Backscatter Mini 2 as first strobe?

My daughter wants a strobe for Christmas--her first strobe. I'm a photographer but not a diver. She's a diver with an Olympus TG-6.

Am I correct that the Mini 2 will be a wonderful close uplight (within a foot or two?) and a passable mid-range light (up to six feet, say?).

With the Olympus she will probably be shooting at a much larger aperture than people with a mirrorless and I don't think she needs/wants those inky dark backgrounds that tend to be favored. Just some light on the subject to help the color and brightness.

Will the Mini 2 work as an intro strobe or do I need to go to something like a Inon D-200?

darinb wrote:

Am I correct that the Mini 2 will be a wonderful close uplight (within a foot or two?)

Within a foot or less, yes.

and a passable mid-range light (up to six feet, say?).

No way. I don't know what your experience is with underwater photography, but six feet underwater is quite a significant distance, and you need powerful strobes to light something that far. I use Retra Pro strobes, and if I am shooting something big enough to require me to hover six feet away, I expect to crank the power up to maximum to close to that.

For macro work, the Miniflash is really good.  Small, portable, and doesn't need to be big because it needs to be close.   That works for macro, but you'll be shooting with another stop or two of ISO for wide angle work.  Not sure how much spread it has for that sort of thing either.

I think it works well with my 105mm macro, but I mount a pair of YS-D1's for wide angle.

darinb wrote:

My daughter wants a strobe for Christmas--her first strobe. I'm a photographer but not a diver. She's a diver with an Olympus TG-6.

Am I correct that the Mini 2 will be a wonderful close uplight (within a foot or two?) and a passable mid-range light (up to six feet, say?).

With the Olympus she will probably be shooting at a much larger aperture than people with a mirrorless and I don't think she needs/wants those inky dark backgrounds that tend to be favored. Just some light on the subject to help the color and brightness.

Will the Mini 2 work as an intro strobe or do I need to go to something like a Inon D-200?

I have a NEW inbox Mini 1 and Optical snoot kit I can sell you. I bought 2 thinking I would be able to use them as a pair for entry level Wide-Angle and unfortunately there isn't enough light for wide angle so I bought a set of Inon Z330s.  and to clarify I borrowed the second strobe from a friend during a dive day so I didn't have to get mine wet.