Help me choose! Olympus, Sea&sea or Ikelite for TG-6 setup

[oreocookie]

Hey guys,
I’m looking for a little advice, wondering if I’m leaning in the right direction. I’ve decided it’s time to upgrade from my almost 10 year old point-and-shoot Canon and its little on-board flash.

I have an Olympus TG-6 on the way and will be getting the Ikelite housing for it. The plan is to get a strobe and likely a Sola Photo 1200 to give me some flexibitly for video. The options I’m considering:
- Olympus UFL-3 : uses the camera’s RC mode for TTL (better camera battery life?)
- Sea&sea YS-01 : basically the same strobe as above but doesn’t support Olympus RC mode
- Ikelite DS51: more expensive than either of the above, once an RC converter is factored in.

I’m leaning towards the Olympus as it seems to make the most sense right now, but am I missing something? Thanks!

 

[Barmaglot]

UFL-3 is somewhat more expensive than YS-01, so there's that. If you're going to focus on macro, which is the TG-6's main strength, you might want to consider Backscatter's new MF-1 strobe + snoot combo, which will double as a constant light as well.

 

[oreocookie]

UFL-3 is somewhat more expensive than YS-01, so there's that. If you're going to focus on macro, which is the TG-6's main strength, you might want to consider Backscatter's new MF-1 strobe + snoot combo, which will double as a constant light as well.

Full disclosure: for some reason the UFL-3 is being sold in Canada for the same price as it is in the US, so with exchange rates, it costs about 25% less here than it would if I bought it in the US. I will, however, take a look at the Backscatter combo.

 

[Chris Ross]

If you can get it for the same price the UFL-3 seems a good option. I wouldn't consider the DS-51, less powerful and narrower beam and long recycle times. An alternative would be the INON S-2000.

 

[Peter Bomberg]

Curious why the Ikelite housing? I ended up with the Olympus housing and 2 inon S-2000's + a Sola 3800

 

[oreocookie]

Curious why the Ikelite housing? I ended up with the Olympus housing and 2 inon S-2000's + a Sola 3800

Some combination of familiarity (I have an Ikelite housing for my old camera), I like the “overkill” depth rating compared to the Olympus housing, and the shop I work at sells Ikelite... admittedly, my opinion of non “third-party” housings is probably biased by the fact that Canon’s housing for the camera I started with looked like a toy in my eyes...

 

[Peter Bomberg]

Some combination of familiarity (I have an Ikelite housing for my old camera), I like the “overkill” depth rating compared to the Olympus housing, and the shop I work at sells Ikelite... admittedly, my opinion of non “third-party” housings is probably biased by the fact that Canon’s housing for the camera I started with looked like a toy in my eyes...

I hear you on the Canon housing, I had one and swapped it quickly for the Ikelite, but honestly for the TG6 I like the Olympus one better (but the depth limit means it stays behind more often).

 

[Navymarkv]

there are some advantages with the ikelite housing for the tg-6. you can get a 6" (dry) dome that will give you wide angle, macro, and over/under options on the same dive. The olympus converter will greatly reduce recycle time on compatible ikelite ds strobes and if you get the fisheye converter and put it behind said dome you have amazing fisheye zoom available for a pretty great price. personally i would get the best strobe you an afford (i use 2 ikelite ds160's),