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The author would like to thank Backscatter for providing three Mini Flash strobes and lighting accessories for the purpose of writing this long-term review.
The Mini Flash excels with macro subjects of all sizes (Nikon D810, Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8 Macro, Nauticam housing, Backscatter MF-1 with OS-1, f/20, 1/125s, ISO200)
If you read the pages of DPG regularly, you’ll know that a good deal of my time is spent reviewing new underwater imaging products—like the Backscatter Hybrid Flash (HF-1) or the Backscatter TTL Flash Trigger. But, for once, I’d like to share my thoughts after using one series of products over the long term—namely, Backscatter’s Mini Flash series. Having used the Mini Flash 1 (MF-1) for around four years, I've now been shooting its successor, the Mini Flash 2 (MF-2), for over a year.
While I haven’t yet tried the new Mini Flash 3 (MF-3), I expect everything written below to apply fully to the third iteration of the Mini Flash series, as the significant addition is TTL support for Sony cameras. All the other features that made the MF-2 a fantastic tool for macro photography—including compatibility with the original Optical Snoot (OS-1)—are carried over to the MF-3.
But first things first: Let me share what initially intrigued me—and then made me very enthusiastic—about the Mini Flash concept.
My wife Léna Remy, equipped with an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV in the Backscatter Octo housing with two Backscatter Mini Flash 2 strobes, in Raja Ampat, Indonesia
How I Became a Snoot Addict
Back in January 2020, I was browsing the recently announced award-winning photographs from some of the best-known underwater photography competitions—DPG Masters, Ocean Art, and Underwater Photographer of the Year—with mixed feelings that DPG readers may relate to. On the one hand, I was marveling at the stunning winning shots; on the other, I was a little disheartened by my modest results in the macro categories.
I scrutinized the awarded images to try to decipher what I was missing—and then I found the secret ingredient. Many of the winning portraits and macro shots were lit with a snoot. Not the classic “spotlight” effect popularized by Keri Wilk a decade earlier, but often a more subtle yet distinctive selective light that only a snoot can achieve.
A snoot is the best way to separate your subject from the background, while adding texture and a three-dimensional feel (Nikon D500, Nikon AF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro, Backscatter MF-1 with OS-1, f/25, 1/250s, ISO 100)
Living in Sydney, Australia, I had no shortage of great macro subjects, and I simply needed to differentiate my photography. I had previously experimented with snooting on my trusty Inon Z-240 strobes, but the off-centered aiming light made them difficult to use, and I didn’t persevere.
Then, a new product caught my eye: Backscatter had announced their new Mini Flash (MF-1) and Optical Snoot (OS-1), with a sales pitch that immediately struck a chord: “What you see is what you get—the aiming light indicates exactly where the strobe light will hit.”
That sounded like something I could learn to use quickly—and get good at on my own—so I immediately ordered an MF-1 and OS-1 combo. It didn’t take long for my wife Léna and me to fall in love with it, eagerly taking turns to practice snooting. And it worked! Over the next season, we picked up six awards with macro and fish-portrait images. Hooray for snooting!
I was so grateful for this product that made snooting easy that I offered to write a long-term review of the MF-1 for Backscatter. Then, a certain global pandemic changed everyone’s priorities. My life soon shifted toward turning everything I knew about underwater photography into online courses, laying the foundations for The Underwater Club (which of course includes a Snooting Masterclass, so you can fast-track the trial and error I went through).
Fast-forward a few years: The MF-1 had been replaced by the MF-2, and I was ready to put together this article, gathering key takeaways after extensive use of both strobes over multiple years.
Once mastered for static subjects, snooting isn’t that difficult to do with swimming animals (Nikon Z9, Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8, Nauticam housing, Backscatter MF-2 with OS-1, f/18, 1/200s, ISO 800)
What Makes Snooting so Easy with the Mini Flash Series?
Quite a few things—five, actually.
