Supe D-Max vs Retra Pro

Caption: Retra Flash Pro (left) and Scubalamp D-Max (right) withstanding the harsh environment on a beach in La Paz, Mexico. Caption: Physical size comparison of Scubalamp D-Max (left) and Retra Flash Pro with Supercharger (right).

Alot has happened in the last 12 months.

Thankfully, not everything has taken a turn to the worst though.

While most of us have not had much opportunity to go diving, several new and exciting strobes have hit the market.

In this review we will be taking a closer look at two of these new offerings: the Retra Flash Pro and Scubalamp D-Max.

Both of these strobes feature impressive specifications on paper, but of course these numbers cannot always be trusted entirely as manufacturers measure certain characteristics in different ways or are simply a bit too optimistic about their product’s performance.

Retra Flash Pro and Scubalamp D-Max.

Therefore, we will be conducting an unbiased review and discussing real-world performance of these two new flash guns, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses.

Scubalamp D-Max:

Scubalamp is a Chinese company specializing in dive torches.

The overall product quality and prices have given them a good amount of market share.

Up until now however, they have only produced video and multi-purpose lights, so the D-Max is their first try at a flash gun.

Caption: Front view of Scubalamp’s D-Max featuring a circular flash tube and central LED light.

Caption: Scubalamp D-Max side view. Optical sensor port sticking out at the bottom.

Below are Scubalamp’s specifications for the D-Max strobe:

D-Max Specifications:

• Guide number ISO100: 32 • Flash output: 250 Ws • Connection: optical cable / 5 pin sync cord/Slave mode • Beam angle: 120° • Output: 8 levels: 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 70%, 90%, 100% • Battery: SUPE Battery Pack (4x 18650 lithium batteries) • Battery capacity: 44.4 Wh • Flashes per battery charge: 750 flashes at full power, 5500 flashes at lowest power • Power indicator light: red >30%; green<30% • Recycle time (full power): 0.5s • Continuous shooting: 15 frames continuous shooting at lowest power level. 12 frames continuous shooting at 2nd level* • Colour temperature: 5300K • Depth rating: 60m / 200 ft • Focus/target light: 5W / 500 lumens • Dimensions (length x diameter): 175 x 97 mm • Weight (land): 1195 g without battery • Weight (underwater): 120g • Do not support S-TTL or TTL

*: We (probably like most people) took this part of the specification to mean 15 and 12 frames per second, however, after further clarification from Scubalamp it refers to 15/12 continuous frames taken at 7fps.

At first glance, some of these values certainly seem very promising, particularly flash output, recycle time and number of flashes at maximum power.

Judging by the spec sheet, with a maximum flash output of 250Ws the D-Max strobe should be significantly more powerful than the likes of OneUW One 160X, Seacam Seaflash 160D and Retra Flash Pro, which are all in the 150-160Ws class. Battery capacity and recycle time on paper are also well ahead of its main competitors.

The D-Max’s circular flash tube, similar to the ones found in its competitors, should provide even illumination, avoiding hot spots.

The colour temperature of 5300K is a bit cooler than what most shooters prefer. Warmer light (lower Kelvin value) gives more pleasing blues in the background of the image so is desirable in tropical conditions. Colder light, like the one produced by the D-Max would be very well suited to temperate waters, however.

Using the included diffuser, the value decreases to around 5000K. This could be further modified by using gel filters, however all of this decreases the light output of the strobe, as each element placed in front of the flash tube will absorb some light.

It’s important to note that this flash is not compatible with TTL and is not capable of ignoring pre-flashes produced by the camera. Either your camera or the optical flash trigger in your housing will therefore need to be able to emit a single pulse or else the flash won’t be in sync with the shutter leading to incorrect illumination of the scene.

While TTL will perhaps not be missed by most advanced shooters, the lack of pre-flash cancellation is a serious limitation that needs to be considered when purchasing the strobe. Most strobes do feature some kind of preflash cancellation mode.

When using the neoprene cover, the D-Max is almost perfectly neutral underwater. This certainly helps with trimming the camera rig without using large floats.

