Fujifilm's Remora flash could save those underwater family portraits

Underwater photography is tough, and, when you're dealing with something less than Caribbean-clear blue seas, finding the right lighting can be near-impossible. Fujifilm's Remora looks to make things a little easier, offering a 60 degree beam of light with a guide number of 20, so it's bright enough even for nighttime cuttlefish documentaries but can be dimmed to save the retinas of sensitive cephalopods. Four AA batteries give you 240 flashes at a depth of up to 180 feet, but at £229 (about $370) only the most serious rebreathers need apply.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 28th 2009 9:25AM]

There must be a lot of pressure on the night shift to post *anything* they can find.

How many Engadget readers are really in the market for an underwater flash?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 11:37AM]

I am.. More details of this would be good. But there's lots of others out there that have been proven.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 28th 2009 9:35AM]

That price is not bad at all (it may seem expensive, but the thing has to work under a great deal of pressure and in salt water. Both are about the worst thing you can throw at electronics. And on top of all that it has to be a highly accurate photographic flash. Look at the DSLR enclosures, most are in the $1000+ range, and that's without the camera/glass... I am very impressed with the battery life, the older models I am still using eat 4 C-cells with ~70-80 flashes (underwater you end up firing your flash a high-intensity for a lot of pics)

I'm still shooting on a Nikonos V with film, but hopefully will shortly use my 30D in an enclosure.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 28th 2009 9:47AM]

Actually, this is pretty cheap for a UW flash. Inon strobes can go for upwards of $800 a piece. Overall, this flash is really not that (technically) impressive.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 28th 2009 10:18AM]

The new Fuji Remora Flash features four different pre-flash settings, to cover the needs of all compact digital cameras in the market, including Nikon, Canon, Sony, Olympus, Fuji, Kodak, Panasonic and more.
It features a guide number of 20, and therefore is compatible for both macro and wide angle shots.
The power output can be manually adjusted to provide the most accurate amount of light in all conditions and a short recycle time ensures quick responsiveness even when using the maximum power output.
The Fuji Remora Flash also features a built-in Y-S Mount for attaching a focus light on top of the flash, sparing the need for an additional arm.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 28th 2009 10:56AM]

That's about the most ignorant summary ever. Engadget and Tim Stevens should be embarrassed.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 28th 2009 11:02AM]

Fun fact: Cuttlefish ARE cephalopods.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 28th 2009 11:58AM]

$370 is nothing for a flash. Stop pretending that people only buy photo equipment when it's on sale at Best Buy.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 28th 2009 3:19PM]

This thing would be like wrestling an octopus. Mini tray with a little sea and sea point and shoot with this massive klunky arm attached to this little flash. Also it appears to be fiber optic which is a massive headache when it starts acting up. There are a lot of good packaged systems that
are a better value.