1. What you see is indeed what you get
As mentioned above, this is the heart of the Mini Flash design philosophy. While the strobe uses two off-centered aiming lights, the OS-1 snoot focuses them into a circular spotlight (or oval spotlight, when angled), which closely mimics the beam produced when the strobe fires. This is wonderful when you want precise control of your lighting—for example, making a subject appear to “pop out of nowhere” straight in camera, without needing to mask or paint the background during post-processing.
This accuracy is also invaluable for creative slow-shutter shots—one of my favorite photographic techniques—where it’s essential that the strobe lights only the subject and nothing else.
The only situations where I didn’t quite see what I would get were with the tiniest subjects, where I had to use an aperture card and bring the snoot very close. In those cases, the aiming lights would produce two small spots, but the strobe still delivered a single coherent beam.
Through the snoot, the aiming light gives an accurate preview of where the strobe light will fall. This photo was taken by Léna while I was beside her, both swimming in synchrony as we followed this blue-lined octopus at night (Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV, Backscatter Octo housing, Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro, Backscatter MF-2 with OS-1, f/14, 1/250s, ISO 100)
The strobe light illuminated only the cuttlefish and not the background, which was blurred by panning the camera. (The Underwater Club has a 90-minute masterclass on this technique, available on replay) (Nikon D500, Nikon AF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro, Backscatter MF-1 with OS-1, f/16, 1/6s, ISO 160)
2. Aiming light bright enough for daytime snooting
With the MF-1, the aiming light was bright enough for snooting in shallow water during the day, and with the MF-2, it became even brighter, making it possible to see it even at midday. (Although the Mini Flash is not marketed as a video light, I’ve even used the MF-2 to film short macro clips. You get the best results with close subjects, and at night.)
Because it is so bright, though, I do wish the brightness would cycle from lowest to highest as you toggle the modes. Right now, a single push gets you straight to the brightest output, which is overkill for most subjects and might scare the most skittish away.
3. The snoot rotates easily
This may sound anecdotal, but it’s genuinely useful. The OS-1 attaches via friction, so you can rotate it freely while shooting. This helps when inserting aperture cards (to adjust the size of the beam) only to find a strobe arm blocking access—just rotate and carry on. And if you use Backscatter’s oval aperture cards, rotating the snoot allows you to switch between projecting an oval or circular beam, depending on what best suits your subject.
An oval aperture card allowed me to match the shape of this tasselsnout flathead (Nikon D500, Nikon AF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro, Backscatter MF-1 with OS-1, f/20, 1/250s, ISO 200)
4. Small, lightweight, and only slightly negative
The Mini Flash and Optical Snoot combo is compact, light, and just slightly negatively buoyant. This means less strain on your clamps and far fewer moments where a strobe arm collapses at the worst possible time because the clamp wasn’t tightened enough. (Surely I’m not the only holding on to old, squeaky clamps!)
5. TTL support
While the MF-1 was manual only, the MF-2 introduced TTL compatibility with Olympus/OM System bodies, and the MF-3 extends TTL support to Sony shooters. Personally, I am happy enough controlling my strobes manually, especially when snooting, as the subject distance doesn’t change as often. However, having TTL means one less thing to worry about for new underwater photographers, and it’s just nice to have that option should you need it.
The TTL mode works reliably for all sorts of macro subjects, whether using a snoot or not—simply adjust the metering mode if need be (Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV, Backscatter Octo housing, Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro, Backscatter MF-2, f/13, 1/80s, ISO 200)
Mini Flash, Maximum Creativity
The MF-2 and MF-3 both support remote triggering and power control. A Mini Flash connected to the camera via fiber-optics can act as a “master,” triggering a remote MF-2 or MF-3 as well as adjusting its power level using short coded light bursts. The big advantage of this system is not having to swim back and forth to/from the remote strobe for power tweaks. The feature relies on having the Backscatter Light Pipe (supplied with the Mini Flash) plugged into the slave strobe and pointing back to the master.
Combine this with Backscatter’s optional Color Filter System—mounted either on the Mini Flash or on the Optical Snoot—and you can introduce colors that weren’t present in the scene—an even more creative way to make your portfolio stand out.
