Marelux Apollo Y Strobe & Video Light Review

Posted by Nirupam Nigam on May 11th, 2026

Read time: 10 minutes

The Marelux Apollo Y was quietly released in late 2025 without much fanfare or buzz. In fact I almost missed the update. But when Staney from Marelux shipped me a demo strobe, I was floored – this was the entry level strobe I had been waiting for! The Apollo Y is equipped with a 3000 lumen video light in addition to a GN 22 output with a quick recycle time of 0.6 seconds at full power. It was the perfect strobe and video light combo for beginner shooters. When I got in the water, I was even more impressed when I realized that the output is truly 3000 lumens as advertised, as I have seen many other combo video lights and strobes fall short.

What’s more exciting is that Marelux developed a mini version of the Marelux SOFT especially for the Apollo Y – making it the great tool for macro shooters. Over the last couple of months I’ve been diving with and testing the Apollo Y in a variety of environments from the clear blue waters of the Channel Islands to the slightly darker and colder water found around Seattle. It’s been with me for many-a-west coast adventure. This review is a PSA on why the Marelux Apollo Y is the goldilocks entry level strobe and video light combination.

Key Marelux Apollo Y Specifications:

Guide Number of 22
Beam Angle: 120 degrees (140 degrees with diffuser)
Color temp: 6000K standard - 5500K with white diffuser and 4700K with yellow diffuser
Trigger: Fiber optics (sea and sea style cable)
Modes supported: TTL, Olympus RC, HSS, Manual, MTL (multi flash mode supporting continuous flashes at 10fps with a max brightness of GN9)
Recycle time: 0.6 seconds at full power!
Batteries: two 21700 lithium ion batteries. 18650 batteries may be used with an adapter
Battery life: 1500 flashes at full power
Sealed battery compartment for protection against floods
Video Light Power: 3000 lumens white beam and 1000 lumens red beam
Video battery life: up to 120 minutes
Depth rating: 100m
Dimensions: 90mm D x 116mm x 167mm
Weight: 880 grams in the air, 230 grams underwater

Our Marelux Apollo Y Strobe and Video light, just after taking it diving.

Key Features:

A Wide, High-Quality Strobe Beam

With a guide number of 22, the Marelux Apollo Y is the perfect entry level strobe. It's also a great tool for macro shooters as it's small and compact (and macro shooters do not need as much power as wide angle shooters). I found the 120 degree beam to be plenty wide and I didn't feel the need to use diffusers with the strobe (which would have almost made the beam too wide!). I thought the color temperature was quite nice for macro photography as you can see in this image of a juvenile two spot octopus below. The blue rings really came out nicely! The beam is soft and their are no hotspots due to the dome over the flash tube.

A juvenile Two Spot Octopus: a good representation of the color temperature.

Lightning Quick Recycle Times

What makes the Apollo Y so special, is that it's quite a fast recycling strobe for an entry level strobe! At full power the recycle time is 0.6 seconds and at lower powers, it's even quicker. When I was diving Veterans Park in Redondo Beach, CA - I had no problem keeping up with local red octopus crawling quickly around the sea bottom. I was able to easily capture and freeze their unique shapes and contortions.

When you combine the Apollo Y with a SOFT mini snoot, it turns it into a formidable combination. Other macro flashes and snoots on the market have quite poor recycle times. So the Apollo Y fills a much needed niche.

I was able to capture this Red Octopus in all its different shapes, due to the fast recycling time of the strobe.

A Surprisingly Formidable Video Light

When strobes are marketed as strobe-video light hybrid devices, I find that the power from the video lights is often not what I'm expecting when I look at the specs sheet. After all, strobes tend to be wider in their beams than video lights which reduces the lux (lumens per sq meter). But that wasn't the case at all with the Apollo Y! I was very pleasantly pleased to see that the video light from the Apollo Y was comparable in power to our popular Bluewater 3000 - with the same lumens on paper. I spent a lot of time filming octopus, grunt sculpin, and stubby squid and managed to get a beautiful color rendition. The beam is on the warmer side. The strobe has a battery life of 120 minutes which is double what most video lights of the same power can do.

