News

If you caught our DEMA Show coverage on DPG TV a couple of weeks ago, you will have noticed that Backscatter’s Media Producer Thomas Anderson introduced three major new products. The first was the latest incarnation of the company’s popular macro-focused strobe, the Mini Flash 3 (MF-3), which pairs with the original Optical Snoot (OS-1). The second was the new midrange Atom Flash (AF-1) and its own dedicated Optical Snoot—which is called the OS-2. And the third was the “missing piece” in Backscatter’s strobe/snoot line-up: the dedicated Optical Snoot—the OS-3—for their top-of-the-range Hybrid Flash (HF-1).

As you can see below, the OS-3 is a sizeable piece of gear designed for a “big” strobe (at least compared with the Mini Flash and Atom Flash), and as such, the new snoot aims to take full advantage of the Hybrid Flash’s powerful output, quick recycle time, and generous battery life: Instead of merely allow shooters to snoot super-macro and macro subjects, the OS-3 can also be used to snoot bigger subjects, such as fish and even wide-angle scenes. Lighting larger subjects from further away is possible because of the very high output of the Hybrid Flash in combination with the OS-3’s longer minimum working distance (7.8 inches/200 mm).

While larger than the OS-1 and OS-2, the OS-3 offers a very similar feature set to those snoots. Like the OS-2 bayonets onto the Atom Flash, the OS-3 attaches to the Hybrid Flash via the bayonet mount that works with the strobe’s dedicated diffusers. The barrel of the snoot features two slots: one is for inserting an aperture disc; the other is for adding color filters.

Unlike the straight aperture cards for the OS-1 and OS-2, the OS-3 uses aperture discs—after locking one into place, simply rotate to select the desired aperture. One disc has six circular apertures, while the other has six oval apertures, allowing users to shape the light to fit the subject precisely. As with the snoots for the Mini Flash and Atom Flash, the front of the OS-3 can be independently rotated to alter the angle of the beam—perfect for shaping the light to fit a longer subject, like a nudibranch or a shrimp.

Most importantly, the OS-3 works on the same simple principle of “what you see is what you get” as the OS-1 and OS-2: Once you’ve shaped the target light exactly the way you want it, when you fire the Hybrid Flash, the snooted strobe light will follow that shape exactly. The Hybrid Flash features a powerful 1,500-lumen aiming light with three power levels, so you can choose the optimum brightness for any conditions, including very bright, shallow reefs. If you’re doing a night dive or snooting sensitive/skittish subjects, you also have the option of using the Hybrid Flash’s red light mode.

Like the OS-1 and OS-2, the OS-3 can be paired with the Backscatter Color Filter System—in the case of the OS-3, via a dedicated slot. And as with the Mini Flash and the Atom Flash, you can remotely trigger an off-camera Hybrid Flash equipped with a color filter (and even adjust its power level wirelessly) for creative colored backlighting or side-lighting.

Shipping at the end of December, the Optical Snoot OS-3 will retail for $300, but Backscatter is offering special discounts in their Black Friday sales: The OS-3 is currently $250, while the Hybrid Flash and OS-3 Combo Package is on sale for $1,250—a handy $150 saving.