I had the pleasure of attending the 31st Asia Dive Expo (ADEX) in Singapore, which saw more than 49,000 attendees over three days, Friday to Sunday, April 4th–6th. As you’d expect, the majority of visitors came on the weekend, making the Friday a bit quieter and giving me the chance to go visit all the underwater imaging gear manufacturers.
It was great to see both first-timers and repeat exhibitors at the show, with Isotta, SUBNOX and X-Adventurer joining the likes of SEACAM, Backscatter, Nauticam, Marelux, AOI, and Weefine, whose booths I covered last year. I also managed to visit a few resorts and liveaboards, some of which are mentioned in the second part of this report.
Between giving a talk, attending a panel, participating in the live judging session for the ADEX Voice of the Ocean Photo+Video+Art Competition, and reporting for DPG, I certainly didn’t have time to get bored! My only regret was not being able to attend more talks, as there was an impressive list of speakers covering a large number of topics across the show’s three stages.
The ADEX Voice of the Ocean 2025 judges (front to back): Kay Burn Lim, William Tan, Kate Jonker, Franco Banfi, Jennifer Hayes, David Doubilet, Tobias Friedrich, Erin Quigley, Berkley White, and myself. During the live judging event, the panel selected the competition’s category winners as well as the “best of show” overall winner
National Geographic photographers David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes deliver a captivating presentation on the main stage at ADEX Ocean Festival 2025
Imaging Booths
Backscatter
The U.S.-based retailer of all things underwater imaging, Backscatter, was my first port of call. While the team are able to bring a huge selection of gear to American shows like DEMA, that’s not practical for ADEX, so they focused on showcasing their own lighting products, optics, housings, and accessories.
Operations Manager Becca Boring showed me a GoPro rig based on Backscatter’s Wide Double Handle and Tray with Arch. The rig featured their Sharp Wide Lens Pro Kit, bundling their wide-angle wet lens with their GoPro mount base with quick-release system (QRS-02) bayonet. This setup can also be used with Backscatter’s MacroMate Mini by adding a lens adapter equipped with the QRS-02 mount.
Becca Boring shows off Backscatter’s Wide Double Handle and Tray with Arch for GoPro. The Sharp Wide Lens Pro, which increases the field of view of your GoPro to 140°, is shown stored on the AOI QRS-02 Mount Base attached to the top of the Arch. Becca is holding a MacroMate Mini and the lens adapter
Aside from displaying their well-known Mini Flash 2 (MF-2) and Hybrid Flash (HF-1), the Backscatter team was demonstrating their brand-new MF-2 and HF-1 excitation filters for fluorescence photography and video
With the new excitation filter mounted, the Hybrid Flash produces blue light capable of making various subjects fluoresce
To capture the fluorescence effect alone, we must get rid of the blue light using a yellow barrier filter in front of our lens, such as the Backscatter FLIP barrier filter for GoPro (top) or a threaded barrier filter (bottom) sold by Backscatter in various sizes (52mm, 55mm, 67mm)
Also on display were different versions of the new Backscatter Smart Control Optical TTL Flash Trigger for the Hybrid Flash and Mini Flash 2. Check out Nicolas Remy’s DPG review of the trigger for Sony cameras in Nauticam housings
Nauticam
It was great catching up with Nauticam’s founder Edward Lai and General Manager Phoebe Lu, and hearing about some exciting devleopments. Nauticam had a range of housings, optics and monitors on display at the show.
From left to right: Nauticam founder Edward Lai, Singapore-based Nauticam shooter Toh Xing Jie, Nauticam General Manager Phoebe Lu, and author Nicolas Remy
For its Nikon Z50 II housing, Nauticam has chosen a fixed flat port, optimized for the Nikon 16–50mm lens. Doing away with a port lock system allowed them to keep the housing very compact, while offering excellent wide-angle and macro capabilities via optional wet optics like the WWL-C (left) and wet diopters such as the MFO-1 (right)
Two new housing releases, for the Panasonic S1RII (left) and the Sony a9 Mark III and a1 mark II (right)
Nauticam introduced me to their new 7-inch monitor, mounted here on their Canon EOS R5 Mark II housing, showing the unique “bug-eye” perspective of the EMWL system
Nauticam’s brand-new 7″ T7 HD UltraBright Monitor is a self-contained package. The monitor is permanently sealed inside its housing, and there’s a side door for charging and accessing the memory card. Nauticam claims an impressive 3000 nits of brightness, and up to six hours of battery life (at default brightness). The monitor comes with a swivel-and-tilt adjustable monitor mount system, which makes it easy to move the monitor in all directions, and even flip it vertically.
