Not looking to bash on Retra. Basically I am down to purchasing a set of these. I see the booster pack. I realize that is something I should get in due course but due to the rather expensive nature of this purchase, can I use these strobes without the booster. I am shooting a Sony NA-6400 and a Canon NA-R50. Mostly wide angle and mostly with a WWL.

Can anyone tell me how many shots (they get) in (their) normal shooting without the boosters? I realize there can be a range here but most folks do not shoot at full power or need the fastest recycle for every dive and every shot. What can I typically expect?

How do you think these strobes will handle with a Nauticam APS size housings? Are they huge?

Being as I am known to be fastidious and OCD with my belongings, do these have good resell should I decide I have bought a Rolls Royce strobe set to shoot with my Toyota level systems?

Why do I want these instead of the new Atom or HF-1? Simple, the Backscatter strobes do not have a universal TTL mode and the Retra does. I shoot manual but do want TTL capability and the Backscatter strobes do not support TTL with my systems.

Edited Sunday at 01:57 PM4 days by Nemrod

Hi Nemrod

I’ve been using Retra since 2020. Yes, pricey but I’ve never regretted the purchase for a second. I’ve gone through various iterations and now have the ProMax with the Booster. They are a very neat package and not much larger than the venerable Inon Z220/240. The Booster is especially ergonomically neat and a much better battery change arrangement than the SuperCharger.

On use, I find using an LSD snoot - which I do almost constantly for macro - the Boosters are essential. I often have the power cranked up. I reckon on getting 3 dives - say 400 images - during the day with some power left over with that setup.

I find the Boosters useful if I'm shooting into the sun a lot with wide-angle and using HSS. In those circumstances I often have the power setting pretty high.

However, on bog-standard wide-angle shots, although I have the Booster in situ (why wouldn’t you?), battery life is significantly longer.

No, with APS-C the Retras are not overkill. I’m shooting a Nikon D500.

I’ll happily admit to being a Retra fanboy. An excellent product that delivers power and quality in a manageable package with excellent accessories and terrific customer support.

Consider the Retra Maxi strobe, not the Pro Max. It's brighter, faster, longer battery life, and include excellent video lights. I am not sure who the Pro Max is for, but it is not the best Retra anymore for most people.

Edited Sunday at 06:44 PM3 days by Dave_Hicks

3 hours ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Consider the Retra Maxi strobe, not the Pro Max. It's brighter, faster, longer battery life, and include excellent video lights. I am not sure who the Pro Max is for, but it is not the best Retra anymore for most people.

Dave, isn't the Maxi in a larger case, which is a concern to me because I like to get into tight spaces to shoot morays and critters? Also, isn't it kind of a video combo strobe. Video is something I never do. The Pro Max II is meant for still photogs I thought? Simply zero interest in looking at or shooting videos. But, yes, let me take another look at those, I think they can come without the video light option? Thanks.

Edited Sunday at 09:21 PM3 days by Nemrod

41 minutes ago, Nemrod said:

Dave, isn't the Maxi in a larger case, which is a concern to me because I like to get into tight spaces to shoot morays and critters? Also, isn't it kind of a video combo strobe. Video is something I never do. The Pro Max II is meant for still photogs I thought? Simply zero interest in looking at or shooting videos. But, yes, let me take another look at those, I think they can come without the video light option? Thanks.

Yes, the Maxi is bigger but not all that much. About 8mm more in diameter and 27mm longer. Honestly, I can imaging you would notice in active use. And there is no booster to bulk up the Maxi, where the Pro Max all be requires the booster for decent battery life. Yes, video light is optional and will save $200usd. It's a nice to have feature and the strobe has power to spare for the 5000 lumen light.

Seems like if you get the boosters with the strobe there is a deal, $100 more gets you the boosters and two four cell battery chargers. I don't have the Pro max, just the lower power pure model, my current usage is the standard 4 cell configuration for local diving - go out for a single long dive locally and use the boosters when I'm on a trip. Cheaper than buying them later on.

A few thoughts:

I think the Retra products are great. The strobes are not the smallest but not overly huge. I don't think the Maxis are larger in diameter than the Pro Max, as I can use the same diffusers and macro rings on both of them. The Maxis are about as large as the Pro Max with boosters on the Pro Max, but the Pro Max are shorter than the Maxis if not using the boosters.

I don't like the Maxis much for wide angle unless I use a dome diffuser, mostly because the color temp is not as nice, but the pro max are fine without. With diffusers, the Maxis are fine for wide angle and good for macro without needing diffusers, and a good price. I got those because I want to experiment a bit with some video and did not want to get dedicated video lights.

I can't say how many shots I get with the Pro Max, but they easily get me through 2-3 dives and would probably go at least one more. With boosters on, I have gone six dives without a battery change, but I shoot fewer pictures on each dive than a lot of people seem to. Extensive snooting or or full power would probably not allow that many dives.

Generally, when I charge the batteries, they seem to only be about 50-60% discharged. I have a trip in the Caribbean in a few weeks and am not going to take the boosters as I will only be doing 2-3 dives a day and don't expect to be running the strobes very hard.

