Camera Rig Negativity

[Nemrod]

You could activate Remote Control on the camera to avoid it going to sleep and retracting lens at all, however at the cost of using more battery. At least on my A6000, nothing in the menu allows you to set the zoom position upon wakeup. As I recall, my Olympus does have that setting.

I do see a setting to adjust sleep time but it will eat into battery life. Good thing I have an onboard battery pack booster. Yeah, give some, get some. My little S90 recalls the last lens position upon waking. Minor thing in the big scheme of things. Probably something Sony could do with simply a firmware update. All of my old Nikon SLRs remembered everything, or perhaps nothing because they stayed where I put them. I guess Sony thinks you should zoom afresh each composition, hmmmm. Have you ever wondered what would happen if a technology rich company with deep pockets decided to build a camera? I present to you Sony!

N

 

[gstrek]

I do see a setting to adjust sleep time but it will eat into battery life. Good thing I have an onboard battery pack booster. Yeah, give some, get some. My little S90 recalls the last lens position upon waking. Minor thing in the big scheme of things. Probably something Sony could do with simply a firmware update. All of my old Nikon SLRs remembered everything, or perhaps nothing because they stayed where I put them. I guess Sony thinks you should zoom afresh each composition, hmmmm. Have you ever wondered what would happen if a technology rich company with deep pockets decided to build a camera? I present to you Sony!

N

I decided to leave my camera set to 5 minutes before going to sleep as the battery is an issue, although I do get through 2 dives.

I also wonder why Sony did not implement Manual Mode on the internal flash as I only need enough to trigger my external strobe, set to manual, via fiber cable.

 

[tursiops]

I also wonder why Sony did not implement Manual Mode on the internal flash as I only need enough to trigger my external strobe, set to manual, via fiber cable.

Exactly; my Olympus is set to 1/64 power...plenty to fire my external strobes through the fiber optic, so little that I don't notice it affecting my battery life. So if I want an ambient light photo, I just turn off the strobes.

 

[Nemrod]

I used to do a lot of B&W ambient light photography using Tri-X and Pan films. I had a darkroom which was really cool. I like that I can turn the strobe on and then select it off, this gives me the ability to select the full range of shutter speeds instead of being stuck at 1/160. And I have confirmed again that capability to turn the camera strobe off. The lens zoom after waking I can deal with, at least the port has an easy to use zoom control knob. I think I can get three long dives with my auxiliary (booster) pack installed. And unless I kill the battery, I should be able to open the housing door, swap out the booster battery and not even pull the camera.

The UW Technics TTL/Manual strobe converter should allow me to do strobe triggering without using the camera onboard flash at all. That should save me some battery too so maybe I can afford the luxury of setting my camera to a long inactive selection without going to sleep.

James

 

[Nemrod]

I use shaped foam made out of yoga blocks for floats on my strobe arms. Yes, it does compress at depth but I see this as a feature not a bug. At the surface my rig floats but at depth becomes slightly negative. Makes handling it on the surface much easier. I can even let it float next to me, tethered to my BCD, whilst I make adjustments or swim. At depth it's not heavy but won't float away either.

What are yoga blocks? When I put a lift on my Jeep everybody on the wuh-wuh-wuh said to just use hockey pucks for a spacer, we don't got no hockey pucks around heah feller! Seriously, where do I get yoga foam? Does the foam de-compress once you return to the surface?

James

 

[Nemrod]

A couple of questions, I should start a different thread but I am trying not to hog the forum with a plethora of dumb questions:

1. Does anyone have the Nauticam 2.5 amp auxiliary battery and if so, how much longer will the camera run with it?

2. With a Sony A6XXX and Nauticam, the Sigma 19mm f2.8 art lens and WWL-1, how is that working out?

James

 

[tursiops]

A couple of questions, I should start a different thread but I am trying not to hog the forum with a plethora of dumb questions:

1. Does anyone have the Nauticam 2.5 amp auxiliary battery and if so, how much longer will the camera run with it?

2. With a Sony A6XXX and Nauticam, the Sigma 19mm f2.8 art lens and WWL-1, how is that working out?

James

2. Not sure about that lens with a WWL-1; you may get vignetting if you don't zoom in a bit. @Chris Ross may know.

 

[jgttrey]

1. Does anyone have the Nauticam 2.5 amp auxiliary battery and if so, how much longer will the camera run with it?

Yes. It works well. Doing the math, you would think it would give you an additional 2x time (2500mah vs 1100 or 1200). In practice, I think there is some inefficiency. I would guesstimate that it slightly more than doubles what I would get on internal battery alone.

The early versions of this battery pack sucked. The firmware on the pack would turn it off after a period of time if the internal battery were fully charged and it would not turn back on later as the internal battery drained. Basically, it meant that you had to hook it up immediately before the dive, which would have required opening the housing on the boat, which I hate.

Nauticam responded to feedback and rolled out a new version that doesn't automatically turn off, so you can install everything in advance, even the night before, without worrying that the auxiliary battery will cut off. Works much better now. This was at least a year and half ago, so I'm sure only the new style battery packs are being sold.

 

[Nemrod]

2. Not sure about that lens with a WWL-1; you may get vignetting if you don't zoom in a bit. @Chris Ross may know.

LOL, the Sigma 19mm Art lens is a fixed focal length, it does not zoom. Per the Nauticam port/lens charts it does not vignette. I was just wondering if there is any (actual) other than Nauticam to report how it does. Yes, the kit 15-50 lens has to be zoomed to 19 or 20mm with the WWL-1 and 34mm for the Inon UWL100+dome. But it is the Sigma 19mm and WWL-1 that I am curious of a field report.

This summer coming, I plan Heavy Metal II, the Return! I plan every large wreck starting with the TSS Texas, then Oriskany and then onward working down to Key West and the Vandenberg. Thus I plan to use the WWL-1 with the Sigma 19mm with the faster f2.8 aperture to sim B&W ambient lighting for these large wrecks. Hopefully there is little to no need to crop.

James

 

[jgttrey]

Sounds great. Doing much the same sort of photography at Bikini this summer.

Let me know what you think about the UW Technics converter. I've been contemplating that as well.