SEACAM
A veteran of the ADEX show, SEACAM had a large booth celebrating images from some of their ambassadors, including guests-of-honor David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes. I caught up with founder Harald Hordorsch, who showed me some of their latest gear. SEACAM was also the main sponsor of the ADEX Voice of the Ocean competition, hosted by DPG’s UnderwaterCompetition.com. The grand prize winner received a SEACAM housing worth up to USD10,000!
SEACAM founder Harald Hordorsch (center), pro underwater photographer and SEACAM ambassador Imran Ahmad (right), and Debbie Tan from Escape Inc
SEACAM showed off their new creative tube, which mounts in front of a flat port, from where it creates a circular reflection of the subject, a visual effect appreciated by creative macro photographers. Interestingly, the SEACAM tube can be angled to obtain an oval effect as opposed to the circular effect
A SEACAM housing with two wet diopters attached with SEACAM’s flip system. The user-serviceable flip mounts make deploying different wet lenses a breeze. The new creative tube is mounted in front, at an angled position. On top of the housing is the company’s ingenious modular float system. Multiple buoyancy floats of various sizes and shapes can be combined together to make your rig perfectly neutral underwater. The system can be easily rotated underwater to always achieve a good balance, even when you reposition strobe arms or video lights
The handy mount for the lighting modifiers for SEACAM strobes. As shown, the mount attaches onto a strobe arm and makes changing your lighting a breeze, as you slide the accessories in and out of their slots. Interestingly, Harald told me that SEACAM’s engineers are currently working on a new version of the SEAFLASH 160D, which I was told will be twice as powerful as the current strobe
David Doubilet (left) with SEACAM’s Harald Hordorsch in the Papua Diving Resorts booth. Sorido Bay Resort now hosts the first Seacam Photo Center, right in Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Marelux
The Marelux booth is never difficult to spot, as they adorn their walls not with their gear but with the people that use them—ambassadors like Shane Gross, Tom St George, Scott Portelli, Kate Jonker, and Ipah Uid Lynn, to name a few. I met with owner Jun Ouyang, who showed me their latest housings and strobes.
After launching a few years ago, Marelux is now competing aggresively in various product categories, especially housings and strobes
Among Marelux’s most successful strobes to date are the Apollo S (left) and the Apollo III 2.0 (right). Both strobes have light sensors compatible with the company’s Lumilink 2.0 wireless transmitter, offering cable-free strobe triggering underwater. Pro shooter Henley Spiers recently did a first impressions review of the Apollo III 2.0 strobes on DPG
The Apollo III 2.0, which features straight flash tubes lined up in a distinctive triangular arrangement, offers a guide number of 44 (measured on land by Marelux) and produces a 110° beam angle underwater. By comparison, the smaller Apollo S strobe sports two straight flash tubes at the center and has a measured guide number of 36 (on land). Jun explaind that the Apollo S can handle 20fps when dialled down to GN 22, and it uses two Marelux-branded 18650 batteries—which, of course, are “Marelux” green!
Marelux ambassador Jonathan Lin’s housing for the Canon EOS R5, complete with the Lumilink 2.0 transmitter mounted on top
Marelux’s aluminum housings are finished in a range of distinctive colors
Isotta
Next up, I visited Isotta, the Italian brand behind those distinctive red housings. Elisa Isotta, owner of the family business, was keen to show me their forthcoming RED64 strobe. This sizeable flash boasts a guide number (GN) of 22 and produces a 130-degree beam at a color temperature of 5300K. When dialed down to GN 8, the strobe is designed to sustain rapid shooting at 6fps. Pre-orders have started and the first deliveries are expected by the end of May or beginning of June. Isotta are planning to release various lighting accessories, including a snoot.