What’s inside the package

The Scubalamp D-Max comes in either black or silver and includes in the box one diffuser D100, one standard ball mount, one battery and charger, neoprene cover and neoprene cap.

Caption: D-Max rear panel. Power dial (left), battery compartment (top), electric sync port (bottom) and mode dial (right).

The controls are located on the rear side of the strobe and mainly consist of two big dials. One acts as a mode dial with positions for off, on and on+focus light. The second dial allows for adjusting of flash output in 8 steps.

It also features a “T” position, which manually triggers the strobe at maximum power when selected. This can be a useful feature for troubleshooting and for creating long exposures underwater. Unfortunately, without the option to adjust the power of that test flash, creative use of this feature is somewhat limited.

The back of the strobe also features a display that reads the currently selected power, somewhat redundantly to the power dial, as well as an LED that indicates that the strobe is powered on and also gives an indication of battery level.

There are only two levels: over and under 30% and quite confusingly, the strobe shows a green light below 30% and a red light above. For most other strobes 30% would not be an ideal threshold as entering the water with a remaining charge of, say, 31% would likely see the strobe die during the dive. However, in the case of the D-Max, due to its impressive battery life, this seems an acceptable choice as even 30% charge will give the user plenty of flashes at full power.

Unfortunately there is no ready light on the strobe. The other two features of the back panel are the battery compartment and 5-pin sync cord connector. The fibre optic input is located next to the ball mount along the bottom of the strobe.

All labels on the back, as well as the display end up being upside-down when the strobes are hanging from strobe arms in what’s the standard configuration for most underwater shooters.

While this is not a huge annoyance, it is certainly an easy improvement for a future revision of

this strobe to increase usability. The battery compartment has a double o-ring seal.

Unfortunately, the battery compartment does not appear to be sealed against the rest of the strobe’s internals, so a battery compartment leak will likely damage the whole unit.

This increases the importance of proper o-ring maintenance and correct placement of the battery cap. There is also no leak detection system.

Caption: D-Max’s sturdy battery compartment cap.

Build quality

The chassis of the D-Max is made from a single piece of aluminium that appears fairly robust.

The flash tube is protected by a slightly curved acrylic dome that should aid in providing a pleasingly uniform beam. The centre focus light is powerful enough for any use except, of course, for serious video production. It is of similar quality as Scubalamp’s dive torches.

The dials and battery cap feel sturdy and are easy to operate without gloves.

Using the dials with gloves is far more challenging as they do not protrude far from the back of the strobe. Both dials are the same length, which makes telling them apart without looking more difficult. They do click into place really nicely when turning.

Caption: Dials have a nice “click”.

Accessories

The D-Max comes with almost everything you need: diffuser and neoprene cover, as well as a battery pack and charger.

The diffuser is held in place by o-ring friction, which works well when the diffuser is pushed onto the front of the strobe properly.

We would generally recommend buying an extra battery as the proprietary batteries will be very hard to obtain should one of them fail on a trip or assignment. This will also help with always having one pack recharged and ready to go.

Caption: D100 diffuser mounted to D-Max strobe.

Caption: O-ring that provides the friction mount for accessories.

Caption: D-Max battery pack.

Retra Flash Pro:

Retra has been a household name in underwater lighting for 10 years now.

While for a long time, their LSD snoot system was the poster child of the company, the release of the original Retra Flash meant a step forward for them from strobe accessory manufacturer to strobe manufacturer. In early 2020, after a series of delays,

Retra then started shipping their second generation flash, which now came in two varieties: Prime and Pro. In this review we will focus on the Pro model, as it is certainly the more exciting of the two, featuring a whopping 150Ws light output on the spec sheet (the Prime is 100Ws).

Caption: Retra Flash Pro front view with circular flash tube and central LED light.

Caption: Retra Flash Pro side view (with optional neoprene sleeve).

