Alex, can you share more about why you don’t think this strobe is as well suited for cold water diving. You suggested it was too strong. Why is that an issue in cold water? Is it because oftentimes we are diving in lower viz?
I didn’t phrase that well in the live recording. I would say that it would not make sense to buy them specifically for that. Most cold water dives are much darker than tropical dives - and therefore you tend to shoot at a higher ISO to capture the ambient light. As such you need much less strobe power. So large, powerful strobes are fine, but not necessary. The native colour temp of these flashes would suit common temperate conditions that typically benefit from a cooler light from the strobes.
On my HF-1s, "that button" is not all you have to do for the video lights. You have to turn the Mode knob to "V" to turn on the video lights. Then you press the button to change the power level.
@@Alex_Mustard I stand corrected! My apologies. I *thought* that button only worked in V mode. I see now that it also works in M mode (I didn't try the others). And, it appears I can have the video light turned on and still fire the strobe, too. So, I guess I can leave the video lights on all the time (if I want to), making it very easy to switch back and forth between shooting video clips and still photos. And also, I suppose, I can use the video lights in lieu of a dedicated focus light, especially on night dives. Thank you for that correction!
@@stuartv666 I need to check myself to see if I remembered correctly! We record these live, in one take, so they are honest, but also have lots of chances for mistakes - hence the need for a comments section!
@@Alex_Mustard Well, I just checked mine and they work as you said, so I think you're good... :D It is the lower button (between the Mode and Power buttons). The upper left button is the test fire button.
I just got my HF-1s. Turning the black switch to "V" gives a brighter video light than simply pushing the silver button. It's still not a Keldan, but it is brighter that way.
Another quick question. Would a retra be a better strobe than the hf-1 if I were looking to invest in a single set of strobes for both macro and WA? This is assuming I don’t care about the video light capability.
Yes for me. I like that the Retras can be small (with 4 x AA) on my macro trips and then big and fast recycling on my WA trips. The Retra is less powerful, but has a nicer light. BUT a pair of Retras is significantly more expensive, currently. I shot the Retras more than the HF-1s on my trip, but I did really like the HF-1s. So you need to balance that equation for yourself.
It is very impressive. But in real world shooting I didn’t really notice any really big benefit - not because they don’t recycle fast, but because there isn’t often a need to shoot a series of shots UW. In land photography high frame rates are great for fast moving subjects - my A1 does 30 frames a second but these strobes (and my flash trigger can’t begin to keep up with that). Also UW subjects are not fast moving (or don’t have fast moving appendages - arms, legs, wings) like land subjects, which benefit from a very precisely timed shot. There are exceptions, like bait balls - but these can also be hard to keep up with in the water if dragging strobes around - so most go available light anyway. So in conclusion they do allow fast shooting - but I’d honestly say this has very limited benefit UW in the real world. When shooting most UW subjects spray and pray just means you end up with a load of the same shots. I was much more excited by the power of the flashes definitely opens up more exciting photographic opportunities, especially if coming from Sea & Sea or Inon strobes. I did comment that the flashes gave me the overheating warning when shooting the snappers too rapidly while I was struggling in the current!
To give away a future episode - we’re saving discussion of recycle time/rapid shooting for a forthcoming episode “Strobe Wishlist” to discuss what to look for in a strobe and to help people understand the various specs, which are important, which are misleading etc, dealing with GN, WS, KT, coverage, recycle time, battery life, aiming lights etc and features like TTL/HSS and more - and contrasting good on paper with good in the real world, in a non-brand specific discussion!
In case I forgot to mention it in the episode, I'm not in my normal studio so if things look/sound a bit different on my end, thats why!
The batteries are size 21700. The "2135" thing is the Nitecore product model designation (of their 21700, high-current battery).
Thanks - during the live recording I didn’t feel I had it correct - all I could do is read out what was on the packed. Thanks for the correction,
Any thoughts on the risks that come with possibly flooding Li-ion batteries, versus flooding a battery compartment with NiMH batteries?
Alex, can you share more about why you don’t think this strobe is as well suited for cold water diving. You suggested it was too strong. Why is that an issue in cold water? Is it because oftentimes we are diving in lower viz?
I didn’t phrase that well in the live recording. I would say that it would not make sense to buy them specifically for that. Most cold water dives are much darker than tropical dives - and therefore you tend to shoot at a higher ISO to capture the ambient light. As such you need much less strobe power. So large, powerful strobes are fine, but not necessary. The native colour temp of these flashes would suit common temperate conditions that typically benefit from a cooler light from the strobes.
What power settings were you using? Max thanks love the videos
The high ones mostly
On my HF-1s, "that button" is not all you have to do for the video lights. You have to turn the Mode knob to "V" to turn on the video lights. Then you press the button to change the power level.
On the ones I have the button turns on the video light in all the modes, not just in the V mode. We could have different versions?
@@Alex_Mustard I stand corrected! My apologies.
I *thought* that button only worked in V mode. I see now that it also works in M mode (I didn't try the others). And, it appears I can have the video light turned on and still fire the strobe, too. So, I guess I can leave the video lights on all the time (if I want to), making it very easy to switch back and forth between shooting video clips and still photos. And also, I suppose, I can use the video lights in lieu of a dedicated focus light, especially on night dives.
Thank you for that correction!
@@stuartv666 I need to check myself to see if I remembered correctly! We record these live, in one take, so they are honest, but also have lots of chances for mistakes - hence the need for a comments section!
@@Alex_Mustard Well, I just checked mine and they work as you said, so I think you're good... :D It is the lower button (between the Mode and Power buttons). The upper left button is the test fire button.
I just got my HF-1s. Turning the black switch to "V" gives a brighter video light than simply pushing the silver button. It's still not a Keldan, but it is brighter that way.
Another quick question. Would a retra be a better strobe than the hf-1 if I were looking to invest in a single set of strobes for both macro and WA? This is assuming I don’t care about the video light capability.
Yes for me. I like that the Retras can be small (with 4 x AA) on my macro trips and then big and fast recycling on my WA trips. The Retra is less powerful, but has a nicer light. BUT a pair of Retras is significantly more expensive, currently. I shot the Retras more than the HF-1s on my trip, but I did really like the HF-1s. So you need to balance that equation for yourself.
No discussion of cycle time?
It is very impressive. But in real world shooting I didn’t really notice any really big benefit - not because they don’t recycle fast, but because there isn’t often a need to shoot a series of shots UW. In land photography high frame rates are great for fast moving subjects - my A1 does 30 frames a second but these strobes (and my flash trigger can’t begin to keep up with that). Also UW subjects are not fast moving (or don’t have fast moving appendages - arms, legs, wings) like land subjects, which benefit from a very precisely timed shot. There are exceptions, like bait balls - but these can also be hard to keep up with in the water if dragging strobes around - so most go available light anyway. So in conclusion they do allow fast shooting - but I’d honestly say this has very limited benefit UW in the real world. When shooting most UW subjects spray and pray just means you end up with a load of the same shots. I was much more excited by the power of the flashes definitely opens up more exciting photographic opportunities, especially if coming from Sea & Sea or Inon strobes.
I did comment that the flashes gave me the overheating warning when shooting the snappers too rapidly while I was struggling in the current!
To give away a future episode - we’re saving discussion of recycle time/rapid shooting for a forthcoming episode “Strobe Wishlist” to discuss what to look for in a strobe and to help people understand the various specs, which are important, which are misleading etc, dealing with GN, WS, KT, coverage, recycle time, battery life, aiming lights etc and features like TTL/HSS and more - and contrasting good on paper with good in the real world, in a non-brand specific discussion!