Nemrod

What system do you have? The Backscatter strobes do not have universal TTL and only work with their proprietary trigger or OM cameras. There is a big power and size jump between the YSD3 and the HF-1, maybe the new Atom is closer to your needs, assuming you have an OM camera. The price Delta between the HF-1 plus float collar is not that great compared to the Retra Maxi which does have universal TTL and some other features, like a huge power range and neutral buoyancy and a for real warranty I hope not to need ;). YS strobes have not been noted for their reliability now for several generations, not sure if the D3 is any better or their newer D130.

Larger housings actually are generally more buoyant than smaller housings. With Retra Maxi strobes on my NA-6400 (or NA-R50) I need to tie a string on the rig and pull it around like a helium balloon at the fair. I am going to have to remove some floatation or add lead. That is with a 4.33 dome, with the WWL it is a few ounces negative still and either way balance is perfect. I do not know if it was engineering expertise or just luck but the Retra Maxi strobes are perfect in the water, neutral, sometimes bigger is more littler. The price Delta between the HF-1 and the Retra Maxi is not huge, with floats on the HF-1 it is larger than the Maxi. But if I had an HF-1, I think I would want a set of those floats, looks like a great solution to a boat anchor of a strobe and they look professional and I bet they can be gotten in blue!

My WWL-1 has hundreds and hundreds of dives over six years, going on seven, and not a single spot. I keep the plastic cap on, I rinse both the dome glass and the rear lens element and pat or blot dry them with a microfiber cloth between dives if I cannot keep the rig wet in the rinse tank. Same with my housing port. I do have some damage on my housing port but not enough to affect images yet, probably from forgetting to rinse. I will replace it soon probably, sooner or later maybe. High calcium fresh water can spot also.

That is what I am, thinking, otherwise the FLs make no sense.

Still no autofocus fisheye for APS-C Sony?

The HF-1 strobes are 8 ounces negative in saltwater if I recall. The Retra Maxi are neutral to slightly buoyant. A half pound hanging off the arms is quite a lot IMO. Yes, my ball ends/O-rings are worn out but still, with the Maxi I do not need to clamp them down, with the HF-1 set I tried I did, otherwise soon they were dragging in the sand. Of course, if I am swimming hard into a current, the S220 strobes, which are slightly negative but so small they produce little drag do not swing back or down. I expect the Retras/HF-1 and other similar full size strobes to be noticeable in such condition and will need me to pull the arms inward and tighten the clamps when in transit from A critter to B critter. The Atoms AF-1 is nearly six ounces negative, that is still quite a bit negative. Adding floats to compensate bulks the rig up so the question to me becomes large neutral strobes or very negative nearly as large strobes with bulked up floats on the arms, pick the poison. My NA-6400 was about 4 ounces, maybe 6 ounces negative with the S220 strobes or slightly less and now with the Retras it is neutral in the same configuration. With the HF-1 strobes it was a brick and would plummet to the bottom.

Maybe the message is that you need new Retra Maxi strobes? The problem for me with the HF-1 is are two fold. They are very negative in the water, enough so that my clamps have to be overly tight to prevent the strobes from not falling down. Second, they have proprietary (RC) TTL that only works with the TG series cameras and I guess the OM1? May work with some Sony cameras but uses a proprietary trigger that will not fit in my housing which already has a UWT trigger. Backscatter could not have told their China box factory to add a universal TTL mode? Does not work with my Canon either. Same thing with the Atom. Cannot have a standard TTL mode? I have now used my new Retra Maxi strobes in the pool on practice subjects and found that the TTL works quite well with both my Canon and Sony. Yes, I mostly shoot in manual strobes mode but having TTL is a solid requirement for me because there are times I want to shoot TTL. And the Maxi is essentially neutral ln the pool and possibly slightly buoyant in salt water. I do not have to tighten my clamps down to support them.

At least we have Alex and Matt and the Underwater Photography Show to get an underwater camera fix 😀. As soon as my wife hears that intro music she gets up and leaves the room, "if you are going to listen to that again, I am going to go read a book!" I keep trying to explain to her there is more than one episode, ha.

Yes, thank you Dave. My bumpers and knobs are great. Used them in the dive pool today. Great! Cannot wait for my trip in a few weeks to use my new strobes with DH bumpers and knobs!

I have mostly ULCS and Nauticam clamps. The ULCS are US standard 1/4X20 and 1/4X28 (fine). The M6 is quite close to 1/4X20 which is slightly larger in diameter. You could possibly convert your M6 outer clamp to 1/4X20 by running a tap through it and then thereafter use the ULCS clamp knobs in your preferred color. Use a permanent thread locker (271 or similar) on the outer clamp half. Just a thought, have not tried it.

