Hannes Klostermann
Portfolio
issue n°55
- june 2021
Travels: Anilao Photo Academy
Contest: Deep Visions 2021
Review: Supe D-Max vs Retra Pro
Biology: Whitetip Reef Shark
News: Trash Waste Solution
Review: Mares Quad
Dear readers, the Deepvisons 2021 UWP award is up and running . We call our fellow photographers for a massive participation in order to give this edition the importance it deserves. We called it the Renaissance edition because we want to celebrate the return to normal, pre covid activities. I believe that it’s in this perspective that we have been able to collect such a huge prize panel; this is the proof that the industry is ready to re start after more than one year of pandemic forced halt to nearly all diving activities; it’s in this perspective that Deepvisions 2021 wants to show industry will to return to deliver great gear, holydays, great encounters underwater , ultimately what we were used to before the pandemic hit the globe. Winning a holiday participating the Deepvisions contest becomes then a way to help the tourism industry in its whole , airlines tickets, diving gear manufacturers, diving centers, boats, dive masters and of course resorts. Don’t miss this possibility to get back into the water winning one of our amazing holydays kindly offered by our partners. Visit www.deepvisions.photo for more information on how to participate or to upload your masterpieces if you already know us. Stay tuned for more.
Marino Palla Owner and Founder Scubashooters Network
Cover image by: Hannes Klostermann
Contents
Issue
n°55 -
june
2021
pag. 94
P ortfolio
Hannes Klostermann Editorial: by Marino Palla
Travels: Anilao Photo Academy by: Enrico Somogyi
pag. 3
Review: Supe D-Max vs Retra Pro By: H. Klostermann and G. Rossi
Review: Nautismart Pro by: Bluebox Biology: The White Tip Reef Shark by: E. Mancuso and M. Bicciato
pag. 8 Review: Quad Dive Computer by: Mares
pag. 46 pag. 66
pag. 78 Dan Europe: Cult Dive By: Dan Europe
pag. 30
Contest: Deep Visions 2021 The Jury Categories Sponsors
pag. 124
Editor: Fabio Strazzi Assistant Editor: Elisa Furlani
pag. 36
Scubashooters - Via Barucchi 37, 37139 Verona Graphic Design and Supervising: Elisa Furlani Layout: Elisa Furlani Alessandra Suppo Translations: Piera Pirini
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Tecnique
Supe D-Max vs Retra Pro Strobe comparison
by
Hannes Klostermann and Giacomo Rossi
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Tecnique
Caption: Retra Flash Pro (left) and Scubalamp D-Max (right) withstanding the harsh environment on a beach in La Paz, Mexico.
A
lot has happened in the last 12 months.
Thankfully, not everything has taken a turn to the worst though. While most of us have not had much opportunity to go diving, several new and exciting strobes have hit the market. In this review we will be taking a closer look at two of these new offerings: the Retra Flash Pro and Scubalamp D-Max. Both of these strobes feature impressive specifications on paper, but of course these numbers cannot always be trusted entirely as manufacturers measure certain characteristics in different ways or are simply a bit too optimistic about their product’s performance.
Caption: Physical size comparison of Scubalamp D-Max (left) and Retra Flash Pro with Supercharger (right).
Retra Flash Pro and Scubalamp D-Max. Therefore, we will be conducting an unbiased review and discussing real-world performance of these two new flash guns, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses.
Scubalamp D-Max: Scubalamp is a Chinese company specializing in dive torches. The overall product quality and prices have given them a good amount of market share. Up until now however, they have only produced video and multi-purpose lights, so the D-Max is their first try at a flash gun.
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Caption: Front view of Scubalamp’s D-Max featuring a circular flash tube and central LED light.
Caption: Scubalamp D-Max side view. Optical sensor port sticking out at the bottom.
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Tecnique
Below are Scubalamp’s specifications for the D-Max strobe: D-Max Specifications: • Guide number ISO100: 32 • Flash output: 250 Ws • Connection: optical cable / 5 pin sync cord/Slave mode • Beam angle: 120° • Output: 8 levels: 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 70%, 90%, 100% • Battery: SUPE Battery Pack (4x 18650 lithium batteries) • Battery capacity: 44.4 Wh • Flashes per battery charge: 750 flashes at full power, 5500 flashes at lowest power • Power indicator light: red >30%; green<30% • Recycle time (full power): 0.5s • Continuous shooting: 15 frames continuous shooting at lowest power level. 12 frames continuous shooting at 2nd level* • Colour temperature: 5300K • Depth rating: 60m / 200 ft • Focus/target light: 5W / 500 lumens • Dimensions (length x diameter): 175 x 97 mm • Weight (land): 1195 g without battery • Weight (underwater): 120g • Do not support S-TTL or TTL *: We (probably like most people) took this part of the specification to mean 15 and 12 frames per second, however, after further clarification from Scubalamp it refers to 15/12 continuous frames taken at 7fps. At first glance, some of these values certainly seem very promising, particularly flash output, recycle time and number of flashes at maximum power. Judging by the spec sheet, with a maximum flash output of 250Ws the D-Max strobe should be significantly more powerful than the likes of OneUW One 160X, Seacam Seaflash 160D and Retra Flash Pro, which are all in the 150-160Ws class. Battery capacity and recycle time on paper are also well
ahead of its main competitors. The D-Max’s circular flash tube, similar to the ones found in its competitors, should provide even illumination, avoiding hot spots. The colour temperature of 5300K is a bit cooler than what most shooters prefer. Warmer light (lower Kelvin value) gives more pleasing blues in the background of the image so is desirable in tropical conditions. Colder light, like the one produced by the D-Max would be very well suited to temperate waters, however. Using the included diffuser, the value decreases to around 5000K. This could be further modified by using gel filters, however all of this decreases the light output of the strobe, as each element placed in front of the flash tube will absorb some light. It’s important to note that this flash is not compatible with TTL and is not capable of ignoring pre-flashes produced by the camera. Either your camera or the optical flash trigger in your housing will therefore need to be able to emit a single pulse or else the flash won’t be in sync with the shutter leading to incorrect illumination of the scene. While TTL will perhaps not be missed by most advanced shooters, the lack of pre-flash cancellation is a serious limitation that needs to be considered when purchasing the strobe. Most strobes do feature some kind of preflash cancellation mode. When using the neoprene cover, the D-Max is almost perfectly neutral underwater. This certainly helps with trimming the camera rig without using large floats. What’s inside the package The Scubalamp D-Max comes in either black or silver and includes in the box one diffuser D100, one standard ball mount, one battery and charger, neoprene cover and neoprene cap.
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However, in the case of the D-Max, due to its impressive battery life, this seems an acceptable choice as even 30% charge will give the user plenty of flashes at full power. Unfortunately there is no ready light on the strobe. The other two features of the back panel are the battery compartment and 5-pin sync cord connector. The fibre optic input is located next to the ball mount along the bottom of the strobe.
Caption: D-Max rear panel. Power dial (left), battery compartment (top), electric sync port (bottom) and mode dial (right).
All labels on the back, as well as the display end up being upside-down when the strobes are hanging from strobe arms in what’s the standard configuration for most underwater shooters. While this is not a huge annoyance, it is certainly an easy improvement for a future revision of
The controls are located on the rear side of the strobe and mainly consist of two big dials. One acts as a mode dial with positions for off, on and on+focus light. The second dial allows for adjusting of flash output in 8 steps. It also features a “T” position, which manually triggers the strobe at maximum power when selected. This can be a useful feature for troubleshooting and for creating long exposures underwater. Unfortunately, without the option to adjust the power of that test flash, creative use of this feature is somewhat limited. The back of the strobe also features a display that reads the currently selected power, somewhat redundantly to the power dial, as well as an LED that indicates that the strobe is powered on and also gives an indication of battery level. There are only two levels: over and under 30% and quite confusingly, the strobe shows a green light below 30% and a red light above. For most other strobes 30% would not be an ideal threshold as entering the water with a remaining charge of, say, 31% would likely see the strobe die during the dive.
