I'm lost with this G10

[hurtadillo]

Hi,

I have experience as a photographer but never done underwater and I feel just overwhelmed with all these things. First, I bought the case from canon for the G10 since I saw the IKELITE and it was both big and expensive and for me the only clear advantage was the extra meters underwater. If it would have had the fish eye dome it would have done it for me.. oh well. Next thing is do any of you have experience with the weights? In the canon UW resource it says that basically you need all for weights to compensate for the buoyancy. The most important is that now that I'm stuck with this UW case I need some strobes.. I realize that I have fewer and fewer options as you choose different aspects and equipment... pff!

How about them strobes? I went to the Inon cannon product line webpage but I understand NOTHING... :S mount base(none of which are rated for the WPDC28), strobes, optical cables, arms, bases, grips, z-adaptor... the list grows wider and longer.

I plan to go to the Caribbean and dive in shallow waters in MñÙico and Belize ( nothing more than 40 meters that is) and also visit some Cenotes which really made me think about getting strobes or getting NO pictures ahahah.

Is it hard to use the manual strobes or whatever the set up I can get is called? Everyone told me get the ikelite because bla bla bla bla this is the best, bla bla bla it'll cost u a fortune bla bla bla it has TTL... from my background I understood TRANSISTOR TRANSISTOR LOGIC... and I was like what the crap are these guys stupid? It took me a week to find out the through the lens deal... I know, lame.. hahaha I know what you may be thinking... yes this guy needs a lot of help! Give me your 2 cents!! Holla!

 

[stu_in_fl]

i dont have this model (yet), but in answer to some of your questions:

you don't need weights for the camera.

for strobes (if not just using internal flash), you basically need some fsort of tray & handle to hold whatever strobe you get, and then some way to fire the strobe. Without TTL it will be manual strobe settings for power.
- If you go the Ikelite strobe route with tha camera housing you have, you'll be using a EV Manual controller (it detects you onboard flash firing to fire your strobe) - you would manually set power etc. on the strobe.
- If you go Inon, they must have a similar trype of thing or optical sync.
I'd suggest to ask the question to Reef Photo (by e-mail or via their website). reefphoto.com .

they could tell you what tray/ handle / strobe etc. combo could work for you - they have good prices too (although not sure on how shipping to Mexico would work).

 

[NTSilver]

When I was in your position I made a call to Helix camera and told them I didn't have a clue. They were very helpful in telling me what I needed. When I first started out I just used the flash on my camera to ensure that I actually liked uw photography. Then I upgraded to a cheap strobe. Then when I got a little better I got my G9 w/ikelite housing and strobe.

 

[Wisnu]

with canon housing, your choice is limited for strobe with optical sync. Many store offer strobe package, the cheap one start from USD 200. Mine G9, with canon housing + Inon D2000 type 3 +fantasea arm (okay but heavy, I hv to attached float to ballance)) and 10 bar FO cable.
I love the D2000, its S-TTL work well in almost all condition; however having more familiar; I prefer manual mode both camera and strobe.
If you can afford go with Inon D2000 or even Z240; but if you want lower cost, I can tell you within a week; as for my back-up camera SP-350; now I am waiting epoque DS230ES - the package with flexible arm cost me less than USD 350.

 

[hurtadillo]

Heyyyy Thanks, I called helix camera and they hook it up! Im going towards the IKELITE af35 do ANY of you know where to get this one used??? I tried Fred miranda and other places like craigslist and coudlnt find jack! :S

I talked to a guy from HELIX and they said they had the works fo 369 dollas, is it a go go???

 

[Wisnu]

I will choose more powerfull strobe. AF35 is GN9 (m) only, for comparison D2000 is GN20.
G10 is great camera - once you're more familiar you prefer manual mode; and GN9 is not enough.

 

[Bogart000]

B&HPhoto was great a few years ago, set me up with a canon housing, and the manual controller with a Ikelite DS50 for the strobe, arms and sync cord. Thats about $700 or so if you don't have to buy the camera.

Dove to 100 feet off walls (Broc) worked like a champ. (Make sure you seat the flash arms till they click -- else they fall to the bottom and you have to find them.) Thank goodness it did it on top of the wall not off the edge

Lots of pics went to Blue (to far for the flash) but all were great pics, never quite understood the controller and the manual settings. Kept it on full power all the time but could never tell whether it affected the photos. I suspose the fall off is so fast for a DS 50 that it didn't make much difference either way. If I remember my high school math the inverse of the square of the distance multiplied by ....

This time I'm going Ikelite Dual (DS50 abd DS160) with ttl sync (anybody want to buy a manual controler and single side tray?) I will let you know how it went next month.

 

[Bogart000]

By the way the reason I brought up B&H is that a couple of years ago they couldn't have been better or more helpful. The guy I talked to a couple of weeks ago told me I couldn't use the canon housing with a external strobe. See my description above. No accounting for customer service these days.

 

[Nemrod]

B&HPhoto was great a few years ago, set me up with a canon housing, and the manual controller with a Ikelite DS50 for the strobe, arms and sync cord. Thats about $700 or so if you don't have to buy the camera.

Dove to 100 feet off walls (Broc) worked like a champ. (Make sure you seat the flash arms till they click -- else they fall to the bottom and you have to find them.) Thank goodness it did it on top of the wall not off the edge

Lots of pics went to Blue (to far for the flash) but all were great pics, never quite understood the controller and the manual settings. Kept it on full power all the time but could never tell whether it affected the photos. I suspose the fall off is so fast for a DS 50 that it didn't make much difference either way. If I remember my high school math the inverse of the square of the distance multiplied by ....

This time I'm going Ikelite Dual (DS50 abd DS160) with ttl sync (anybody want to buy a manual controler and single side tray?) I will let you know how it went next month.

This is a three year old thread?

You will get no satisfaction going with bigger and bigger strobes. You would do better to move into flash range with the one you have which underwater, even for giant, powerful strobes, is only a few feet. Adding a second strobe does not double your shooting distance, in fact, it does not change the distance capability at all, only increases the area/evenness of coverage.

Equation for setting strobe:

UGN (underwater Guide Number @ISO100) / f stop (aperture setting) = Effective Distance

If your strobe has a surface GN specified then divide that by 3 to get the underwater GN.

N

 

[under water]

.. This time I'm going Ikelite Dual (DS50 abd DS160) with ttl sync (anybody want to buy a manual controler and single side tray?) I will let you know how it went next month.

So it looks like you bought an Ikelite housing in order to use TTL . That's cool, but you may want to hang on to your manual controller while you have those Ike strobes. If you ever move to a camera Ikelite doesn't sell a housing for (or you don't like the one they have) you will need the manual controller in order to use your Ike strobes.
Been there, done that: sold the Ike strobes and bought optically fired ones.