A95 and Reefmaster flash

[jpomerantz]

I am looking at replacing my SeaLife DC310 with a Canon A95 and DC-50 housing. Should there be a problem using my Reefmaster flash with this (I have the SeaLife optical cable) or will I need to put out more $$ for a flash like the YS-25DX? Thanks.

 

[herman]

I tried the same thing with my C5050 and a Ikelite Auto35 Strobe, never got a chance to try it underwater because it flooded on the first dive. It fired fine and did a pretty good job on land. You do have to turn off the preflash on your camera or it will not work. On land I had problems with overexposure, especially at close ranges. Based on my land experiments, you may need to build some diffusers to get the strobe power in the correct range for some shots. You may also want to build some kind of strobe block for you Cannon housing to block the internal strobe and to connect the fiber cable to. This will reduce back scatter for wider angle shots. I made one for my C5050 that is removable so I can also use the internal strobe on macro shots.
Ultimately you will want a better strobe but why not give it a try.

 

[snuggle]

seamaster just came out with a universal flash..the sl960d..will work with any digital camera out there from what they say..and its selling for around 349.00

 

[jpomerantz]

I tried the same thing with my C5050 and a Ikelite Auto35 Strobe, never got a chance to try it underwater because it flooded on the first dive. It fired fine and did a pretty good job on land. You do have to turn off the preflash on your camera or it will not work. On land I had problems with overexposure, especially at close ranges. Based on my land experiments, you may need to build some diffusers to get the strobe power in the correct range for some shots. You may also want to build some kind of strobe block for you Cannon housing to block the internal strobe and to connect the fiber cable to. This will reduce back scatter for wider angle shots. I made one for my C5050 that is removable so I can also use the internal strobe on macro shots.
Ultimately you will want a better strobe but why not give it a try.

Thanks. The DC310 is a good starter camera but with no zoom and fixed focus it has limits. I figured a way to attach the fiber optic cable to the canon case and block the internal flash. Will probably try it when I go to Cozumel at the end of the month. Agree I will need a better strobe but as a start it sounds like it will fly.

 

[jpomerantz]

seamaster just came out with a universal flash..the sl960d..will work with any digital camera out there from what they say..and its selling for around 349.00

Yeah, I saw that - probably will sell it all eventually and get a S&S YS 25