Caption: D-Max’s sturdy battery compartment cap. this strobe to increase usability. The battery compartment has a double o-ring seal. Unfortunately, the battery compartment does not appear to be sealed against the rest of the strobe’s internals, so a battery compartment leak will likely damage the whole unit. This increases the importance of proper o-ring maintenance and correct placement of the battery cap. There is also no leak detection system.
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Build quality The chassis of the D-Max is made from a single piece of aluminium that appears fairly robust.
be very hard to obtain should one of them fail on a trip or assignment. This will also help with always having one pack recharged and ready to go.
The flash tube is protected by a slightly curved acrylic dome that should aid in providing a pleasingly uniform beam. The centre focus light is powerful enough for any use except, of course, for serious video production. It is of similar quality as Scubalamp’s dive torches. The dials and battery cap feel sturdy and are easy to operate without gloves. Using the dials with gloves is far more challenging as they do not protrude far from the back of the strobe. Both dials are the same length, which makes telling them apart without looking more difficult. They do click into place really nicely when turning.
Caption: D100 diffuser mounted to D-Max strobe.
Caption: O-ring that provides the friction mount for accessories. Caption: Dials have a nice “click”. Accessories The D-Max comes with almost everything you need: diffuser and neoprene cover, as well as a battery pack and charger. The diffuser is held in place by o-ring friction, which works well when the diffuser is pushed onto the front of the strobe properly. We would generally recommend buying an extra battery as the proprietary batteries will
Caption: D-Max battery pack.
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Retra Flash Pro:
Specifications of the Retra Flash Pro:
Retra has been a household name in underwater lighting for 10 years now.
• • • • • • • • • • • • •
While for a long time, their LSD snoot system was the poster child of the company, the release of the original Retra Flash meant a step forward for them from strobe accessory manufacturer to strobe manufacturer. In early 2020, after a series of delays, Retra then started shipping their second generation flash, which now came in two varieties: Prime and Pro. In this review we will focus on the Pro model, as it is certainly the more exciting of the two, featuring a whopping 150Ws light output on the spec sheet (the Prime is 100Ws).
Flash power: 150 Ws Colour temperature: 4900 K LED power (angle): 500 lm (20º) Recycle time (4xAA) at 80% power: ~3 s Recycle time with supercharger (8xAA) at 80% power: ~1.5 s HSS ready: YES Power levels: 13 (1 – 100%) Leakage detector: Included Bayonet mount type: A1 Electrical connector: via Converter Weight (with 4 Eneloop Pro AA batteries and 1” Mounting ball): 910 g Weight in water: 170 g Dimensions (length x diameter): 130 x 102.5 mm
The second generation Retra Flash, both Prime and Pro, feature what according to Retra is the world’s first fully circular flash tube, as opposed to the horseshoe design most other strobes use. Compared to other strobes with circular flash tubes, like the Scubalamp D-Max we will be comparing it to in this review, the diameter of the flash tube is fairly small compared to the diameter of the chassis.
Caption: Retra Flash Pro front view with circular flash tube and central LED light.
Both second generation models feature some truly next generation functionality. This includes Bluetooth connectivity with the companion app. The pairing process is as painless as it could be (we used the Android version of the app) and the app offers a range of useful features like firmware updates, a readout of the trigger count and programming of the U1 and U2 modes. Retra have already released several firmware updates through the app, which have rectified a few early issues we had noticed when first using the strobe.
Caption: Retra Flash Pro side view (with optional neoprene sleeve).
Both user-programmable modes can be set to pre-flash cancellation (Smart SL), Pilot light output adjust, a low power mode which cuts the light output by about 1 stop for all power levels
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and, perhaps most excitingly, a high-speed flash sync (HSS) mode. HSS allows for shutter speeds beyond the conventional sync speed of a camera, up to 1/8000th of a second, which unlocks a range of creative possibilities for the avid underwater photographer. It should be noted though, that due to its optical-only triggering, the Retra Flash requires a special HSS flash trigger board inside the housing.
The flash does not come with any protective covers. These are however, available as optional accessories. The user manual can be found on the Retra app. The box also includes a post-card sized print of one of Alex Mustard’s images taken with the original Retra Flash, though this may vary from one unit to the other.
Rear Controls
These are readily available from UWTechnics and other brands, but don’t come cheap so the extra cost will need to be factored in if HSS is an important feature to you. The flash takes four standard AA rechargeable batteries. Its capacity can be doubled with the optional “Supercharger” battery extension. I (HK) personally consider this a must-have accessory for wide-angle shooting, as the strobes are otherwise slow to recycle at high power and often won’t last a full day of diving. Thankfully the Supercharger more than halves recycle time and more than doubles the amount of flashes on a single charge, but also adds significant cost.
Caption: Retra Flash Pro rear panel with mode dial (left), battery compartment (top), pilot light switch and status LED (centre), power dial (right) and optical sensor (bottom)
The Retra Flash Pro/Prime only accept fibre-optic connections in both the standard Sea&Sea and Inon style so your previous fibre-optic cables will likely be compatible. Retra also offer an optional E-Opto converter, which takes an electrical connection and converts it to the required fibre-optic signal. This option however only works in standard manual mode (no TTL and also no HSS). What’s inside the package Unboxing the flash is a joy, with almost all of the packaging made from cardboard and appearing sturdy enough to inspire confidence in accident-free shipping around the globe. Included in the package are the flash itself, a standard ball-mount adapter, an extra set of battery compartment o-rings and some o-ring grease.
Caption: Retra Flash Pro mode dial.
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Caption: Retra Flash Pro power dial.
Caption: Retra Flash Pro battery compartment.
The back of the strobe features the mode and power dials, the optical sensor, battery compartment, pilot light button and status LED.
The battery compartment knob is easily operated even with wet or cold fingers (which you should probably dry before opening the battery compartment) and the cap itself is sealed with a double o-ring. Battery contacts are very sturdy. As is standard with most strobes these days (interestingly NOT for the D-Max though), the battery compartment is sealed from the rest of the strobe, so a flood should not result in loss of the entire strobe. Both the Prime and Pro flashes come with a built-in leakage detector. However, this is not to be confused with a vacuum system.
All labels are right-side up when the strobe is hanging from the strobe arms, which is the usual way of using them for most underwater photographers. Power can be adjusted in 13 levels in ½ stop increments (+3 to -3). They also include a simple percentage label ranging from 1 to 100. The mode dial features the following positions: OFF, BATT/TEST, ON, TTL, U1, U2 and SOS. In the BATT/TEST position, the strobe gives a colour-coded representation of current battery level in four discrete levels (10075%, 75-50%, 50-25% and 25-0%). In this mode it is also possible to trigger the strobe manually at the current power level by pressing the pilot light button, a very useful feature for testing the strobe as well as for people who enjoy creating long exposure photography underwater.