The Isotta Nikon Z8 housing equipped with pre-production versions of the company’s new RED64 strobe
According to Isotta, their new RED64 strobe delivers a full-power flash with a guide number (GN) of 22 underwater. The prominent levers on the top of the strobe promise to make adjustments a breeze
The RED64 strobe is powered by eight rechargeable AA batteries, which fit handily into a user-friendly rechargeable battery pack
In an interesting move, Isotta recently embraced pro cinema with their housing for the RED V-Raptor, shown here paired with their monitor housing. Elisa Isotta (pictured) explained that the housing offers a mix of physical buttons (push buttons positioned behind the camera’s actual buttons) and electronic user-assignable buttons, to allow underwater cinematographers to fine-tune the system to their liking
I was also shown a prototype for Isotta’s forthcoming smartphone housing, which features double O-rings (like all Isotta housings), a powerbank (for keeping your smartphone juiced) and physical buttons (including a joystick!), which interface with the phone via the housing’s app. The housing was set up to shoot verticals for social media, but you can move one ballmount to the third attachment point for horizontal shooting. An optional vacuum valve can be fitted to the housing, as well as flip mounts for wet lenses. Pre-orders are expected to ship in July
AOI
Right next to Backscatter was the AOI booth, where I caught up with CEO Victor Tsui and Marketing Director Nick Khoo. Nick introduced me to the new Aura Light System, built in collaboration with photographer Ace Wu. These LED torches can produce light in almost any color—16.7 million to be precise!—and come with an accessory snoot. How do you choose from such a large palette of colors? Using AOI’s dedicated app running on your smartphone, of course, and it’s all done wirelessly.
CEO Victor Tsui is surrounded by AOI’s latest strobes, housings, and accessories
Marketing Director Nick Khoo demonstrates the impressive color palette of the new Aura Light System. Nick says the lights are bright enough for daytime shooting, whether as a continuous light or when using their pulsing (stroboscopic) function. The lights are expected to start shipping at the end of April
We also looked at the new UIS-P1, AOI’s most powerful underwater flash, which was recently reviewed on DPG. A range of lighting modifiers—including a diffuser, a macro ring and a reflector (visible in the background)—are already available for the strobe, and a snoot is in the works
A very handy feature of the UIS-P1 strobe is the digital display on the back that gives you the remaining number of flashes with the current power setting. The green line indicates how much battery power is left
SUBNOX
If SUBNOX seems unfamiliar, that’s because its founder, underwater cinematographer Kay Burn Lim, was unveiling the company’s debut product—a 10,000-lumen video light called the SUB10KEF—at the show. The first SUBNOX models are expected to ship in the coming weeks.
The cool, black SUBNOX booth seemed to see a good amount of traffic—presumably from budding local underwater videographers wanting to check out Kay Burn Lim’s new brand
Kay Burn introduced me to the SUB10KEF, their first release and also what he described as their “flagship” product. This 10,000-lumen unit is no ordinary video light. As well as producing white light (CRI 93, 5600K), the SUB10KEF offers two novel “ambient blue” modes with outputs equivalent to ambient light at 6–13 meters and at 13–20 meters. Customers can also choose among three different light heads, depending on the waters where they expect to film most: blue head, blue-green head, and green head
At the opposite end of their product range, SUBNOX also have a tiny dive torch that comes with a dedicated mount for attachment onto a diving harness
Weefine
On display at the Weefine booth was a wide range of video lights, snooted lights, housings, and monitors. The company is perhaps best known for its housings for smartphones and Olympus/OM System TG cameras—not least because housings like the WFH07 for smartphones and the WFH TG Pro have a built-in electric vacuum pump, activated via a single click. It’s very nice to have peace of mind when you’re dunking your precious phone in the ocean!
