Marelux SOFT vs Backscatter MF-2

Hi,

I recently bought the Marelux SOFT snoot and am debating if I should return it for a set of backscatter MF-2 strobes and snoots so that I have the ability to do remote lighting. Has anyone tried to do remote lighting with any other strobes? (I think you would have to manually adjust strobe settings but several strobes have an optically triggered sensor. I just don’t know if it works well for macro)

Can any strobe trigger the MF-2 remotely?  

Does anyone prefer to use video lights for backlighting/side lighting instead of strobes?

On the other hand, has anyone used the SOFT and found that the ability to use the iris control to shape the light is far superior to the aperture cards used on most other snoots?

Any other thoughts comparing the two snoots are also welcome.

Thanks!

Jill

@Jcro22

I can only address half your question. I spent last week in the Philippines shooting macro for much of week. As part of my rig I brought along the MF-2 (w/snoot), and used it on a number of dives.

In short - the MF-2 had plenty of power for snooting most critters (used it with frogfish, nudis, seahorses), was fairly intuitive to use (as much as snooting is ever "fairly intuitive"). It did take some experimenting to get used to, but never got truly frustrating (like my Retra LSD).

You can trigger these remotely, but the strobe has to be off the substrate (the light sensor sits on what would normally be the bottom of the light, on the opposite side of the controls). I did try turning the light upside down and putting it on the sand, it worked - but not always. Backscatter sells a muck stick with a mount or the MF-2 specifically for remote triggering and off camera placement.

When the strobe was hand held, it rarely failed to be triggered remotely (it may have once or twice, but that may have been due to how I was holding it). 

A person I was diving with was diving with the SOFT. It's a cool piece of gear, and worked like a charm (makes snooting much easier)... however it's larger and heavier (~45% heavier) - reminds me of why I didn't love the size/weight of the Retra LSD. For me, I'm bringing a strobe/snoot combo along for certain types of images (as an add on), not to weigh my rig down even more.
 

The SOFT iris works just as you would expect.  Its very easy to use.

I guess it depends what strobe you are using with the SOFT - any optically triggered strobe can be trigger remotely, in theory.  And many non-optical strobes have ways to trigger them remotely too.

You can use constant lights for macro but to achieve the required intensity of light you need a tiny light very close to the subject like a Minigear MS-03 or Divepro MP10 or MP30 (have not used Divepro myself).  And still the brightness is nothing compared to a strobe, you will need to up your ISO and you will get motion blur.

I have the original marelux SOFT and the weight and size when connected to an Inon Z-330 is like at least double that of the Backscatter Mini Flash + snoot.  But it projects light from a nice long working distance and the quality of both the aiming light and the actual flash from a real, full size strobe is excellent.

On 3/18/2023 at 4:17 AM, oneyellowtang said:

@Jcro22

I spent last week in the Philippines shooting macro for much of week. As part of my rig I brought along the MF-2 (w/snoot)
 

Do you have any advice for tips or tricks that you have learned? My use-case is identical to yours - shooting macro in the Philippines. My Nikon aw130 died in January so I purchased a tg6 and last week ordered the mf2 and shoot after a LOT of research spanning weeks. I’ve never used a non-integrated flash underwater before, and I’ve never used a shoot, period. I’m a little apprehensive about this. Any additional feedback you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

My next trip isn’t until November (I go there each year exclusively to dive), and since I live in Louisiana, my options for practicing with it in advance are very limited. I was planning on using it in the bathtub and perhaps using the flash/snoot above water with the video light off, being careful to not allow it to overheat… that way I could gain some familiarity with the tg6 and lighting. No clue if that’s a good idea or not, but it’s kind of the best I can do at this point. 

so yeah, I’m looking forward to it, but it seems like a pretty big step that maybe I’m making more complicated in my mind than it really is. you’re looking up different resources for snooting ever since I decided to pull the trigger on the gear acquisition.

