SUPE D-PRO Strobe test

[Giancarlo M.]

Hi guys, the article about my experience with Scubalamp D-Pro flashes has just been published, you can find it in the articles section of the site, if you have any questions or need any clarification I would be happy to help you.

Ciao

 

 

Edited January 30 by Davide DB
Link added

[Guest]

Consistent with @DreiFish observation those strobes seem to give a very cold color response 

[Pooley]

Nice concise review, thanks for doing this

 

Mike

[DreiFish]

I have the D-Pro. I started testing it, but only got half-way because of some issues with my flash trigger (waiting on a replacement). Anyway, I can share a few technical details:

 

1. Flash duration at full power is 1/300s. So.. not fast, but adequate.

2. Color temperature unmodified is 6400k

3. Guide number (in air) is GN20.

4. Beam is nice, wide, without hotspots (as you would expect from a circular flash tube strobe). Here's a photo, and next two are the YS-D3 (dome diffuser, also GN20) and Marelux Apollo 3 (no diffuser, GN29)

 

[DreiFish]

I finished my testing (except for continuous fire mode -- still waiting on new flash trigger to determine highest GN at which you can shoot 6fps continuously).

 

It's a pretty quirky strobe to be honest. Powerful, but quirky. Here are the measured numbers:

 

 

 

Observations:

• The optical sensor requires a lot of power to trigger. It doesn't work with Nauticam's manual trigger, regardless of the fiber optic cable I used. I was only able to get it to work with a UW Technics trigger (not all the time) and a Seafrog flash trigger (manual, brand agnostic and works in most housings ) that I use as a cheap backup
• The flash power progression is just weird. It's a manual strobe, and only has 9 power settings, but the power progression is not at all linear, which makes it hard to use. Settings 8 and 7 serve limited purpose, as they only go down .1 stop each from full power. You have to dial down all the way to 5 to reduce strobe power in half, and from there the next two clicks each drop one full stop or more. This makes it basically impossible in my view to get fine tuned settings . You can think of it as a strobe with only 5 real power settings, and each is one stop apart. That would take some getting used to and doesn't get you the same fine-grained control that pretty much every other strobe gives.
• Flash sync speed is 1/300s at full power, which is ok, but not great. The good news is that by dialing down to setting 6, you only lose 1/3 stop of output, but the flash duration more than halves to 1/800s. So.. it's both a slow strobe at full power, and a fast strobe at 1/3 stop below full power. Not bad.
• Recycling times for 3 fps (limit for the Seafrogs trigger) is very good. You can shoot 3 fps at GN 12.6, which is better than the Marelux Apollo 3, YS-D3 and Inon S-220. That's promising. I'm waiting to test 6fps and 12fps, but the manufacturer advertises that you can only achieve 10fps at the lowest setting, which is the worst result of the bunch. I'll update once I test more.

So overall, I think this strobe is priced just about right.. it's not so expensive, and has some obvious pluses (decent power, wide, even beam, short flash duration, good recycling times, good battery capacity -- it's a proprietary Lithium Ion battery pack made up of 3 18650 batteries, just like the Marelux Apollo 3. Downsides include manual only, weak optical slave sensor, compromised dial to control power output, and inconsistent high speed shooting performance.

 

I'll be putting mine up for sale if someone wants to snag one at a discount. Basically brand new in its original box with all the materials. Never used in water -- just for these tests. $500 OBO.

[Luko]

On 6/17/2024 at 5:32 AM, DreiFish said:

The optical sensor requires a lot of power to trigger. It doesn't work with Nauticam's manual trigger, regardless of the fiber optic cable I used.

I have purchased Fotocore GTX strobes which are a rebranded version of the Supe/Scubalamp D-Pro with additional features such as strobo/multiflash available in slow shutter mode (3 or 6 flashes in one click, funnily enough these two modes replace the 8 and 9 power levels that seem quite redundant on the D-Pro).

 

I'm using a Nauticam manuaI trigger and like you, I have had much trouble firing them at first tries with my older Inon/Nauticam optical plugs and fiber cables. It just didn't work, neither inon "small bell" nor S&S plug connectors were working, none of them could fire the bl$*dy strobes... After contacting the owner as well as 2 other Southeast Asia based photogs I know who are sucessfully using such strobes, I switched to thicker kind of connectors like the ones that are present on Weefine fiber optics : it worked like a charm. Now firing every time.

 

The thing is that I was confirmed that it wouldn't work with double cable bush so I changed all my older fiber optics with single cable S&S type bushes. Since the S&S plugs are also too loose I inserted them into a Inon "small bell" connector that screws on the strobe connector socket : it works fine as well.

 

Hence I can confirm it does work with Nauticam manual trigger, it's only a matter of bush/plug type on the strobe socket side.  