He would have to release vacuum and then turn the switch off. Upon rearming the circuit with the "switch" of some sort he envisages then restore the vacuum. But he would not have to open the housing. I just open my housing in the evening, give everything a once over and then close it back for the next day and pull vac about 30 minutes before departure or when convenient. But, I recharge between dives or at lunch as needed without having to open the housing on the boat or a sandy beach or some other undesirable place.

I originally used a double ender instead of the bolt snaps. But I visited the Reef store in Fort Lauderdale and saw those Nauticam shackle clamps and just had to have them and thus went to the dual bolt snaps. But, I have been considering going back to the single double ender. It is more comfortable to hold and slightly more compact and removes some clutter (the bolt snaps) from the camera while in use. The lanyard would seem redundant sometimes perhaps since I usually carry the rig by the bolt snaps/double ender. But, boat crews fixate on that lanyard, they instinctively know that is where to grab. And during safety/deco stops I will sometimes let the camera hang from the lanyard clipped to one pivot to my shoulder D ring and clipped back to the other pivot afterwards and of course the coil lanyard is still attached until hand off for two point security, the two points being my hand and the coil lanyard or the white lanyard and coil lanyard. Sounds complicated maybe but it is not in practice. A couple of years ago on the Spiegel my buddy assigned me was a relatively new diver and with camera, a bad combo. I agreed to dive with her and all was well until her fin strap broke near the end of the dive. And the current had gotten worse. She had her fin in one hand, her camera in the other and thus no way to hold the buoy line and got blown off. So, I let the current take me, zipped my camera rig up to my chest as described earlier, intercepted her and then took her broken fin in one hand and grabbed her now free hand and swam her back to the boats tag line. The point of this story being that sometimes it is nice to be able to rig for hands free and know your rig is not flopping about. And that is when the two bolt snaps come into play, each one goes to a chest D ring.

No, not once in over twenty years. If having the loops on the outer arms bothers one then put them on the inside, the method works either way. With all of the stuff folks have hanging on their cameras like optical and electric sync cables those little loops provide little issue compared. And because they are 1/8 bungee if they were to ever get entangled my shears would make quicker work of them than the heavy electric cables on those Ikelite strobes!

The gap that is added is very small. However, I did make a suggestion as to how to deal with the void in the OE knobs filled with water by drilling a 1/8 or #30 hole to allow blowing the water out. I am confident that the tiny gap of my new "blue" knobs will not cause any more likelihood of breaking a shaft. I did not mean to start a what if scenario as I have never heard of a broken Retra strobe shaft. It is just that I was somewhat miffed by their being plastic, I would have thought them to be stainless steel. If the shaft were to break it would be where the shaft tapers down and is then relieved for the set screw to insert. That is where the turning force is applied and if the shaft were to snap off there the knob would fall off in your hand or Davy Jone's Locker. I am not really worried about it. I have been using for several years a rechargeable electric blower. It worked great and dries all the water off and out of controls without the high pressure compressed air of a nozzle on a scuba tank. Recently I got a corded blower to reduce battery count that really gets the job done and can probably serve as a hair drier 😆 because it even gets very slightly warm due to compression.

I got my bumpers and knobs! Super Nice!! About the standard Retra knobs. They have a cavity inside that could hold water and fit so close to the case that blowing out the water completely might be difficult. In replacing my knobs with the 3D printed Super Nice knobs, (1) I discovered that the shaft itself is Nylon, not stainless! Hmmm, I did not expect that on $XXXX strobes! (2) The cavity seems to serve no purpose and I took a 1/8 drill and put a hole in them into the cavity in exact alignment with the set screw hole such that it intersected the cavity at mid depth. (3) JFYI, the set screw goes deep into the plastic shaft and must be nearly completely backed out before the knobs will slip off the plastic shafts. I am quite certain that the added hole would allow complete rinsing and removal of any water and since all the parts are plastic I am not sure it matters. But who wants salt water left in their expensive gear, so add the "blow" hole or get some printed knobs that do not have the cavity and have a small gap at the interface to the back plate to properly drain. Hey, Retra, what is up with those plastic shafts, are those going to snap off? My Inons have plastic bodies and metal shafts, my Retras have metal bodies and plastic shafts, this is making my OCD hurt my head! On the first moon landing, Armstrong hit a CB switch accidentally and broke it off. If not for an ink pin inserted into the CB they might still be on the moon. The point being, if it is important and can break off, it will, exactly when you need it most. Plastic shafts? Are those going to break when I get that whale shark in my VF?