Jump to content

Backscatter Smart TTL for Sony & Olympus

Dave_Hicks
 Share

Recommended Posts

gremlin Seahorse

gremlin

Posted
Posted (edited)

I’m not sure I understand will the universal trigger with the outboard LEDs not work in the Sony a6700 nauticam housing there seems to be quite a bit of room around the smart turtle in that setup so I’d expect that one to be able to work

image.jpg

Edited by gremlin
Lewis88 Reef Shark

Lewis88

Posted
Posted

I agree, this should work with the A6700 housings. 

 

On the pre 6600 housings, the vacuum LED was so close to the hotshoe, even the trt unit wouldn't fit.

gremlin Seahorse

gremlin

Posted
Posted

Spoke with Rob at Backscatter just now and it's apparently not an issue with the height but the length. Apparently at the front of the trigger the LED's plug in with a usb type connector and that cable ends up too long going towards the front of the A6700 housing, very unfortunate but the cost perhaps of having a more robust connector for the LED's 

scipionems Blue Whale

scipionems

Posted
Posted

Hi to all,

I purchased a Smart TTL Backscatter trigger for my Sony A1 in Nauticam housing and I used it in Anilao (Philippines) for some black water dives with my Backscatter HF1.

The trigger works perfectly in manual mode and TTL mode with the HF1 strobes ... even if in macro mode for some transparent and tiny subjects the TTL mode is not very accurate and often the power of the lamp is too high , with the effect of excessive light and backscatter....

I have only one complain.... this smart TTL backscatter trigger doesn't work at all in manual mode with my backscatter Mini Flash version 1....

I try every setting on the menu of my Sony A1 to try to make works the smart TTL trigger with my Mini Flash 1 , but without success.... 

So I had to use a TURTLE TRIGGER in the morning to use my mini flash 1 for normal macro dives and then change the Turtle trigger with the Backscatter TTL trigger in the evening to use my backscatter HF1 for the blackwater dives.... not a very practical solution... honestly.

If someone have a suggestion to allow me to use in MANUAL MODE the Smart TTL Backscatter trigger with my old MF1 strobes is welcome.

Scipionems

 

Dave_Hicks Loggerhead

Dave_Hicks

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  On 3/12/2025 at 3:31 PM, scipionems said:

Hi to all,

I purchased a Smart TTL Backscatter trigger for my Sony A1 in Nauticam housing and I used it in Anilao (Philippines) for some black water dives with my Backscatter HF1.

The trigger works perfectly in manual mode and TTL mode with the HF1 strobes ... even if in macro mode for some transparent and tiny subjects the TTL mode is not very accurate and often the power of the lamp is too high , with the effect of excessive light and backscatter....

I have only one complain.... this smart TTL backscatter trigger doesn't work at all in manual mode with my backscatter Mini Flash version 1....

I try every setting on the menu of my Sony A1 to try to make works the smart TTL trigger with my Mini Flash 1 , but without success.... 

So I had to use a TURTLE TRIGGER in the morning to use my mini flash 1 for normal macro dives and then change the Turtle trigger with the Backscatter TTL trigger in the evening to use my backscatter HF1 for the blackwater dives.... not a very practical solution... honestly.

If someone have a suggestion to allow me to use in MANUAL MODE the Smart TTL Backscatter trigger with my old MF1 strobes is welcome.

Scipionems

 

Expand  

 

Any chance you might be able to borrow an MF-2 and try that out? It's likely that Backscatter but more effort into compatibility with the MF-2. The MF-1 was great but had a lot of reliability issues. The MF-2 is far more reliable, more powerful, better battery life, etc. If the MF-2 works with your new trigger, it would be worth considering an upgrade. Repurpose the MF-1 as a backup or off-camera strobe.

  • Sad 1
OneYellowTang Seahorse

OneYellowTang

Posted
Posted

@scipionems

Slightly off topic: you mentioned you used your A1 with the HF1 for blackwater dives in Anilao.