It’s a simple moisture alarm that alerts the user through the status LED. Speaking of the status LED: it is fantastic. It is bright and protrudes from the chassis, which makes it very easy to see even when glanced at from the side. It changes colour depending on which mode the strobe is in. In a recent firmware update Retra have added a “breathing” effect, which looks pleasing, but in my opinion takes away a little bit of the immediacy of the status LED as it cycles through levels of intensity from off to on periodically and will therefore sometimes make you wait a moment to clearly see which colour it’s displaying. It’s not a big inconvenience, but personally, I’d like this effect to be an option to
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Tecnique
switch on or off in the app. Through a firmware update they have also added an option to constantly show the battery level in any mode, which sounds quite useful but in reality often gives battery readings that are far lower than the actual remaining charge. During the batttery endurance testing we did as part of this review the strobe showed a flashing red light, which indicates a charge below 25%, at only 50% of the number of flashes it would eventually produce. Retra’s own manual states that you should wait at least 30 seconds before switching to BATT/TEST to get an accurate reading of remaining battery charge. This makes me somewhat question the real life benefit of this feature, but since it remains switched off by default and has to be specifically enabled in the app this is a minor complaint. Build quality The flash is built superbly well. All parts give a strong impression of durability. The aluminium chassis is very sturdy and dare I say quite sexy. The physical dimensions of the strobe are remarkable considering its powerful interiors. They are almost identical in size to my old Inon Z-240 strobes, which makes them ideal for travel and for lighting macro shots or close-focus wide-angle images. The slightly longer body makes this a little bit more difficult than with the Z-240 though, at least with a short macro port. Reliability has been excellent so far. My two flashes have reached a trigger count of around 8000 at the time of writing this review and have not failed me since the first firmware update. In the initial firmware version the strobe would occasionally fail to switch on properly, requiring for it to be switched off and on again to function correctly and was very picky with older batter-
ies. Sometimes the strobe would simply show a flashing red light and wouldn’t charge its capacitors, even though the batteries were fully charged, tested and conditioned. This hasn’t been an issue for me since so Retra at least appear to have done a good job at improving their firmware. Accessories At the front of the strobe, Retra use a proprietary bayonet mounting system for accessories. All accessories for the original Retra Flash are compatible. The bayonet system works extremely well and is easy to operate and Retra offer a wide range of accessories to modify the quality of light and beam angle. The reduction ring produces a sharper beam edge and is great for eliminating backscatter in low visibility situations. The beam angle can be further reduced with the two macro rings, which can also serve as a wide-angle snoot. I have personally used two different diffusers: the standard wide-angle diffuser and the shark diffuser. While the wide-angle diffuser features a very grippy outer ring for mounting to the bayonet system, the shark diffuser appears to be of an older style and is much more finicky to attach and detach. Apparently Retra have now updated the shark diffuser to the new design with the outer ring as well, so this should not be an issue any more. Given the exceptional quality of light without any diffusers I personally use mine without any accessories in most situations. Of course, Retra’s own LSD snoot is also compatible with both the Retra Flash Prime and Pro. Retra also offer some neoprene sleeves to protect the strobe. The ones shown here apparently are not made anymore as they kept sliding off the strobe at either the front or the back (hence the zip ties). Retra instead now offer a shorter neoprene sleeve that works well when combined with the more rigid bumpers.
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Caption: Front bayonet mount for accessories.
Caption: Two Scubalamp D-Max on Nauticam NA-A6300 housing with Nauticam WWL-1. Quality of light and maximum power During our first test underwater, we focused on evaluating the beam distribution and intensity of the D-Max and Retra Flash Pro. To do this, we went on a shore dive near La Paz, Mexico, where we looked for a rock formation large and flat enough to judge the quality of light produced by the strobes.
Caption: Supercharger mounted to Retra Flash Pro.
We placed one strobe at a time on a tripod set up around 1m from the wall in order to guarantee a stable and constant position of the strobes between runs. We fired the strobes with one strobe attached to the camera at its lowest power level and an Anglerfish remote flash trigger attached to the tripod and connected to the strobe under test via a fibre optic cable. Pictures were taken at equal distances from the tripod.
Underwater review and strobe comparison: For all underwater tests we used a Sony A6300 mirrorless camera with a generic noTTL external trigger, Sigma 19mm/2.8, Nauticam WWL-1 wet lens and Nauticam housing
Caption: Test set-up.
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We tested the following configurations: • • • • • •
D-Max at maximum power D-Max at maximum power with D100 diffuser Retra Flash Pro at maximum power Retra Flash Pro at maximum power with wide-angle diffuser Retra Flash Pro at maximum power with shark diffuser Retra Flash Pro at maximum power with reduction ring
Camera settings were the following and remained unchanged throughout the test: ISO 100 / 1/250s / f16
Caption: D-Max at full power with D100 diffuser.
The idea here was to isolate the bright beam of the strobes from the natural light present at the fairly shallow dive site. We then edited the images in Adobe Lightroom by dropping the shadows to -100 and boosting overall exposure to further enhance the beam produced by the strobes against the faint ambient light. Caption: Retra Flash Pro at full power without accessories.
Caption: D-Max at full power without diffuser
Caption: Retra Flash Pro at full power with beam restrictor
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both strobes use circular flash tubes and reflectors, a design which is well-known for producing nice, even illumination even without diffusers. These tests also show the versatility of the Retra Flash Pro when combined with different accessories.
Caption: Retra Flash Pro at full power with wide-angle diffuser. The 500K decrease in colour temperature is noticeable.
Caption: Retra Flash Pro at full power with shark diffuser. The further decrease in colour temperature (-1000K compared to stock) is very noticeable, as is the lower output. In the images it is possible to evaluate the global intensity of illumination, and the quality of the light beam.
The reduction ring is very effective at providing a sharp edge to the beam, which is useful for certain techniques whereas both diffusers we used here provide a warmer light, which will help at producing beautiful blue water in the background in tropical conditions. The Retra Flash Pro emerges as the winner in this first test. It features the more even beam and in the centre is about 0.2 stops more powerful than the D-Max. At this point in the review it is apparent that the 250Ws output claimed by Scubalamp cannot be verified. Real life output will be below the Retra Flash Pro’s claimed 150Ws. The D-Max does still produce a pleasing and powerful beam. We also ran a quick side-by-side test with a D-Max strobe on one side and a Retra Flash Pro on the other to see at which power level the Retra would best match the D-Max’s maximum power. At 75%, the Retra Flash Pro roughly matches the output of the D-Max at full power, with the D-Max perhaps being a little bit brighter, which falls in line with our more artificial testing scenario above.
The Retra Flash Pro is the strobe with the higher global intensity and a very good angle of coverage, even without diffusers. In fact the diffuser does not appear to increase the beam angle in any meaningful way and simply softens the beam further, particularly towards the edge. This is valid also for the D-Max, where the diffuser D100 doesn’t increase the beam angle, but simply softens the light while reducing the output a little. These results are not at all surprising, as
Caption: Scubalamp D-Max (left) at full power vs. Retra Flash Pro (right) at 100% power.
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The D-Max was also equipped with a freshly charged battery pack. All three strobes were triggered by fibre-optic cables. Maximum burst rate We first tested the maximum burst rate at minimum power.
Caption: Scubalamp D-Max (left) at full power vs. Retra Flash Pro (right) at 75% power
Caption: Scubalamp D-Max (left) at full power vs. Retra Flash Pro (right) at 50% power
Recycle time and continuous shooting Our second test focused on verifying Scubalamp’s extremely impressive claimed recycle times and compare the real-world values to the Retra Flash Pro. We conducted this test in a bucket filled with water, in which the strobes were placed to avoid overheating them. We used two Retra Flash Pros: one without and one with the optional Supercharger accessory. Both Retra Pros were equipped with freshly charged, brand new Eneloop Pro batteries.
