Dave_Hicks

None of these test images or graph can tell me if a new strobe is going to burn out the day after the warranty expires. That data point is infinitely more important that the degree of light fall-off at the edges of a swimming pool. The reality is that award winning images have been made with every single one of these strobe models. They are all capable of contributing to the creation of incredible artwork in the right hands. Buy the one that you can afford and trust for reasonable service &support with a set of features you value.

Most likely yes. Make sure your charger supports the USB PD (power delivery) spec. Most of them do.

Yes, it is. Do I need to send you a picture of mine plugged in to a USB-C cord? The picture I shared also says that it is. How much assurance do you need? RTFM

The site seemed to be returning "bad gateway" errors for a while.

Looks at this Nitecore 4 bay charger that will support 21700s and 18650s for $30. The 21700 is becoming more popular and I would not buy a charge today that didn't cover that cell size. This is also a USB-C powered charger. I run all my chargers off a fairly power 65W+ USB brick, eliminating as many AC power cords as possible.

Those two Fiji pictures are classic Wide-Angle images of a large subject. The reefs in the pics are probably 3 meters across or a bit more. Most acceptable wide-angle strobe lit images have to be within 1-2 meters or you might as well turn off the strobes. I was probably no more than 1.5 meters from the front of the reef. CFWA is typically just centimeters from the subject, and smaller macro powered strobes like the Inon 220 would be better suited for that sort of shot than a wide able image in your examples and mine. To be blunt, I question your taste if you think those test shorts were properly exposed. They are grey and unsaturated, not reflecting any of the real-world color in the soft corals, fish, or hard coral reef. Your test shots should at least be exposed well enough to make post processing worthwhile to create an aesthetically pleasing image.

Yes, exactly. These test chart shots are largely irrelevant to real world use. It's nice to see for relative power levels but must "full powered" strobes in the market are all going to deliver similar results. The far more useful metrics are in Reliability, Serviceability, Portability, and Utility (user interface, features). As we've seen with Sea&Sea, they had a lot of failures coupled with a very poor customer service and repair story. Backscatter had reliability problems with the (early) MF-1 strobes but came out ahead with a stellar service. Retra adds a lot of great features and luxury parts (bluetooth firmware updates, flash tubes). Ikelite has always been reliable and has great battery packs, but have always been bulky and heavy. Inon is the Toyota of Strobes with great function and reliability, but lack fancy features or a sexy part list. Backscatter is still evolving being with their first foray with the MF-1 and MF-2 small/snoot strobes, and entering the full power market with the HF-1 which as great specs. I'll have a pair of HF-1s tomorrow, and I'll see how well the work soon. I usually dive a couple days a week and will take these out right away.

Here are a pair of images of similar wide angle reef subjects in Fiji. The first is from 2012 taken with DS-125s on a D800 with No Diffusers [Sigma 15mm, 1/80s, f6.3, iso100] This second was taken with Inon-330s on a D850 with No Diffusers [Sigma 15mm, 1/80s, f13, iso320]

These are both pretty poor quality images that are not properly illuminated or exposed. Assuming you didn't crop, the shot below with the brighter area is take from a closer position than the one above which might explain illumination difference. I can't tell which one of these has a diffuser on it. Regardless, Inon 220's don't have any right to be making useful images of a scene that wide even if they aspire to WA. I don't know enough about the Marelux models to comment.

My point (which I didn't make clearly) is that I would be interested in seeing how these strobes perform on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd shot in a 1 second burst. Are all 3 (or 12, 20, 30) shots delivering a similar level of illumination or is there are power drop off with later shots? How do the various strobes perform in these burst shot modes? With new strobes coming on the market with more power, Li-on cells, and the ability to support more than one shot per second, this is going to be the new, and actually relevant metric to judge these strobes. I've shot Ikelike DS-125, DS-161, Inon 330, and Retra strobes over the years. I'd be hard pressed say that one delivered better image results than another. I moved between models based on portability, useability, and reliability over the years. I never found any of these strobes to be dramatically better in producing useful images than the others. I do feel very limited by not being able to take more than one shot per second in high speed action situations, and look forward to experimenting with this ability.

Can you share a real world photo that shows the negative impact of a hotspot?

I think these strobe power tests would be a lot more interesting if they included strobes set at 1/2 power. I rarely shoot at full power as it includes too many negatives like flare and backscatter in all but the most perfect water conditions. I have a pair of the new HF-1 strobes expected to be delivered this week, and what I really want to take advantage of is the ability to fire at least 3 frames per second. This would typically be at 1/2 to 1/4 power levels.

