Fiber Optic vs. Real Sync Cables

[Gussy]

Are there any advantages to using a sync cable instead of a fiber optic cable for the strobe? Are the pictures better?

Thanks!

 

[muddiver]

A fiber optic cable usually does not have a housing penitating connection, thus no extra point to leak and flood the camera housing.

I would think the only thing you gain is a few miliseconds of speed to fire the strobe with a hard wired sync cable. The fiber optic system I use compensates for the infismal delay of the flash automatically, so not an issue.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Gussy,

Reasons for fiber over hard wired cord.

1 No sync port to leak into the housing or into the strobe.

2 More robust cord than the wire.

3 no Additional TTL converter needed to be built into the housing to fire in TTL.

4 Can switch strobes underwater, lower cost and more.

All things learned by the way from Reef Photo staff which your were so willing to trash in the below post.

Phil Rudin

 

[mmakay]

Hard-wired (synch cable) advantages:

1) Doesn't waste camera's battery on a flash you are most likely blocking or diverting.

2) Camera typically ready to take another shot sooner because internal flash doesn't need to recharge

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hi Mickey,

You can also add the fact that some small housings may fog using the internal strobe rapid fire.

Regarding battery life and recycle time I have not found this to be an issue. I can shot in manual strobe mode which I do for most W/A and macro with my ring flash and fire the external strobes with any amount of flash from the pop-up camera flash. I set the pop-up strobe at 1/64th power for manual use and It works fine.

I used hard wired strobes for over fourth years and have been using fiber optic cords for two and I assure you the up sides far out weight the down sides.

Phil Rudin

 

[dbh]

I used sync cords for a number of years and recently got a Seatool housing for my D300 that uses the FO. I will never go back. Not only for the advantages listed above. Besides the sync cord bulkheads possibly leaking into the housing, the sync cords themselves can flood, sync cord wires can break and the pins can easily bend if not installed with the utmost care. Also, I have been on trips where we have spotted whale sharks. Since they are constantly moving, you want to be as streamline as possible (ie: remove your strobes) to move with them. If you have sync cords, you have to unscrew them and screw the bulkhead caps on (if you even have them with you). With my FO system, I can have my strobes off in 5 seconds....literally!

HTH,
Dave

PS I can easily do 3 dives shooting over 100 shots / dive on one set of camera & strobe batteries.

 

[Gussy]

Thanks for the info...and unless you are the woman who answered the phone...no need to be snappy. That was my experience...nothing can change that. Maybe your voice sounded better over the phone or you were dealing with the big man himself. All I got with this woman was no, no, no.

Gussy,

Reasons for fiber over hard wired cord.

1 No sync port to leak into the housing or into the strobe.

2 More robust cord than the wire.

3 no Additional TTL converter needed to be built into the housing to fire in TTL.

4 Can switch strobes underwater, lower cost and more.

All things learned by the way from Reef Photo staff which your were so willing to trash in the below post.

Phil Rudin

 

[Larry C]

I'll second the pluses and minuses. I've flooded sync cords, at $180 a pop. I've flooded ttl converters @$300 a pop. I've flooded a strobe jumping in with strobes attached to shoot a Whale shark without flash. I also spent a year of frustration wasting my time and missing great shots because of fiber-optic cords falling off their velcro, strobes not firing because the FO signal wasn't strong enough, FO cords ruining pictures because the cord slid in front of the port while shooting a once in a lifetime shot, and much slower shutter response waiting for the camera flash to respond to the ttl signal on a P & S. I've stuck with hardwiring for these reasons, but when I go over to DSLR, I may change my mind due to the higher speed of the camera and possibly better strobes in terms of response to FO signal.

 

[Nemrod]

I use the Inon plug which screws into the deflector I made for my Ikelite or Canon houisng. It does not slip out or fall off or use velcro or glue. It works every time. Most cameras that have manual settings, for example, the 570IS and about anything up from there, have a manual flash control where you can set the internal flash to low power thus not draining the batteries or making a lot of heat. I use film over the flash to block visible light and use the IR to trigger the Inon D2000 strobe. Works good.

N

 

[bvanant]

The question was are the pictures better. The answer is no. If both work then the pictures will be the same. The advantages of fiber are that there is no chance to flood the housing although in thousands of dives with sync cords there has been no flooding in my experience. Sync cords are heavier and have multiple connections that can fail. Optical cords are made of much more brittle material (glass and PMMA are much more brittle than copper) and can break. Have never broken an electrical cable. Mostly this depends on your camera and housing. I suspect that in 2 to 3 years most new housings will have fiber optic options. Not so useful if your camera doesn't have a built in flash (Canon 5D) and requires more space in your housing. For P&S systems no doubt fiber is the way to go. For housed SLR it is IMHO at the moment a toss up.
Bill