I am proud owner of two MF-2 plus one snoot and have used them recently on few dives in Croatia with A7R5 and Sony 90mm macro lens - I must say that I was pretty disappointed... ☹️

My experience was that, when I use the MF-2s with the diffusers that produce nice soft light, I can use the camera at base ISO (100) only up to aperture f/11. Without the diffusers I can go up to f/16, but in any case I had to place the flashes as close to the end of the port as possible (no reserves for creative lighting, e.g, placing the strobes aside to create texture).

I did not even dare to dry the snoot, because the flashes were so weak...

Did others experience similar problems with FF macro?

I am just curious how other are satisfied with MF-2 for FF macro.

I know I could increase ISO, but I think this is far from ideal for macro photos, flashpower should not be the rate limiting factor. I have two HF-1s and like them a lot (previously I had Z330). Last two years I used the HF-1s also for macro and, of course, they produce plenty of light for any kind of macro, but HF-1 is big and heavy and the alternative with two MF-2s plus snoot looked very attractive...

Wolfgang

The MF-2 is great for FF Macro. Feel free to bump up your ISO to 160-250, which is what I do. I mostly use it with the snoot and shoot F11-F18 all the time. I pair it with an HF-1 (previously Inon 330) as a secondary fill light, but mostly on low power and with a reduction ring. The MF-2 is the primary light in most of my Macro shots.

(edit) I never use the diffusors and mostly shoot it at the top 2 power levels. (6 & 7}

Here are a couple of shots from a few days ago taken using the MF-2 on FF.

Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, MFO diopter, f16@1/200s iso200 Backscatter MF-2 strobe & snoot + BS HF-1 strobe

Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, MFO diopter, f14@1/250s iso160 Backscatter MF-2 strobe & snoot + BS HF-1 strobe

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Dave_Hicks