All three configurations (D-Max, Retra Pro with/ without Supercharger) were able to continuously fire at 8fps for about 5 seconds, after which we stopped the test. The Retra Flash Pro without Supercharger did display a “charging” light so would not be able to keep up forever whereas the one equipped with the Supercharger remained in a “ready” state. We are struggling to think of a scenario where anything more than a couple of seconds of shooting at 8fps would be at all useful though. In the specifications of the D-Max, Scubalamp claim “15 frames high speed continuous shooting at 1st mode. 12 frames at 2nd mode”. We took this to be 15 and 12 frames per second, which we could not verify, as the D-Max would occasionally miss frames at 10fps, the highest frame rate the Nikon D500 we used for this test can achieve. After further clarification from Scubalamp, it appears that they referred to 15 and 12 continuous frames at 7fps. However, as that 7fps burst rate is mentioned nowhere on the spec sheet, these claims are somewhat confusing, if not misleading. Recycle time at maximum power To determine the recycle time at maximum power our initial plan was to fire the strobes and record a video of the back of the units to see when the ready lights would indicate readiness to fire again. It was at this stage that we realized that the LED on the back of the D-Max was not, in fact, a ready light but instead nothing more than a “power on” and battery level indicator. This meant that we had to adjust our testing meth-
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od. For the Retra Flash Pro we did use the technique outlined above, determining the exact recycle time in a video editing programme by measuring the time between the flash and the status LED changing colour over several runs. For this test we used one flash with and one flash without the Supercharger. The results were as follows: Recycle time at maximum power: Retra Flash Pro without Supercharger: 4 – 4.6s Retra Flash Pro with Supercharger: 1.7 – 2s The Supercharger proves to be a great improvement over the otherwise sluggish recycle times of the Retra Flash Pro and therefore greatly improves real-life usability of the strobe. Even with the Supercharger the Retra Flash Pro is by no means a fast strobe though. For the D-Max we first tested the claimed 0.5s recycle time by setting the camera to fire at 2fps. This resulted in three successful flashes and then six frames during which the strobes did not fire (amounting to 3 seconds), followed by three successful flashes and so on. To determine the maximum continuous firing rate of the flash we used a metronome app to fire at different intervals as accurately as possible, as the camera does not provide a way of triggering at less than 1fps, which was still a little too fast to see the D-Max fire consistently. The D-Max would reliably fire once every 1.5 seconds. While we could not confirm the claimed recycle time of 0.5s at maximum power the D-Max still achieved very impressive results. Being able to shoot three images at full power in just 1.5 seconds can make a huge difference in fast-paced situations. However, continuous shooting at 0.5 second intervals
(as the spec sheet would suggest) is not possible. It should also be noted that the D-Max does not fire at all when not ready to do so. In comparison the Retra Flash Pro will always fire when triggered. While this will not result in an accurate exposure when the flash has not yet fully recycled, it might still produce a salvageable result so is the preferred behaviour. Maximum number of flashes on a single charge Our third comparative test focused on the number of flashes each model can produce on a single charge. Once again Scubalamp’s claims are very impressive. We conducted this test in a bucket filled with water, in which the strobes were placed to avoid overheating them. We used two Retra Flash Pros: one without and one with the optional Supercharger accessory. Both Retra Pros were equipped with freshly charged, brand new Eneloop Pro batteries. The D-Max was also equipped with a freshly charged battery pack. The strobes were set to maximum power and fired in intervals of around 15-25 seconds until they would not fire any more and this test was repeated three times. The average results were as follows: Number of flashes on a single charge at maximum power: Retra Flash Pro without Supercharger: 172 flashes Retra Flash Pro with Supercharger: 431 flashes D-Max: 762 flashes The values for the Retra Flash Pro are well above Retra’s claims of 150 without and 350 with the Supercharger. As mentioned previously the Supercharger is a must-have accessory for wide-angle shooting in our opinion. The huge improvement in number of flashes will get most people during a full day of diving.
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The D-Max achieves the claimed amount of flashes on a single charge, which is an extremely impressive feat! In fact, using a Sony A6300 to trigger the strobe the camera’s battery had to be swapped before the strobe’s battery died! Real-world impressions Scubalamp D-Max We tested the D-Max on five dives in the La Paz area. The strobes feel great and perform very well. The quality of light is good, with an excellent uniformity (especially when used with the D100 diffuser) and pleasing colours. The texture and tone of the images look great.
Caption: Coral head taken with two Scubalamp D-Max. Sony A6300, Sigma 19mm f/2.8, Nauticam WWL-1, 1/160th, f/11, ISO320
The fast recycle time allows for rapid shooting of fast-moving subjects, greatly increasing the user’s chances of catching the peak of the action. Usability is very good, and during the five dives the strobes worked as expected. The high maximum power helps a lot in high contrast situations, like when the sun is behind the subject and the aperture needs to be closed. Overall they are a big step up from something like Sea&Sea’s YS-D2Js.
Caption: Octopus taken with two Scubalamp D-Max. Sony A6300, Sigma 19mm f/2.8, Nauticam WWL-1, 1/160th, f/10, ISO250 Retra Flash Pro Hannes has been able to shoot the Retra Flash Pro for the better part of a year now. The quality of light is exceptional to the point where using diffusers seems unnecessary most of the time. They are really only necessary in very close-focus situations or when an even warmer colour temperature is desirable.
Caption: Sea fan taken with two Scubalamp D-Max. Nikon D500, Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye @ 10mm, 1/250th, f/20, ISO125
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The standard colour temperature of 4900K is ideal in the kind of blue water we get here in La Paz during most of the year and during the very best months, the warming diffusers help bring out that rich blue even better. In terms of usability, the strobes are excellent and a huge upgrade over Hannes’ previous Inon Z-240 strobes. The different lengths of the dials allow for simply feeling for the right one without looking even without any muscle memory. They could click in place a little better though as it is possible to leave the dial between two positions. The Retra Flash Pro is plenty powerful even for bright daylight shooting in shallow waters, as is often the case in the waters around the Baja California peninsula. Starting out without the Supercharger the limitations in recycle time and battery autonomy became very apparent. Using the Supercharger, however, has improved things to a very acceptable level, even when being surrounded by playful sea lions that move at lightning speed Caption: Sea fans taken with two Retra Flash Pro. Nikon D500, Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye @ 10mm, 1/250th, f/20, ISO160 All in all the Retra Flash Pro is a fantastic device. The quality of light is outstanding. The amount of light produced is remarkable given its small size and when using the Supercharger recycle times are reasonable even at higher power. Innovative new features set these strobes apart from the crowd and make them feel more like something produced in the smartphone age.
Caption: Starry grouper taken with two Retra Flash Pro. Nikon D500, Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye @ 17mm, 1/125th, f/10, ISO200
To get a more powerful upgrade to this strobe one has to pay almost double the price so as far as value for money goes the Retras are easy to recommend.
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Caption: Sea turtle taken with two Retra Flash Pro. Nikon D500, Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye @ 14mm, 1/250th, f/10, ISO320 Comparison We have also produced a couple of similar images over the course of two days to provide a more “apples-to-apples” comparison between the two strobes. While the Retra Flash Pro does provide a slightly more pleasing light, the D-Max is not far off and does produce beautiful illumination as well. It does, however, produce slightly less pleasing water colours than the Retra.
Caption: Two D-Max with D100 diffusers. (top), Two Retra Flash Pro with wide-angle diffusers (bottom). Taken 24 hours apart.
Conclusions We have reviewed and compared two of the most exciting new additions to the underwater flash market: the Retra Flash Pro and the D-Max from Scubalamp. The D-Max features a bright beam with a very good quality of light and excellent coverage. It has class-leading battery autonomy.
Caption: Side-by-side comparison: Two D-Max strobes with D100 diffusers (left) vs. two Retra Flash Pro with wide-angle diffusers (right). Taken 24 hours apart.
Unfortunately the global output power is not even close to what is being advertised, but instead appears to fall a few Watt-seconds short of the Retra Flash Pro.
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Recycle times are very impressive, albeit not quite reaching the claimed values. The handling underwater is also good, with just some minor details like the upside-down labels that make reading the power level just a tad more awkward. The lack of pre-flash cancellation is a potentially severe shortcoming as could be the unsealed battery compartment. Overall it is a great first offering of a company that has previously only produced torches and can certainly be improved on significantly by accessories and in future iterations of the design. Warming diffusers or beam restrictors for example would make fantastic accessories. In this comparison however, the Retra Flash Pro emerges as the winner. It is an overall more mature product and really shows how much Retra have involved underwater photographers in the development of the product in both small details as well as its main features.
