I was running the Atom Flashes in manual, not TTL. It wouldn't recognize the pre-flash in manual and they confirmed that. You're right, their strobes are only for Oly and Sony TTL, so I edited my last post because it is incorrect.

Edited yesterday at 01:27 AM1 day by mdo905

3 hours ago, mdo905 said:

So I bought two Atom Flashes about a month ago after one of my YS-01s died. When I set them up with my rig (LX-10 with nauticam housing), they would fire/not fire seemingly at random when on manual with the camera flash. After troubleshooting over the phone for about two weeks with Backscatter staff (which included getting two new optical cords), I ended up sending in my housing, camera, and the strobes back to their store in CA to verify that the strobes had some type of incompatibility with my camera. Once received, the Backscatter staff determined that Atom Flash was having difficulty reading the LX-10 preflash, causing all of the misfires.

Unfortunately, I leave for a dive trip in a week, so Backscatter is doing me right by sending back a pair of rental strobes along with my housing and camera (which is currently in route). I was told that they're going to work with AOI to determine if there is some type of algorithm change to provide LX-10 compatibility, but they're not sure if that's possible. Otherwise, they're going to warranty the strobes and provide a refund.

I was really hoping these would work with my current rig - the specifications and snoot seemed ideal for my use. I'll see what happens with AOI attempting to fix the incompatibility. I wasn't planning on buying new strobes anytime soon, but I was basically forced when the one underpowered YS-01 crapped out. I've been looking at a MFT for a while, but didn't want to spend the money on it. Maybe this is my forcing function to get that MFT and keep the Atom Flashes.

So lesson learned is: If you have a Panasonic, call Backscatter and ask if they've tested compatibility with your camera's TTL.

Atleast you can make the trip with borrowed strobes.

So Backscatter strobes are just rebranded AOI ones?

27 minutes ago, Sokrates said:

Atleast you can make the trip with borrowed strobes.

So Backscatter strobes are just rebranded AOI ones?

Yes, all of the backscatter-branded strobes (miniflash, hybrid flash, and atom flash) are all designed in coordination with AOI and built by AOI.

15 hours ago, mdo905 said:

Yes, all of the backscatter-branded strobes (miniflash, hybrid flash, and atom flash) are all designed in coordination with AOI and built by AOI.

I know, I keep hearing how there are so many strobes, YAFS sort of thing. And I suppose considering the niche segment nature of UW photography there is a decent selection but many of them are just rebranding with a little shake and stir of features. And this new (non) feature of not including a standard optical TTL mode and pushing us to specialty branded triggers specific to the strobe (Back Scatter) is already getting old.

Edited 17 hours ago17 hr by Nemrod

1 hour ago, Nemrod said:

I know, I keep hearing how there are so many strobes, YAFS sort of thing. And I suppose considering the niche segment nature of UW photography there is a decent selection but many of them are just rebranding with a little shake and stir of features. And this new (non) feature of not including a standard optical TTL mode and pushing us to specialty branded triggers specific to the strobe (Back Scatter) is already getting old.

Nothing new about proprietary TTL systems. Looking at you Ikelite!!!

Can you explain how the Sony WL command, which is RF based, works underwater?

My (probably incorrect) understanding is that putting the WL command ON turns off pre flash and runs everything manual.

Bill

If asking me, I cannot say. If it was meant as an argument I still cannot say. I do know that WL Command does not seem to turn off the preflash on my A6400. I use the UWT trigger, if I want manual with no preflash signal I set 0 on the UWT board. If I want TTL I select the position on the strobe matching or nearest the strobes I have.

I would hazard a guess that the Back Scatter trigger plugged into the hot shoe translates, using built in software, between the camera hot shoe output signals and the Backscatter strobes via optical signals over the fiber cables. And just to say it again, I do not know. Maybe it is a question for Back Scatter to explain.

I am satisfied with plain old optical TTL which the Backscatter strobes do not have. But that Inon, YS, Marelux, Retra (?) do have.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by Nemrod

4 hours ago, Grantmac said:

Can you explain how the Sony WL command, which is RF based, works underwater?

Sony's camera menu doesn't have a built-in option for switching external flash to M mode. Therefore, a separate command, which isn't used underwater, was assigned (by TTL Converter firmware) to switch the flash system to M mode without pre-flashes.

UWTechnics TTL converters were the first to use the WL command to switch the flash to M mode. Company developed the controlled M mode, allowing the user to manually adjust the flash power via the Sony camera's menu dial. The same time, the traditional manual flash adjustment via the strobe knob is also available.

Here is the UWTechnics User Manual text:

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by Pavel Kolpakov

Interesting....

I have only experience with using the built in flash on the A6300 and A6400 which from what I can tell have no ability to disable pre-flash.

I'm moving into an A7RIII which has no internal flash and it was my intent to just run a manual trigger.

None of which really relates to this flash. Please carry on.