This post represents an initial start on a review of the new Retra Maxi strobe. I've had the strobes for just 1 week and wanted to provide some initial experience and images taken over my first three dives with the Maxi's. I'll be building up to a full review as I use in a wider range of environments over the next couple of months.

Introduction

 

Reta was very generous and agreed to provide me with a pair of their new Maxi strobes for evaluation. I’ve been shooting the Backscatter HF-1 for over a year now and have often made comparisons with Retra’s strobes. To be perfectly honest, I have been critical of Retra’s highest end Pro Max and Max II strobes due to their relatively high price compared to the HF-1, and their use of older AA battery technology. I consider AA power outdated in a lithium-ion era, resulting in limitations to core features like recycle time, video lighting, and run-time. The new Maxi strobe seems to have answers to each of these critiques. I appreciate their confidence in allowing me to consider their new product.

Retra included the required batteries, and two sets of their Reduction rings and Wide Angle / 4500k color diffusers. I am very happy to have these accessories as they match what I routinely use with my HF-1 strobes.

First Impressions

 

I was not able to do a proper unboxing unfortunately as my Maxi’s were provided in generic packing materials rather than Retail packaging. However, the hardware lives up to Retra’s familiar high level of refinement and precision in manufacturing. The Maxi’s silver-gray aluminum construction and controls are directly comparable to the Max II strobes despite being sold at nearly half the retail price.

I spent some time reading the manual and exploring the controls and features. I won’t regurgitate the specs in this preview, but I suggest reviewing Retra’s web site for details.

I am a Manual mode shooter, so I have not experimented with any of the TTL modes, and I don’t have a trigger capable of HSS. My Nauticam Z8 housing comes standard with a Nauticam manual mode flash trigger. Configuring the strobe in “M” mode, it shot perfectly in both single shot and rapid bursts at 1/8 to 1/4 power levels. I didn’t notice any loss of power in short 3 burst images.

The Spotting light is dead center of the strobe, making for easy and accurate aiming with a snoot or super-macro reduction rings. The spotting light is approximately 300-400 lumens with a 50% and 100% modes. I can’t find this documented in the specs or manual, so hopefully Retra will provide this detail in the future.

My Maxi’s include the optional Video Light, which is capable of an impressive 6000 lumens. Conveniently the Power Knob provides fine grained levels from 0 to 100% in its 17 positions. This is a very nice feature, but I suspect most users will just go to 100% if shooting occasional videos.

I don’t have enough time in the water with the strobes yet to comment on battery life. On the two macro focused dives conducted so far, I had one of the strobes running with the spotting light on for nearly a full 70 minutes. The battery indicator never left the green-zone of 100-75% power remaining. From my experience with earlier AA power Retra strobes, running the spotting light was sure way to drain the battery. This seems like a solid improvement so far.

Configuring my Rig

Before setting out on some initial test dives I swapped out my HF-1 strobes with the Maxi’s. My first dive would be limited to Macro shooting only as recent flooding in the Pacific Northwest have wreaked havoc on the usually excellent winter visibility. Rather than my usual Snooting setup for macro with the combo of an MF-2 + Snoot and HF-1, I used the two Maxi’s with reduction rings. I shot with a Nikon Z8, 105z lens, and double diopters MFO-1 and Subsee +10.

The first point of comparison is the weight of the entire rig in and out of the water. The Maxi strobes are just slightly heavier than the HF-1s using identical battery cells. (Nitecore 5300mah)

In the photo above, I have a custom ring float on the macro port that adds about 400 grams of buoyancy. I had to remove it after my initial dive with the Maxi’s as my rig became positively buoyant and wanted to go belly up! The in-water weight of the Maxi’s is essentially neutral while the HF-1 are about 250 grams negative, each.

The Maxi is a bit larger and 20 grams heavier than the HF-1. However, the additional volume seems to be quite deliberate in order to achieve near-neutral buoyancy.

Image - Bottom to top: Retra Maxi, Backscatter HF-1, Backscatter Atom

After removing the port float, I took the following measurements:

	Dry	Underwater
Maxi x 2	11.34 kg	0.1 kg
HF-1 x 2	11.30 kg	0.63 kg

Preview images

As of this writing I have done three dives in the last week with the Retra Maxi’s. Two macro dive, one set for Wide angle. The Wide Angle dive ending up being a challenge, so I only got a few usable photos. This was due to fairly poor and hazy water clarity and strong currents at the start of the dive, and worsening visibility at the end of the dive once the current slackened. I’ll get a better sample of photos in the next few weeks.

Scalyhead Sculpin (Artedius harringtoni) on a bit of frayed rope.   Redondo Beach Park, WA, USA   Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, MFO-1 diopter, f13@1/200s iso200, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes
Pacific Red Octopus (Octopus rubescens) in a bottle   Redondo Beach Park, WA, USA   Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, MFO-1 diopter, f10@1/200s iso320, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes
Diamond Back Nudibranch (Tritonia festiva)   Alki Beach, Seattle WA, USA   Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, MFO-1 diopter, f5.6@1/200s iso64, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes
Sea Spider   Alki Beach, Seattle WA, USA   Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, Subsee +10 diopter, f16@1/200s iso250, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes
Diamond Back Nudibranch (Tritonia festiva)   Alki Beach, Seattle WA, USA   Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, MFO-1 diopter, f5.6@1/200s iso64, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes
Stubby Squid (Rossia pacifica)   Alki Beach, Seattle WA, USA   Nikon Z8 w/Nikkor 105mm lens, MFO-1 diopter, f14@1/200s iso160, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes
Female Wolf eel (Anarrhichthys ocellatus) collecting an urchin snack   Sunrise Beach Park, Gig Harbor WA, USA   Nikon Z8 w/Nikon 60mm lens, Kraken KRL09 WA,  f5.6@1/40s iso500, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes, Wide Angle 4500k dome filters
Pacific Red Octopus (Octopus rubescens) with fist-sized urchins   Sunrise Beach Park, Gig Harbor WA, USA   Nikon Z8 w/Nikon 60mm lens, Kraken KRL09 WA,  f11@1/80s iso500, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes, Wide Angle 4500k dome filters
Red Irish Lord (Hemilepidotus hemilepidotus)   Sunrise Beach Park, Gig Harbor WA, USA   Nikon Z8 w/Nikon 60mm lens, Kraken KRL09 WA,  f13@1/80s iso500, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes, Wide Angle 4500k dome filters
Hazy visibility with diver and Sea Lemon nudibranch   Sunrise Beach Park, Gig Harbor WA, USA   Nikon Z8 w/Nikon 60mm lens, Kraken KRL09 WA,  f6.3@1/40s iso1000, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes, Wide Angle 4500k dome filters

Please let me know what you'd like to see or hear more about as I continue to evaluate the new Retra Maxi strobes! Any questions, configurations, or test case suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

As an added note, I have the Backscatter HF-1, Backscatter Atom, Inon 330, and a buddies Retra v1 strobes available for comparison.

Hi @Dave_Hicks thanks for the initial thoughts.

The main reason I moved from the Inon Z-330 v2 to the HF-1 was for a more powerful light for wide scenes. When conditions improve, I am quite interested in the overall light quality of the new Maxi.

The Maxi is a cooler temp and smaller diameter tube. It seems the wide diffuser is needed to come close to the bare Pro Max strobe.

• When the diffuser is added to the Maxi, how does it compare to both the Pro Max and HF-1 in overall even spread and quality?

• With the diffuser added, is the light harsh or a bit softer such as the Pro Max is known to provide?

• With the diffuser added, how is the net output coverage compared to the HF-1 and bare Pro Max?

Thanks in advance!

Chip