By Erin Quigley - GoAskErin

Although I’m a seasoned underwater photographer, I’m relatively new to snooting. On a recent trip to Lembeh, I brought along the 10Bar Snoot with Laser Aiming Light for the YS-D1. Setup was beyond easy; install three teensy LR 44 batteries and snap the base onto the front of the YS-D1. Even as a snoot novice, I was able to successfully aim and shoot it without assistance.

My initial fears that the laser pointer ight injure or alarm the critters disappeared when they appeared not to notice it at all. In fact, they ignored the laser completely, while either my red or white focus light caused many critters to turn away or hide. The red laser pointer turns off as you fire, so it’s never visible in the shot.

The snoot size is adjustable via a series of screw-on nozzle segments, and the distance between the snoot and pointer is also adjustable via a small external wheel. Because you can’t see whatever's directly under the red dot of the laser, it’s a good idea to keep it away from areas of critical focus (like the eyes!) of your subject. Getting snooted shots was MUCH easier to accomplish with the help of the laser pointer.

My only complaints, and they’re really nitpicks, are that the snoot arrives without instructions of any kind, and it could use an accompanying tool for opening and closing the battery compartment (ed. note: a quarter works well). The separate screw-on nozzle segments are a little awkward - it would be better if they somehow telescoped into the base, and although the batteries are cheap and easy to travel with, they had to be replaced every ten or twelve dives, even though I turned off the laser pointer after each setup.

In short, the 10Bar snoot with laser pointer is a big winner. It was so popular on my trip that another guest bought it from me to use for the rest of her vacation, and I ordered a replacement as soon as I returned home. ----- The 10Bar Laser Snoot for the Inon z240 strobe is now also available. Models to fit the YS-110a strobe are available by special order.