Build your own fiber optic sync cable???

[stepfen]

We are quite aware of the difference between multi-core and multi-mode. Multi-core fibers (613 or 1000) have very much smaller bend radius than any single core fiber. The Asahi single core fiber (1 mm TC1000) has a minimum bend radius of 30 mm (more than 1 inch). The Asahi 613 core fiber (MCQ 1000) has a minimum bend radius of 1 mm. Almost all of the modern fiber cables from S&S, Inon, and others are 613 core fibers. The cables I bought from AliExpress were $16 each. They claim to be 613 core fibers, but the microscope suggests otherwise. I will ping the Ali guys and see what they say.
Cheers
Bill

Learning something new everyday here in SB. Thanks for the info.

 

[bvanant]

No problems, you should get some fiber and play around.
BVA

 

[stepfen]

No problems, you should get some fiber and play around.
BVA

I never had luck with "proper" fiber cables with my sony a5100 in meikon case for S&S YS-01 and YS-02 strobes. Actually the meikon case seems to have a design flaw. The fiber ports are not aligned properly with the camera's flash.
Anyway, I have been using DIY fibers for about 2 years / 200 dives without any issues. Anything like this works like a charm: 0.75 1.0 3.0mm PMMA End Glow Optic Fiber Cable For Home LED Celling Light Decor | eBay
About 2$ for 10 meters that will probably last me for a lifetime and are very easy to use. I cut the fiber to the desired length, use hot air gun (or boiling water) to form sharp turns where/if needed (usually just a 90 degrees turn at each connector end). I route them around the handles/brackets using small loose (i.e. not tight) cable ties. I have put some rubber plugs with a small hole in the middle in the fiber ports of the housing and on the strobes to attach the fibers. I push the fibers in plugs and I am good to go.
The "worst" that has happened is an end to get unplugged during transport or entry/exit from the water. Very easy to spot and re-attach on the go.

 

[cleomagic]

I just received the cable referenced above. ( US $16.25 35% OFF|Scuba 613 Multi core Fiber Optic Fiber Optic Cable For INON Z330 Z240 SEA & SEA YS D2 Olympus Strobe and Diving Waterproof Case-in Sports Camcorder Cases from Consumer Electronics on AliExpress) which claims to be the 613 core fiber. It is nicely built with some cool end fittings. The fittings are a bit too large for my S&S strobes even with smaller o-rings. More importantly it will not trigger the S&S strobes using the Nauticam LED trigger. My home built cables do work with authentic Asahi 613 core fiber. The Chinese one does indeed trigger the strobes using the Olympus flash for the EM1-II. Looking at the fiber under the microscope it certainly does NOT appear to be multicore but rather looks like a single core fiber. I compared it to genuine Asahi fiber which looks like lots of cores, the Ali-baba one is no where near the same. Caveat Emptor.

Bill

Bill - Thanks for the information on the sync cords. This was our fear. The connectors look really nice and given the cost of some of the other connectors we've seen, the fiber almost seems to come free with the connectors. Now that your have these, does it look like you could remove the fiber from the connectors and replace it with your own fiber?

 

[bvanant]

Many of the commercial fiber optic cables have overmolded connectors and these you can not take apart. I have many hundreds of dives with the Inon rubber bushing (Nauticam to Inon or Nauticam to Sea and Sea) with no issues. And they are only like $4 apiece
Bill

 

[Mr.FaHaD]

Quick Google search: INON Rubber Bush Type L for Fiber Optics

I got one of those, along with a fiber cable, at an underwater gear store in Cebu when my luggage (containing, among other things, my fiber optics - but not the housed camera and the strobes, which were in my carry-on) got delayed and I had a liveaboard leaving the next day.



Whoa, these went down in price quick - used to be $50 not too long ago. I got a pair of these a few months ago, used them on ~35 dives so far, no issues whatsoever. I'm using them with a SeaFrogs Salted Line housing, Sony A6300 camera and SeaFrogs ST-100 Pro strobes. The fiber optic connectors in this housing are slightly offset from the camera flash, and the light goes through a reflector; using single-core fibers that shipped with the strobes, I would often have the left strobe miss its pre-flash resulting in incorrect TTL exposure - moving to the cables linked above solved that problem completely. I also got an LED trigger recently, and while I haven't yet had a chance to take it underwater, surface tests have it working reliably through these cables as well.

I have sonyrx100M5
I use seafrogs housing for sony RX100 I-V
I use seafrogs strobes ST-100 pro

I have 2 issues

1 in manual mode I can't change the shutter speed because the control wheel is not accessible from the housing, only the aperture I can adjust and the ISO

2 the strobes setting when I shoot in STTL the picture is white even when the exposure is -0+ and as per the setting recommended from the site

what did I do wrong

thanks

 

[stepfen]

I have sonyrx100M5
I use seafrogs housing for sony RX100 I-V
I use seafrogs strobes ST-100 pro

I have 2 issues

1 in manual mode I can't change the shutter speed because the control wheel is not accessible from the housing, only the aperture I can adjust and the ISO

2 the strobes setting when I shoot in STTL the picture is white even when the exposure is -0+ and as per the setting recommended from the site

what did I do wrong

thanks

Welcome to the board. Your issues seem to be unrelated to the thread (which is about building DIY fiber cables) hence not so many people will see them in here and hence you won't probably get any answers (or maybe only few). You'd better first search through older threads to see if your questions have been answered and if not, open a new thread asking your question. A clear short but effective tittle will help getting the attention of the right fellow users.
All the best

 

[bvanant]

One issue might be with the strobes themselves. The SeaFrog strobes are notorious for not having any adjustability ie. the control dials don't do much. I would try to shoot in manual mode and use the aperture as your adjustment.
Bill

 

[Mr.FaHaD]

Welcome to the board. Your issues seem to be unrelated to the thread (which is about building DIY fiber cables) hence not so many people will see them in here and hence you won't probably get any answers (or maybe only few). You'd better first search through older threads to see if your questions have been answered and if not, open a new thread asking your question. A clear short but effective tittle will help getting the attention of the right fellow users.
All the best

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thanks for your reply