Tokina 10-17 vs Sony 10-18 vs AOI 09P

[Lewis88]

I have the UWT trigger and it basically does not work consistently in any mode. It will sync for five or six shots and then no sync and the back again. The strobes fire but the photo is not exposed. I would not purchase one again. I have three of them here, each replaced by warranty, and none of them work all the time, just some of the time. And some of the time is never when the one photo that counts for the trip is taken.

You have the same housing I do, so the Zen mini-dome fits without an adapter direct to the NA6400 Nauticam housing with the Sigma adapter and Tokina? I guess I am getting confused.

Good to know about the UWT Trigger. I will stick to using the built in flash I guess and save the $500.

To use the Tokina on the A6xxx housings, you need 2 items:

1. Nauticam N85 to N120 50mm Port Adaptor II (p/n 36207)
2. Nauticam N120 4.33 inch Acrylic Dome Port for Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye Lens (p/n 18804) - allegedly discontinued
2a. Zen DP100-N120T glass mini dome

The N85 to N120 adapter goes on first with the camera loaded into the housing, then the lens with zoom ring gets mounted to the camera from the front, then the dome port is put on, turned, and locked.

 

[Nemrod]

Good to know about the UWT Trigger. I will stick to using the built in flash I guess and save the $500.

To use the Tokina on the A6xxx housings, you need 2 items:

1. Nauticam N85 to N120 50mm Port Adaptor II (p/n 36207)
2. Nauticam N120 4.33 inch Acrylic Dome Port for Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye Lens (p/n 18804) - allegedly discontinued
2a. Zen DP100-N120T glass mini dome

The N85 to N120 adapter goes on first with the camera loaded into the housing, then the lens with zoom ring gets mounted to the camera from the front, then the dome port is put on, turned, and locked.

The UWT was a huge $$$ disappointment. I tried it with two different cameras with nearly two years apart dates and no joy and three different replacement units. I also sent the first camera back for service thinking it must be a camera fault and nothing was found wrong and it was returned. About 70% of the time the strobes sync with the shutter and the other 30% they do not. And it is random and it occurs no matter the settings, WL or not, manual, TTL, whatever. I have tried it with my D2000 strobes and also with (borrowed) Z240s and S2000 strobes, same result. The 30% out of sync, the strobes are firing on preflash.

You might look into the new USB charging bulkhead so you can recharge between dives without opening the housing. I also have the NLA on board auxillary battery and I bought two batteries. I can run three and four dives but I just ordered the new USB bulkhead from Reef and it shipped today.

I may look at that Turtle LED strobe sync. I am okay with just manual control but even in "hardwired" manual the UWT still looses sync about 30% of the time.

 

[staggsSevin]

I can confirm the uwt trigger is similarly frustrating on my a6600 setup. I started to just use it in manual mode then replaced it with the Nauticam trigger eventually because I moved to just shooting the strobes in manual mode.

Uwt was fine for shooting manual but I wanted to switch to the Nauticam trigger so I didn’t have to worry about messing up the uwt in transit.

I never did buy the uwt when I ran the a6400. I upgraded to the a6600 sometime ago for video (stabilization) but another perk is the a6600 focus’s much quicker with my 90mm lens.

 

[Lewis88]

Well damn, I'm definitely out for the UWT trigger than. I have the turtle trigger for sony (I got it for the original seafrogs housing). Unfortunately it doesn't fit in the Nauticam housing unless you get the mobie, and I'm not crazy about another device to charge and turn off and on. The perks of the UWT was that it was button cell powered, and turned on and off with the camera.

I unfortunately got my A6400 housing too late to where the battery and cable were no longer available.

It looks like the bulkhead is USB-C only? Or is there a micro-b version? Or are you using a C to Micro adapter?

I really like the idea of charging on a liveaboard between dives without opening the housing or releasing vacuum.

 

[Nemrod]

I can confirm the uwt trigger is similarly frustrating on my a6600 setup. I started to just use it in manual mode then replaced it with the Nauticam trigger eventually because I moved to just shooting the strobes in manual mode.

Uwt was fine for shooting manual but I wanted to switch to the Nauticam trigger so I didn’t have to worry about messing up the uwt in transit.

I never did buy the uwt when I ran the a6400. I upgraded to the a6600 sometime ago for video (stabilization) but another perk is the a6600 focus’s much quicker with my 90mm lens.

The UWT trigger worked in (hard wired setting) manual with your A6600 100% of the time? If so what strobes are you running?