Note that ordering from Retra to the USA means using DHL shipping and when I got my Pro Max strobes, DHL hit me with something like $300 in customs duties and related fees, that I believe was a dramatic overcharge, so when I bought my Maxis, I bought them from Reef Photo. The Pro Max II are just too expensive for me to justify.

I have lights and strobes using lithium batteries, including the Maxis, and there are benefits to these, but I also see a distinct benefit in using AA batteries. Airlines are beginning to crack down on lithiums, including not allowing them in overhead compartments and limiting the number carried, and these restrictions may increase. Resorts and liveaboards are placing restrictions on charging lithiums other than in locations and at times when they can be monitored. Strobes with AA batteries don't have those issues.

Self promotion: I have a pair of very clean and lightly used Prime strobes with boosters I have been thinking I should sell, but have not gotten around to it. Let me know if interested and I can figure out a price.

Edited Monday at 02:36 PM3 days by JohnD
Additional thought

What is the watt/sec for the Maxi? Retra gives that strobe GN and the Pro Max in watt/sec!

Do they have similar coverage for WA?

49 minutes ago, Nemrod said:

What is the watt/sec for the Maxi? Retra gives that strobe GN and the Pro Max in watt/sec!

Do they have similar coverage for WA?

The Maxi is more powerful than the Pro Max II and has similar coverage. It is a colder light and benefits from a warming filter or diffuser.

3 minutes ago, Dave_Hicks said:

The Maxi is more powerful than the Pro Max II and has similar coverage. It is a colder light and benefits from a warming filter or diffuser.

I cannot see that it has a focus light like the ProMax does? Can the video light be set to shut off when the strobe fires?

5 minutes ago, Nemrod said:

I cannot see that it has a focus light like the ProMax does? Can the video light be set to shut off when the strobe fires?

It does have a focus light, and the accessory LSD snoot uses it. High and Low settings where high is 400 lumens. It blinks off when firing the strobe.

The optional 6000-lumen video light is a separate mode and can't fire the flash in that setting. The power level dial can lower the intensity in 16 levels.

Well, dang, what to do, what to do----.

Looks like either has enough power to boil water or fry fish. Just the case size bugs me for the Maxi but I suppose I am just fixating as I oft do.

9 minutes ago, Nemrod said:

Well, dang, what to do, what to do----.

Looks like either has enough power to boil water or fry fish. Just the case size bugs me for the Maxi but I suppose I am just fixating as I oft do.

The lower price of the Maxi should ease some of the analysis paralysis. It's 8mm wider, not a significant difference at the end of the day. If you add in the 16 or even 32 AA batteries you need to carry for the Max Pro II strobes, you come out way ahead for the Maxis in the packing size and weight comparison.

I pack four 21700 cells for a pair of Maxi (or HF-1) strobes, and two more 21700's for my focus light. The focus light is good for two dives, so it gets swapped more often. The strobes will be good for at least two days of diving at 500 shots/day with capacity to spare. A single 4-cell charger will take care of everything.

I just am at a loss. I really do not like the large size of the Maxi but I really, really do not like the price of the Pro Max! And my Inon S220 strobes are just little power houses. Will these Maxi units really give me more wide angle punch and allow shots over white sand stopped down and CFWA sun balls that my S220 strobes struggle with? And big animals for a Maldives upcoming trip?

Edited 23 hours ago23 hr by Nemrod

1 hour ago, Nemrod said:

I just am at a loss. I really do not like the large size of the Maxi but I really, really do not like the price of the Pro Max! And my Inon S220 strobes are just little power houses. Will these Maxi units really give me more wide angle punch and allow shots over white sand stopped down and CFWA sun balls that my S220 strobes struggle with? And big animals for a Maldives upcoming trip?

Maybe the answer is the Backscatter Atom strobe? Smaller than any Retra, more powerful than an Inon, good battery life and excellent snooting/macro capabilities while retaining enough ommph for Wide Angle.

1 hour ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Maybe the answer is the Backscatter Atom strobe? Smaller than any Retra, more powerful than an Inon, good battery life and excellent snooting/macro capabilities while retaining enough ommph for Wide Angle.

No, last paragraph of post 1. No universal TTL, otherwise that is exactly what I would do, two Atoms. But they have proprietary OM RC TTL only and I shoot Canon/Sony/Nikon and the Sony trigger they have will not fit in my housing which already has an expensive UWT trigger.

I really do not understand Back Scatter's fascination with RC TTL to the exclusion of universal TTL when most people who I know shoot Canon/Nikon/Sony and the only OM shooters I see with exception here and there are shooting the TG.

I have quotes out for a pair of Maxi strobes. Still consider Pro Max II.

I want the ability to shoot TTL when I need it or just feeling lazy. I liked the Marelux Apollo and they are nice strobes but they do not have pre-flash cancel which is a no go with my Sony.

Edited 20 hours ago20 hr by Nemrod

Another hypothetical, if a person could $afford$ the Pro Max, would that person still choose the Maxi?

Is it selfish to buy strobes that cost more than what it would take to feed an entire village of starving children and sponsor a dozen "animals" on the ASPC commercial?

