Problem with Mini Flash MF-1

On 2/8/2023 at 11:29 PM, davehicks said:

I really love the strobe and I ordered an MF-2 as well. Both the MF-2 and the replacement MF-1 showed up this week. I'll dive the MF-2 this weekend!

 

Hey, since you’ve been using the mf2 for 2ish months, I was wondering if you’ve had any issues thus far with it? I just ordered one last week and I’m waiting for it to arrive, and this entire thread has me a little apprehensive. I’m hoping they fixed whatever issues they had with the first generation for the mf2, but since you seem to have an incredibly long string of bad luck with this flash, I was hoping perhaps to hear that things have taken a turn for the better with the 2.

Got a new MF-2 from Backscatter. They were kind enough to send it to me as replacement for the defective MF-1. Great customer service by Backscatter.

7 hours ago, diverareyouok said:

Hey, since you’ve been using the mf2 for 2ish months, I was wondering if you’ve had any issues thus far with it? I just ordered one last week and I’m waiting for it to arrive, and this entire thread has me a little apprehensive. I’m hoping they fixed whatever issues they had with the first generation for the mf2, but since you seem to have an incredibly long string of bad luck with this flash, I was hoping perhaps to hear that things have taken a turn for the better with the 2.

I had to send my MF-2 back to Backscatter for evaluation. I have a Nauticam D850 housing which I bought in early 2019, which I've been using with my MF-1 strobes, Inon 330's, and a borrowed Retra. All of those strobes work great. I did not have much luck with the MF-2 unfortunately. It did work some of the time, but most of the time it would fire but not produce an exposure. It seemed to be to be a Synchronization issue as it fired 100% of the time, but the photos were all black/ambient.

Backscatter evaluated the problem, and they think it is a compatibility issue with some older Nauticam flash triggers. Mine was bought new in 2019 and the serial number has a 2018 in it, so I assume it was made 5 years ago. They are telling me that they have tested more recent Nauticam flash triggers and they do work with the MF-2. It looks like they discussed it with Nauticam, and have arranged for me to receive a replacement flash trigger. 

I'll update when we get this resolved. In the meantime, it looks like there are some ecosystem issues that need to be addressed. It would be good to understand exactly what version/manufacture date of the triggers is needed to avoid the problem.

@davehicks

Interesting... I have a D850 housed in a Nauticam housing - bought pretty early on (right after the housing was released) - I shot with the MF-2 (snooting) a few weeks ago and had no issues with it firing sync'ed with the camera (I have work to do on my snooting skills, but that's a "me" issue not an equipment issue).

I haven't looked - where can you find the number or date on the trigger?

6 hours ago, oneyellowtang said:

@davehicks

Interesting... I have a D850 housed in a Nauticam housing - bought pretty early on (right after the housing was released) - I shot with the MF-2 (snooting) a few weeks ago and had no issues with it firing sync'ed with the camera (I have work to do on my snooting skills, but that's a "me" issue not an equipment issue).

I haven't looked - where can you find the number or date on the trigger?

It is visible on the circuit board if you look at it in the housing, at least on mine.

You might want to do some bench tests with a single strobe to evaluate the MF-2. Shoot a macro lens with f16, 1/250s, iso100. Move from power level 1 - 7 and compare exposures.

It was not consistent with my strobe/trigger combo, but when it failed it continued to do so until I did a battery change of the strobe.  It failed more often than worked in my case.

A new trigger has been shipped to me and i should have it shortly. Hopefully i can dive it by this weekend.

My MF-2 came back from Backscatter along with a new Nauticam flash trigger to replace my older model. The new trigger has a 2021 manufacture date, where the old one was 2018. 

A quick bench test showed that the new trigger and MF-2 combo was working as expected. I did a series of test shots at f16, 1/250, iso 100 as a target using the snoot. I set the MF-2 to power level 1 and progressed up to 7 and back down to 1. The images all exposed and clearly showed the procession of power levels up and down the scale.

I'll take it out for a couple of dives this week and get a few hours on it before calling it done, but I don't expect any more issues.

This whole experience was another great example of Backscatter's excellent service, and their commitment to doing right by their customers. I am very impressed with their efforts and wish more companies would follow their example.