plangstroth:
I bought the SD500 and case. Now I am wondering what would be a decent, preferably sub $500, strobe.
Would the YS-15Auto do the job?
Any other suggestions?[/I]
I just finished shopping for a strobe, (well not really finished as I only have one strobe.)
Sea Life just came out with a model "SL390". If will do what you need for under $300 At that price you also get the mounting hardware and fiber optic cable. It has a variable brightness control which you really do need.
I have the Sea and Sea YS90DX that I would recommend. The quality is better then the SL360 but not enough to justify the more than doubling the price. But then I bought the 90DX used. I would have bought the SL390 had the deal on the like-new ys90DX not
come up. I notice leisurepro has the 390 for $285 and other will pricematch.
With the Canon camera you will be shoting in manual mode. Set the shutter speed as slow as you can, set the ISO speed slow (to reduce noise) set the f-stop for best depth of field and adjust the exposure with the strobe's brightness control. It's easy, with experimentatin you will know what brightness to use for what subject distance. The camera has a "histogram" display thatyou can read and use to adjust your exposures
Don't expect the "auto" modes to work well underwater. Backscatter throughs light from
the srobe to the sensor. Some subjects are more reflective than others and a forground object can fool the system. Even on land auto flash didn't work until Canon and Nikon developed evaluative TTL systems that used preflashes for thier SLR camera
One other thing, "think ahead" strobes can be more expensive than cameras and you will want to buy a strobe that will work with your _next_ camera. With luck you will be able to use it for 20 years. Technology moves fast with digital cameras but not with strobes figure on keeping it a long time. So don't worry about the price so much it may outlast three cameras
