Cool New Athena Ring Flash

[PHIL RUDIN]

Athena has announce a cool new ring flash this week which uses branded Sea & Sea flash heads as the power source. The ring flash can be connected to a modified Sea & Sea YS-01 or YS 110a via a five pin Nikonos type sync cord. The YS-110a flash head has two Nikonos ports so that more than one strobe can be used.

I have been using the discontinued Athena ring-flash model for several years now and have been getting great results with it. The upside of this new design is the ability to disconnect the ring flash from the sending unit for ease of packing. The potential for use of TTL with wired or fiber optic cords and a much more powerful four battery (old unit had two) sending unit.

Looks like the ring flash and YS-01 sending unit will retail in the US for under $1200.00.

http://www.athena-opt.com/ringflash.htm

Phil Rudin

 

[anenomefishman]

Athena has announce a cool new ring flash this week which uses branded Sea & Sea flash heads as the power source. The ring flash can be connected to a modified Sea & Sea YS-01 or YS 110a via a five pin Nikonos type sync cord. The YS-110a flash head has two Nikonos ports so that more than one strobe can be used.

I have been using the discontinued Athena ring-flash model for several years now and have been getting great results with it. The upside of this new design is the ability to disconnect the ring flash from the sending unit for ease of packing. The potential for use of TTL with wired or fiber optic cords and a much more powerful four battery (old unit had two) sending unit.

Looks like the ring flash and YS-01 sending unit will retail in the US for under $1200.00.

http://www.athena-opt.com/ringflash.htm

Phil Rudin

Interesting. I can't read Kanji though. Here is a version a little easier to understand. *Athena co,Ltd*THE UNDERWATER GRAPHIC EQUIPMENTS FOR PROFESSIONAL.

Bruce

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hi Bruce,

The link you have posted is from the old discontinued ring flash design. I have been using one of those for five years. The new model has several significant improvements over the old style unit.

Phil Rudin

 

[anenomefishman]

Hi Bruce,

The link you have posted is from the old discontinued ring flash design. I have been using one of those for five years. The new model has several significant improvements over the old style unit.

Phil Rudin

The ring flash version on the link I posted is an ARF-10, type 2. What version do you have? and what version is on the link you posted? I cannot read Kanji.

Bruce

 

[anenomefishman]

Hi Bruce,

The link you have posted is from the old discontinued ring flash design. I have been using one of those for five years. The new model has several significant improvements over the old style unit.

Phil Rudin

Phil-

Both these links reference the same URL, so I disagree with you. You posted the Japanese language version and I posted the english language version. When I went to the Athena website directectly and selected Japanese language, I see the same thing as in your post.

Bruce

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hi Bruce,

The english version you posted for the AFR-10 type II is the strobe I have been using for five years. If you read the text you will see that it has been discontinued and that a replacement strobe was due around the end of 2009. The Japanese like I posted is for the newly released Athena-01 and Athena-110a ring flash units. They are not at all the same, the ring flash unit disconnects from the different strobe head units which are clearly adaptations from the Sea & Sea 110a and 01 models. I don't read Japanese but I can see the differences between the old non-TTL unit and the new units which work with hard wired cords or fiber optic cords.

Athena is always very slow to update the english version of its web site.

OLD- http://athena-opt.com/ringflashe.htm

NEW- http://athena-opt.com/ringflash.htm

Phil Rudin

 

[anenomefishman]

Hi Bruce,

The english version you posted for the AFR-10 type II is the strobe I have been using for five years. If you read the text you will see that it has been discontinued and that a replacement strobe was due around the end of 2009. The Japanese like I posted is for the newly released Athena-01 and Athena-110a ring flash units. They are not at all the same, the ring flash unit disconnects from the different strobe head units which are clearly adaptations from the Sea & Sea 110a and 01 models. I don't read Japanese but I can see the differences between the old non-TTL unit and the new units which work with hard wired cords or fiber optic cords.

Athena is always very slow to update the english version of its web site.

OLD- *Athena co,Ltd*THE UNDERWATER GRAPHIC EQUIPMENTS FOR PROFESSIONAL

NEW- http://athena-opt.com/ringflash.htm

Phil Rudin

OK, I see now. It is confusing. Looks like a very handy setup for macro. Is there anyone else that makes an underwater ring flash or ring focus light?

Bruce

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

The Inon quad flash seems to have been discontinued and UK-Germany still makes custom ring flash units for a very select housings.

This is the only ring flash that I am aware of that can be fitted to just about any housing port that accepts a macro lens of 70-75-mm or greater.

These images were taken with the discontinued Athena ring flash using the new Olympus E-PL1 camera 14 to 42 mm zoom and Olympus PT-EP01 housing.

Phil Rudin

 

[FritzCat66]

Athena has announce a cool new ring flash this week which uses branded Sea & Sea flash heads as the power source.... I have been using the discontinued Athena ring-flash model for several years now and have been getting great results with it. The upside of this new design is the ability to disconnect the ring flash from the sending unit for ease of packing. http://www.athena-opt.com/ringflash.htm

Phil - Excuse my ignorance, but I saw your beautiful pics with the PEN and the Athena and that got me wondering: In general, for dive photography, what are the pros and cons to using a ring flash vs. arm-mounted units? Which one is more appropriate for which kinds of subjects?

I have been keeping an eye on the M4:3 format developments specifically with an eye towards getting one to replace my little Pentax P&S (with no strobes) and to get more serious about my photography. Pragmatically speaking, would it be wise to start off using just a ring flash and later get some arm-mount strobes, or vice-versa? The ring looks to be a simpler setup that also keeps the entire rig more compact.

>*< Fritz

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hi Fritz,

The ring flash is a bit of a specialty tool designed for lenses with an angle of view of about thirty degrees or less. So with the 14 to 42 zoom the lens would begin to vignette at around 35/36 mm or wider. It is suited to lenses like the Olympus 50 macro or Pany 45 macro.

I would recommend a pair of Inon S-2000's or Z-240's over the ring flash for a wide range of photography.

Phil Rudin