The Supercharger somewhat closes this gap and is a great improvement, but still won’t allow for similar battery performance. It should be noted that Retra have just announced an updated version of the Retra Flash: The Retra Flash Pro/Prime X, which features up to 25% faster recycle times and up to 20% more flashes per charge, thanks to an optimized flash triggering system. This is according to Retra of course, so time will tell if these claims can be verified. Nevertheless, any improvements of these two factors would be greatly appreciated and could lift this fantastic strobe to even higher levels of praise. FTTC disclosure: Retra Flash Pros were purchased for personal use by Hannes Klostermann. Scubalamp D-Max were purchased by Giacomo Rossi at a discounted price for evaluation of the new product and further personal use.
The quality of light is gorgeous even without using diffusers and a whole range of accessories can be used to modify the light to suit the photographer’s vision. Light output is a big upgrade over previous generation strobes and the addition of HSS allows for even more creative use. The only weakness of this strobe is at the same time one of its strengths: the use of standard AA batteries. While it is comforting to know that wherever in the world you are, you will almost always be able to find a replacement should one fail, the power requirements of such a high performance strobe really show the limitations of this type of battery. Recycle times are fairly slow and the number of flashes produced on a single charge falls far short of what the D-Max can offer.
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the perfect choice for the traveling underwater photographer
w e NDS51 STROBE www.ikelite.com
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Quad Dive Computer by
Mares
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MAGNIFICENTLY CLEAR DISPLAY WITH JUMBO SIZE INFORMATION TWO CUSTOMIZABLE FIELDS FOR ANCILLARY INFORMATION FOUR BUTTONS FOR INTUITIVE USER INTERFACE MIRRORED BUTTON FUNCTION DURING DIVE OPTION TO VIEW DIVE TIME INCLUDING SECONDS RUNAWAY DECO ALARM MULTIGAS CAPABLE DECOMPRESSION DIVE PLANNER WITH USER ADJUSTABLE SURFACE INTERVAL LONG BATTERY LIFE, USER REPLACEABLE DOES NOT INCLUDE INTERFACE AND SOFTWARE FOR DOWNLOADING TO PC
Facts Code: 414134 Max Displayed Depth: Memory capacity: Profile Sampling Rates: Stopwatch: Display: Battery Power Indicator: Plan Mode: Choice of Metrical/I mperial Units: Fresh and Seawater Settings: Residual Nitrogen Reset: User Replaceable Batteries: Option To Exclude Audible Alarm: Exclusion of “Uncontrolled Ascent”: Ascent Rate Digital Indicator (m/min ft/min): Altitude Adjustment: Gas switching:
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150m / 492ft 38hr 5s Yes Segment Display Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Technologies Mineral Glass Display. Tempered glass with superior scratch resistance and improved readability in all diving conditions and viewing angles. Gas Switching Setting the computer to include one or more oxygen enriched - gases (up to 99%) in addition to your main gas; allow you to benefit from shorter decompression times by switching gases during the dive.
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Software Upgradeability. Keep your dive computer up-todate with the latest Mares developments. Segment Display Needle-sharp information combined with intelligent placement of information for easiest readability.
Puerto Galera - Oriental Mindoro - Philippines
Share your passion for diving wishlist exploring the magical underwater world of Puerto Galera. This fabulous destination offers the perfect mix of diving and culture, hiding surprises for even the most expert of divers in its unique biodiversity and colourful marine creatures. An ideal destination for macro photographers.
www.fishermenscove.com
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+63 917 533 2985
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info@fishermenscove.com
The
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FILIPPO BORGHI www.instagram.com/filippoborghi5
Filippo Borghi was born in Siena on 25-07-1973, CMAS diver instructor and founder member of Sensation Blu di Siena diving club, he began to photograph in 1995 in the waters of the Mediterranean, from sea lover and passionate sub every occasion is good to go in water and consequently to photograph. This passion then leads him to visit many of the most famous and sometimes remote sunken paradises of the world (Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Sudan, Madagascar, South Africa, Mozambique, Australia, Papua, Ecuador, Mexico) and try to show every time through his lens the wonders of this world, inviting people to love and respect and explore it! He collaborates and has collaborated with several trade magazines both in Italy and abroad and many of his photos are published in different international catalogs of nature photography (Scuba diver, Asferico, Underwater world, The subaqueo, AQUA, MonthPhoto, SIPA, OceanGeographic and many others) Over the years he has received many awards through the most important international photography contest
PADI master scuba diving training instructor IANTD full cave diver IANTD advanced nitro diver 21 years scuba diving as a full time job Over 10000 dives
LUIS J. SANDOVAL www.instagram.com/luisjaviersandoval
ASFERICO plant and fungi winner ASFERICO runner up and highly commented several times OASIS PHOTO CONTEST Plant and fungi category winner OASIS PHOTO CONTEST runner up and highly commented several times BBC WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR category winner 2013 and 2016 OCEAN ART runner up in wide angle category OCEAN GEOGRAPHIC highly commented portfolio in David Doubilet category VERASUB shootout runner up in wide angle category RAMON BRAVO shootout winner 3 times in a row TED talk speaker the conference was “UW photography as a conservation tool” Part of filming crew for documentary in Cocos and water pollution y Mex Caribbean for Ocean blue tree foundation Head photographer for expedition for the Mexican golf for green peace
The
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ELLEN CUYLAERTS www.ellencuylaerts.com
Ellen Cuylaerts relocated from Belgium to the Cayman Islands in 2009. And recently to UK. She has a master’s degree in modern history and education. After a career in IT she home schooled her 2 gifted teenagers and took up scuba diving in June 2011. Soon she became a Master Scuba Diver and combined it with photographing the wonders of the underwater world. Ellen's main drive is shooting images that contribute to achieving goals in conservation of marine life and education about the importance of our oceans, and to capture the hearts and the will-to-act before it's too late. Her basic concern is the decay of the oceans by pollution, overfishing, the brutal act of shark finning and dolphin and whale slaughtering. Ellen has received numerous awards for her pictures and was the 2013 World Champion in the yearly online underwater photo competition 'underwaterphotography.com. Ellen’s work kan be seen in exhibitions in Paris, St. Petersburg, Valencia, Marseille and New York. June 2017 she addressed heads of State on World Oceans Day at the General Assembly of the United Nations highlighting the plight of photographers and filmmakers engaging in protection of the oceans. She curates the UN WOD Photo competition and developed a Charter of commitments regarding ethics for UNWOD and Unesco/IOC. As a Fellow Explorer International she became a member of the Flag & Honors Committee of the Explorers Club, having a front seat at future explorations! Since 2018 she loves to dive in the silence of caves and in 2019 she was inducted in the Women Divers hall of Fame.
Born in 1972, in the Canary Islands, Tenerife, he has spent his entire life around the sea as an islander, diver since he was 16 years old, CMAS Instructor, Rebreather Advanced Mixed Gas Diver, free diver, and underwater photographer since 1998. He develops his activity mainly in the Canary Islands, especially in open blue waters between the islands of Tenerife, Gomera and El Hierro, spending much of his time searching for pelagic life in the blue water through the wide-angle fisheye. He also practices the specialty of macro photography but especially when he travels outside the Canary Islands. He has accumulated a large number of awards in almost all the photographic contests held annually in different parts of the world such as Deep Indonesia, OWU, Ocean Art, Festisub, Adex Voice of the Ocean, World Shoot Out Israel, UW photo Challenger China, Ocean EDUARDO ACEVEDO Geography Australia , Big Picture Competition, EZ Diver competition, www.facebook.com/eduardo.acevedofernandez.1 UPY Great Britain, Ocean view California,… ..etc.
