Analog(?) Strobe with digital camera

[Videodude]

Hi all.
I've recently acquired a Canon A520 and associated UW housing. Long story, but I got the camera for free (thus saving $200). The setup does ok most of the time, but being a long-time 35mm shooter, I know that a good strobe is essential. My former camera setup was an Ikelite Auto35 with AQ/S substrobe. I have been trying to get my AQ/S to work with the digital camera ('cause I'm cheap!) and have gotten varied results.

Having said all that, does anyone really feel that a digital camera should have a digital strobe, or can I save the $300 for the SL960D and get along with my AQ/S?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Doug

 

[alcina]

I don't know about your particular strobe, but I do use my pre-digital Ikelite 50 substrobe with the remote/slave controller with my Canon A series cameras. Works a treat. So there might be hope

Or you can hope for a late Chrissie present!

 

[Jim Ernst]

doug, sorry but i am not sure what set up you have there, are you or should i say your strobe set for ttl, sink cord, or slave mode, and what of a defuser are you set with on the strobe that you are useing, tell me a little about it?? i am no pro but curious of the set you have.

 

[herman]

I have some experience with my C5050 and the AQ/S strobe. It will work IF you can put your camera into a mode that shuts down any preflash the camera may have. If your camera's preflash can't be shut off, then you’re out of luck. The other issue is you must keep the strobe in an area where the internal flash is visible to the strobes sensor. Positioning the strobe a little in front of the camera helps. For UW use I would think you will also have to make some kind of flash deflector for your camera to help reduce back scatter. I had quite a bit of success with the strobe on land but unfortunately the strobe flooded the first time I dove with it so I never got to test it UW. I had picked it up at a yard sale for a few bucks so it was no big loss.

 

[Videodude]

Thanks for all of your suggestions so far. I do have the camera's pre-flashes (red-eye reduction) turned off as well as turning off the auto focus IR beam. I do not have the proper reflector on the camera (can't seem to find one anywhere) so I am using the flash diffuser. If nothing else, the diffused flash from the camera will add some fill light on the shots. In tests on land the strobe fired just fine. I think it's probably more of a positioning issue. I will try to re-position the strobe so that the flash sensor is more forward to pick up the camera's flash and see what happens.