Here’s my video looking at the Marelux Apollo S strobe, a feature packed mid-priced offering from one of the newer companies in underwater photography. I’ve added some details about pricing and accessories below the video.

Strobe

The Apollo S comes in a choice of five colours: black, silvery, red, blue and green. Included with the strobe are a ball mount, the covers for the controls and sensors and the diffuser I was using. As I said in the video the neoprene cover may be included but isn’t mentioned in the description on Marelux’s website and unfortunately the demo strobe I had did not come in its original packaging. The UK SRP for the strobe is currently £799.

Diffusers and Docks

As mentioned there is a diffuser included with the strobe but Marelux’s website and their manual for the Apollo S are inconsistent as to which it is and its performance. The specs for the strobe on the website and in the manual say that with a ‘dome’ diffuser the strobe has a 140º angle and a colour temperature 5500K. In the manual the picture of the parts included with the strobe shows the diffuser I used and calls it a dome diffuser. But on a set of images on the website and in the manual comparing the different angles and diffusers available there is a different dome diffuser shown as giving a 140º angle and the one included with the strobe gives 120º. This other dome is available as an accessory but I don’t have a UK price for it.

It’s also possible to use the dock that is needed for fitting a Marelux SOFT snoot as a beam restrictor and there is an add-on slot that will fit the dock allowing you to use flat diffusers, ND filters and coloured filters that can be bought as accessories. Sadly at time of writing I don’t have UK prices for those.

SNOOTs

To my knowledge the only snoots available for the Apollo S are those made by Marelux. These are the SOFT range which stands for Smart Optical Flash Tube. These snoots include an integrated aiming light and an adjustable beam diameter. They use docks specific to each strobe design that can be bought with the snoot or as a separate part if you change strobes. As yet I haven’t tested any but hope to do so soon.

The original SOFT is still available in the UK and comes in at £594 without a dock or £654 with a dock included. There are also a number of new versions which are smaller these are the SOFT Lite which has white and red settings on the aiming light, and the SOFT Lite XR and XW which respectively have red only and white only lights. The X models have brighter aiming lights but shorter time before you need to recharge them. The SOFT Lite sells for £499 without a dock. I don’t have prices for the X models but based on US prices they will be slightly more. There were also two Pro versions which appeared similar to the Lite and have now been discontinued.

The Marelux Lumilink

The Lumilink Optical Transmitter is the device for using the strobes without fibre optic cables. At £349 it is quite an expensive add on compared to using cables. Again I haven’t tested one so can’t comment on its effectiveness

Fibre Optic Cables

If you opt to go old school and use cables, then a simple multi core cable with Sea & Sea style ends will do the job no problem when it comes to triggering the strobe. I used a 43cm INON cable with right angled rubber bushes that we sell for £57.

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