Is RC Flash compatibility really THAT important with an Olympus TG-6 for macro, or is a strobe with TTL sufficient for most circumstances?

My compact Nikon AW130 died last month after 5 years of very hard use. Which I have mixed feelings about. It was a great little camera, easy to tote around, but by the end I really felt like I was outgrowing it and the photos I envisioned rarely matched what it was capable of. 

For the most part, I focus on nudibranches and other macro stuff. I decided that the TG-6 would be a good “step up”. I’m not expecting to get superb shots with it, but I think they’ll be considerably better than with my AW130… and since my main reason for taking the photos is to share on social media and look at later, that’s fine with me.

I went ahead and got a TG-6 housing, a backscatter M52 air lens, and the camera itself, but now I’m stuck looking for flash units that are portable and not overly expensive. I have a pair of old flash units from a different setup years and years ago (UltraMax UltraPower UXDS-1) that are just too big and bulky to use with the Olympus. Plus, traveling with them would be a real headache. I’ll probably sell them to recoup some of the money I spent on the new setup.

I’ve been looking at the Backscatter Mini Flash 2 (MF-2), which apparently is a big step up from the original version, and can use the TG-6’s RC Flash setting. Which is appealing, since for the most part, I think I’m probably going to be letting the camera decide the flash settings (at least at this stage). The product video on the backscatter website and on reviews all tout how “big of a deal” RC flash capability is. 

I noticed that some other flash units fit my parameters, but they ‘only’ offer TTL support. For example, the Backscatter MF-1, the Sea & Sea YS-03 (although since I may eventually want the ability to use manual, this isn’t high on my list) or the Inon S-2000.

I guess my question boils down to this: will the difference in photo/lighting quality using the rc setting with the Mf-2 be enough to justify the extra money it costs compared to the others? Or would I likely not ever even notice the difference?

Thanks for taking the time to read through this and share your opinions. 

Hi, I used my Olympus TG-4 with a Light & Motion Sola lamp (no flash) for two weeks to photo nudibranchs in Anilao, and all the photos turned out well and compared favorably to those taken during the same dives with my Nikon D500. I did not find a flash to be necessary.   
I have now upgraded to an Olympus TG-6 and will continue to use a Sola lamp with it during my next trip to Lembeh Strait.  My feeling is that the Olympus TG cameras adjust to the available light quite nicely and it may be that a strobe or fancier light may not be necessary.  
However, it is a good idea to check out all equipment while at home to make sure everything matches properly.  

Another option to consider it waiting to buy.  I have been playing with the TG5 for a bit now while taking a little break from my Nauticam/Canon 7dmkii setup.  Sadly, both of my strobes have died now but it forced me to do the last 2.5 days in Bali with only the TG5.  I'm sorry I can't address your question as honestly I don't know a thing about the RC option, so clearly it isn't an issue for me LOL.  I used my Inons on either ttl or manual (I prefer manual and don't think it's nearly as scary as people believe!)

The camera alone did a good job on nudibranchs, shrimps and other small critters.  It also did a pretty respectable job with larger/wider scenes.  Two images attached.  Of course, adding an external light source is great, but I'd say don't rush and don't put off getting in there and using it on its own.

Olympus RC will get you very precise metering and if you are only looking for a macro flash and have no interest in wideangle (and perhaps on the TG6 the miniflash might even do ok - not great - for wide angle) I think it will be a lot better in automatic mode than other strobes. However, in my (limited) experience it's best to go manual anyway. 

The other strobes you listed are generally more powerful. I've used both Inon S2000s and YS-02 (which is the manual only version of the YS-03) strobes and can say the following.

The S2000 is noticably weaker even though on paper they have the same power output. This is also reflected in one of the strobe comparisons I saw, but I can't find the link anymore. It basically showed that the YS-01 was nearly on par with the Inon Z-240 in terms of power output.

The YS-03 is a good all around strobe, except that it doesn't offer manual shooting at all, which would hinder further development when you want to take more control. I would at least go for the YS-01 strobes. In my and many other peoples experience Sea and Sea strobes are a bit less reliable than Inon.

The MF-1 has manual control, the MF-2 adds Olympus RC which is a superior automatic setting. It will be good for macro, but probably not powerful enough for big wide angle scenes. It also offers a Snoot for macro which is something the other two don't really do, because most snoots are not compatible with the budget range strobes, because of the lack of good focusing lights.

If you want to just do macro and only very occasional wide angle I'd pick the MF-2 (and Snoot). If you want to keep your options open with regards to wide angle I'd go for the YS-01 or maybe a Inon D-200 or used Z-240 strobe.

If you do decide to get the Backscatter MF1, I have 1x MF1 plus snoot that Im looking to part way with.  Its a great strobe for macro but I got a set of Inon Z330s recently that I will be using when I get back into photography.

The RC-1 protocol is designed to communicate with the flash rather than just copying the main flash pulses as happens with regular TTL flashes.  I don't think there is any great benefit using it underwater compared to the TTL mechanisms in the various UW strobes available.  

On the choice of strobes if you are shooting wide angle the TG-6 will be at f2.8 (f8 is just f2.8 with an ND filter) so is much less demanding of flash power.  The little S-2000 strobes would be quite suitable.  I wouldn't suggest the YS-03 as it's TTL only and have had a few people posting here that theirs stopped working after a relatively short time.  The new model will be out soon which offers some improvements including slightly higher guide number.  The TG-6 even with the air lens is not particularly wide and you could probably do wide angle with a single strobe.  

I couldn't make sense of this thread.  My partner's TG-6 is housed in a PT-059 housing with a fiber optic cable triggering a strobe or ringlight.  When would RC (Remote Control, no?) be useful other than for tucking a remote strobe with a slave trigger away in a wreck or behind a bommie?  

1 hour ago, rickmorgan said:

I couldn't make sense of this thread.  

yep, after looking at it again, I now understand why you couldn’t.. because I had a totally incorrect idea about what RC flash was. For some reason I thought it had to do with the flash directly connected to the camera. Not a remote, off-camera flash. Apparently the mf2 can control multiple flash units through a 90° “light tube”.. so it can wirelessly send setting changed and updates without having to manually touch the flash.

I guess the problem was that I didn’t understand how that worked. I’ve only ever used slaved flashes that require manual power control… So I had a fundamental misunderstanding of what this meant and did. It wasn’t until I actually started looking into it harder than I realized. I think I was confusing automatic TTL with RC. No clue why… oops?

I went ahead and purchased the mf2 and snoot; they should be arriving in the next couple of days and I’m looking forward to playing around with them. As to whether or not I end up getting a second unit, and it’s still up in the air… is it depends on how much I like this one and what my needs are after I practice with it for a while.