Anyone diving the new ONE UW 160X strobe?

I want to upgrade from my old YS-D1 and D2 strobes to something with a circular tube. I want a circular flash tube, which narrows the field, especially since the Sea & Sea YS-D250 is out of production. I also want something with big power because I mostly photograph sharks, giant mantas, dolphins, whale sharks, etc. From what I can see, that leaves the Seacam and UW ONE 160x. The good folks over at Reef advise that the core electronics in the Seacam are actually manufactured by UW and that, despite the guide number difference, they perform virtually identically. I find the UW interface and control layout very appealing, it appears to have the power and coverage I need, and they are well-priced.

So...who's diving these Italian beauties?

1 hour ago, jplaurel said:

From what I can see, that leaves the Seacam and UW ONE 160x

Also Retra and Isotta RED64.

Don Silcock from indopacific images is using them. If you have not already found this info I have attached a link below. You can see his results on his instagram 

indopacific_images

ONEUW One160X Strobe Review - First Impressions | Indopacificimages

My review of the ONEUW 160X strobes is in the Jan/Feb 2022 issue #124 of UWPMAG.com. The article is a free PDF download. 

On 4/23/2022 at 8:14 PM, Barmaglot said:

Also Retra and Isotta RED64.

Aha, I wasn't aware of the Isotta RED64 strobes. Friend of mine had the Retras side by side with the Seacams at Socorro recently. Retras weren't comparable in terms of power or recycle time.

2 minutes ago, jplaurel said:

Retras weren't comparable in terms of power or recycle time.

Prime or Pro model, with or without superchargers? Retra Pro is within spitting distance of OneUW/Seacam in terms of power (150 W/s vs 160 W/s) whereas Retra Prime is somewhat weaker at 100 W/s. As for recycle time, it's somewhat slow with just four batteries, but with superchargers, my Retra Pros can shoot half-power at 3fps continuously. There's also the reflector attachment that doubles beam intensity at the cost of spread, which allows for reaching out to surprising distances - useful for skittish subjects; I'm not aware of any other strobes having anything similar.

58 minutes ago, Barmaglot said:

Prime or Pro model, with or without superchargers? Retra Pro is within spitting distance of OneUW/Seacam in terms of power (150 W/s vs 160 W/s) whereas Retra Prime is somewhat weaker at 100 W/s. As for recycle time, it's somewhat slow with just four batteries, but with superchargers, my Retra Pros can shoot half-power at 3fps continuously. There's also the reflector attachment that doubles beam intensity at the cost of spread, which allows for reaching out to surprising distances - useful for skittish subjects; I'm not aware of any other strobes having anything similar.

I will add also here the weight on land and the final cost in expense of some watts. Is a matter of target subjects as said.

On 4/25/2022 at 10:49 PM, Barmaglot said:

Prime or Pro model, with or without superchargers? Retra Pro is within spitting distance of OneUW/Seacam in terms of power (150 W/s vs 160 W/s) whereas Retra Prime is somewhat weaker at 100 W/s. As for recycle time, it's somewhat slow with just four batteries, but with superchargers, my Retra Pros can shoot half-power at 3fps continuously. There's also the reflector attachment that doubles beam intensity at the cost of spread, which allows for reaching out to surprising distances - useful for skittish subjects; I'm not aware of any other strobes having anything similar.

It seems there are new versions of both Prime and Pro, and they now carry an “X” suffix to denote the upgrade. A friend of mine had the Pro X with the supercharger on a recent Socorro trip, along with a pair of the Seacam Seaflash 160. We were photographing sharks, mantas and dolphins every day. His take was that the Retra could be a good compromise, in that they are lighter and smaller to transport, a little less expensive, with appealing light pattern and warm color temp, but that they don’t have the sheer power or recycle time of the Seaflash. And he seemed to regard the Seaflash as a close second to the venerable Sea & Sea YS-250, which he has used for years.

My understanding from the people at Reef Photo was that the ONEUW is basically a different implementation of the the same internal components as used in the Seaflash. In his review here on Wetpixel, Alex Mustard seems to stop just short of openly speculating that ONEUW is an OEM for the Seaflash.

The size of these things is certainly a downside, since our camera housing cases are usually right at the checkin weight limit. On the other hand, with their neoprene jackets fitted, they weigh only 2.5G in the water. (A single STIX float should make them positive.) But they do apparently provide the high power needed for photographing pelagics at high frame rates, and they are well-priced compared to the Seaflash. The UI is a matter of taste, but the ONEUW looks well thought out.

On 4/25/2022 at 11:48 PM, dpoursanidis said:

I will add also here the weight on land and the final cost in expense of some watts. Is a matter of target subjects as said.

Yes, could be an effective compromise when travel weight is an issue. In this class, however, you would also have to consider the Inon, with its “plus-shaped” pattern.

I shoot video, so these are primarily for my wife, who shoots the 5DSR. She already has a couple pairs of the YS-D1 and D2, so she has the “light & compact travel strobe” thing covered. I think she would have chosen the Retras over the YS strobes if they had been available back then. But now, they feel like a half-step. Every single person I know that has the YS-250s will not give them up for anything. The Seaflash and ONEUW are the closest thing on the market now, though the new Ikelite is right on the horizon. For the kinds of things she is shooting now, big power that can keep up with the 5DSR at 5fps is what’s needed.

Just want to thank Phil Rudin for commenting in this thread with a “heads-up” on his review of the ONEUW, which I found to be very helpful (link below).

