Advice regarding MX10

[diveski01]

Ditto on the Liburdi book - it's a good read.

Sea and Sea now sells an optical fiber extension cable so that you can get your strobe away from the camera and at a better angle. This DRAMATICALLY reduces the dreaded backscatter that the MX-10 is famous for.

I purchased the prototype cable from gbundersea.com (the inventor). I also added the strobe arm attachment from there and a Sea&Sea tray and strobe arm. It's a bit much to assemble at first, and a couple of extra bucks, but the photos are worth it!!! Now if I can learn to take good shots, I've at least got the gear.

You might also consider taking an u/w photography specialty course during your trip.

 

[gbundersea]

Thank you very much for the compliments about your MXTENDER setup. I'm glad to hear that your photographs have benefited so much from the system. I do need to make one important clarification though:

Sea&Sea's "MX-10 Fiber Optic Cable" is most certainly NOT the MXTENDER! It is their own attempt to flatter us by imitating our design.

The new Sea&Sea fiber optic differs considerably from our MXTENDER system. Some of those differences are:

1. It lacks any provision for attachment to an arm.
2. Its cable is 30% shorter than that of the MXTENDER.
3. It is much lighter-duty, being made of plastic. The MXTENDER is machined from 6061-T6 aluminum alloy, the same material used to produce scuba cylinders.
4. The cable itself is much thinner and lacks good strain reliefs on its ends.
5. It uses a very shoddy, light-duty means of attaching to the strobe, merely relying on an o-ring to clip it in place, which makes it very easy to dislodge.
6. It sells for $179.95, only $20 less than the MXTENDER.
7. It is a brand-new item, with no proven track record. Our MXTENDER system has been shipping since 1999, and has received rave reviews from its many users as well as major dive magazines.

It's been our experience that most of our customers initially or eventually add an arm system to their MXTENDER setup. In our opinion, the extra $20 is more than worth it, given the ruggedness, quality, and expandability of our system.

Also, we have heard considerable feedback from both dealers and users who find the MXTENDER to be far superior in every respect to Sea&Sea's cable.

So be sure not to confuse the original and best with this late-arriving imitation!

Greg Bunch
info@gbundersea.com
http://www.gbundersea.com

 

[diveski01]

Greg,

Thanks for the details regarding the Sea&Sea cable vs. the MXTENDER. I only saw the Sea&Sea cable in a display case and assumed they would have licensed your patent.

I totally agree with the comments about eventually adding to the system - I did immediately. Adding the strobe arm adapter from gbundersea, strobe arm, and a base make the system much easier to work with yet you can still free hand the stobe or connect to camera body whenever you wish.

Side by side photos from MX-10's with and without these additional components make same dive site and subject look totally different. I have at least one dissappointed dive buddy who didn't have them - he does now.

I would recommend this set up to anyone with an MX-10. I'm even considering adding a slave strobe for murkier/darker conditions, but need to improve my skills with single strobe for now.