The
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JEROME KIM underwaterphotography.com
MARCO COLOMBO www.calosoma.it
Born and raised in Korea, Jerome Kim has been based in the Philippines for the last 22 years. He considers Anilao and Romblon as his most favorite dive spot in the whole Coral Triangle because of the great macro opportunities. He’s been traveling many diving destinations in abroad such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Maldives, Palau, Thailand and Taiwan etc for different kind of subject hunting. He is a professional architect who considers underwater photography as a hobby but he enjoys it immensely. He is able to translate his skills as an architect into designing the perfect shot underwater. He won more than 70+ awards from UW competitions in Korea, Philippines and International. He was a featured Photographer on magazines such as Scubadivers, Scubanet, Underwater World, Sea&Sea Magazine, EZDIVE, Underwaterphotography.com, Scubashooters.net e-Mag, Underwater Macro Photographers e-Mag, UWPhotographers, DivePhotoGuide.com, Divers Alert. His works are published on South China Morning Post (H.K), Washington Post, Divers Alert (US), Manila Bulletin, Inquirer (Phil), Chosun, Dongah (Korea), and published on more than 30+ Magazines and Newspapers He has been invited as VIP speaker to several prestige dive shows such as DRT, ADEX, SPOEX and TDEX He has been judging panels of World Oceans Day Competition by United Nation, Asia UW Photo Challenge by EZDIVE, Drangon Cup by UWPIXEL, Okinawa Masterclass by Okinawa Tourism, Green Island UW Competition by Taiwan Tourism, UWMP competition and more. He starts and co-organized Anilao UW Photo Competition with Department of Tourism of the Philippines for 3 years and it become one of the most successful UW competition events in the world now. He also organized Okinawa Master Class and Underwater Dreamtour.
Naturalist, photographer and science communicator Environmental guide, scubadiving master and TV scientific consultant, he is graduated in Natural Sciences; his photographs and articles have been published on several magazines, such as BBC Wildlife, Nat'Images, Unterwasser, Focus Wild, Naturfoto, Ezdive e Ocean Geographic. Among his books, we underline Paludi e squame – Rettili e anfibi d’Italia (2014), I tesori del fiume (2016) e Paesaggi bestiali (2019). Regularly involved in lectures on biology and photography, he exposed his shots in exhibitions all around Italy and Europe. In 2007 he discovered a new spider species in Sardinia. Many of his shots received awards in main competitions as Asferico, GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Festival Mondial de l'Image Sous-Marine and Wildlife Photographer of the Year (category winner in 2011-2016-2018). He thinks curiosity, creativity and respect should drive photographers in their works.
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Entries accepted from 11th May 2021 till 30th June 2021 PORTFOLIO MACRO DSLR WIDEANGLE DSLR MACRO COMPACT CAMERA WIDEANGLE COMPACT CAMERA BLACKWATER SHARKS AND CETACEANS CONSERVATION
www.deepvisions.photo
ATLANTIS RESORT: 1 week b&b plus diving package BAJA UNDERWATER EXPEDITIONS: 3 days expedition in Bahia Magdalena plus dives AGUSTA RESORT - RAJA AMPAT: 1 week full board for 1 pax + diving package FISHERMEN’S COVE - PUERTO GALERA: 1 week full board for 1 pax + diving package YOS DIVE LEMBEH: 1 week full board for 1 pax + diving package CRYSTAL BLUE RESORT - ANILAO: 1 week full board for 1 pax + diving package ONONG RESORT - SILADEN: 1 week full board for 1 pax + diving package DHARAVANDHOO DIVERS - MALDIVE: 1 week cruise full board for 1 pax + diving package MACANA MALDIVES: 1 week CRUISE full board for 1 pax + diving package GIO-SIM: 50% discount on the purchase of a DSLR housing IKELITE: 2x DS51 strobes BINTANG DIVERS - BALI: 10 dives package FISHERMEN’S COVE - PUERTO GALERA: 10 dives package
BUBBLES DIVE CLUB - SHARM: 10 dives package BUBBLES DIVE CLUB - SHARM: 10 dives package INDIGO SCUBA - SOUTH AFRICA: 10 dives package
rize ane
FLEXARM: setup 4 carbon fiber arms and 6 clamps DIVE SYSTEM: 50% discount on the purchase of a dive computer i3XM SCUBALAMP: 50% discount on the purchase of one D-Max Strobe SCUBALAMP: 50% discount on the purchase of one D-Max Strobe (2) INON: UWL-95 C24 wideangle lens - Marco Polo DC: Nitrox course + 2 dives package ANILAO PHOTO ACADEMY: 4 blackwater dives package CENTRO SUB MONTE CONERO: 2 dives package PUNTA CAMPANELLA DC: 4 dives package SUBAIA: 4 dives package INON: LE600H torch INON: M67 selfie set S MARES: Quad dive computer UMIUMI: 3 pairs of carbon fiber arms (S/M/L) plus one tripod MARCO POLO DC: 4 dives package ISOTTA: 200€ voucher NAUTISMART: 5 universal smartphone housings C.I. COSTA D’ARGENTO: 4 dives package FOTOSUB SHOP: 2 carbon fiber Nauticam arms ORCATORCH: D530V snoot dive light EASYDIVE: 100€ value voucher (minimum purchase 200€) NIMAR: one flash trigger- SEAC - snorkeling sets
Travels
Anilao Photo Academy
A Home For Macro UWP Words and pictures: Enrico Somogyi
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If you are a beginner you can join a Workshop by Tim Ho.
If you love to, or want to, take incredible underwater macro photography pictures then this is the place for you!
“Tim Ho broke down the fundamentals of UW photography in easily digestable building blocks and reinforced with practical “tutorials” during the practise dives. He demonstrated the application of these fundamentals across the camera system we used.”
verybody who loves underwater macro Photography knows Anilao , the macro live capital in the Philippines. Its very easy to go there from Manila. One special place in Anilao is the Anilao Photo Academy.
Its not only for beginners in underwater photography. Also experienced ,professionals and award winning Underwater Photographers loves the familiar Ambience and they’re experience. Led by Tim Ho and Rina Yumol Jones, you have access to infinite photography experience and expertise.
You can even try out different equipment configurations from their extensive collection at no charge. In the evening Wayne Jones come by and you can ask him about editing and blackwater diving. He is also a multi award winning Underwater Photographer and has a big portfolio from incredible Blackwater Pictures.
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plenty of divesites. Like the famous secret bay, sunview, heydis point to name a few. Just tell what you want, and what creature you try to shoot. The Spotter will do the Best to make you happy.
Want to try blackwater or bonfire photography? No Problem! The “Divesite” its just 3min(200m) away and you are in the Blackwater Heaven. If you want make 3 Blackwater dives in the Night you can do this! If you wan`t take a night dive, there is the Anilao Pier just 5min away. I did my best night dive there. Hairy Frogfish, Bobbit Worm, Mototi Octopuss, Reef and Bobtail Squid and many more you can find
The rooms are spacious, air-conditioned with two nice workstations for setting up your UW camera gear.Rooms are quiet,cleaned daily and staff are ready to assist if you need them.The food is plentiful. There are big rinse tanks for the camera gear and plenty of work stations for the camera gear in the common area with air pressure functionality. When they are at close to full capacity there are boats leaving in the morning at 30 minutes intervall which makes the morning routine run smoothly.
In the Daytime you go out for two dives and comeback for the Lunch. The Divesites are 5-50min away. If you want shoot wide-angle there is a divesite called Sombrero which is 1hour by Boat and the island looks like a Hood. Also “Kirbys Rock” has nice Wide-angle opportunities.
How they organized the Black water dives was also good and smooth. The ratio of 1 dive guide(spotter) per 2 divers is perfect.
But when you go to Anilao, normaly you go there for the macro stuff. And there are
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With your own dedicated spotter to find the macro creatures you are seeking and help you with lighting, holding a snoot, camera settings etc. you’ll be taking those pictures you’ve always dreamed of.
The food is very good. Everyone is friendly and eager to please. This is an underwater macro photography resort and nothing else. If you love to dive and take pictures like me, you won’t do better than this. For a Reservation you can contact Rina Jumol Jones. But be fast ,the Anilao Photo Academy its not a secret anymore ;)
Their staffs, boatmen, DMs, are all excellent, friendly and helpful. All the time Rina and Tim will make sure you feel at home and check if you need anything else. I have never had the pleasure of having my expectations so vastly exceeded.