For those considering this new strobe, here’s a list of the few reviews out there right now:

Alex Mustard reviews the ONWUW 160x on Wetpixel

Phil Ruden reviews the ONEUW for UWPMAG in issue 124 (starting page 24)

Indopacificimages reviews the ONEUW 160x strobe

ONEUW 160x Review by Don Silcock on Wetpixel (same review as on Indopacific Images)

Backscatter gives the ONEUW 160x a cursory review in their 2021/2022 strobe roundup

Hi JP you may also find this article from Reef Photo Video useful regarding coverage and intensity of light Verses other offerings.

reefphoto.com:.webloc

Here is another:

https://wetpixel.com/articles/preview-oneuw-160x-strobes-by-don-silcock

I had a pair but COVID arrived and I never had chance to use them properly.

They are a "big scene" wide angle strobe, so will suit shooting large pelagic etc.

27 minutes ago, adamhanlon said:

Thanks, Adam. Do you still have them?
 

I  had a pair but COVID arrived and I never had chance to use them properly.

They are a "big scene" wide angle strobe, so will suit shooting large pelagic etc.

 

No, sadly I had to give them back! I do have a pair of Seacam 160s

2 hours ago, Phil Rudin said:

Hi JP you may also find this article from Reef Photo Video useful regarding coverage and intensity of light Verses other offerings.

reefphoto.com:.webloc 325 B · 4 downloads

 

For those not using a MAc here is the URL in the webloc file:  https://reefphoto.com/blogs/trending/how-good-are-the-current-strobes-for-light-intensity-and-coverage

IIRC after my review (which was very early in their product development) they changed the setup so the ergonomics were improved and also produced the much needed diffusers. 

I would have definitely tried them again, while Adam had a pair, if it wasn’t for covid. 

I disagree with JP about the YS-250. Those are clearly less powerful than these newer strobes. I remember once shooting the YS-250 once as part of pair with one of my old Seaflash 150 and the YS-250 had to be on full power to match the Seaflash output at 1/4-1/2 power. They are a step below. 

I must say I am very grateful to Sea & Sea and their marketing power in my own photography career  

Alex

In Alex early on review (2019) he pointed out that ONEUW had suggested that accessories like snoots, light modifiers and so on would be coming. With my an/Feb 2022 review the only light altering accessory is still the diffusers which are a great addition. If would be nice to see additional accessories.

I owned both YS-300 and YS-250 strobes and power wise I would agree they don't come close to the ONEUW's.  

Thanks to everyone who participated in this thread. We ordered the ONEUW strobes and will spend a couple weeks getting to know them at the shootout in June.

We received the ONEUW strobes and set about getting them to work with a Canon 5DSR and 5DIII in the original Nauticam NA-5DIII housing. This is the original housing for the 5DIII, which has the mirror rather than the prism to redirect the LED lights from the flash trigger up to the optical ports. The short story is that we could not get the ONEUWs to trigger with this setup at all. Well, one of them would trigger intermittently, but it was inconsistent.

We eliminated cables and the strobes themselves by hooking them up to my Sony Alpha 1 housing with the new Nauticam flash trigger, that uses red LEDs. That worked with no problem at all. The mirror and the optical ports looked ok, but we cleaned them anyway to no avail. The trigger batteries tested good, but we put in a fresh set anyway. Still nothing.

We also tried an older pair of Sea & Sea YS-D2s, which also failed to trigger with the 5DIII and 5DSR via optical or electrical.

Next, we are going to try a UW Technics Manual Flash Trigger #12032, which can trigger the strobes via optical or electrical (when connected to a 6-pin bulkhead). I am not clear about whether using this device to trigger the strobes via an electrical connection would allow TTL. I suppose it depends on whether it is a straight pass through from the 6-pin bulkhead, through the trigger to the hot-shoe. I'll test it and report back when I have all the parts in hand.

The ONEUW strobes have all the TTL circuitry for Canon or Nikon (there is a version of the strobe for each). There is a little confusion around how to rig a pair of ONEUW strobes to a single passive bulkhead (i.e., no flash trigger, just straight-wired from the Y cable). Here is what you need, confirmed by both Reef Photo and ONEUW in Italy. This will enable you to use the strobes in either TTL or manual mode.

I have attached screen captures of the ONEUW wiring diagram and the product page for the correct Y cable. Reef can supply both of these things, but the cable is a new product, so it may take a little time to get them from Italy.

Y-Dual Synchro Cable 6pin-S6 2xS6 M6-L25 Cod# 330.010

Nauticam 14mm S6 Bulkhead

On 4/28/2022 at 1:17 AM, Alex_Mustard said:

IIRC after my review (which was very early in their product development) they changed the setup so the ergonomics were improved and also produced the much needed diffusers. 

I would have definitely tried them again, while Adam had a pair, if it wasn’t for covid. 

I disagree with JP about the YS-250. Those are clearly less powerful than these newer strobes. I remember once shooting the YS-250 once as part of pair with one of my old Seaflash 150 and the YS-250 had to be on full power to match the Seaflash output at 1/4-1/2 power. They are a step below. 

I must say I am very grateful to Sea & Sea and their marketing power in my own photography career  

Alex

In his review, Alex noted that the strobes do not retain some settings after being powered down. Thankfully, that has been fixed. With the currently shipping firmware, the following settings are all retained after any interruption of the power supply, including during a battery change:

• input mode
• exposure mode
• power setting
• pilot light
• 2nd curtain synchro
• TTL master and slave
• Inverted display