On 4/9/2023 at 11:59 AM, diverareyouok said:

Do you have any advice for tips or tricks that you have learned? My use-case is identical to yours - shooting macro in the Philippines. My Nikon aw130 died in January so I purchased a tg6 and last week ordered the mf2 and shoot after a LOT of research spanning weeks. I’ve never used a non-integrated flash underwater before, and I’ve never used a shoot, period. I’m a little apprehensive about this. Any additional feedback you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

My next trip isn’t until November (I go there each year exclusively to dive), and since I live in Louisiana, my options for practicing with it in advance are very limited. I was planning on using it in the bathtub and perhaps using the flash/snoot above water with the video light off, being careful to not allow it to overheat… that way I could gain some familiarity with the tg6 and lighting. No clue if that’s a good idea or not, but it’s kind of the best I can do at this point. 

so yeah, I’m looking forward to it, but it seems like a pretty big step that maybe I’m making more complicated in my mind than it really is. you’re looking up different resources for snooting ever since I decided to pull the trigger on the gear acquisition.

I haven't used the MF-2 but I have a Tg-6. Backscatter has a lot of good videos and settings cheat sheets for the Tg-6. Here is a link to a video for setting up the Tg-6 with the MF-2.  https://www.backscatter.com/videos/how-to-use-backscatter-mini-flash-2-with-olympus-tg-6-complete-setup-guide

I don't think you should have any problems with the MF-2 overheating if you play around with it out of the water. The Tg-6 has two customizable shooting modes so you can set these up before your trip (using Tg-6 settings recommendations from Backscatter) and be ready to start shooting underwater. I think you will really love the Tg-6, especially for super macro.

Given there isn't much of price difference between SOFT and MF-2, what would be the better option for snooting? I have inon z330s and not sure whether to get SOFT or MF-2, SOFT is heavier and bulkier but MF-2 requires charging and so on.

What are your thoughts and any real world experience?

With an MF2 you have additional highly portable spare strobe and excellent snoot. I'd get that. I often shoot even wide angle with an Inon 330 and MF2 + Snoot. Put the snoot on a bungie+boltsnap and pop it on and off as needed.

This was shot with the Inon 330 up top around 11pm pointing down and the MF2 (no snoot) at 3pm pointed inward. Long arms used, 32 & 24 inches.

Cool pic, Dave 

18 hours ago, newdiver said:

Given there isn't much of price difference between SOFT and MF-2, what would be the better option for snooting? I have inon z330s and not sure whether to get SOFT or MF-2, SOFT is heavier and bulkier but MF-2 requires charging and so on.

What are your thoughts and any real world experience?

I bought both and ended up posting the SOFT for sale. The one feature I like better on the SOFT is the iris type light shaping mechanism. But the main feature that makes the MF2 superior is the guide light. It is 1000 lumens vs 180 lumens. Both require rechargeable batteries. 

I’m unfamiliar with the SOFT, but I haven’t regretted buying the MF-2 once. I’m not super experienced when it comes to UW remote flash photography (although I did studio work for a decade), but the backscatter unit has been incredibly simple to learn on. 

haven't shot the marelux snoot but this is a write up i did for DPG on the mini flashes. In short, i now own three of them and the snoots.

https://www.divephotoguide.com/underwater-photography-special-features/article/review-backscatter-mini-flash-2-underwater-strobe/

Thanks for the input everyone, the consensus is MF-2 so I will do some more reading before ordering one.

"Given there isn't much of price difference between SOFT and MF-2, what would be the better option for snooting? I have inon z330s and not sure whether to get SOFT or MF-2, SOFT is heavier and bulkier but MF-2 requires charging and so on." 

Well the MF-2 with snoot includes a strobe, the Marelux needs an external strobe so there is that price difference. 

Bill

On 7/4/2023 at 10:53 PM, davehicks said:

With an MF2 you have additional highly portable spare strobe and excellent snoot. I'd get that. I often shoot even wide angle with an Inon 330 and MF2 + Snoot. Put the snoot on a bungie+boltsnap and pop it on and off as needed.

This was shot with the Inon 330 up top around 11pm pointing down and the MF2 (no snoot) at 3pm pointed inward. Long arms used, 32 & 24 inches.

This is an impressive photo, it has everything just right.  Congratulations, Dave!

ps. I believe this lighting was called "chiaroscuro" in the old days, "an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on the subject." 

This is an impressive photo, it has everything just right.  Congratulations, Dave!

ps. I believe this lighting was called "chiaroscuro" in the old days, and described as  "an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on the subject." 

On 7/8/2023 at 7:35 AM, bvanant said:

Well the MF-2 with snoot includes a strobe, the Marelux needs an external strobe so there is that price difference. 

