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Interceptor121

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Posts posted by Interceptor121

  2. Posted

    15 minutes ago, Architeuthis said:

    Today (August 12nd), I saw that the second week of the projected Wetpixel trip (August 10th - 17th) is designated as full in the MY VIP One sailing list. Also the departure date has been changed from August 10th to 14th: https://www.vipone.com/sailing-departures

    I asked Alain Sobol (the Vip One manager) and he wrote me that this was not Adam, who payed finally (at least for a short Safari), but these bookings are for an Israelian agency...

     

    Wolfgang

    I guess this is now the point where the trip is finally declared off and you can ask your money back?

  3. Posted

    Marelux will debut three strobes scheduled for release before the end of the year. As with all manufactures specs are subject to change and at this time the Apollo 22 has been retooled and will now have a 28 guide number.
     
    363443214_309617408180261_1904068706744650970_n.jpg.7d7abbb8f325d4cdb5bebcee82220c29.jpg

    Not sure I understand the marketing here.
    Less than 1/3 stop between two products?


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    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    34 minutes ago, ido said:

    Thank you Tim and interceptor121. Yes - I meant a correction-type lens for my 14-30.

    I use my 14-30 with 6.5 (glass) and 8 inch (acrylic) domes (with 40mm extended + zoom ring) 

    Thank you. 

    2 pics for reference:  

    The fish (second pic)  are at 30 mm. The coral is 15mm

    both 6.3 f.

     

    _IDO1190.jpg

    _IDO1232-Edit.jpg

    The first image has the pulling effect. The camera focuses on the anemone however the bottom corners are closer to the lens so end up a bit garbled.

    In the second photo the effect is less pronounced as the distance difference is less but this does not actually suffer from the pulling effect because it is focussed further away

    Generally rectilinear lenses when shot at very close range look funny not just underwater try a picture top side that looks like your anemone and see how it looks

  5. Posted

    31 minutes ago, ido said:

    Hi, Can anyone please explain what is: S&S lens/filter ?

    I use Nikon Z7 2 with 14-30 or 8-15 lenses.

     

    Thank you

    The sea and sea filter is a flat field corrector. This is somethig used in telescopes to correct coma at the edges which has a similar effect to corner pulling with certain combinations of lenses and domes

    Based on my experience once you have the appropriate combination of lens and dome this effect disappears 

    Sea and Sea designed this with specific lenses and domes in mind (see their page) but some users have tried the lens with other combinations

    For what concerns the Nikon 14-30 is a lens that does not focus particularly close therefore requiring dome very large dome radius

    The 230 dome has a radius of 12 cm so whatever you do this will not be ideal despite of any corrector lens you may choose

    Ideally find a lenses that focuses close and potentially narrower as the issue is excarbated by the field of view

  7. Posted

    I don't get you. This one?
     
     

    That’s not really a lot
    ‘You said you were selling the seat’ doesn’t mean ‘you sold the seat’
    For me those cases are pretty weak unless one has certainly the spot was sold which you have when you sell it yourself


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  8. Posted

    46 minutes ago, Kraken de Mabini said:

    "Thats was indeed the idea of this thread"  Super!  The Wetpixeler members will look forward to this log, which hopefully will help to maintain the integrity of pre-paid travels and similar arrangements.

    i have to say not much to report so far

    The fact is wetpixel trips included tips which is mostly unconventional then you find out he did not pay the tips yet you don't know how much the tip money was

    The cases that are the clearest so far are the 4 people who paid for Red Sea however the trip time has not lapsed and Alex Mustard not getting paid for his work or expenses

    The rest is very fluid to say the least

  9. Posted

    Would you, Interceptor121, be willing to set up and maintain "a log of all incidents"?  You appear to be ideally qualified, and in the best location as you are in the UK, and are up to date with all the incidents of this complicated situation.

    Thats was indeed the idea of this thread
    It would be good to have accurate reports of what happened without drifting into emotions to understand whats the case at hand


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  10. Posted

    3 minutes ago, oneyellowtang said:

    This statement is inaccurate. You don't "need" more floatation, you may want more floatation.

    DIving with a more negative rig is a choice - some people may prefer it. You may want more to get back to neutral, but you it's not a requirement. 

     

    Actually the entire statement is inaccurate as I just checked my tables and the UW15 is in fact the same of the WWL-1 with the same amount of floats.

    Due to the very low volume of the lens the lift is much less so you save 1 kg on land but zero under

    And it is just a 20mm lens with manual focus.

    After a few test run in the pool the lens is unused, even for video I prefer to lug around with Tamron 20-40mm which is very sharp with a 180mm dome.

    One benefit of the UW15 is due to the low volume it has very little drag in situation of strong current however considering you need to close the aperture down a lot to have shots in focus while I can shoot the Tamron at f/5.6 and is still acceptable it ended up being zero benefit on light gathering which was my initial hope

    My set up is on the classified if anyone wants to give it a go

    It is unfortunate that the hype surrounding this lens is so inflated. It is only 20mm there are many lenses super sharp at 20mm the only disbenefit is a dome but sharpness is not really what should drive use of this lens

  11. Posted

    14 hours ago, Proteus said:

    Asking for some detailed help, if any are so inclined ...