Specifications of the Retra Flash Pro:

• Flash power: 150 Ws • Colour temperature: 4900 K • LED power (angle): 500 lm (20º) • Recycle time (4xAA) at 80% power: ~3 s • Recycle time with supercharger (8xAA) at 80% power: ~1.5 s • HSS ready: YES • Power levels: 13 (1 – 100%) • Leakage detector: Included • Bayonet mount type: A1 • Electrical connector: via Converter • Weight (with 4 Eneloop Pro AA batteries and 1” Mounting ball): 910 g • Weight in water: 170 g • Dimensions (length x diameter): 130 x 102.5 mm

The second generation Retra Flash, both Prime and Pro, feature what according to Retra is the world’s first fully circular flash tube, as opposed to the horseshoe design most other strobes use.

Compared to other strobes with circular flash tubes, like the Scubalamp D-Max we will be comparing it to in this review, the diameter of the flash tube is fairly small compared to the diameter of the chassis.

Both second generation models feature some truly next generation functionality. This includes Bluetooth connectivity with the companion app. The pairing process is as painless as it could be (we used the Android version of the app) and the app offers a range of useful features like firmware updates, a readout of the trigger count and programming of the U1 and U2 modes.

Retra have already released several firmware updates through the app, which have rectified a few early issues we had noticed when first using the strobe.

Both user-programmable modes can be set to pre-flash cancellation (Smart SL), Pilot light output adjust, a low power mode which cuts the light output by about 1 stop for all power levels

and, perhaps most excitingly, a high-speed flash sync (HSS) mode. HSS allows for shutter speeds beyond the conventional sync speed of a camera, up to 1/8000th of a second, which unlocks a range of creative possibilities for the avid underwater photographer.

It should be noted though, that due to its optical-only triggering, the Retra Flash requires a special HSS flash trigger board inside the housing.

These are readily available from UWTechnics and other brands, but don’t come cheap so the extra cost will need to be factored in if HSS is an important feature to you.

The flash takes four standard AA rechargeable batteries. Its capacity can be doubled with the optional “Supercharger” battery extension. I (HK) personally consider this a must-have accessory for wide-angle shooting, as the strobes are otherwise slow to recycle at high power and often won’t last a full day of diving.

Thankfully the Supercharger more than halves recycle time and more than doubles the amount of flashes on a single charge, but also adds significant cost.

The Retra Flash Pro/Prime only accept fibre-optic connections in both the standard Sea&Sea and Inon style so your previous fibre-optic cables will likely be compatible. Retra also offer an optional E-Opto converter, which takes an electrical connection and converts it to the required fibre-optic signal. This option however only works in standard manual mode (no TTL and also no HSS).

What’s inside the package

Unboxing the flash is a joy, with almost all of the packaging made from cardboard and appearing sturdy enough to inspire confidence in accident-free shipping around the globe. Included in the package are the flash itself, a standard ball-mount adapter, an extra set of battery compartment o-rings and some o-ring grease. The flash does not come with any protective covers. These are however, available as optional accessories.

The user manual can be found on the Retra app. The box also includes a post-card sized print of one of Alex Mustard’s images taken with the original Retra Flash, though this may vary from one unit to the other.

Rear Controls

Caption: Retra Flash Pro rear panel with mode dial (left), battery compartment (top), pilot light switch and status LED (centre), power dial (right) and optical sensor (bottom)

Caption: Retra Flash Pro mode dial.

Caption: Retra Flash Pro power dial. Caption: Retra Flash Pro battery compartment.

The back of the strobe features the mode and power dials, the optical sensor, battery compartment, pilot light button and status LED.

All labels are right-side up when the strobe is hanging from the strobe arms, which is the usual way of using them for most underwater photographers.

Power can be adjusted in 13 levels in ½ stop increments (+3 to -3). They also include a simple percentage label ranging from 1 to 100.

The mode dial features the following positions: OFF, BATT/TEST, ON, TTL, U1, U2 and SOS. In the BATT/TEST position, the strobe gives a colour-coded representation of current battery level in four discrete levels (10075%, 75-50%, 50-25% and 25-0%).

