Retra Flash + Retra LSD

I finally got the chance to properly put this combination into action over the past few days, and I must say, I am impressed with it. Even in the hands of a relatively inexperienced user (I just passed 200 logged dives), I was able to pretty much pick it up and run with it. The ring-shaped flash with a center-mounted modeling light makes aiming completely straightforward - there is no offset, so whatever is illuminated by the modeling light will be lit up by the flash, and the aiming spot is bright and easy to pick up on the camera LCD. The supercharger extended battery compartment makes for a very convenient handle to manipulate the strobe. My only gripe, really, is that light transmission efficiency could be better - shooting at ISO 100 and f/22, I have to keep it at max power for a good exposure, and with smaller masks, I have to bump up the ISO. To be fair, there's probably a bit of user error in there - the beam focuses to peak intensity 10cm from the snoot's front glass element (measured in air; may be different underwater) so placing the strobe closer or further than that from the subject will disperse the beam and lower the light intensity.

Some samples - mostly Christmas tree worms, as they're a perfect subject for practicing, being static, colorful, with lots of detail, and sticking up from substrate so that you can shoot them against a water background. Excuse the backscatter; I was shooting in rather terrible (2-3m) visibility.

In hindsight, what I should've done here is place the strobe + snoot combination at a shallow angle, to light the worm with an ellipse of light while catching as little of the sand around it as possible, but I only thought about it afterwards. Live and learn.

Nice results.   How would you compare the strobe power to other popular strobes?

How is the recycle time?

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

Nice results. How would you compare the strobe power to other popular strobes?

How is the recycle time?

With superchargers, at full power, the Retra Pro recycles in about 1.5-2s. At half power, it can do 3fps for basically as long as you want it to. As far as power goes, I've only really been using full power with the LSD, so it's got plenty of power to spare, although, to be fair, I've been shooting mostly macro in the past two months, and I have reflectors mounted most of the time, which double the power at the expense of beam width. I'm heading to Richelieu Rock next week though, which should give me a lot more wide-angle opportunities - I'll see how it does then.

I use YS-D1's, and especially shooting macro I generally fix my ISO at 64 and start at F16 with a 105mm lens.   My range on full power is maybe 2 feet from camera to subject, with strobe arms out a bit.  I usually shoot them at half power to avoid blowing out the reflective parts of Christmas Tree Worms or Sea Rods, then up the power for stuff I back up to frame.   I do a lot of pushing exposure in post rather than up the ISO in-camera, figuring ISO-less-ness.

There are certainly times I'd like more power than the YS-D1 offers.

Never shot with a snoot, but it looks interesting to try.

Barmaglot_07 wrote:

I finally got the chance to properly put this combination into action over the past few days, and I must say, I am impressed with it. Even in the hands of a relatively inexperienced user (I just passed 200 logged dives), I was able to pretty much pick it up and run with it. The ring-shaped flash with a center-mounted modeling light makes aiming completely straightforward - there is no offset, so whatever is illuminated by the modeling light will be lit up by the flash, and the aiming spot is bright and easy to pick up on the camera LCD. The supercharger extended battery compartment makes for a very convenient handle to manipulate the strobe. My only gripe, really, is that light transmission efficiency could be better - shooting at ISO 100 and f/22, I have to keep it at max power for a good exposure, and with smaller masks, I have to bump up the ISO. To be fair, there's probably a bit of user error in there - the beam focuses to peak intensity 10cm from the snoot's front glass element (measured in air; may be different underwater) so placing the strobe closer or further than that from the subject will disperse the beam and lower the light intensity.

Some samples - mostly Christmas tree worms, as they're a perfect subject for practicing, being static, colorful, with lots of detail, and sticking up from substrate so that you can shoot them against a water background. Excuse the backscatter; I was shooting in rather terrible (2-3m) visibility.

Great results!

How many strobes with LSD are you using (One flash+LSD, two flashes + two LSDs or two flashes and one of them equipped with LSD)?

Wolfgang

Architeuthis wrote:

Great results!

How many strobes with LSD are you using (One flash+LSD, two flashes + two LSDs or two flashes and one of them equipped with LSD)?

Wolfgang

I have two Retra Pros and a single LSD; when I go snooting I either leave one strobe behind, or turn it off. I can't imagine managing two strobes with snoots except off a tripod with a completely static subject.

Beautiful subjects and pictures.

Peter Del