I got my case and strobe now what?

[rich52758]

I just got a Canon S45, canon underwater housing and new Ikelight DS-50 strobe. Now what settings should I use? Does anyone have the same setup? I am going on a cruise in a week and half and am looking for a head start on getting started. I wont be in the water before I hit the grand caymans and dont want to waste a dive or two trying to get things dialed in. What settings work best for you. I have had the S45 for a number of months so I'm not camera chalenged. I'm just hoping to get a leg up quicker with the help of some experience. Do you block off the front of the camera strobe to cut down on the scatter? Someone said to put a piece of duct tape in front of the camera flash.

Does anyone make a micro len for the set up?

Thanks Rich

 

[ReyeR]

What Ike controller do you have for the DS50? Manual or TTL.

This is a good Canon site to look at:

http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/uwphoto/index-e.html

 

[ReyeR]

Yes you should block out the camera's flash to reduce backscatter. You can use duct tape. Here's a neat trick using a piece of exposed film:

http://www.digitalsecrets.net/secrets/flash.html

 

[rich52758]

Canon site had alot of good info. I have the TLL one I believe. I printed out the information to read and take on the trip.

Thanks again

Rich

 

[SimonJ]

Perhaps I am being stupid, but I did not think that the Canon housings could be used with TTL strobes, as they have no TTL port to connect to ?? I have a Canon S400, Canon housing and Sea&Sea 25DX strobe, which relies on an external sync cable to fire.

If there is a way of getting a Canon housing to use TTL, I would be extermely interested to know. Whilst I love Canon cameras for land based photography, the overwhelming feeling that I get from people's views on this board are that the Olympus kit is just better suited/designed for underwater work.

Simon

 

[rich52758]

Here are a couple of items from the whole story. The link is there as well. I have the Ikelite DS-50 with the digital slave sensor (I think) This is all still pretty new to me. I am going on a cruise in a couple of weeks and will post how the set up worked out. I had called Ikelite directly and they said this is what I need.


http://home.swbell.net/stusa/olystrobearms/strobespg.htm


So, how are the new Ikelite DS strobes different?

The Ikelite DS-50 and DS-125 have two completely independent logic sets. You can hardwire the strobes to a film camera. Or, if you are using a digital camera, you can attach the sync cord to the Ikelite Digital Slave Sensor. The Ikelite Digital Slave Sensor will make the DS strobe mimic the internal strobe's preflash when you trip the shutter. The camera makes its calculations, sets the camera up, opens the shutter, fires the internal strobe (which triggers the DSS to fire the exposure flash) reads the light entering the lens, and quenches the internal strobe. The DSS sees that the internal strobe has quit, and shuts off the DS strobe.



If you want TTL control with any digital camera other than a Coolpix, you only have two choices: Ikelite DS-50 or Ikelite DS-125. One thing that needs to be mentioned here concerning the DS-125 and digital cameras. The DS-125 has variable power settings (1/2, 1/4, and 1/8). These settings are only functional with the hardwired connection. You cannot switch between manual exposure control and digital TTL. The DS-125 and DS-50 cannot ignore the pre-flash. According to Larry Ostendorf, a separate "manual slave sensor" with variable output is in development and should be on the market soon

 

[ReyeR]

Perhaps I am being stupid, but I did not think that the Canon housings could be used with TTL strobes, as they have no TTL port to connect to ?? I have a Canon S400, Canon housing and Sea&Sea 25DX strobe, which relies on an external sync cable to fire.

Simon, you are correct in saying that true TTL can only be achieved with a hard-wired connection from the housing to a Canon compatible TTL strobe.

If there is a way of getting a Canon housing to use TTL, I would be extermely interested to know. Whilst I love Canon cameras for land based photography, the overwhelming feeling that I get from people's views on this board are that the Olympus kit is just better suited/designed for underwater work.

With clear housings, the clever people at Ikelite invented a device called the Remote Digital TTL Slave Sensor (part #4100.5). When connected to the Ike DS-50 or the DS-125 strobes, this device will control the strobes by 'watching' and mimicking the camera's TTL flash sequence, including firing a pre-flash if the camera's TTL flash sequence fires one. If the camera fires a pre-flash it'll get the strobe to fire a pre-flash as well, when the camera fires the main flash it'll do the same, when the camera quenches the main flash it'll do the same with the external strobe. So it's not TTL as you know it...

According to Larry Ostendorf, a separate "manual slave sensor" with variable output is in development and should be on the market soon

This info is dated - the Manual Slave Sensor (part #4100.6) is already on the market.

 

[SimonJ]

Thanks Rich and thanks ReyeR....this is really useful information. For now I will stick with my Sea&Sea stobe, but as it is not that powerful, perhaps when I upgrade I will have to take a harder look at the Ikelite strobes. Even psuedo TTL would be easier than manually setting the strobe power like I do now.

Mind you when the new Canon digital rebel and an U/W housing are relased, that might be an interesting option too...I am assuming that will have full TTL support in the housing. Guess we will just have to wait and see what the housing spec is going to be like and what the cost will be

Thanks again

Simon