    I own a RS15 and the Nauticam adapter plate.  I bought both of them some years ago but never used them outside of a pool.  This thread (and the pictures) got me interested again.  I would be intending to use the lens with a SonyA7R5. 

    I'm experienced with UW photography, but have real "newbie" questions about this lens.

    1. When I'm shooting, how do I consider hyperfocal (also new to me)?  Would I consider it a 20mm lens (it's effective water rating) in a hyperfocal calculator, or consider it as 15mm?
    2. If I consider it as 20mm, online calculators say (using f14) that the hyperfocal distance is about 1 meter, the hyperfocal near limit is 0.64 meter, and the far limit infinity.  Does this mean that stopping down leads to a "set and forget" for most reef photography?  Am I think about this right?  It would seem to say I'm in focus from about half a meter to infinity.  Would I be setting the lens distance scale to 1 meter (the hyperfocal number)?
    3. I know how to set up manual focus and peaking on the A7 and will plan to use this, but the hyperfocal "set and forget" (if possible) intrigues me.  Would you focus, or keep some infinity scheme as above for a default?

    I also have a WWL-1, so the RS15 is a way to get travel weight / volume down when I need to.  Seems like it might even be better.  Can anyone comment on my fuzzy ideas ... I'd appreciate the help.

     

    Gary

    1. Consider 20mm

    2. The f/stop numbers are also incorrect due to the errors of focal length. So f/8 on the lens is f/5.6 (as the lens is longer)

    3. Peaking works terrible with this lens. 

    The WWL-1 is considerably wider than the UW-15 so there is no comparible in addition is a prime

    If there is a use for this lens is video where it compares against a dome for photos there is no real use case. You save 1 kg over the WWL-1 however the set up is super negative so you need much more floatation

  12. Posted

    As I understand a few posters here have cancelled their participation to the Lembeh trip which actually went ahead.

    The terms and conditions state that wetpixel was under no obligation to sell a cancelled seat and even if so it could charge a fee.

    Now you need to start demonstrating that Adam wrote to you telling your place has actually been sold not that he was trying to sell it to have a case.
    I am aware of one person who in a similar situation got her money back for the same trip which she had cancelled.

  13. Posted

    What about Alex's fees and costs? Unpaid costs with dive operators and staff?  If somebody paid the second installment it is more like 5,000 depending on the trip. Kind of changes the assessement a bit yes?

    Nobody from lembeh trip said they had to pay twice. The only known issues about that trip are tips disappearing, mustard not getting paid and some people that cancelled and didn’t get their money back.
    The only situation that is clear of people paying for the trip and the trip not happening is the red sea one however the trip hasn’t lapsed
    I contacted people on Facebook but nobody has reported anything more.
    As Wolfgang said it would be useful to have a log of all incidents to substantiate what is the overall case here


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  14. Posted

    I also paid by credit card, both the old trip, without any problems, in 2022 and the failing one in 2023. Adam supplied a link for this. I guess this link is "Wise" (no idea what this is)?
    In my case I have a special card edition, called "VISA Platin", it costs 2-3 Euros/month more than the regular one. The claim is, that one gets comprehensive insurance against all risks, even when one did not pay by card. I hope to get reimbursed by them for the 2023 Red Sea trip, but this is by far not sure (I will post, when I get a decision by VISA, will last a couple of weeks more probably)...
    Wolfgang

    Probably a decision will only be made when the trip lapses as it could still happen somehow


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  15. Posted

    Re Phil Rudin

    I Posted only the fact section as the rest are more comments or speculations

    We don’t know if this was a planned scam or a case of debt and just poor business management or even health issues leading to financial troubles

    I am also not sure about 100,000 that would need 50 people not travelling at all at average of $2,000

     

     

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  16. Posted

    No they don't, believe me because refunds are made after the payment has been forwarded to the supplier and it is then 'clawed back' from the supplier, or more accurately non-supplier.I know because when we needed to do this I was notified by an intermediary that the 'supplier' sufddenly found themselves in dect and it could easily have bankrupted them. But if payments were not made by credit card this is a bit academic.

    I got refund for thomas cook flight after it went bust and you couldn’t claw back anything out of a business in administration because funds are locked.
    That’s a typical case and reason to pay with card for flights as airlines are not part of atol or any tour operator.
    Your case is even more surprising as that would have been more force majoure
    And anyway wetpixel didn’t take cards


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  17. Posted

    Credit cards hold the money until the service is delivered so the business never got the money you paid for and they can refund you
    In this case I don’t think wetpixel accepted any form of credit card payment but may be wrong.
    There are some cases of trip cancelled in its entirety and others where individuals cancelled but the trip went ahead. I think those are the unlikely to win a small claim case due to terms and conditions.
    Then we have cases of tips gone missing which are even harder to pursue.


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  18. Posted

    The fact that Adam is selling trips in the forum also shows that it is not the case.

