Nemrod

Nauticam NA-R50, WWL-1, Inon S220X2, Roatan:

I think Back Scatter did make a useful and honest attempt to provide good data. I also agree with Retra that improvements could be made especially in the graphs and some of the measurement methodology. I really enjoy the side by side comparison where I can pick a strobe and add diffusers. There is no serviceability or reliability chart! Inon and YS for example. Basically throw away strobes. True, I have Inon strobes that are 20 years old and still going and several which developed various problems with switches and disappeared into the nether world when sent off for repair. I will gladly pay more, even a lot more for a strobe that has a strong warranty and can be repaired, serviced and even updated. This is fun! Nearly the same brightness in the center but clearly one strobe is producing a lot more power. The problem with GNs! And then the Maxi vs HF-1, just what I see there, the Maxi has a fuller, smoother light output and is if we must say it, slightly more powerful regardless of the charts, I am looking at it with my eyeballs!

You perhaps misunderstood, the 16-45 is the lens that AOI and Nauticam and Marelux R50 housings are designed to use with the intention that the range is expanded on the macro end using various available macro diopters like the CMC-1/2 and on the wide end by the WWL-1 or the AOI UWL-09Pro. Both producing a wide 130 degree field and a huge zoom range. My lament was that had it been a 16-45 I could use the WWL-1C being slightly smaller than the WWL-1 and the UWL-09. Of course the WWL-1C can still be mounted with the FOV limited to 118 degrees vs 130+.

I would like to see brightness measured as a ratio of center vs some standard degrees from center, like at 90 degrees to axis and 120 degrees to axis. Edit, I meant 45 and 60 degrees.

The R50 with the 18-45 suffers from the same things any lens does through a flat port in that wide is not very wide when it comes to big stuff and zoomed in is not quite zoomed enough for macro. Thus the Nauticam housing and the AOI housing are both configured for use with their respective macro diopters and wide angle lenses. Otherwise it is what I call a fish pic lens ;). My one real complaint for the lens is that it is an 18mm and would prefer it be a 16mm, thus the WWL-1B or the AOI UWL-09 will be needed instead of the slightly more compact WWL-1C. The pros are also the cons, no ports to tote about, no expensive trigger than does not work when I need it to, more travel friendly but relies upon external wet optics but you get by with a single camera lens and no domes, vfs, monitors. For surface photography, my complaint there is that please Canon, come on now, give the little thing a modicum of weather/dust sealing please. The R50 is fast to focus, not fussy about dim light, takes pictures like what you would expect of a Canon camera. The guys with the latest full frame Sony AR7-5-6-IIIV-B will not be impressed with their domes and monitors and whatever that $7,500 Nauticam lens is and 45 degree view finders, but heck, the idea was a compact outfit that can produce stunning photos and hold it's own and that is what it is.

Realizing many of the folks on this forum are very serious about everything they do I hardly see $5.00 as an impediment to entering a for the fun of it contest to support the site. Cap the entries to five photos and just charge a $20 entry fee. Or charge enough to enter that it would include a choice of a ball cap or a tee shirt. And if I or some of the less serious guys entered, uh, for the purpose of supporting the site, promise not to laugh, at least to our faces! Or a sticker for my camera case, "I am not a Professional, but I did enter a Water Pixels contest and they laughed" or something!

That is just it, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Didn't that get somebodies head removed or was that "let them eat cake" or something! Anyways, to have a monitor or 45 degree VF and a dome, it is what it is. By going to the larger Maxi strobes which are neutral I was able to remove the outer float arms and just have bare skeleton arms outboard. View finder/monitor, no. Run and gun or jump and go, all of that stuff added negates the premise. In some future where I am exceedingly wealthy I will hire a porter to haul all my equipment about and when we see something photo worthy they will hand me my camera and assist. And serve as a model and set up off camera lighting. And if an OWT shows up hungry sacrifice themselves for benefit of my escape!

Basically no. The video light is on a programable switch position that is via the Retra app specified to be TTL cancel or the video light. Either but not both. And the programmable mode (U) position is on the mode dial and power is set on the strobe power dial. The focus light is available in all modes via a push of the center button a two power levels. And, yes, it does shut off when the strobe is triggered. I find both focus lights to be adequate for lighting my way through swim throughs or a night dive. I do not think the HF1 can do that either but I admit to not being particularly smitten with it once I found out it had no support for Canon/Nikon and Sony only via yet another $ trigger and no universal TTL. And it is plastic, yuk.

Like the WWL-1 or WWL-C or not, this "scenario" is exactly why I have the NA-R50 and the WWL and CMC lenses and my new Maxi strobes. The rig can cover a huge range of opportunities and is relatively compact and travel friendly. No unreliable triggers, no ports, no multiple lenses and domes. No I do not switch from the WWL to a CMC in the water but it usually becomes quickly apparent that an area is more suited to one than the other.

Dave, The Kraken 1800 WSR is a single button. It uses the single button to navigate between several modes. But in any mode, pressing the single command button twice quickly will place the light in auto-off (Burst) mode. I had previous the 1500 model and after much use it succumbed to corrosion and the lens gland leaked. My new one I shall endeavor to be more careful with it to clean it well. I have an Orca 710, it is a slightly larger light than the Kraken unit.