Edited June 20 by Luko

[DreiFish]

3 hours ago, Luko said:

I have purchased Fotocore GTX strobes which are a rebranded version of the Supe/Scubalamp D-Pro with additional features such as strobo/multiflash available in slow shutter mode (3 or 6 flashes in one click, funnily enough these two modes replace the 8 and 9 power levels that seem quite redundant on the D-Pro).

 

I'm using a Nauticam manuaI trigger and like you, I have had much trouble firing them at first tries with my older Inon/Nauticam optical plugs and fiber cables. It just didn't work, neither inon "small bell" nor S&S plug connectors were working, none of them could fire the bl$*dy strobes... After contacting the owner as well as 2 other Southeast Asia based photogs I know who are sucessfully using such strobes, I switched to thicker kind of connectors like the ones that are present on Weefine fiber optics : it worked like a charm. Now firing every time.

 

The thing is that I was confirmed that it wouldn't work with double cable bush so I changed all my older fiber optics with single cable S&S type bushes. Since the S&S plugs are also too loose I inserted them into a Inon "small bell" connector that screws on the strobe connector socket : it works fine as well.

 

Hence I can confirm it does work with Nauticam manual trigger, it's only a matter of bush/plug type on the strobe socket side.  

 

Interesting, Luko. I did actually try it with a 3rd-party optical sync cable I purchased from Amazon that claims it's 617 fiber optic strands, but didn't work with that either. It could be that the small bell connector on the strobe makes it difficult to align the cable just right so it hits flush against the optical sensor. In any event.. some care must be clearly taken to select the right optical cable 🙂

[Sokrates]

I have D-Pros and Nauticam trigger (On A7RV), never had problem firing the strobes.

I bought mine in Taiwan along with cables, maybe the shop just knew which ones to sell (or just lucky). I do remember the plugs being little bit "loose".

[Giancarlo M.]

I had no problems with the Nauticam manual trigger, I used AOI 613-CORE fibre cables

[vkalia]

Thanks for sharing the info about the optical cables, guys.  I recently picked up a couple of D-Pros and was a bit concerned about the idea of it not working with a Nauticam trigger.

 

My own short notes about the D-Pro:

 

I switched to the D-Pros recently - replacing a mixed pair of one Inon Z240 and one Sa&S YS-D2J.      I had a pair of Inons - flooded one because i twisted the O-ring and didnt notice it.     At that time, the Z330 had just been released and were hard to find, so i got the S&S.   Decent enough strobes but the battery life was hit or miss, and one strobe died after 2 trips - and S&S told me to go pound, claiming there was some internal O-ring that i needed to service annually.   

 

I tried out the D-Pros in Raja Ampat recently and am very pleased with them so far.    The big changes i have noticed are a *much* larger beam spread (to the point that a lot of my images had backscatter on the sides because i was pointing these strobes the way i was my Z240/D2J) and a significantly better battery life.   I can get 2 days out of these strobes, whereas with the Inon/Z240, even a third dive would sometimes be pushing it.      Having one less thing to do in the evening after a day of diving is always a good thing, in my books. 

 

The weight/bulk is a downside.  I could easily fit my Nauticam/MFT housing, ports and strobes in a small, nondescript Lowerpro shoulder bag - but that’s a bit of a struggle now as each strobes takes about twice the space of my older ones.  

 

The lack of granularity in the power ratings isnt a big thing for me - any small adjustments in exposure, i can make with aperture.     I do find them more powerful than the Inons/S&S, and have mostly shot with power at a 3 or 4 setting - so plenty of power for me and I dont really see the need for more.     OTOH, even the Inons were powerful enough for me, with me rarely maxing out their power - so maybe its a “me” thing.    

 

Overall, am very satisfied with the strobes, atleast for now (2 trips in).    The fantastic battery life and significantly wider beam are the main drivers for this.    I am, however, going to remove the diffusers on the next trip.      That beam doesnt need to be any wider.  

🙂

[DreiFish]

 

Finally got around to doing the 6fps and 12fps tests, and the results are excellent. The strobe puts out almost as much power for repetitive shots as the best-in-class Backscatter HF-1s. You can shoot 3fps and 6fps with the power dial maxed out at 9, and only need to step back to 7 for 12fps.

 

I think these strobes offer a really attractive price-to-value proposition if you can get over the large strobe body, manual only, no HHS, modest light power and color temperature at full power.  (the claimed 4800k is a pretty bold lie, but 6000k is pretty respectable.). Good build quality and they have a wide, even light beam because of the circular flash tube, excellent recycling times, short flash duration times, and great battery capacity. They're not unmanageably negative at -120g in the water.

 

Optical slave sensor is a bit less forgiving to weak flash triggers and poor fiberoptic cables than other strobes, but with the right cables and triggers, it works fine.

 

Overall, great price-to-value ratio at $750 (or less if bought overseas). 

Edited July 19 by DreiFish