In this mode it is also possible to trigger the strobe manually at the current power level by pressing the pilot light button, a very useful feature for testing the strobe as well as for people who enjoy creating long exposure photography underwater. The battery compartment knob is easily operated even with wet or cold fingers (which you should probably dry before opening the battery compartment) and the cap itself is sealed with a double o-ring. Battery contacts are very sturdy. As is standard with most strobes these days (interestingly NOT for the D-Max though), the battery compartment is sealed from the rest of the strobe, so a flood should not result in loss of the entire strobe. Both the Prime and Pro flashes come with a built-in leakage detector. However, this is not to be confused with a vacuum system.

It’s a simple moisture alarm that alerts the user through the status LED.

Speaking of the status LED: it is fantastic. It is bright and protrudes from the chassis, which makes it very easy to see even when glanced at from the side.

It changes colour depending on which mode the strobe is in. In a recent firmware update Retra have added a “breathing” effect, which looks pleasing, but in my opinion takes away a little bit of the immediacy of the status LED as it cycles through levels of intensity from off to on periodically and will therefore sometimes make you wait a moment to clearly see which colour it’s displaying. It’s not a big inconvenience, but personally, I’d like this effect to be an option to

switch on or off in the app. Through a firmware update they have also added an option to constantly show the battery level in any mode, which sounds quite useful but in reality often gives battery readings that are far lower than the actual remaining charge.

During the batttery endurance testing we did as part of this review the strobe showed a flashing red light, which indicates a charge below 25%, at only 50% of the number of flashes it would eventually produce.

Retra’s own manual states that you should wait at least 30 seconds before switching to BATT/TEST to get an accurate reading of remaining battery charge. This makes me somewhat question the real life benefit of this feature, but since it remains switched off by default and has to be specifically enabled in the app this is a minor complaint.

Build quality

The flash is built superbly well. All parts give a strong impression of durability. The aluminium chassis is very sturdy and dare I say quite sexy.

The physical dimensions of the strobe are remarkable considering its powerful interiors. They are almost identical in size to my old Inon Z-240 strobes, which makes them ideal for travel and for lighting macro shots or close-focus wide-angle images. The slightly longer body makes this a little bit more difficult than with the Z-240 though, at least with a short macro port.

Reliability has been excellent so far.

My two flashes have reached a trigger count of around 8000 at the time of writing this review and have not failed me since the first firmware update. In the initial firmware version the strobe would occasionally fail to switch on properly, requiring for it to be switched off and on again to function correctly and was very picky with older batteries. Sometimes the strobe would simply show a flashing red light and wouldn’t charge its capacitors, even though the batteries were fully charged, tested and conditioned. This hasn’t been an issue for me since so Retra at least appear to have done a good job at improving their firmware.

Accessories

At the front of the strobe, Retra use a proprietary bayonet mounting system for accessories. All accessories for the original Retra Flash are compatible. The bayonet system works extremely well and is easy to operate and Retra offer a wide range of accessories to modify the quality of light and beam angle.

The reduction ring produces a sharper beam edge and is great for eliminating backscatter in low visibility situations. The beam angle can be further reduced with the two macro rings, which can also serve as a wide-angle snoot. I have personally used two different diffusers: the standard wide-angle diffuser and the shark diffuser.

While the wide-angle diffuser features a very grippy outer ring for mounting to the bayonet system, the shark diffuser appears to be of an older style and is much more finicky to attach and detach. Apparently Retra have now updated the shark diffuser to the new design with the outer ring as well, so this should not be an issue any more.

Given the exceptional quality of light without any diffusers I personally use mine without any accessories in most situations. Of course, Retra’s own LSD snoot is also compatible with both the Retra Flash Prime and Pro. Retra also offer some neoprene sleeves to protect the strobe.

The ones shown here apparently are not made anymore as they kept sliding off the strobe at either the front or the back (hence the zip ties). Retra instead now offer a shorter neoprene sleeve that works well when combined with the more rigid bumpers.

Caption: Front bayonet mount for accessories.

Caption: Supercharger mounted to Retra Flash Pro.

Underwater review and strobe comparison:

For all underwater tests we used a Sony A6300 mirrorless camera with a generic noTTL external trigger, Sigma 19mm/2.8, Nauticam WWL-1 wet lens and Nauticam housing Caption: Two Scubalamp D-Max on Nauticam NA-A6300 housing with Nauticam WWL-1.

