Dave_Hicks

Do you have a diffusor?

Thanks for the comments. I am glad you liked the review and found it inforative! Retra states in their product page for the Maxi that it is 4500k with the wide angle diffuser. And it looks like they updated the page to state the native color temp as well. The Retra Maxi delivers GN46 and a color temperature of ~6200K. With the optional Wide Angle diffuser, it provides 160º coverage at ~4500K. Optimized for GN performance, this powerful strobe captures distant subjects with exceptional light output.

If you are thinking about saving money, buy one of the many used 90mm lens and port combos that people upgrading are selling off. The 100mm is no doubt better, but by how much really? By all accounts the 90mm setup works great with the A1, focusing fast and very sharp. The Tamron 90mm is also a quality option.

Good to know. The review Maxi's didn't come in original packaging. Sure, take them off if it saves space. I've never actually done that in about 20 years of traveling with strobes. I take mounts off of my camera housings very often as they significantly increases their space requirements.

If you mean the ball mount on the Maxi, it's a 5mm hex nut through the ball. I hadn't really looked at it previously. It comes attached as far as I know.

Great, glad you liked the review! You've already bought some Maxi's, so hopefully some other readers will use this to help with their buying decisions. Your next step might be to buy some 12 and 16 inch arm segments. These can really help you get more value and flexibility from your strobes. Counter intuitively, one benefit of long arms that I take advantage frequently is effective inward lighting. For CFWA situations this is my go to move. You can get the strobes far enough away to avoid flare and glow, but you are able to get dramatic lighting without backscatter even in really poor clarity water conditions. (ask me how I know!) Long arms also enable better coverage for really large reef scenes, particularly when shooting vertical.

Is this a language / word choice problem? Picture of a level below. Just check if the hood is parallel to the base of the dome. Put the level on top of the hood. If the hood is not taller than the dome, put the dome upside down with the hood on two equal sized block. Put the level on the base of the dome. Check to see if it's out of line.

My review of the Retra Maxi strobe is now available at Inside Scuba as part of issue #66. I started this review with some initial previews here on WaterPixels and really appreciate the input and ideas from everyone here. As I worked on this I decided that a long term review was the direction I wanted to take. Not just a few dives or a single trip, but experience with it over months and over 100 dives and very diverse environments. In the end I shot with the Maxi's from Dec 2025 to the end of June 2026 when I wrote the review in early July. Then a few weeks of editing and revision followed by a couple more getting it ready for publishing by Inside Scuba. Thanks to Andy Deitsch & Byron Conroy for agreeing to publish the article! Inside ScubaLong Term Review of the Retra Maxi StrobeDave Hicks tests the Retra Maxi strobe across 100+ dives in Raja Ampat and the Pacific Northwest, comparing it head-to-head with the Backscatter HF-1.

I don't have this issue with the 140fe on my Nikon 8-15 setup, with or without 1.4 tc. Can you examine your hood carefully, perhaps using a bubble level? It could be misaligned. A good hit might have altered it.

Someone broke their OS-1 snoot card clips and was looking for replacement parts. So I made some. https://makerworld.com/en/models/3145830-replacement-card-clips-for-backscatter-os-1-snoot You can find more of my designs here: UW Photo: https://makerworld.com/collections/16165730 ` Scuba: https://makerworld.com/collections/16165676

I dove last night for Six Gill sharks. The camera is still set up with my 8-15+1.4tc configuration.

When i first tried the Retra Maxis my rig was too buoyant. I didn't remove any float arms as their length is more about strobe positioning. But I did remove two Jumbo Stix float blocks to get things rebalanced. I then made the HF-1 and Atom floats because without those extra Stix floats the rig was too negative by far. Putting the floatation on the strobe enabled me to quickly move between Maxi, HF-1, and Atom strobes without the difficulty of moving Stix blocks around.

I removed my strobes and arms but kept a single arm with stix floats configured as a cross-bar on top of the housing anchored at each side. Do a few buoyancy checks in a sink, pool, etc. Be sure to have a good lanyard and some place to attach it.

I agree that Retra really did a good job making the Maxi neutrally buoyant and it's a big advantage of their design. However, adding floats to the HF-1 does level the playing field a bit. Below is a set of photos with the Maxi strobe vs the HF-1 with my float design. As you can see, they are not wildly different. The HF-1 is about 12mm wider at the maximum, but shorter overall. With a float installed buoyancy of the two strobes is about the same. There might be an opportunity to make the HF-1 floats a bit taller and less wide with the same buoyancy.

Top to Bottom: Backscatter Atom, Backscatter HF-1, Retra Maxi. The Maxi is the biggest, but also the by far the lightest in the water - nearly neutrally buoyant.

I start to get shakes and twitches if I haven't been diving in more than 7 days. They say a cold plunge is good to promote longevity, so I'm going to roll with that advice.

I never had a problem with half-press shutter (Nauticam housings) even with heavy dry gloves and liners. I've done it for so long that it is entirely natural. When I dive warm water with no gloves I don't notice a difference or need to make a conscious adjustment. It just works.

Says a UK diver. Are you missing out on all the great local diving in your neck of the woods? :) Got to say, diving without flying is the best thing ever. Bring as much camera gear as you can stuff into your car! And some extra gloves for good measure! Cheers, Dave

I have never gotten use to BB button focus. I am a half-press shutter man and it works well for me. With Nikon AF-C I rarely miss a shot. Out of focus images are very rare.

Off camera remote triggering is not a feature of the Maxi's. You would need a dedicated remote trigger product. BTW, my full review of the Retra Maxi's will be published this coming weekend I believe.

All good.