My responses in Red. I've been shooting underwater for a long time now and experimented with many strobes, diffusers, etc. At the end of the day, you can adjust your strobe position, angle, and power levels to achieve the results you desire. Diffusers are like wearing ear-plugs at a concert and sunglasses at a movie. If you need them then it's too loud or too bright. When shooting with strobes YOU have full control of the power knob. Use it as needed.

Pictures, settings, location? Strobes should not be a factor as they don't impact water. How you are processing your photos matters a lot. AutoWB in camera, white balance adjustments in post-processing software are the relevant factors. Generally, you would fix this in editing to create the water color that you saw or desire for the image.

What this tells me is that diffusers are a major detriment. I don't know why anyone bothers to use them.

Do your phone and laptop and focus light run on AA batteries? No? So, what's the problem? Just buy Quality chargers and li-on batteries and don't worry about it. I think in a few more years there won't be any more AA driven strobes. They are just not competitive anymore on features or performance. Even Retra created an ugly hack with their SuperCharger, but are now replacing that with a Li-on pack.

How are you applying the Carbon or Fiberglas coating to your parts? What material are you using?

Most of my underwater prints have been PETG. Things exposed to the elements like 2nd Stage Regulator Purge, Optical Cable connectors and Inon330 Strobe button-blocker. They have held up well for several hundred dives with no sign of deterioration. Zoom & Focus rings I printed in PLA as they don't get much exposure. I need to make another 2nd stage regulator part and will use PETG. For the Port Float I decided to go with PLA for the first draft as it would be coated with epoxy, and direct exposure to the elements would not matter so much. I am considering printing with ABS for the v2 attempt as it is supposed to have better strength than both PLA and PETG. It doesn't like UV light, but again I think a primer paint and epoxy layer will deal with that. I've not made an ABS print yet, but recently upgraded to a Bambu P1S that can print this material. I'll try it today or tomorrow. I'll try to take the PLA port float down past 30 meters this week, but I rarely have cause to go as deep at 40 meters. I'll do a bounce down there if I get the chance in the next few weeks.

That is good input. The current design used PLA, but I have considered ABS as a stronger material. Do you have an opinion on ABS vs PETG in this application? I have another design for modular floats that snap on to ULCS arms. I haven't tested it yet with epoxy as I was try to get validation with the port floats first.

I've made a handful of dives with the Float Collars for the Port87 and Port60 now. No problems, and they seem to work very well. Form fitting to port, securely attached, and it blends right into the rig. Balance and handling is much improved. Best of all no leaks and no implosions! I want to get at least 10-20 dives on these to declare success, including some dives below 100feet. Perhaps in a few weeks I'll be ready to share a design. To get these watertight I used a clear epoxy resin that is easily painted on to the part. Aside from the fairly toxic fumes and wearing a good mask in a ventilated space, this is pretty quickly done.

I don't see one anywhere. Design one and share it!

I recently created these 3d printed custom fit port-attached float collars for Nauticam port 60 & 87. I have done a handful of dives with each and they worked great. The 87 float adds about 400g of buoyancy and helps a lot if you use diopters mounted to the port which tends to make the rig front heavy. image widget

If you are shooting a WWL port for wide angle, it's no more difficult to pack than a Macro port. They are quite a great solution with amazing quality. I've been using a WWL-C for a few months with a Z8 and it is fantastic. And the Mirrorless EVF advantage is just as important as with Wide Angle as with Macro. Add a 45deg viewfinder and it's incredible how much better than a DSLR it can me.

After a trip to Galapagos years ago, we had particularly strong currents. I really had to clamp down my arms to get them to stay in place. After I go home and did a more relaxed dive, I noticed that all my arm segments were super floppy! I assumed that the o-rings had taken a beating and bought a full new set. Problem solved! I had my first set of ULCS clamps for over 10 years and used them on many hundreds of dives. At some point when I was reconfiguring my camera and adding longer arm segments, I decided to buy all new clamps. I did a good job cleaning all of the older ones and put them up for sale. I recall that I was able to sell them for about 50% of the cost of brand-new replacements. If these things are cared for, they hold their value really well over time. Not too many UW Photography accessories you can say that about!

My PETG & TPU printed underwater camera parts have fared well on hundreds of dives.