Inon Z330 DIY snoot

[~ryan~ 5]

I’m new to underwater photography, and wanted a snoot for controlling the light from my Inon Z330.  The Inon snoot looks nice didn’t seem right to spend $220 on a set of ~6 snoots of which I’d be using just one or two, so decided to have a look in the plumbing dept. of my local hardware store…

A 4” x 3” PVC adapter for sewer pipe fits perfectly. The sewer pipe adapter is thinner and lighter than the same sized drain pipe adapters.   Drilled a couple holes for a bungee, added a bolt snap to easily stow it when not in use.  For under $5 it might be just what I need.

Didn't get mine at Home Depot but the dimensions of this match up with what I have  - PVC S&D Increaser/Reducer Coupling

Had a bunch of these around, removed the ball,  knotted on the inside to secure - Ball Bungee

Test shots are with a flash to wall distance of 18" (about 0.5m)

Nothing extraordinary, but the perfect fit of the PVC fitting on the Inon was really surprising so thought I'd share.

Be well

ryan

 

[Barmaglot 262]

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but I've seen quite a few people attempt this kind of setup, and they inevitably run onto several issues once they take it on a dive:

1. Purely constricting snoots (i.e. no focusing optics) cut out a lot of light. Since snoots are used primarily for macro photography, you are typically shooting at very small apertures for depth of field, and this reduced output is often insufficient for proper lighting.
2. This is specific to Inon Z series strobes - when you're shooting with a snoot, you need some way of aiming it, most often the strobe's modeling light, but Inon's modeling light is offset from the center. This results in the aiming spot being offset from the snoot's actual target and makes targeting extremely frustrating.
3. This is specific to your setup, but unless you're planning to use it to highlight a specific feature in a wide-angle shot rather than macro, it's much too wide. In most cases, when you're snooting, you want to illuminate a spot no larger than an inch, often smaller - you're lighting up a foot-wide circle.

[~ryan~ 5]

All good points, but I don't shoot macro, and mainly in fresh water lakes where the background looks best a bit blurry.  Wider apertures make the strobes job pretty easy and with panning blurs or portraits of moving fish I hope the beam angle will be about right for the image in my minds eye.

One day I'll find something tiny at bottom of our blue/green lakes... and it'll be just like you said.

Edited February 15, 2022 by ~ryan~
typo

[JayceeB 54]

Here’s another DIY fish portrait snoot…it’s ok to chuckle.

I have a Marelux SOFT Pro, but the light beam is too small for a large black Frogfish I’ve been trying to light with a fisheye lens and close focus wide angle.  Hopefully I can still find the Frogfish to test it out this week.

Start with a ‘Talenti’ gelato container.

Cut the bottom off.

Wrap the outside with foil tape.

Drill two holes and thread through broccoli elastics.

Use a hole drill to drill a smaller diameter hole in the lid.

This setup gives you two diameters to work with, by removing or securing the lid.

[Architeuthis 189]

There is also a file available for 3D printing a snoot for the Z330, that can be downloaded for free: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4753831

 

Wolfgang

[JayceeB 54]

Well, it kind of worked.  The light diameter was still too big for the subject.  I had my strobe on full power, yet the Frogfish was still underexposed.  It did leave enough dynamic range that I was able to adjust the shot with Lightroom.

 

[polyroly 7]

On 2/14/2022 at 9:54 PM, Barmaglot said:

... but Inon's modeling light is offset from the center...

And is directed at 3.5 to 4 degrees toward center which adds to the fun.

On my printed solution for the Z330 I canted a 3/4" fiber optic bundle toward the focus light to capture that light and the center flash. With 3/4" optic you need to trim down the light at the exit point unless you are looking at a large frog fish. That's not a problem. Also if you target the origin point of your optic towards the focus light you need to fix your 'plumbing fixture cap' so that it doesn't move. But you want to be able to remove it and replace it fast for the shot of your dive buddy. I kept leaving my first generation snoot in the sand and having to swim back to retrieve it - !Doh!

 

You really need 3 eyes and 4 hands for snoot work.