Next UW camera is going to be a OM something other. The Sony preflashes always and that is just stupid. Or even a G something other compact because I also hate being limited by flash sync and the G7 has a 1/2000 second X-sync speed.

 

[staggsSevin]

I

The UWT trigger worked in (hard wired setting) manual with your A6600 100% of the time? If so what strobes are you running?

Next UW camera is going to be a OM something other. The Sony preflashes always and that is just stupid. Or even a G something other compact because I also hate being limited by flash sync and the G7 has a 1/2000 second X-sync speed.

Im using z330’s type 1. TTL did not work well for me in W/A hardly at all. Macro it was “ok” but was very hit or miss…found it easier to just to shoot strobes in manual vs the random results that I got out of the uwt

For using the uwt to fire the strobes it worked every time (non-ttl)…just acting as a flash trigger.

I just didn’t have time to fully mess with the uwt’s TTL since I just do a few trips a year. So just took the time to get better at shooting the strobes in manual mode.

My ole rx100/s2000 setup was probably the best ttl setup I’ve used.

 

[Lewis88]

I have very little issues with TTL on my A6100 with YS-110a strobes using the popup flash. I just would like a bit more power, hence why I am looking into D3's as an upgrade.

In good tropical light, I can already typically shoot quite fast without needing to wait for the built in flash to fire.

 

[Nemrod]

Well damn, I'm definitely out for the UWT trigger than. I have the turtle trigger for sony (I got it for the original seafrogs housing). Unfortunately it doesn't fit in the Nauticam housing unless you get the mobie, and I'm not crazy about another device to charge and turn off and on. The perks of the UWT was that it was button cell powered, and turned on and off with the camera.

I unfortunately got my A6400 housing too late to where the battery and cable were no longer available.

It looks like the bulkhead is USB-C only? Or is there a micro-b version? Or are you using a C to Micro adapter?

I really like the idea of charging on a liveaboard between dives without opening the housing or releasing vacuum.

I may have been wrong on this. The Nauticam piece is USB-C so an adapter will be needed to go to USB-mini. That is not big deal as there is plenty of room in the housing (I think). But, what is not accounted for is getting the camera to accept a charge. The Nauticam power packs that came with my housing and which are NLA had a USB to USB mini cable and that cable appears to have a chip or something inside. It seems to fool the camera into charging WHILE ON. So that is what I may (probably) am wrong on. Simply connecting a power pack or charger to the camera USB-mini inlet gets no joy for charging with the camera turned on. And I have not yet verified it will charge with the camera powered off either.

I am still trying to figure this out. There are a variety of adapters but if the power cord must have a chip or resistor to fool the camera? Okay, I am good at mechanical things, when electronics I start struggling, as here.

 

[Lewis88]

From what I understand, the chip in the cable for the NLA battery keeps the battery itself from turning off, even when the camera is full and not pulling current. This is why you can't use a normal off the shelf power bank. It will turn off if no current is drawn, forcing you to to unplug and replug the usb cable. Lots of discussion on wetpixel that the cable is the critical piece to the battery.

There should be zero issues charging the camera itself when off or on, when plugged into the port on the side. This is SOP for the A6100 itself, as it doesn't include an external battery charger in the box. And I charge batteries all the time while in the camera. So there shouldn't be an issue with charging via that bulkhead between dives.

I'm very interested in seeing how the adapter and cable fits in the housing.

 

[Nemrod]

From what I understand, the chip in the cable for the NLA battery keeps the battery itself from turning off, even when the camera is full and not pulling current. This is why you can't use a normal off the shelf power bank. It will turn off if no current is drawn, forcing you to to unplug and replug the usb cable. Lots of discussion on wetpixel that the cable is the critical piece to the battery.

There should be zero issues charging the camera itself when off or on, when plugged into the port on the side. This is SOP for the A6100 itself, as it doesn't include an external battery charger in the box. And I charge batteries all the time while in the camera. So there shouldn't be an issue with charging via that bulkhead between dives.

I'm very interested in seeing how the adapter and cable fits in the housing.

Thanks. My housing is in the hands of FedEx going back for routine service since it has 3+ years and several hundreds of dives. I did get the Nauticam bulkhead and have a USB-C female to USD mini female ordered from Amazon.

Yes, with or without the "special" battery cable, I think the Nauticam USB-C bulkhead plug should work for in between dives charging using an adapter between the camera and the USB-C male plug. There should be room under the camera where the battery pack goes and on the side where the "special" cable goes. Or on top left side where I stow the unused UWT hot shoe. Whichever works best.