The Apollo Y also has a 1000 lumen red beam which is great for focusing and sneaking up on critters. Overall, after diving with the device I felt like the Apollo Y is equally a strobe and video light, and video was not added as an afterthought. In fact, I was a left a bit perplexed as to why Marelux wasn't shouting about this feature far and wide. They should! The Apollo Y is a true hybrid strobe.

A Stubby Squid eating a shrimp, how amazing are these colors?

A Long, Long, Long Battery Life

The batterylife of the Apollo Y feels like a lifetime of shooting - 1500 full power shots on a full battery! I never had to worry about swapping batteries during a day of heavy diving. That said - there is one important design quirk that users will need to deal with. I noticed that if you forget to turn the strobe off, it will continue to drain power. So make sure you turn the strobe off between dives!

A Nudibranch beautifully lit up by the Apollo Y Strobe.

Snooting it Up!

As I mentioned, the Apollo Y is equipped with a SOFT (smart optical flash tube) mini designed especially for the strobe. In fact it doesn't need a mount - it fits on like a toilet plunger! It's much smaller than other Marelux SOFTs as the aiming light is from the strobe itself so it doesn't require a battery compartment. Thankfully the SOFT Mini is equipped with a rotatable aperture that changes the width of the beam. It can also be used with accessories that extend the beam or change the color of the beam. I thoroughly enjoyed shooting with the snoot as the Apollo Y has a very quick recycle time and can keep up with skittish subjects. However, I did notice that there is a loss of light by about a stop when using the snoot.

With the use of the SOFT Mini Snoot, the light can be focused to highlight a few

of these vivid red tentacles of an anemone.

Who Should Buy the Marelux Apollo Y?

The Marelux Apollo Y is the "goldilocks" hybrid strobe and video light combo. It offers excellent video quality, enough power for excellent macro shooting at high f stops, and lightning quick recycle times that other macro flashes just don't do. So if you are a new underwater photographer who wants to shoot video, it's worth considering the Apollo Y. You'll end up saving a lot of money by not having to buy a video light. And the $549 price point is excellent! Especially in 2026 where strobes can cost up to $2k!

Don't forget about the Modes!

The Apollo Y is also equipped with Marelux's long list of strobe features including TTL, RC mode, MTL, and HSS. So if you want to get creative with MTL and HSS - you have the option. HSS will allow you to shoot at higher shutter speeds and MTL will allow you to shoot quick or reproduce a subject onto your frame multiple times for very "artsy images." And more importantly, if you want to relax on the dive and let the strobe do its thing with "automatic" TTL power - you have TTL built in as well as a more accurate RC mode for Olympus shooters.

A bold Sarcastic Fringehead's details and colors illuminated nicely by the Apollo Y Strobe.

Conclusions

The Apollo Y was a bit of a dark horse release. We knew it was coming, but we didn't know that it would be a strobe and video light hybrid. That, for our staff at Bluewater, is a game changer. It means we finally have the perfect photo-video light hybrid for entry level and macro shooters. What makes this strobe even more impressive is that's its equipped with a useful SOFT Mini snoot and is also a video light, paired with an ultra-fast recycling time and a wide variety of modes. If you are looking for something compact, and full of features for a great price, in my opinion, the Apollo Y is an incredible choice. I think the results speak for themselves and I can't wait to keep shooting this strobe on my macro adventures for years to come. Stay tuned with us to see what other amazing creatures we capture with this strobe/video light hybrid...

Please feel free to reach out to any of our staff at sales@bluewaterphotostore.com if you have any questions about the Apollo Y or to find the right strobes and videos lights for your setup.

Nirupam Nigam

Nirupam Nigam, the President of Bluewater Photo & Scuba, is an accomplished underwater photographer and fisheries scientist with a deep-rooted passion for marine life. He began his journey in underwater photography at 15 and, by age 22, became the Editor-in-Chief of uwphotographyguide.com, the leading online resource for underwater photographers. As a North Pacific and West Coast Fisheries Observer, Nirupam spends months aboard fishing vessels in remote areas such as the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, collecting critical fisheries data for the U.S. government. He hails from the West Coast, considering both Southern California and Western Washington home.