any advise for a budget friendly strobe?

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ocean blue

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I'm a Fish!
hi everyone,


I have using a compact sony camera and its own housing for 3 years. I'm not happy with my pics and definitely need a strobe. But I have a limited budget. Anyone can advise me a strobe under 300 dolars? any experience with cheap:Dstrobes?


I know I can't buy a good one with this budget but I want to find out the good price/performance ratio ...:dontknow:




thank you in advance
 
The options you have are the Intova ISS 4000 strobe, Olympus UFL-1 both of these are under $300. You can pickup 2 of the Intova for slightly more than $300.

The Sea&Sea YS-02 is over $300.

I know a few folks with the Intova strobe, and they seem to like it, but set up can be a little finicky. I have no experience with Sea&Sea and Olympus. I much prefer the Inon, but the cheapest Inon strobe is $550.
 
Do some additional research & then Buy used?

New or used, you will need to ensure that the strobe is compatible with your camera. Biggest issue is making sure that the strobes optical trigger mechanism is designed to handle the "pre flash" of your camera. I am assuming your camera does not have a hot shoe and will need optical slave strobe.


and don't forget about the cost of a tray and arm.
 
thanks cbrich
i saw Intova ISS 4000 when i did a search on amazon and wonder if there are any other choise.. Now I'll check olympus UFL-1..

---------- Post added November 25th, 2013 at 12:24 PM ----------

yes it's a good idea to buy an used one but I'm from Turkey and there is no big market about used underwater photography equipments.
You're right it is an important point: compatibility. At first I will check it and then compute the cost of arm :)

thank you giffenk
 
hello, im also planning to buy a strobe for under water photography and im leaning on intova 4000. but for the meantime, i am maximizing with what i have right now :D i think if you can be on the proper place and time you will be able to take decent picture by just using built in flash and diffuser. im not an expert in underwater photography but me just saying :) it is also true that it will limit your ability to take decent picture by just using built in flash.

some photos i took last friday, using built in flash.


10994192516_9af28a27a1_z.jpg


11028556574_f7dbdca004_z.jpg


thank you
 
I've been using the Olympus UFL-1 and I have been very happy with it. I've posted photos in the Cozumel, Roatan, Grand Cayman and Florida forums, so you can see some of the results yourself. It is low-powered, but within 3-4 feet, it's fine. It does great macro shots. It's easy to use. It's worked perfectly with my Olympus XZ-1 compact. I've been very happy with it. I am upgrading to a YS-D1, but I have used the UFL-1 for three years quite contentedly.
 
You may want to look at the Fantasea Line, my wife used on for around 3 years before finally upgrading her entire set up. Intova has one that appears to be very similar to the Fantasea Line. The Fantasea can be used without need of a fiber optic cable. I have seen them on the B&H site for around 120.00usd and the Intova for about the same price. The also offer a package of the Fantasea Line which is the strobe, flex arm and tray plus bag, if memory serves me, for around 200.00 usd. The strobe also works off of 2 AAA batteries. Good luck in deciding.
 
You can pick up the Ikelite DS 50 or 51 strobes for under $300 used.
 
You can pick up the Ikelite DS 50 or 51 strobes for under $300 used.

Ebay is your friend.
I paid 200$ brand new, with ttl sync cable, though it will only work that way with an ikelite housing with the bulkhead. I then paid $40 for the fibre optic converter and 2$ for a toslink cable. Uses 4x AA batteries.
the little things add up if you dont already have a tray etc, but there is defilatly budget conscious ways out there!
 

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