Quality of light and maximum power

During our first test underwater, we focused on evaluating the beam distribution and intensity of the D-Max and Retra Flash Pro. To do this, we went on a shore dive near La Paz, Mexico, where we looked for a rock formation large and flat enough to judge the quality of light produced by the strobes.

We placed one strobe at a time on a tripod set up around 1m from the wall in order to guarantee a stable and constant position of the strobes between runs. We fired the strobes with one strobe attached to the camera at its lowest power level and an Anglerfish remote flash trigger attached to the tripod and connected to the strobe under test via a fibre optic cable. Pictures were taken at equal distances from the tripod.

We tested the following configurations:

• D-Max at maximum power • D-Max at maximum power with D100 diffuser • Retra Flash Pro at maximum power • Retra Flash Pro at maximum power with wide-angle diffuser • Retra Flash Pro at maximum power with shark diffuser • Retra Flash Pro at maximum power with reduction ring

Camera settings were the following and remained unchanged throughout the test: ISO 100 / 1/250s / f16

The idea here was to isolate the bright beam of the strobes from the natural light present at the fairly shallow dive site.

We then edited the images in Adobe Lightroom by dropping the shadows to -100 and boosting overall exposure to further enhance the beam produced by the strobes against the faint ambient light.

Caption: D-Max at full power without diffuser Caption: D-Max at full power with D100 diffuser.

Caption: Retra Flash Pro at full power without accessories.

Caption: Retra Flash Pro at full power with beam restrictor

Caption: Retra Flash Pro at full power with wide-angle diffuser. The 500K decrease in colour temperature is noticeable.

Caption: Retra Flash Pro at full power with shark diffuser. The further decrease in colour temperature (-1000K compared to stock) is very noticeable, as is the lower output.

In the images it is possible to evaluate the global intensity of illumination, and the quality of the light beam.

The Retra Flash Pro is the strobe with the higher global intensity and a very good angle of coverage, even without diffusers. In fact the diffuser does not appear to increase the beam angle in any meaningful way and simply softens the beam further, particularly towards the edge.

This is valid also for the D-Max, where the diffuser D100 doesn’t increase the beam angle, but simply softens the light while reducing the output a little. These results are not at all surprising, as both strobes use circular flash tubes and reflectors, a design which is well-known for producing nice, even illumination even without diffusers. These tests also show the versatility of the Retra Flash Pro when combined with different accessories.

The reduction ring is very effective at providing a sharp edge to the beam, which is useful for certain techniques whereas both diffusers we used here provide a warmer light, which will help at producing beautiful blue water in the background in tropical conditions.

The Retra Flash Pro emerges as the winner in this first test. It features the more even beam and in the centre is about 0.2 stops more powerful than the D-Max.

At this point in the review it is apparent that the 250Ws output claimed by Scubalamp cannot be verified. Real life output will be below the Retra Flash Pro’s claimed 150Ws. The D-Max does still produce a pleasing and powerful beam. We also ran a quick side-by-side test with a D-Max strobe on one side and a Retra Flash Pro on the other to see at which power level the Retra would best match the D-Max’s maximum power. At 75%, the Retra Flash Pro roughly matches the output of the D-Max at full power, with the D-Max perhaps being a little bit brighter, which falls in line with our more artificial testing scenario above.

Caption: Scubalamp D-Max (left) at full power vs. Retra Flash Pro (right) at 100% power.

Caption: Scubalamp D-Max (left) at full power vs. Retra Flash Pro (right) at 75% power

Caption: Scubalamp D-Max (left) at full power vs. Retra Flash Pro (right) at 50% power

Recycle time and continuous shooting

Our second test focused on verifying Scubalamp’s extremely impressive claimed recycle times and compare the real-world values to the Retra Flash Pro. We conducted this test in a bucket filled with water, in which the strobes were placed to avoid overheating them. We used two Retra Flash Pros: one without and one with the optional Supercharger accessory.