Not going to name the person or the company, lol but this was their consideration on strobes:

1. Go Retra, get the Maxi, not the Pro Max II

2. YS/S&S are "GD" junk

3. Inon, blah, blah, blah

4. Kraken, everything they make leaks (just happen to have a Kraken light full of water)

5. HF-1 is too "GD" heavy in the water

Unlike the sport of golf which has caddies to carry my clubs if I played golf, to bad scuba/UW photography does not have a caddy to carry my camera. Oh, wait, they do have an under privileged, often abused, under paid equivalent, the Dive Master! Maybe I can coerce one to tote my stuff around for me because with the Maxi strobes I think I will need one. I am kinda scrawny and not very strong :(.

Edited 16 hours ago16 hr by Nemrod

57 minutes ago, Nemrod said:

Another hypothetical, if a person could $afford$ the Pro Max, would that person still choose the Maxi?

Is it selfish to buy strobes that cost more than what it would take to feed an entire village of starving children and sponsor a dozen "animals" on the ASPC commercial?

Not going to name the person or the company, lol but this was their consideration on strobes:

1. Go Retra, get the Maxi, not the Pro Max II

2. YS/S&S are "GD" junk

3. Inon, blah, blah, blah

4. Kraken, everything they make leaks (just happen to have a Kraken light full of water)

5. HF-1 is too "GD" heavy in the water

Unlike the sport of golf which has caddies to carry my clubs if I played golf, to bad scuba/UW photography does not have a caddy to carry my camera. Oh, wait, they do have an under privileged, often abused, under paid equivalent, the Dive Master! Maybe I can coerce one to tote my stuff around for me because with the Maxi strobes I think I will need one. I am kinda scrawny and not very strong :(.

1) Agreed, the Maxi is > Pro Max II. Slap on a 4500k filter and call it day. Don't talk to me about "quality of light". Dump your 32 AA batteries in the recycle bin or donate them to your Inon wielding buddies.

5) HF-1 is heaver then the Maxi in the water, by just 2 jumbo-Stix cubes The Maxi based system is heavier on land (barely) and just two float blocks give it parity in the water. So not that big of a difference. But the Maxi wins on brightness by a decent margin.

8 hours ago, Nemrod said:

I liked the Marelux Apollo and they are nice strobes but they do not have pre-flash cancel which is a no go with my Sony.

Ehhhrmm,… which sony are you talking about? Your sony A6400 ? … should not be an issue with that one.

Furthermore I am pretty sure all their Apollo strobes successfully handle pre-flash. If I wanted manual strobing on my Apollo III with preflash in my cam I will simply put it in MTL mode.

1 hour ago, Adventurer said:

Ehhhrmm,… which sony are you talking about? Your sony A6400 ? … should not be an issue with that one.

Furthermore I am pretty sure all their Apollo strobes successfully handle pre-flash. If I wanted manual strobing on my Apollo III with preflash in my cam I will simply put it in MTL mode.

Using the MTL mode the Apollo S fired two flashes, once for the preflash and one for the exposure flash instead of one single flash. Maybe I did something wrong. Yes, I get an exposure but I also get two rapid flashes instead of just one. They are great strobes, just that feature did not work for my main camera.

5 minutes ago, Nemrod said:

Using the MTL mode the Apollo S fired two flashes

I do not use Apollo S myself, but according to marelux the Apollo S 2.0 has two dedicated switch position on their left rotary dial called M-PRE and M. The M-PRE position should do what you are looking for and cancel out the preflash. M-PRE is supposed to fire out just one flash.

They have this on their Apollo S and Apollo Y but not on my III 2.0.

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by Adventurer

8 hours ago, Adventurer said:

I do not use Apollo S myself, but according to marelux the Apollo S 2.0 has two dedicated switch position on their left rotary dial called M-PRE and M. The M-PRE position should do what you are looking for and cancel out the preflash. M-PRE is supposed to fire out just one flash.

They have this on their Apollo S and Apollo Y but not on my III 2.0.

The Apollo S strobes I used for several weeks did not have a pre-flash kill. The MTL mode is a continuous mode they suggest for that purpose but it fires on the preflash which is annoying to make two flashes when shooting manual. They perhaps have added that feature now, do not know. They are very nice strobes, the ones I used were missing a feature critical to my use and my camera. The manual reads no different for the S III. Back panel of S model and excerpt from S III model. Where do I set preflash kill on this strobe?

When shooting in manual MTL mode with my Sony I got two flashes at the chosen power setting with the exposure flash diminished at higher power settings. Was it malfunctioning? I miss too many shots with the UWT trigger board, any strobe I buy must be capable of running from the pop ups. I do use the UWT board for macro. I have used a pair of the older Retras and they ran fine on the Sony in all modes from pop up and the UWT board in TTL and manual and did not fire on the preflash. As neither do the Inon Z and S strobes I have owned or used.

To kill preflash on the Maxi the manual instructs the user to use the app to program the custom feature on the U position.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Nemrod

Oh well, I have Maxi strobes on the way with the WA diffusers. Boil water and fry fish!