It requires a double push to activate the auto-off feature in any mode. LOL, I have to read the instructions every time I use the darn thing. But I like my Kraken 1800 WSR Focus Light and it works good. Or maybe it was a single quick push, darn it!

The auto off feature is important to me. Both my older Inons and my new Retra strobes have an auto off feature and my Kraken 1800 and former 1500 light that rides atop my housing also has an auto-off mode. I find it not required to hook an optical cable to the Kraken, it sees the strobes flash just fine. The purpose/use of the auto off is to prevent backscatter illumination. Most noticeable when I use the focus light mounted in the cold shoe on my Nauticam, especially at night. For integral strobe focus lights perhaps less useful since anything the focus light illuminates will be illuminated by the strobe light as well, not so with a focus light mounted over the lens port.

Sea Grape.

Like any tool or technique, it is useful when it is and not when it is not.

The ball mount does not come installed. They were in a separate bag with the grease and spares and an Allen key. My recommendation is to remove the ball mount for transport to conserve on space and to remove the ball mount after a dive trip so that trapped saltwater there will not seize the threads or cause corrosion. A little dab of silicone grease will help as an anti-seize. This is not a fault or defect nor a complaint, just normal maintenance on an expensive item you will want to enjoy for many years.

There is a single screw through the middle of the ball mount that goes into a sturdy thread in the strobe case. There is a plastic gasket to isolate (for corrosion) and an anti-rotation pin. Very solid mounting.

Thank you, excellent review. I too had the problem on my second dive that one of my strobes would not turn off, the focus light was on but the strobe would not flash. I thought it had leaked and I rushed back to the boat, pulled the batteries. No leak! Reinstalled batteries and the strobe functioned normally. Upon getting back to the resort I emailed Retra and within an hour they answered assuring me there was no problem and to reload my software to 1.0. My eyes rolled back because I am NOT and computer person and I figured this would be an ordeal! Nope! Connected to the Retra App, downloaded the software, easy! Problem solved. There is a learning curve with the Maxi due to their power and ultra wide beam especially with the diffuser. I have to put the strobes further out, turn them outward more and sweep them further back (behind the dome) to keep them and reflections out of my dome or even the more narrow FOV of the WWL. Also, unlike with previous strobes I have owned, borrowed, whatever, this is the first time I kept turning them down, down. The Maxi strobes just do not feel large in the water, I got used to them quickly and was able to remove an outer float arm and replace that float arm with a plain arm. The XStar 5000 batteries I am using just go and go and go! Pool day prep for the NA-R50 for upcoming Maldives trip.

Here is another thought, just trying to trouble shoot. If you camera requires a tray to slide in as many do, is any wiggle noticeable with the camera into place? Such that the lens zoom or focus gear could be pushing the camera aside?

Just a thought, but does your camera have IBIS or the lens have stabilization? Turn it off. Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems sometimes I see a corner in a RAW file and the jpeg is clean. I managed to trick myself into thinking my Nauticam was leaking. I was in Fort Lauderdale so dropped by Reef to have them check it over. I also mentioned I thought the camera off center. The service tech pressure checked and found no fault and said he made an adjustment and handed it back to me. Since they did not charge me anything for the checkover and adjustment I did not ask what it was he adjusted.

What if you had been asleep? That is what scares me. Everyone in their cabins asleep. They need Halon flood systems installed on these boats in the engine rooms and fuel handling areas. This cannot possibly be lithium ion batteries burning all these boats up! God bless.

Dave, do you find with the floats on the HF-1 strobes you can dispense with one of the float arms? Just curious. The HF-1 were on my short list and the Atoms until I realized that they have no TTL with Canon or Sony (or Nikon etc.). I bet UW Technics will eventually reverse engineer a program for his triggers for the Backscatter protocols. Correct me if wrong but I do not think the HSS works but with OM Systems and with their proprietary Sony trigger?

A little camera and a little housing just makes more room for what is really important, powerful strobes 🤣. The Maxi is smaller than the HF-1 with floats. And, since the Maxi is neutral, you may be able to use only a single float arm instead of dual float arms on each side. On another note, the Inon S220 strobes are essentially the same power as the older Z240. They are very close. And they are tiny, tiny.

I have my Sony set up for BBF and it locks. My Canon does not seem to have that capability but I do have BBF without focus lock. I find BBF more useful for macro than WA. But BBF can be a game changer. Just do not forget to focus!

In the beginning, God said, let there be light. And Retra complied, and there was. And it was good!

Yes, HSS and occasionally some triggers may allow you to trick the camera to a higher sync speed. My UWT trigger allows me to get to 1/200 though the native sync is 1/160. But, it is fussy. There is simply no way I will ever purchase another high dollars underwater rig that does not have at least 1/250 sync speed. Unlike land photography, nearly every shot we make underwater is with strobes. And really, I would like headroom to 1/500 without resorting to HSS. Anything Matt and Alex say about compensating for 1/160 or 1/200 sync limit can be applied to a camera with a 1/250 sync speed for even better results. For macro shooters, okay, not a problem perhaps but for wide angle, that darn sun seems to hang out right where I want to take a shot.