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hmmm, ok then I dont understand the difference. Can you please explain a little more how this works via the hotshoe? Sorry, whilst I dont have a strobe yet for my xz-1 / PT-050 Id like to understand any such constraints.
Ta
Another poster has already explained that Ikelite's housing enables you to use Ikelite strobes in actual TTL mode. But the downside is that only Ikelite proprietary strobes work. They do have the advantage of saving camera battery power and giving fast recycle time. However, they are bulky, expensive, and use copper cables with maintenance-intensive O-ring seals that often fail and end your strobe use on a trip. Contrast that with the Olympus approach implements the TTL function optically, without O-rings to maintain. They use fiber optic cables to the strobe that are more reliable and lighter, and non-Ikelite flashes are typically much more compact and cheaper.
Both systems can work well, but the Ikelite is quite bulky for a compact camera setup, compared to the Olympus housing with say an Inon S2000 strobe. In my view, Ikelite only makes sense if you already own and like the Ikelite strobes and paraphernalia. Otherwise, the smaller, lighter, cheaper Olympus/Inon setup seems vastly better.
I love Ikelite's legendary product support, but their line is dated now. Ikelite just does not want to lose their proprietary lock on strobe sales, but someday they must to survive. IMO Fiber optic is the way to go.
