Phil Rudin Posted June 6 Author Share Posted June 6 4 minutes ago, DreiFish said: What I should add is that I'm a bit skeptical about the 44GN claim at full power -- I'll have to measure it when I'm back home. That said, 2 Apollo 3s can light a big scene, at full power. Here they are at full power with the diffusers and 1/4 CTO gels. (so probably -1 stop because of the diffusers and gels? I couldn't find published specs on how much light the diffusers reduce). F8, ISO 200, 1/125th with the Canon 8-15mm fisheye. Subject distance is about 2 meters? Not sure about GN which is always embellished a bit but I have tested a lot of strobes over 55 years with the exception of Retra and these are the most powerfully at full coverage I have used. Nice photo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adventurer Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 59 minutes ago, DreiFish said: That said, 2 Apollo 3s can light a big scene, at full power. Here they are at full power with the diffusers and 1/4 CTO gels. (so probably -1 stop because of the diffusers and gels? I couldn't find published specs on how much light the diffusers reduce). F8, ISO 200, 1/125th with the Canon 8-15mm fisheye. Subject distance is about 2 meters? Wowzer! That shot is fantastic and exactly the style I like. I was thinking about getting away with just one Apollo for shooting comfort but this makes consider me two apollos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreiFish Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 (edited) On 6/6/2024 at 11:05 AM, Phil Rudin said: I think you have perhaps misunderstood the manual in that you can shoot 10 FPS at power level #12 when using fiber optic cords to fire the Apollo III flash. The 10 FPS only at power level #5 is only when using the LumiLink wireless flash trigger. This is an issue of the signal from the on camera flash trigger (UWT) to the Lumilink trigger and them the flash just not being able to move fast enough to keep up at 10 FPS. In MTL mode set to 10 FPS using fiber optic cords the MTL setting automatically reduces the power at a given power level to allow the strobe to recycle fast enough to get in 10 frames in one second. So at the top power level of 12 the guide number is reduced from 44 to 22. I'm back home now and I've had a chance to test the Apollo 3s MTL mode to see if the claim is true that you can shoot at 10fps even at 'full power' (setting 12) - GN 22 according to Marelux's MTL power chart. I'm sorry to say.. it's not. At least not on the strobes I received. The R5C has only 3fps, 6fps, 12fps and 20fps (electronic shutter only - no flash) burst modes. So I can't exactly test 10fps mode, but.. In 12fps, I had to dial the power down to setting #6 - GN 8 in MTL mode to achieve 12fps. In 6fps, I had to dial the power down to setting #7 - GN 9.5 in MTL mode to achieve 6fps. In 3fps, I had to dial the power down to setting #10 - GN 16 in MTL mode to achieve 3fps. I'm using Nauticam's manual flash trigger for Canon, but before you conclude this may be a flash trigger limitation, keep in mind that I can get the flash to fire in 12FPS if you dial down the power far enough. It's a flash recycling time limitation. Also, despite Marelux's claims, there are (subtle) differences in the exposure between shots. Less than a stop difference, maybe closer to 1/2 stop or 1/3 stop, but certainly noticeable. Edited June 13 by DreiFish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreiFish Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 In addition to the flash duration tests and recycling times for repeated shooting, I've done some test shots/measurements (in air) of the Marelux Apollo 3's power and beam coverage (in M and MTL, at the different power settings). I've measured (really, estimated) the guide number by taking test shots at 1.4m distance with the flash at different flash powers (from 12 - 1) and compared them with same set-up with the YS-D3. I really don't see how Marelux measured this as a GN44 strobe in air. It is basically about 1/3 stop less bright (in the center) than the Sea & Sea YS-D3. The reason for that is that it casts a much wider beam (more like a circular flash) than the Sea & Sea, so the light it outputs is spread over a wider area. Not a bad result.. but also not a real improvement. It does have better recycling times, allowing you to shoot at the same frame rates as the YS-D3 but producing 1 to 1 1/3 stop more light at each frame rate. Below is the beam coverage (in air) with and without the diffuser. To my eyes, the diffuser reduces a lot of light (2/3 stop) without doing much to improve the beam quality. As for the spread.. the triangular arrangement of 3 linear flash tubes makes it behave as something like a hybrid between a linear flash tube strobe and a circular flash tube strobe. Not as even as a circular flash tube, but better than linear flash tube strobes. Marelux Apollo 3 - No Diffuser / Diffuser (at full power) - ISO 100, F22, 1.4m distance Sea & Sea YS-D3 No Diffuser / Flat Diffuser / Dome Diffuser (at full power) - ISO 100, F22, 1.4m distance. Strobe is turned 90 degrees so the flash tube is vertical to better showcase the flash beam shape. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreiFish Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 @Phil Rudin what are the differences between the V1 and V2 of the strobe? I couldn't find that published anywhere. Also, how do you tell if the early ones delivered are V1 or V2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Rudin Posted June 24 Author Share Posted June 24 (edited) 2 hours ago, DreiFish said: @Phil Rudin what are the differences between the V1 and V2 of the strobe? I couldn't find that published anywhere. Also, how do you tell if the early ones delivered are V1 or V2? From Pavel at UWTechnics. Wireless trigger on Apollo III 2.0 support 1/250s,for old version wireless trigger support 1/160s TTL and RC improved a lot on Apollo III 2.0. MTL mode improved stability. Major change is wireless encrytion code. I have first version and it will sync with Sony A7R V to 1/180th sec and with A1 1/250th both under the camera ratings of 1/250th and 1/400th using LumiLink. With fiber optic cables HSS works to 1/8000th sec and MTL is stable for my cameras. I don't use TTL but I did not find that it works that well with version I. To do TTL, RC, HSS and MTL you need a third party flash trigger like the UW Technics and Turtle triggers. These triggers differ between camera brands. To get the trigger, strobe and Lumilink to talk better both the strobe, Lumilink and trigger needed to be re-coded which led to version 2.0. The first Lumilink will not work with V 2.0 strobes but I believe it can be re-coded. Version 2.0 Lumilink with not work with the first strobes and those strobes like mine can not be re-coded. V1 has a serial number inside the battery compartment with A followed by three numbers. V2 has a B followed by three numbers. With Lumilink the number is on the outside and works the same way. Edited June 24 by Phil Rudin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreiFish Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 4 hours ago, Phil Rudin said: From Pavel at UWTechnics. Wireless trigger on Apollo III 2.0 support 1/250s,for old version wireless trigger support 1/160s TTL and RC improved a lot on Apollo III 2.0. MTL mode improved stability. Major change is wireless encrytion code. I have first version and it will sync with Sony A7R V to 1/180th sec and with A1 1/250th both under the camera ratings of 1/250th and 1/400th using LumiLink. With fiber optic cables HSS works to 1/8000th sec and MTL is stable for my cameras. I don't use TTL but I did not find that it works that well with version I. To do TTL, RC, HSS and MTL you need a third party flash trigger like the UW Technics and Turtle triggers. These triggers differ between camera brands. To get the trigger, strobe and Lumilink to talk better both the strobe, Lumilink and trigger needed to be re-coded which led to version 2.0. The first Lumilink will not work with V 2.0 strobes but I believe it can be re-coded. Version 2.0 Lumilink with not work with the first strobes and those strobes like mine can not be re-coded. V1 has a serial number inside the battery compartment with A followed by three numbers. V2 has a B followed by three numbers. With Lumilink the number is on the outside and works the same way. Thanks! So mostly firmware related changes to do with TTL implementation, not any hardware changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Rudin Posted June 27 Author Share Posted June 27 I have been advised that the version 1.0 of Lumilink can be upgraded by Marelux to version 2.0 but version 1.0 of the Apollo III strobe can not be upgraded to version 2.0. UW Technics flash trigger also needs to be upgraded which can also be done by returning to UWT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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