Bill

 

I meant for someone like myself who already has Inon Z330. Someone without any strobes then obviously you the cost difference is significant. 

On 7/8/2023 at 8:00 PM, newdiver said:

I meant for someone like myself who already has Inon Z330. Someone without any strobes then obviously you the cost difference is significant. 

By the Backscatter Strobe+Snoot. That way you have 3rd strobe for when you need a backup. Or a buddy does. And you have more choice. I actually normally shoot with 1 330 and 1 MF-2. I do a lot of wide angle using the snoot to accentuate the subject. Only when I am using my fisheye lens for exclusive wide angle or big critter dives do I use the 2 330s anymore.

On 3/11/2023 at 1:47 PM, Jcro22 said:

Hi,

I recently bought the Marelux SOFT snoot and am debating if I should return it for a set of backscatter MF-2 strobes and snoots so that I have the ability to do remote lighting. Has anyone tried to do remote lighting with any other strobes? (I think you would have to manually adjust strobe settings but several strobes have an optically triggered sensor. I just don’t know if it works well for macro)

Can any strobe trigger the MF-2 remotely?  

Does anyone prefer to use video lights for backlighting/side lighting instead of strobes?

On the other hand, has anyone used the SOFT and found that the ability to use the iris control to shape the light is far superior to the aperture cards used on most other snoots?

Any other thoughts comparing the two snoots are also welcome.

Thanks!

Jill

I bought an MF1 and snoot at last year's Digital Shootout.   I used it in Bonaire, and later in Roatan.  I have since bought a MF2 + much stick but haven't used it yet.

I have only used the largest, round-shaped aperture hole to shape the beam.  There is a reason for that.

If you have never used a snoot before (I had not), it's REALLY TRICKY AND FRUSTRATING to get the strobe lined up and to use it.   It takes me maybe 5 minutes at the start of a dive to position the snoot at the end of an arm.  It then takes a lot of practice to line up the line with a target.  You not only have to line the strobe up left-right to the camera, you also have to aim it forward-back, and THEN you have to line up the lighted spot in the Z axis as well.   It's just really hard to get that spot on your subject at first.  It would be far easier to have an aide holding the strobe with the snoot modeling light on the subject while the camera gets into position.  I can't wait to try to the MF2's remote trigger - except I'm not sure how the MF2 will be held.  I don't have a dive partner to hold the light, and while I have muck stick, I can imagine that it would be extremely limiting to use as I would need both sand and a target right nearby the sand.  

To be honest, I think it would be easier to tripod-mount the camera and trigger it remotely (somehow) while aiming the strobe.

Given that it is so hard to get the strobe lined up, I've not tried the smaller snoot aperture or the oval ones.  Hard enough doing the largest.  So far I've almost only shot very stationary or slow subjects, often a Christmas Tree Worm.  I've successfully got some snooted shots of a Garden Eel rooting around for food, but that was the exception.

Once I was shooting with the snoot in Roatan, and suddenly a 6-foot Green Moray Eel came up to me looking for a handout.  (Divemaster in the area used to feed Lionfish to the eels there to try to get them to hunt Lionfish.  But now they come to us looking for handouts instead.)

As I had the snoot mounted, but also had a decent feel for alignment, I managed to get one quick shot of the eel coming at me.  Not in focus, but that sort of adds to this shot in ways.

After fending off his initial advance, I pulled off the snoot and got some shots of him with just the miniflash.

I did get some very nice snooted shots of Christmas Tree Worms.   But one gets bored shooting them after several dives.  But anything moving faster can be a challenge.

Snooting just takes practice. The Backscatter snoot is very precise, which helps a lot pot. I can get it aimed in seconds most of the time, after a couple years using it now. I take snoot shoots of tiny swimming Lumpsuckers now and again, with decent success.

@phxazcraig

This isn't going to help in your immediate future, however you can make a ton of progress learning to snoot when you have a larger number of snootable (slow moving, small) subjects.

Lembeh, Anilao, Dumaguete, etc. - all target rich, let you "practice" with dozens of different subjects on a single dive. After 4 dives in Dumaguete a couple of years ago (with the MF-1) I felt like I got the hang of the positioning, framing with the target light, and then taking the image. 

Snooting nudis (almost exclusively) in Anilao was also very helpful.