Both Retra Pros were equipped with freshly charged, brand new Eneloop Pro batteries. The D-Max was also equipped with a freshly charged battery pack. All three strobes were triggered by fibre-optic cables.

Maximum burst rate

We first tested the maximum burst rate at minimum power.

All three configurations (D-Max, Retra Pro with/ without Supercharger) were able to continuously fire at 8fps for about 5 seconds, after which we stopped the test. The Retra Flash Pro without Supercharger did display a “charging” light so would not be able to keep up forever whereas the one equipped with the Supercharger remained in a “ready” state.

We are struggling to think of a scenario where anything more than a couple of seconds of shooting at 8fps would be at all useful though. In the specifications of the D-Max, Scubalamp claim “15 frames high speed continuous shooting at 1st mode. 12 frames at 2nd mode”. We took this to be 15 and 12 frames per second, which we could not verify, as the D-Max would occasionally miss frames at 10fps, the highest frame rate the Nikon D500 we used for this test can achieve. After further clarification from Scubalamp, it appears that they referred to 15 and 12 continuous frames at 7fps. However, as that 7fps burst rate is mentioned nowhere on the spec sheet, these claims are somewhat confusing, if not misleading.

Recycle time at maximum power

To determine the recycle time at maximum power our initial plan was to fire the strobes and record a video of the back of the units to see when the ready lights would indicate readiness to fire again.

It was at this stage that we realized that the LED on the back of the D-Max was not, in fact, a ready light but instead nothing more than a “power on” and battery level indicator. This meant that we had to adjust our testing meth-

od.

For the Retra Flash Pro we did use the technique outlined above, determining the exact recycle time in a video editing programme by measuring the time between the flash and the status LED changing colour over several runs. For this test we used one flash with and one flash without the Supercharger. The results were as follows:

Recycle time at maximum power:

Retra Flash Pro without Supercharger: 4 – 4.6s Retra Flash Pro with Supercharger: 1.7 – 2s

The Supercharger proves to be a great improvement over the otherwise sluggish recycle times of the Retra Flash Pro and therefore greatly improves real-life usability of the strobe. Even with the Supercharger the Retra Flash Pro is by no means a fast strobe though.

For the D-Max we first tested the claimed 0.5s recycle time by setting the camera to fire at 2fps. This resulted in three successful flashes and then six frames during which the strobes did not fire (amounting to 3 seconds), followed by three successful flashes and so on.

To determine the maximum continuous firing rate of the flash we used a metronome app to fire at different intervals as accurately as possible, as the camera does not provide a way of triggering at less than 1fps, which was still a little too fast to see the D-Max fire consistently. The D-Max would reliably fire once every 1.5 seconds.

While we could not confirm the claimed recycle time of 0.5s at maximum power the D-Max still achieved very impressive results. Being able to shoot three images at full power in just 1.5 seconds can make a huge difference in fast-paced situations. However, continuous shooting at 0.5 second intervals (as the spec sheet would suggest) is not possible. It should also be noted that the D-Max does not fire at all when not ready to do so. In comparison the Retra Flash Pro will always fire when triggered. While this will not result in an accurate exposure when the flash has not yet fully recycled, it might still produce a salvageable result so is the preferred behaviour.

Maximum number of flashes on a single charge

Our third comparative test focused on the number of flashes each model can produce on a single charge. Once again Scubalamp’s claims are very impressive.

We conducted this test in a bucket filled with water, in which the strobes were placed to avoid overheating them. We used two Retra Flash Pros: one without and one with the optional Supercharger accessory. Both Retra Pros were equipped with freshly charged, brand new Eneloop Pro batteries.

The D-Max was also equipped with a freshly charged battery pack. The strobes were set to maximum power and fired in intervals of around 15-25 seconds until they would not fire any more and this test was repeated three times. The average results were as follows:

Number of flashes on a single charge at maximum power:

Retra Flash Pro without Supercharger: 172 flashes Retra Flash Pro with Supercharger: 431 flashes D-Max: 762 flashes

The values for the Retra Flash Pro are well above Retra’s claims of 150 without and 350 with the Supercharger. As mentioned previously the Supercharger is a must-have accessory for wide-angle shooting in our opinion.