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Review
A New Partnership PADI and
We’re excited to be collaborating with
PADI to help share your incredible imagery with more divers across the globe!
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UMIUMI carbon arms Carbon, Corrosion resistant aluminum alloy
3size
different
L (Dia): 27 x (L)333mm 103 gr
M (Dia): 27 x (L)233mm 90 gr
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S (Dia): 27 x (L)133mm 76 gr
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Review
The Amazing Nautismart Pro WWW.NAUTISMART.NET
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Review
I
n recent times one of the news that struck me more was when I read Olympus shutting down and completely dismantling the compact camera branch of the factory. Wow, what a big news for a big event! Not many years ago the compact cameras was probably the most profitable market for cameras manufacturers like Olympus so
how come they came to such an halt on this production line? The answer is very simple of course: smartphones! Soon after their launch on the market back in the 90s mobile phones have been equipped with on board cameras for messaging purpose and few less applications, but as years went by and smartphones started
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to peep on the market better performing cameras started to show up on these products. I still remember my first digital camera. It was of course a compact camera, a Sony DSCP1, 3mega pixels CMOS sensor, 16 Megabyte memory stick, and ... What a wonderful photos that small camera was able to deliver!
No wonder Olympus decided to shut the compact cameras branch down, no wonder at all. I have been an underwater photographer since dive number one. My dive number one after the OWD certification course took place in Sharm el Sheik in Egypt back in 2001 and yes, my Underwater photography gear was the Sony DSCP1 I mentioned before, in its Sony , specific Underwater camera housing, I remember I made terrible photos!
Now, in this very moment while I’m writing this article there’s a commercial on TV showing one of the latest Smartphone on the market... 108 mega pixels and 512 Gigabyte memory..
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So I have been observing this market since its beginning and when I noticed the great improvement smartphone cameras were going through I predicted the advent of the smartphones in underwater photography.
But I believed that so much that I developed the idea and asked for a Patent, later obtained , for this application; it was 2015. At that moment we were already running the scubashooters network so we envisioned a mission...
It was 2014 and when I started sharing my view on the future inside the world of UW photographers I was nearly bullied as no one believed this could ever become an option.
The mission is to enable underwater photography mode for everybody at an affordable price .
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Well , not only underwater photography but also any kind of activity involving some action and wet environment.As it has already been explained the Nautismart pro was first conceived we did it bearing in mind that nowadays smartphones are equivalent to compact cameras and will surely be better in the near future... Action cams were also taken into consideration, especially their price, the need to update them and the lengthy process of transferring big size movies from the cam to another device... is totally un necessary as photos and videos are already resident in your device memory ready to be edited and shared.
When you use Nautismart in conjunction with your smartphone the transfer process
We also took into consideration the average time before upgrading a smartphone; it is slightly over one year and yes, with Nautismart Pro you can upgrade your smartphone as often as you wish and still be able to use it in conjunction with your Nautismart... Or you can share Nautismart for use among the members of your family or with your friends. In other words Nautismart pro has been imagined for maximum safety, flexibility and economy. Get it and you will not regret! Nautismart pro is the best Smart case for smartphones ant it’s made in Italy! Last but not latest, there’s another positive outcome... UW photography is no doubt an amazing tool for scientists to monitor the health of the Ocean, the movements of alien species across the seven seas and the degree of pollution of the waters. But unfortunately, there are few UW photographers compared to the number of divers around the world... With Nautismart Pro, nearly every diver, snorkeler, swimmer and sun bather has the potential to become an Ocean reporter. One more, good , reason to get yourself a Nautismart Pro
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Biology
Whitetip Reef Shark Stick In The Mud
Words and Pictures: Emilio Mancuso
Biology
Biological introduction It is probably the most common and easily observable shark in the entire Red Sea. The “Triaenodon obesus”, better known as the white-tip shark, is a shark in all respects and, as such, it has its great ecosystem importance and, to make it more special than you might think, is the only representative of the Triaenodon genus. Recognizable especially from the white tip of the first dorsal fin and of the caudal, as well as from the wide and squared muzzle and the almost triangular shape particularly, in the majority of cases, when it’s seen from above. The white tip reaches 2 meters in length, although very often it is smaller. “How deep…” Very sedentary and “stick-in-the-mud” shark, we categorize it among “those who... look at the reef” though actually it just looks at it very closely. Most of the time, in fact, we see it solitary or in small groups resting on the reef, from a few meters of water up to about 40 meters deep, while at night it shows its most active behavior by going hunting for small fish and crustaceans.
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Curiosity It seems hard to believe, but often the white tip is mistaken with the oceanic whitetip. In English, though, the difficult ambiguity remains: white-tip reef shark and oceanic white-tip shark. Yet, observing them thoroughly, both the color and the behavior (not to mention the nearly two meters of difference in maximum size) make the two sharks very different from each other ... But speaking of sharks, you know that often comes out of the most irrational side of the human being... How to approach them It has probably already been written in other tabs, but this must become a sort of Tibetan mantra that every diver must remember: never swim against it; never fall upon it from above. If it rests on the bottom, get very close to the bottom itself and approach slowly, maintaining a distance so to not disturb the animal. In case the shark is swimming, especially if at night, do not force it to sudden changes of direction that would certainly bother the shark, and could be misinterpreted by the over-zealous diver.
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Crystal Blue Resort~Anilao
Dedicated to Underwater Photographers Worldwide • • • • • • • •
Nitrox 32 Chef Prepared Meals On-Sight Photo Pro Camera Room Workshops Highly Skilled Spotters 4:1 boat loads Rental Gear
Contact Mike@DiveCBR.com saltwaterphoto@live.com
INTO THE
DEEP
Y OUR DREAMS OF
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Ficarella-Diving-Club-Saline-Joniche-rc-Italy
Explore Cape Town’s top dive sites
Macro Life
Kelp Forests
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Nudibranchs
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Review
Trash Waste Solution Stop Plastic Waste
Words and pictures: Klaus Schnappenberger
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Trash Waste Solutions and Celebes Divers as partners in a new type of project in the sustainable control and recycling of garbage and plastic on the idyllic island of Siladen in the Bunaken National Park - Manado
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rash Waste Solutions (TWS) is a non-profit association founded in 2019 with its headquarters in Switzerland. Our vision is to free the underwater world from garbage and to protect it sustainably. We want to understand the bigger picture of the problem and get to the root of it. We want to prevent further waste entering the environment by recycling the waste in a circular economy and avoiding it at the source.
The solutions should be planned together with the local population and administered by them and supported financially and structurally by our NGO in Switzerland. Our project starts in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, where the beautiful marine life needs immediate protection. To this end, we have developed concepts for complete material cycles (plastics, compost, metal, not metals, etc.) and bring holistic disci-
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plines with us, such as training in environmental awareness and generating jobs on site in the recycling industry. In Switzerland we coordinate events to raise environmental awareness, such as diving for trash in lakes and rivers, and take part in clean-
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up campaigns. In the medium-term / long-term, we would like to develop holistic zero waste concepts that significantly reduce the amount of waste that has been generated so far, as far as possible no more waste ends up in
Review
landfills and recycle the waste that arises, i.e. adding the material cycle as a secondary product (recycling and / or organic recovery). To this end, synergies between actors at all levels (civil society, private sector and politics) are promoted. As a target area for our first project, we have chosen a small island called Siladen near Manado (Indonesia / North Sulawesi). Siladen is a beautiful island in the heart of the Coral Triangle in Indonesia and is one of the many islands in the Bunaken National Park, which was designated a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2020. It is one of the most popular diving hot spots in the region. The island is surrounded by a coral reef full of life, with a wide variety of sea turtles, all types of corals, nudibranchs, algae, tropical fish and even some reef sharks to be seen in the area. The beaches are often used by the turtles for nesting. The basis is the feasibility study (AS-IS study) by Trash Waste Solutions, which was developed by the core team with a 3-month stay in Indonesia. Also important is the master’s thesis `Approaches to reduce marine litter - a baseline study in the pilot region of North Sulawesi, Indonesia` (2018, Julia Giebel / Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal), an East Java recycling report from Holland and the support of the Sam Ratulangi University in Manado.