Attendees check out Weefine’s WFH07 universal smartphone housing. The housing’s physical controls interact with the phone using Weefine’s DiveIT app via a Bluetooth connection. Notice the blue dial, handily positioned near the user’s right index finger, which allows easy zooming in/out
Creative filters built into the Weefine app let you customize the image rendering during the dive. Note that the fiber-optics can send instructions to Weefine’s video lights, though not yet fire a strobe—but that is something Weefine is exploring
Underwater videographer Luca Keller takes a good look at Weefine’s WED-5 PRO underwater monitor, connected to the company’s WFH-GP1 housing for GoPro and DJI action cameras
X-Adventurer
Nearing the end of my tour of underwater imaging booths, I dropped by X-Adventurer, which offers a range of dive torches and video lights, as well as strobes geared for wide-angle photography.
CEO Gary He shows me X-Adventurer’s DS160 PRO strobes, which feature built-in 7,000-lumen video lights
The DS160 PRO is a sizeable strobe featuring a circular flash tube, 160Ws output, and 120° of beam coverage, which can be expanded to 140° with a diffuser. A range of ambient light filters (shown on the right) are available as options
An optical snoot for the DS160 PRO is available. It can be used with opaque black masks or with colored transluscent masks, so that you can project a tint on the underwater environment, while letting your subject stand out with white light
DiveSea
The final booth related to underwater imaging on my list was DiveSea, a well-known underwater imaging equipment retailer from Singapore. They sell products from Nauticam, Sea&Sea, Backscatter, AOI, Kraken, DiveVolk, Fotocore, and Doris, to name a few.
The Insta360 and other action cameras were popular attractions at the DiveSea booth
The folk at DiveVolk have made a name for themselves with their SeaTouch smartphone housing, whose special membrane preserves your phone’s full touchscreen capabilities, allowing unrestricted access to all of your apps
Fotocore’s Raymond Bao shows me the company’s snoot, whose aperture can be dialed in with a side wheel. The new Fotocore MR5.5 video monitor was on display, too
The Doris Smarthousing is compatible with a range of mirrorless cameras from Canon, Nikon and Sony
Sea&Sea’s Kaz Okada showed me their universal housing for Sony, as well as strobes, video lights and accessories from the Japanese brand
DPG and The Underwater Club
Let’s not forget your favorite resources for underwater imaging news and education—DPG and The Underwater Club! We shared a booth and had a great time chatting to visitors and industry members about all things underwater photography and video. The Underwater Club is the first online underwater photography school and community, with members from 18 countries. Members enjoy access to self-paced e-learning courses, live and recorded masterclasses, live Q&A sessions and support forums.
Great catching up with a few “TUC” members visiting the show!
Resorts/Liveaboards
Papua Diving Resorts
It was great catching up with Max Ammer and his team from Papua Diving Resorts. I had a fantastic time visiting their two resorts—Sorido Bay Resort and Kri Eco Resort—in vibrant Raja Ampat last February. Look out for my forthcoming trip reports on DPG.
National Geographic photographer Jennifer Hayes joins Max Ammer and his team for a group photo
Murex Resorts and Lembeh Resort
It was lovely to meet see Julia Sangi and the team from Lembeh Resort and Murex Resorts. The Lembeh Strait is an underwater macro heaven, which meets luxurious service offered at Lembeh Resort. For wide-angle enthusiasts, Murex Manado runs daily dives on the Bunaken Marine Park, famous for its walls and turtles, while the secluded Murex Bangka is well positioned to indulge Bangka Island’s stunning coral gardens.
Lembeh Resort, Murex Manado and Murex Bangka offer immediate access to North Sulawesi’s diving gems
Mike Ball Expeditions
Cairns’ best-known liveaboard company was present at the show, and I caught up with general manager Craig Stephen. Mike Ball Expeditions runs three-, four- and seven-night cruises aboard their vessel Spoilsport, visiting some of the best spots along Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef.
Mike Ball’s boat, Spoilsport, looks after underwater photographers with freshwater rinse tubs for your gear, as well as two camera stations with air guns
Once again, the ADEX team pulled off a fantastic show, with great networking opportunities and an incredible number of talks. If you missed this one, don’t worry: The 32nd edition is already fixed: It will take place from April 10th–12th, 2026 at Suntec Convention Centre. See you in Singapore next year!
When purchasing underwater photography equipment like the products mentioned in this article, please support DPG by supporting our retail partner—Backscatter.com.