The huge improvement in number of flashes will get most people during a full day of diving.

The D-Max achieves the claimed amount of flashes on a single charge, which is an extremely impressive feat! In fact, using a Sony A6300 to trigger the strobe the camera’s battery had to be swapped before the strobe’s battery died!

Real-world impressions

Scubalamp D-Max

We tested the D-Max on five dives in the La Paz area.

The strobes feel great and perform very well. The quality of light is good, with an excellent uniformity (especially when used with the D100 diffuser) and pleasing colours. The texture and tone of the images look great.

The fast recycle time allows for rapid shooting of fast-moving subjects, greatly increasing the user’s chances of catching the peak of the action. Usability is very good, and during the five dives the strobes worked as expected.

The high maximum power helps a lot in high contrast situations, like when the sun is behind the subject and the aperture needs to be closed.

Overall they are a big step up from something like Sea&Sea’s YS-D2Js.

Caption: Sea fan taken with two Scubalamp D-Max. Nikon D500, Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye @ 10mm, 1/250th, f/20, ISO125 Caption: Coral head taken with two Scubalamp D-Max. Sony A6300, Sigma 19mm f/2.8, Nauticam WWL-1, 1/160th, f/11, ISO320

Caption: Octopus taken with two Scubalamp D-Max. Sony A6300, Sigma 19mm f/2.8, Nauticam WWL-1, 1/160th, f/10, ISO250

Retra Flash Pro

Hannes has been able to shoot the Retra Flash Pro for the better part of a year now.

The quality of light is exceptional to the point where using diffusers seems unnecessary most of the time. They are really only necessary in very close-focus situations or when an even warmer colour temperature is desirable.

The standard colour temperature of 4900K is ideal in the kind of blue water we get here in La Paz during most of the year and during the very best months, the warming diffusers help bring out that rich blue even better. In terms of usability, the strobes are excellent and a huge upgrade over Hannes’ previous Inon Z-240 strobes.

The different lengths of the dials allow for simply feeling for the right one without looking even without any muscle memory. They could click in place a little better though as it is possible to leave the dial between two positions.

The Retra Flash Pro is plenty powerful even for bright daylight shooting in shallow waters, as is often the case in the waters around the Baja California peninsula. Starting out without the Supercharger the limitations in recycle time and battery autonomy became very apparent. Using the Supercharger, however, has improved things to a very acceptable level, even when being surrounded by playful sea lions that move at lightning speed

Caption: Starry grouper taken with two Retra Flash Pro. Nikon D500, Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye @ 17mm, 1/125th, f/10, ISO200 Caption: Sea fans taken with two Retra Flash Pro. Nikon D500, Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye @ 10mm, 1/250th, f/20, ISO160

All in all the Retra Flash Pro is a fantastic device. The quality of light is outstanding.

The amount of light produced is remarkable given its small size and when using the Supercharger recycle times are reasonable even at higher power. Innovative new features set these strobes apart from the crowd and make them feel more like something produced in the smartphone age.

To get a more powerful upgrade to this strobe one has to pay almost double the price so as far as value for money goes the Retras are easy to recommend.

Caption: Sea turtle taken with two Retra Flash Pro. Nikon D500, Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye @ 14mm, 1/250th, f/10, ISO320

Comparison

We have also produced a couple of similar images over the course of two days to provide a more “apples-to-apples” comparison between the two strobes.

While the Retra Flash Pro does provide a slightly more pleasing light, the D-Max is not far off and does produce beautiful illumination as well. It does, however, produce slightly less pleasing water colours than the Retra. Caption: Two D-Max with D100 diffusers. (top), Two Retra Flash Pro with wide-angle diffusers (bottom). Taken 24 hours apart.

Caption: Side-by-side comparison: Two D-Max strobes with D100 diffusers (left) vs. two Retra Flash Pro with wide-angle diffusers (right). Taken 24 hours apart.

Conclusions

We have reviewed and compared two of the most exciting new additions to the underwater flash market: the Retra Flash Pro and the D-Max from Scubalamp.