As the first sub-component of our project in North Sulawesi, we deal with the recycling of plastic waste. Hard plastic packaging in particular has a high volume in the environment and on beaches and is comparatively easy to recycle. In the first step, before we can conceptualize and scale up complete material cycles (plastics, compost, metal, not metals, etc.), we build a small pilot plant for the material recycling of plastics. For the pilot plant, we use the open-source idea from Precious Plastics, in particular the shredder and extruder components. Precious Plastic is an open-source hardware plastic recycling project. The project was started by Dave Hakkens in 2013 and is now in its fourth iteration. It relies on a range of machines and tools that grind, melt and inject recycled HDPE, enabling the creation of new products from recycled plastic on a small scale. All information produced by the project, such as codes, drawings and source materials, is available online free of charge under the Creative Commons License: “Creative Commons
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a diving center. Both are located directly on the beach and are perfect for a relaxing diving and snorkeling vacation.
Attribution - Share Alike International 4.0”. I Concept Precious Plastic As a product, we define the result of a recovery process / recycling product (upcycling), e.g. plastic products or plastic semi-finished products, metal and non-metal intermediate products, composted soil, etc. The product from the precious plastics plant can have different shapes depending of the molding. In our pilot plant we would like to produce bricks for building houses, cottages and walls, see photo below. We use HDPE plastic waste (high-density polyethylene (HDPE / PEHD)) as the base material. Building houses with such bricks has already proven itself in Colombia. Celebes Divers is proud to be a partner in this project Celebes Divers, founded in 2000 by a family of marine biologists, operates 2 resorts on the island of Siladen, the Onong and the Kuda Laut Boutique Dive Resort, both resorts with
Celebes Divers has been focusing on environmental protection for years and has already taken numerous measures to, for example, reduce the amount of waste and minimize the ecological burden on the environment and has been actively involved in sustainability and environmental protection for years. In 2019 Celebes Divers was certified as the first climate-neutral tourism resort in North Sulawesi. Celebes Divers not only wants to involve its employees, but also its guests. With a minimal amount per night and per guest, you can help ensure that further projects in the field of environmental and climate protection can be implemented. Trash Waste Solutions www.trash-waste-solutions.com Markus Kurath Celebes Divers PT www.celebesdivers.com Klaus Schnappenberger Sea Save Foundation has created these fundraisers as a service and are taking zero percent of any funds raised. Please consider helping your favorite crew: https://seasave.org/scubaambassadors/
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Leo3 Plus
Leo3 Wi
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Leo3
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Enjoy your passion. We make it possible.
Via Milano 177/B 37014 Castelnuovo d/G Verona - ITALY 0039 45 6450480 info@isotecnic.it
CENTER OF iNTELLigENCE. EDGE OF PERFORMANCE. • Two customizable fields for ancillary information • Four buttons for intuitive user interface • Mirrored button function during dive • Runaway deco alarm • Multigas capable • Decompression dive planner with user adjustable surface interval • Long battery life, user replaceable Be intelligent. Take the edge of performance.
mares.com
Hannes Klostermann Portfolio
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many of the world’s most exiting diving destinations.
He began his underwater adventures in 2003 in a dark and very cold lake in Germany.
Hannes is currently the resident photographer at The Cortez Club in La Paz, Mexico where he offers all services related to underwater photography: workshops and private guiding, as well as photo shoots.
annes is an award-winning underwater photographer and scuba instructor with a particular passion for capturing images of sharks and other big animals, as well as actively supporting their conservation.
Since then, his travels have taken him to
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匀 吀䄀夀 䤀 一 倀䄀 刀 䄀 䐀 䤀 匀 䔀
䄀 䜀 唀 匀 吀䄀 䤀 匀 䰀 䄀 一 䐀 Ⰰ 刀 䄀 䨀 䄀 䄀 䴀 倀䄀吀Ⰰ 䤀 一 䐀 伀 一 䔀 匀 䤀 䄀 䤀 一 䘀 伀 䀀 䄀 䜀 唀 匀 吀 䄀 刀 䔀 匀 伀 刀 吀⸀ 䌀 伀 䴀 䄀 䜀 唀 匀 吀 䄀 刀 䔀 匀 伀 刀 吀⸀ 䌀 伀 䴀
DAN Europe
Cult Dive
Shark & Yolanda Reef www.daneurope.org
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Location: Red Sea, Egypt. GPS: 27° 43’ 51.03” N 34° 15’ 37.99” E Type of dive: deep, drift. Marine life: the entire food chain, vibrant corals, underwater landscape that will make your head spin. Level: advanced, expert divers. Landscape There’s no need to get in the water to understand why Shark & Yolanda Reef is among the ten most beautiful dive sites in the world, it’s enough to look at a map. The ochre rocks of the desert there plunge down towards the Great Rift Valley that separates the African Plate from the Arabian Plate, thus creating the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. And exactly there, on the Southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, two matching reefs emerge from the abyss, in the point where two gulfs meet: Suez, and Aqaba; each one with its currents, and its endemic species.
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We are located exactly 74 km far from Trieste, near the small town of Kantrida, which is about 5 to 6 km before downtown Rijeka. Our Diving Centre is right under the swimming pools area, directly in front of the open beach. On one side, we are overlooked by Mount Major (Ucka) and on the other, we face the beautiful islands of Krk and Cherso: in brief, we are right inside the Kvarnaro Gulf. Our flagship is wreck diving by boat: three wrecks situated at different depths, each one no farther than maximum 20 minutes boat ride. And there’s more! Our shore dives directly from our Center’s beach offer an easy and colorful training ground for any kind of diving courses. Finally yet importantly, our diamond tip dedicated to macro photography lovers: a wide variety of critters to increase the pleasure of diving.
From our beach, with our boat... ...come with us and enjoy your dive!
www.diving-marcopolo.com
唀渀搀攀爀眀愀琀攀爀 攀砀瀀攀爀椀攀渀挀攀
挀⼀漀 匀琀愀戀椀氀椀洀攀渀琀漀 戀愀氀渀攀愀爀攀 ᰠ匀琀攀氀氀愀 䴀愀爀椀渀愀 渀⸀㜀ᴠ 一甀洀愀渀愀Ⰰ 䤀琀愀氀礀 吀攀氀⸀ ㌀㤀 ㌀㌀㔀 㘀㘀㈀㔀㌀㌀㤀 䔀洀愀椀氀⸀ 椀渀昀漀䀀挀攀渀琀爀漀猀甀戀洀漀渀琀攀挀漀渀攀爀漀⸀挀漀洀 眀眀眀⸀挀攀渀琀爀漀猀甀戀洀漀渀琀攀挀漀渀攀爀漀⸀挀漀洀
3 different accomodation: Sea view; Garden view and Standard Room
Diving in the Bunaken National Marine Park
Diving from the Onong Resort primarily takes place in the Bunaken National Park which is famous for its biodiversity and breathtaking wall dives. Usually diving begins along beautiful cliffs that seem to get lost in the depths, covered by an incredible variety of corals, sponges, and anemones and populated by large schools of fish and many turtles.
You can relax and treat yourself in our spa
Sulawesi Utara - Indonesia E-mail: info@celebesdivers.com / www.onong-resort.com Phone (Indonesia): +62 (0) 813 4154 6880 - Phone (Europe): +41 44 954 0770 (Schweiz)
