sharing. Is it possible to add some glass at the tip, so that the beam width can be adjusted, like topside zoomable strobes?

Agreed, I take it back. I do it at my own risk but it's really not something I should have recommended others to do.

The fisheye port is actually easier to remove, just leave the port/dome on the housing facing up, and turn the dome slowly counter clockwise. The housing will stop it at certain position then you can turn the dome out. Be careful though, so far I haven't broken my housing doing that.

Thanks guys! Then I'll leave the macro lens/ports at home this time.

Going to dive the Red Sea early April, Deadalus and St Johns. Don't seems to see alot of macro pictures from the Red Sea, so what will I miss if I don't bring my macro gears at all? I'm asking because my smile doesn't work at the check-in counters as magical as some other guys post here, tired of travelling with 40kg luggages, and trying to save couple kg by leaving out the macro port, extension etc., if these's nothing much to lose, or is there?

Hello guys, thanks to your help, I now have a priliminary plan for the next 12 months: - Feb: Vietnam and Cambodia, mostly topside, 3 days diving in Nha Trang - Mar: Free, probably domestic road trips - Apr: Egypt & Italy, 1 week in Red Sea, 3 days in Malta, the rest on land - May: 16 day liveaboard in Banda Sea - Jun: liveaboard in Bahamas and road trips in the US - Jul: liveaboard in Galapagos and road trips in the US - Aug/Sep: reserved - Oct: 7-10 days in Delawan or PNG, the rest for domestic road trips - Nov: Ambon and Raja Ampat - Dec: 7-10 days in Maldives, the rest free - Jan: 7-10 days somewhere in the philipines, ice diving in Arctics if rental gears available Most of the trips have not yet been booked, appreciate your comments and advise, and welcome dive buddy to join me, since I'll travel by myself. Thanks/ben

Thanks lomaro! More tips on the arrangement?

I'll have 2 weeks, Apr 11-24, haven't figured out the details, first time there. The trip should be mostly topside, with 3 days or so in water. Topside recommendations are also very appreciated.

Hello guys, Planning a trip to Italy in mid April, any good place around to get dipped in? Even better if someone wants to dive together. How about Malta? Thanks/ben

Thanks Francesco. That really helps, let me do more research from there. I've been to the first 3 places, even the same resort in Manado, I liked it. And yes, I live in Shanghai, actually I'm a native here. Let me know if you'll stop by.

Thanks Jen! I'll contact Dan and see if I can join some of their trips. BTW, yes I shoot stills, and since I use canon 5D2, I shoot video sometimes too - but playback is enough a headache for me, let along editing, I'm waiting for their new firmware to support 720p, that should suit me better. So I'm looking for photographer friendly resorts/boats, with equipment rental - I don't bring dive gears since camera is enough weight for me to travel with.

Thanks Francesco! For the past 5 years or so, I usually dove 2 or 3 weeks a year, my divings are mostly within Southeast Asia, Huawaii once and no where else. I like both macro and wide angle, seems I like all things wet, it's probably easier to list what I don't like about diving: I'm skinny with heavy camera, so I don't usually like beach entry, I'm not good with colder water (wet suit 25C or below) but if it's worth it I can talk myself into that deep cold water, I don't enjoy long lines at check-in counter and security but divers have to live with them. Another problem is, my camera is already overweight so I don't travel with any dive gears, need rental on site, so boats without equipment rental are out. This year I'm open to mostly anywhere - better be within 2 or 3 flight hops from Shanghai though. I'm considering Malta and Red Sea right now, not sure if the Americas worth the long flight compared to Southeast Asia. But I'll travel to the US anyway, so probably I'll dive for at least one week in the Americas too. Besides, I've never tried dry suit, not sure if I should explore some cold water destinations, how long does it take to learn dry suit? My failure booking the trip for next month educated me that planning is necessary. But now I see planning is a real headache, I'm totally lost. With help from you fellow divers I hope I can form a plan in couple weeks, taking into consideration time of year, route optimization and I don't know what else :-) Thanks again and help please!

Dear fellow divers, Just realized I needed a plan for the year when I failed to book tickets for a dive trip next month because of local festival. I'll have 8 to 12 weeks to spend underwater in the next 12 months. It would be very appreciated if you could share your thoughts on overall planning, such as where and when to go for the best diving destination, so that I can plan well ahead, enjoy some early birds cost savings and most importantly avoid the problem I just had. I'd usually stay with a resort/boat for a week, so I can visit 8 to 12 dive destinations this year if well-planned. So, kindly your recommendations please! Reputable vendors are also more than welcome to contact me if you're interested in offering an overall package recommendation. Thanks a lot! Ben

Ryan, does this work with the LED1000 too? I'd like both colar temp correction and red filters, can I have them both ready when diving? from the picture seems i'll need to remove one of the color filters to fit the red filter?

Thanks Bent, your answers are very helpful. I just got a reply from Ikelite saying "there's no modular option with manual focus", that might explain why you had difficulty make the focus extension work. But I'm confused if that focus gear is not designed for 100mm macro, then what's it for? I hope you can make it work with some soft foam padding or so, and pls share the result. I admit my most frequent use of the manual focus gear is to dial streight to minimum focus distance and then move the camera, without the focus gear this is still doable in AF mode with AF function moved away from shutter, but turning a nob is much easier. Has anyone every dreamed of having camera vendors enable us manual focus using the lens motor, say use the AE lock and zoom in buttons to drive the lens motor in and out? This will save us all the troubles with the focus gears, the motor needs to run in very low speed though. I'd be happy enough if they just have a "reset to minimum focus" function, and for this they don't need a multi-speed motor. Bent, pls let us know how you like the mods after you get the housing back. I'm never too worried about the locks, but I'm very interested in the top mount, is it strong enough on land, hate to use 3-way ball clamp for focus light.