I mostly shoot a Nikon setup, but my daughter has been shooting the A7RV... blackwater dives are a challenge, mostly because the 90mm is slow to focus. We've mostly switched to a Nikon 60mm with a Monster adapter- that's faster, but still not quite as good as my Nikon setup.

What lens were you shooting with for blackwater in Anilao, and from your post I couldn't tell if you were saying the new Smart TTL Backscatter trigger worked well for blackwater or not? Was it useful shooting TTL on a blackwater dive?

TURTLE-Balage Blue Tang

TURTLE-Balage

Posted
Posted
  On 3/21/2025 at 2:51 PM, gremlin said:

Is there a new firmware to download or is it just purchase a new trigger?

Expand  

Unfortunately, the firmware cannot be downloaded to the trigger—only the flash settings and a few special features can be adjusted. The firmware can only be downloaded by us.

This is a new product since a complete software replacement was necessary due to the new flash control system.

The HF-1 and AOI no longer operate with the conventional optical TTL as before.

scipionems Blue Whale

scipionems

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 3/22/2025 at 2:59 AM, OneYellowTang said:

@scipionems

Slightly off topic: you mentioned you used your A1 with the HF1 for blackwater dives in Anilao.

I mostly shoot a Nikon setup, but my daughter has been shooting the A7RV... blackwater dives are a challenge, mostly because the 90mm is slow to focus. We've mostly switched to a Nikon 60mm with a Monster adapter- that's faster, but still not quite as good as my Nikon setup.

What lens were you shooting with for blackwater in Anilao, and from your post I couldn't tell if you were saying the new Smart TTL Backscatter trigger worked well for blackwater or not? Was it useful shooting TTL on a blackwater dive?

Expand  

Hi OneYellowTang,

I used in Blackwater dives the Monster adapter with the Nikon 60mm Macro that is fantastic for bigger and more "consistent" subjects (like Paper Nautilus, long arm octopus , squid) but a nightmare with transparent , small subjects (like jellyfish or similar)... The Sony 90mm macro on the A1 works well and focus quite fast even in blackwater , probably on older models of Sony camera it was slower, but on the A1 is quite usable , the only problem is that you have to shoot at longer distance and not near like the 60mm Nikon.

Unfortunately me and my friend Giancarlo (that use a Sony A1 too) had big problems with the electronic of the A1 using the Monster Adapter and the Nikon 60 mm macro.... in several blackwater dives the A1 freeze completely and it was impossible to switch on and off... and for a long time....

We were so scared to damage the camera that after these episodes we stopped to use the Monster+Nikon 60mm macro and used ONLY the 90mm macro for blackwater dives.

 

I used the Smart TTL Backscatter trigger in blackwater in TTL Macro mode and it works quite well on consistent and bigger subjects like long arm octopus, squid and Paper Nautilus, but when you try to focus on trasparent, smaller an less consistent subjects (like jellyfish) the TTL don't work well... too much light and overexposed pictures... the HF1 shoot sometimes at full power with a lot of backscatter... So I prefer to use the Smart TTL Backscatter Trigger in MANUAL mode.

 

On the Hf1 I used a 3D printed beam reducer , and these reduction helps a lot to avoid too much backscatter.

 

Edited by scipionems
Barmaglot Hammerhead

Barmaglot

Posted
Posted
  On 3/22/2025 at 6:26 PM, scipionems said:

The Sony 90mm macro on the A1 works well and focus quite fast even in blackwater , probably on older models of Sony camera it was slower, but on the A1 is quite usable , the only problem is that you have to shoot at longer distance and not near like the 60mm Nikon.

Expand  

Confirm this; I just used the Sony 90mm on blackwater with a6700, and it's waaay faster than it used to be with a6300.

  • Like 1
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Thanks for your support

    Logo Logo
    Logo Logo
    Logo Logo
    Logo Logo
    Logo Logo
    Logo Logo
    Logo Logo
    Logo Logo
    Logo Logo

    Logo
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use Privacy Policy Guidelines We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.