The D-Max features a bright beam with a very good quality of light and excellent coverage. It has class-leading battery autonomy.

Unfortunately the global output power is not even close to what is being advertised, but instead appears to fall a few Watt-seconds short of the Retra Flash Pro.

Recycle times are very impressive, albeit not quite reaching the claimed values.

The handling underwater is also good, with just some minor details like the upside-down labels that make reading the power level just a tad more awkward.

The lack of pre-flash cancellation is a potentially severe shortcoming as could be the unsealed battery compartment.

Overall it is a great first offering of a company that has previously only produced torches and can certainly be improved on significantly by accessories and in future iterations of the design. Warming diffusers or beam restrictors for example would make fantastic accessories.

In this comparison however, the Retra Flash Pro emerges as the winner. It is an overall more mature product and really shows how much Retra have involved underwater photographers in the development of the product in both small details as well as its main features.

The quality of light is gorgeous even without using diffusers and a whole range of accessories can be used to modify the light to suit the photographer’s vision. Light output is a big upgrade over previous generation strobes and the addition of HSS allows for even more creative use.

The only weakness of this strobe is at the same time one of its strengths: the use of standard AA batteries. While it is comforting to know that wherever in the world you are, you will almost always be able to find a replacement should one fail, the power requirements of such a high performance strobe really show the limitations of this type of battery.

Recycle times are fairly slow and the number of flashes produced on a single charge falls far short of what the D-Max can offer. The Supercharger somewhat closes this gap and is a great improvement, but still won’t allow for similar battery performance. It should be noted that Retra have just announced an updated version of the Retra Flash:

The Retra Flash Pro/Prime X, which features up to 25% faster recycle times and up to 20% more flashes per charge, thanks to an optimized flash triggering system.

This is according to Retra of course, so time will tell if these claims can be verified. Nevertheless, any improvements of these two factors would be greatly appreciated and could lift this fantastic strobe to even higher levels of praise.

FTTC disclosure: Retra Flash Pros were purchased for personal use by Hannes Klostermann. Scubalamp D-Max were purchased by Giacomo Rossi at a discounted price for evaluation of the new product and further personal use.

Review

QuaD Dive CoMPuter

by Mares

www.mares.com

Description:

• MAGNIFICENTLY CLEAR DISPLAY WITH

JUMBO SIZE INFORMATION • TWO CUSTOMIZABLE FIELDS FOR AN-

CILLARY INFORMATION • FOUR BUTTONS FOR INTUITIVE USER

INTERFACE • MIRRORED BUTTON FUNCTION DUR-

ING DIVE • OPTION TO VIEW DIVE TIME INCLUD-

ING SECONDS • RUNAWAY DECO ALARM • MULTIGAS CAPABLE • DECOMPRESSION DIVE PLANNER WITH

USER ADJUSTABLE SURFACE INTERVAL • LONG BATTERY LIFE, USER REPLACEA-

BLE • DOES NOT INCLUDE INTERFACE AND

SOFTWARE FOR DOWNLOADING TO PC Facts

Code: 414134 Max Displayed Depth: 150m / 492ft Memory capacity: 38hr Profile Sampling Rates: 5s Stopwatch: Yes Display: Segment Display Battery Power Indicator: Yes Plan Mode: Yes Choice of Metrical/I mperial Units: Yes Fresh and Seawater Settings: Yes Residual Nitrogen Reset: Yes User Replaceable Batteries: Yes Option To Exclude Audible Alarm: Yes Exclusion of “Uncontrolled Ascent”: Yes Ascent Rate Digital Indicator (m/min - ft/min): Yes Altitude Adjustment: Yes Gas switching: Yes

Technologies

Mineral Glass Display. Tempered glass with superior scratch resistance and improved readability in all diving conditions and viewing angles.

Gas Switching Setting the computer to include one or more oxygen enriched - gases (up to 99%) in addition to your main gas; allow you to benefit from shorter decompression times by switching gases during the dive. Software Upgradeability. Keep your dive computer up-todate with the latest Mares developments.

Segment Display Needle-sharp information combined with intelligent placement of information for easiest readability.