E-PL1 and PT-EP01 recommended Strobe and Video light

[PHIL RUDIN]

Niktich,

If you think the Olympus strobe with two AA's is going to do a better job than the Inon S-2000 with four AA's you a wrong. The extra flash functions On the Oly strobe, like power zoom only work if the strobe is hard wired to the housing via Oly sync cord. They DO NOT WORK if you are using fiber optic cords. The Oly strobe is also VERY buoyant and if it is being used with the Pen housing will float in salt or fresh water. I have made over 375 images with the S-2000 strobes in macro using re-charge batteries without loss of power. They recycle very fast. If you got a bad strobe I would get it replaced rather than make the move.

Phil Rudin

Our next workshop.

 

[arkstorm]

Is there any main drawback to having two different strobes? Say you already have one, and decide later that you want to upgrade your system and go to two. Assumeing the two different strobes fired together, would it make a major difference to an amateur just having fun, or would the photos be off?

I don't think there is any rule that says you cannot use mismatched strobes. You just need to understand how they will interact. Part of the answer wil depend on how the two strobes match up in power. For wide-angle shots it is preferable that they be relatively close in guide number or one side of the shot will always be underexposed. This can create some interesting artistic effects in your shot but is probably generally undesirable. If you are shooting macro or objects you can use strobes that are mismatched in power for some creative top and fill effects. Go for it and have fun with it.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Regarding two different strobes it depends on how they are fired. If you have an Inon strobe and an Iklite strobe and they both need to be hard wired to the housing you will have problems. If you are using fiber optic cables and two strobes that can be fired via fiber optics not as much of a problem.

If you are shooting in TTL with strobes of different powers they should balance out if the differences are not great. In manual you can set the power of each strobe to your liking and create what ever lighting ratio you want.

Phil Rudin

 

[nikitich]

OK. If you suggest that my strobe needs to be replaced than I will ask a seller to do so. Buoyancy is not a real issue since I have a 10 bar housing which is quite negative (I am actually thinking about getting float arms but not shure that will gain enough flotation power with them, right now I use floating foam plastic attached to the stobe arms - looks ugly and gets compressed after a deep dive)
There is a bulkhead on the 10 bar housing, will I gain anything in quality if I would hard wire a strobe? Maybe always correctly exposed shots? I really hate to ajust a strobe power after every shot...
Thanks everyone for your adivise! You are really helpful!

 

[Greenbriel]

Another strobe that is a good match for the E-PL1 is the S&S YS-01. I have 2 and they work great. Nice small size for packing, fast recycle, focus light, and TTL.