    If u want an independent forum that is not afflicted to shop. Is to self fund by memebers or 'angel investors'




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    Independent from equipment manufacturers which is the predominant cost here
    Photography trips are a great idea unfortunately tainted in this occasion by several incidents


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  19. Posted

    My understanding is that they do not need to be a member of ABTA for UK laws to apply. ABTA will help resolve disputes and has a higher code of conduct but base UK laws still apply.

    This is lifted from the ABTA site and from reading it is clear that some form of protection should have been in place if money was paid to or travel arranged by a UK entity..

    "Linked travel arrangements 

    The law requires the arranger of a linked travel arrangement (which may include a tour operator, travel agent or travel service provider) sold in the UK to put in place financial security to protect the monies you’ve paid for a travel service in the event that the service can’t be provided because the arranger of the linked travel arrangement goes out of business (due to their financial failure).

    The purpose of the financial protection is:

    • to arrange a refund for the travel service that you were unable to receive because the arranger of the linked travel arrangement has gone out of business whilst holding your money. 
    • if the arranger of your linked travel arrangement was responsible for providing a transport service, to cover the costs of getting you to your return destination if your trip includes return transport

    This is not the same as protection for package holidays. It only covers the event of the travel company that arranged the linked travel arrangement failing and your travel service(s) not being provided to you as a result. Other scenarios are not covered by the protection, for example where your travel services can still be provided notwithstanding the arranger failing, or if your linked travel arrangement is affected by the insolvency of another business e.g. a supplier of the service.

    Examples of linked travel arrangement protection

    You have booked a flight and a hotel as a linked travel arrangement through a travel company. The accommodation company providing the hotel goes bust before you travel. There is no protection for your money so you will not get a refund for the hotel. The airline is not required to refund you for the flight so you will have to pay again for a hotel or lose the money for the flight as well.

    If the travel agent you booked with goes out of business, you should still be able to continue with the flight and accommodation that you booked."

     

    Nope that’s when an abta tour operator books non abta services as linked services
    Here you have a tour operator not associated to any form of scheme
    So you have nowhere to complain about than wetpixel itself


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  20. Posted

    If the bookings are made to a UK company then they will either be classified as a package or a linked travel arrangement and financial protection for travellers legally should be in place.

    I do hope Adam gets over whatever he is facing as this a great resource 

    Nope wetpixel was not associated with abta there is no protection


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  21. Posted

    This is definitely true, but I highly doubt there are any that have comparable corner sharpness at smaller apertures like f4 and f5.6 especially. Given how usable the lens is even at f4 (other than being a little more tricky to focus on closer subjects due to narrower DoF), for natural light reefscapes at least, you're gaining 1 or maybe 2 stops of light. Depending on your shooting style, that could be a huge deal.

    The lens is not that usable at f/4 unless your subject is very far
    In general as the field of view is narrower you need to be further behind
    This increases the strobe power needed
    The best use of such lens is ambient light video with subjects not extremely close
    If you want to buy such lens and adapter I have one for sale in the classifieds


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  24. Posted

    This is the summary that @Alex_Mustard posted on his group chat.

     

    Quote

    First late last year, Adam/Wetpixel had a trip on Damai. I have heard that after the trip Damai told all guests that they had not been paid in full for the trip and also he did not pay the gratuities to the boat (which he had pre-collected). Adam was supposed to be running a workshop - but did not attend because of "health reasons" - and unsurprisingly he did not refund the workshop fee or his travel costs to the group.
    Next up were two Wetpixel Lembeh workshops. Which I was hired to teach. Personally I was not paid for 3 weeks of work and also not refunded for my travel. Adam has also not paid the gratuity money to the resort and dive staff that he pre-collected (which is a lot of money with 28 guests attending). Also several people had to cancel from this trip and Adam agreed to refund, but was too ill to actually send payments.
    Then in May Wetpixel had a cenote workshop in Mexico. Again he did not attend. And nothing was pre-paid or organised until the day before the guests arrived. Food was supposed to be included. Adam asked people to pay and he would refund…
    However, despite this being in May when Adam was supposedly too ill to even send an email to any of us - he joined the group for multiple Zoom sessions of teaching and image review.
    And then the Wetpixel Red Sea example, two weeks of liveaboards. Everyone has paid - no money or booking with the liveaboard     

     

    It would seem a mix of situation of partially paid trips, tips gone missing, and trips not booked at all and then paid by the guests in their entirety. And guest unable to attend and not reimbursed (the latter however it would not stand a case for refund in my opinon unless the spot was resold as the trips was rescheduled due to force majeure and wetpixel terms and conditions state that quite clearly).

    It would be useful to collect a log of all those situation to evaluate the potential liabilities of wetpixel which in turn determine how likely survival is. In addition if for some reason the management of wetpixel took money out of wetpixel that made it insolvent this may become of interest of the police and the authorities if there is intent of fraud that can be demonstrated.

    As explained elsewhere regardless of all of this in UK there are specific ways to make claim for money that is due and unless people join forces and instruct a lawyer this will be dealt on a case by case basis.

     

  25. Posted

    Hmmm, odd. Can you try this:

     

     

    Working now no idea what went on

    Actually not anyway I have seen the thread but the link here seems incorrect

     

     

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