A blue backlight adds color contrast to this otherwise almost monochromatic portrait of an Ambon scorpionfish (Nikon Z9, Nikon Z MC 105mm f/2.8, Backscatter MF-2 with OS-1, backlit with Backscatter MF-2 and OS-1, f/14, 1/200s, ISO 200)
Three MF-2 strobes were used to create this photo: one on camera with an OS-1 to illuminate the blenny; a second off camera with a blue filter, mounted on a Backscatter Remote Lighting Muck Stick, pointed at a kitchen sponge positioned behind the subject; and a third mounted on the housing with a Backscatter IR Filter to trigger the off-camera strobe, while not contributing to the exposure (Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV, Backscatter Octo housing, Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro, f/4, 1/250s, ISO 64)
Battery Life
I haven’t tried the Mini Flash 3 yet, but I noticed a significant improvement in battery life when the MF-2 was introduced. (Both the MF-3 and the MF-2 use the powerful 21700 battery, as opposed to the 18650 battery in the first Mini Flash.) While we occasionally ran out of charge with the MF-1, I can’t recall that ever happening with the MF-2.
We have done three-hour rebreather dives, taking anywhere from 200 to 500 photos, and then leave the battery in for the next dive a few days later. The night before diving again, we simply switch on the MF-2, and if the battery indicator shows green, we know we have another 200–500 photos worth of juice—including plenty of near-maximum-power shots and liberal use of the focus light.
Even if you do need to do a battery swap, it’s quick and easy, with double O-rings providing extra peace of mind.
Beyond Macro?
For wide-angle photography, you’ll want strobes with a wider beam (at least 110°), but the Mini Flash is perfectly capable of nicely illuminating subjects the size of a soccer ball—even larger if you use a pair of strobes. This makes the Mini Flash versatile enough for super-macro, macro, fish portraits, and even the occasional close-focus wide-angle image.
With his claws fully extended, this male blue swimmer crab was at least a foot (30cm) across, but one MF-2 was enough to fully illuminate it at night (Canon EOS R5 Mark II, Nauticam housing, Canon RF 100mm f/2.8 Macro, Nauticam EMWL with 100° Objective Lens, f/18, 1/250s, ISO 1000)
A pair of Mini Flash strobes was sufficient to light this sizeable three-bar porcupinefish, and the sand around it, but it would have taken a “wide-angle” strobe to also reach the divers further back (Nikon Z9, Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8 Macro, Nauticam housing, Nauticam EMWL with 160° Objective Lens, f/18, 1/25s, ISO 800)
Final Thoughts
Over years of use, the Mini Flash has proven to be an excellent strobe for everything from super-macro life to medium-sized subjects like moray eels or large octopuses. Having a strobe purpose-built for snooting—paired with its own optical snoot—makes this once-tricky technique a breeze. There are also creative options on offer, including (since the MF-2) remote triggering and power control via Backscatter’s proprietary protocol, and the use of colored lighting via the Backscatter Color Filter System. Also, the strobe’s small footprint and light weight make it easy to maneuver around the housing, allowing your creativity to roam freely.
Perhaps most importantly, after a year of use, the three MF-2s we’ve been using have not missed a beat, which speaks to their reliability. Finally, if you’re a shooter that likes to have the camera take care of strobe exposure automatically, you’ll be pleased to know the latest iteration of the Mini Flash—the MF-3—supports TTL when using Sony as well as Olympus/OM System cameras.
The Mini Flash—and its accompanying snoot—remain an essential part of every macro shooter’s toolkit. Not only does it do the job very well, but it also opens up creative possibilities that will inspire you to keep photographing the ocean’s tiniest treasures.
About the Reviewer: Nicolas Remy is an Australia-based pro shooter and founder of online underwater photography school and community, The Underwater Club, with members in 18 countries. He serves as an ambassador for Mares and Nauticam, and chairs the jury of the prestigious DPG Masters photo competition. Nicolas’ images have been widely published in print and digital media, and have won over 40 international photo awards. To see more of Nicolas’ work or browse his upcoming workshops, visit: www.nicolaslenaremy.com.
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