Hi Wofgang, in addition to Backscatter and Retra you can try contacting Fabio Iardino the owner of Snooty. He is an Italian underwater photographer who produces optical handmade snoots for different flashes with central and offset aiming lights such as Seacam, One UW, Retra and Inon. I don't see the HF-1 listed among the models but you can give it a try. I have one of his snoots for an AOI Q1 flash and I am happy with it. Here is the link to Snooty website: https://www.snooty.it/en/home-2/

Pietro

3 hours ago, Architeuthis said:

Furthermore, Retra writes that they can make custom adapters to any strobe for their LSD snoot.

I will inquire at Backscatter what has happened to this snoot and also to Retra and report here then...

I am shooting macro 70% of my time.

My own thoughts when I considered the HF1 as a more powerful replacement for my older Retra original strobes (New Retra strobes are out of my budget) : can it be manageable to handle a snoot with focus lights that are located on the periphery of the strobe?

My point is that the internal focus light is paramount for snooting with a strobe, it needs to be aligned with the flash bulb, otherwise you won't illuminate what you're currently lighting with the focus light. There was already a problem using a Retra LSD with the Inon strobes since their focus light is slightly off centered. On the other hand snoot lighting is perfectly accurate with the Retra strobes since both focus light and bulb are centered.

I also wrote to Backscatter a year ago asking them when and what kind of snoot they were expecting to roll out for the HF1. They replied a custom snoot was scheduled for the end of the year (that was 2024). Nothing moved since, I am quite dubious they will find a satisfying solution with their completely off centered focusing lights, IMO the problem comes from the design of the HF strobe itself.

I agree only a custom made snoot like Iardino's could handle this problem (however depending on the model I have been informed that Iardino's snoots are more or less accurate, you should ask first whether he will use optical fiber which should be the most accurate technical solution)

I eventually bought Retra Pro strobes second hand for the price of new HF1s, I happily use them for both wide angle and macro with a Retra LSD

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by Luko

4 hours ago, Architeuthis said:

You are right, ISO 200 on FF is not an issue. Maximum light intensity of MF-2 is, however, really small (I could change from f/11 to F/16, but still I would have to place the flashes very close to the object, still no room for variation in positioning (reminds me at the reports from people using these "LED strobes")). For me this looks too much of a compromise...

I would be happy with a good optical good snoot for HF-1 (either original from Backscatter or via adapter from others, e.g. Retra)...

On the HF-1 system chart (https://www.backscatter.com/images/article/content/Hybrid-Flash/Backscatter-Hybrid-Flash-System-Chart.pdf), there is an optical snoot shown. Furthermore, Retra writes that they can make custom adapters to any strobe for their LSD snoot.

I will inquire at Backscatter what has happened to this snoot and also to Retra and report here then...

(Not everybody is so crazy to use these big strobes for macro, but maybe someone else is also interested here 😄)

It was mentioned above that Retra would not make adapter for HF-1 and backscatter had abadoned. The point I was trying to make is you probably pick up some light compared by what you can achieve from the strobe with diffusers when snooting even before you get a little closer with the strobe, I raise it as it seems others get the snoot to work with small apertures and ISO around 200. Or is your concern not being able to do regular lighting (non snoot) on the same dive with two MF-2 strobes?

53 minutes ago, Chris Ross said:

It was mentioned above that Retra would not make adapter for HF-1 and backscatter had abadoned. The point I was trying to make is you probably pick up some light compared by what you can achieve from the strobe with diffusers when snooting even before you get a little closer with the strobe, I raise it as it seems others get the snoot to work with small apertures and ISO around 200. Or is your concern not being able to do regular lighting (non snoot) on the same dive with two MF-2 strobes?

Seems I overread the statements about Retra and Backscatter (anyhow I send them a message, interesting to see whether the answers are still the same)...

I did regular lighting with two MF-2s with and w/o diffusers on few dives (only six), but it was sobering for me. It works, but at maximum power one has to carefully collect every single photon and there is no room to play around with e.g. strobe positioning (that would require more strobe power in order to still give enough light).

I believe, that a macro strobe should provide plenty of power for different techniques (e.g. diffusers, snoot, different strobe positions), not just closest position to get enough light and one should not have to help out by increasing ISO or open up aperture to values one would regard suboptimal for a specific setting. Strobe power should not be the limiting element in the setup. Too much compromise for my taste (I am now thinking whether to keep one plus snoot and put one to classified or whether I should sell everything)...

It is a pity, since the MF-2 with snoot appears to be a very handsome and smart solution to macro photography in case it had more power...

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by Architeuthis

I really like the MF-2 plus snoot combo. I use it most of the time for macro shots and don't feel it is lacking capability due to power.

I sometimes use it for wide angle as well without the snoot. I have been able to key light a larger subject at distance with the snoot while using the HF-1 the light the larger scene. I find it has enough power for this use case which is more challenging than macro.

On 9/14/2025 at 9:53 AM, ChipBPhoto said:

FYI - Retra just confirmed in a email exchange that they will not make an LSD adapter for the HF-1. They also understand Backscatter has shelved the idea of a snoot for it as well. The reason given was it “is not suitable for shooting.” Too bad, both the LSD and HF-1 are quality pieces.

Hey everyone — James from Backscatter here. We have not abandoned the Hybrid Flash Snoot. Please don't take the word of the coconut telephone call someone's brother's cousin's friend heard from somebody's dog walker at Retra about whether Backscatter is coming out with a snoot for the HF-1, or for whatever reasons of it being suitable or not. It is suitable and it is coming. It has taken longer than we thought because we want to make sure the product is right and works the best it can. We just don't slap on a tube with some glass in it and call it a day. (I'm not saying Retra does this, their snoot is quite nice actually.)

 

We're working on it guys! Please stay tuned, it's coming soon! I promise!