Strobe Thoughts: Inon S-2000 or Ikelite DS-161?

[HerraduraDivers]

Halemaño,
why would you put duct tape OVER the diffuser?

The shape of the Ikelite S90 housing make the attachment of the optical cable "shoe" somehow difficult, but it can be done.
Fantasea Line Water Sports Photo Products & Accessories- ES Fiber Optic Cable Kit

Chris

 

[Puffer Fish]

Of the lens I have tried, it is the only one that works really well. But I found a very odd trick (from a SB member). If you use Canon's software, it does lens correction (even in raw). It does it by correcting the barrel distortion, in a way that makes the field of view smaller.

If you have, say PSP that will do raw, the image is actually much wider (around 10%). Seems the sensor is actually bigger than 10 meg. If you then do a barrel correct in that software, you get a fairly wider image.

You can actually see the corners of the lens, even when zoomed to 35mm, but the barrel correction moves it out of the field of view.

Am very surprised this is not common knowledge, but cannot find any info on it...odd.

I think Canon's method makes a slightly better quality image, but having an 11 meg, wider image comes in handy.

Puffer Fish, thanks for clarifying, and that's what I thought ! I'm getting the Ikelite housing (S90) shortly, and I think I'm going to go with the Sea & Sea YS-01 strobe. Haven't decided on which WA or Fisheye lens to go with yet. So many options (and opinions) there ! By the way, you mentioned on the picture above, that you used the Ikelite W-20 wide angle lens. Great pic ! How are you liking that WA lens ?

 

[Mel Moncrieff]

I have the S90 with Ike housing, and an Inon S2000 and a Sea & Sea YS01. I have the big Ike strobes on my SLR. I like your choice of the S&S, and you could almost buy 2 for the price of the Ike DS 161. I also like my W20 wide angle.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

all you need to do is put duct tape over the diffuser of any housing, screw it onto the tray and it works.

Halemaño,
why would you put duct tape OVER the diffuser?

To keep the onboard flash from affecting the shot (WAL shadowing and/or backscatter) and to better reflect the onboard flash back to the Controller.

I prefer to meticulously cut a Coke can so that "Cola" is covering my diffuser and silver aluminum is the block/reflector, but when I have forgotten the custom cut piece of aluminum, duct tape can do the job. Even the glue side reflects; when in a rush taping the back side of the diffuser is time consuming and taping the front of the diffuser means I might be able to take the tape off for a stock flash shot.

My batteries last longest when my camera's "slave power setting" is at the lowest (1) and Slave Sensor "sensitivity" is at it's lowest (Min). The Sensor will work without the reflective covering but battery use may be greater for both the camera and the Slave Sensor and the onboard flash will negatively affect most strobe shots.

 

[muzikbiz22]

While I didn't start this particular thread, I would like to thank everyone for your straight and honest answers, clarifications, opinions, tips and pointers ! It's all great info.

Have a great weekend everyone ! Perhaps I'll run into to some of you at Catalina Island this weekend !

 

[seacreatures]

Both are great strobes, I went with the Ike because, they are easy to find world wide. I had an issue with one of mine and was able to rent one from Buddy Dive with no problem and most of the Aggressor Fleet uses them as well. That was my deciding factor and it has been a positive for me. Your experience might be different?

 

[HerraduraDivers]

Halemaño,
logically you block it to reduce shadows and backscatter, but saw no logical reason to do that with duct tape on the diffuser but now it makes sense to me...
Have you ever tried to cover the flash with a exposed negative film? This will block any visible light, but still trigger the strobe and you don't have to cover housing or diffusers with ugly duct tape and you have the widest available beam of invisible strobe flash to allow you the most flexible strobe position.

Chris

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

drink can, duct tape, exposed film(?), just how would the film change the flexibility of my strobe position

​

also, if you copy and paste my member name you might get a version with a macron over the o. :kiss2:

halemanō

 

[HerraduraDivers]

Everybody is free to use the solution what is it's fine for him and you found yours
Cans, duct tape, developed film, sharpie, manual controllers, etc. does not matter, it's the result what counts.

Developed Film??? Read here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ca...lear-photo-system-s90-wp-dc35-ad28-mount.html
What positions more you may can achieve using developed film instead of any strobe blocking device depend on your fantasy and the position of the controller on the arm.

Chris

P.S. copy & paste helps also to put a "o" at the Nikonus... :blinking:

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

P.S. copy & paste helps also to put a "o" at the Nikonus... :blinking:

Thanks, but that's part of the noted modification.