Looking for Advice on Strobes!

[Talisman]

Hi there im hope you guys n girls can help me out a bit.

I recently bought a Oly C5050 zoom and PT015 UW housing (got a good deal really). Now i have seen comments that this will work quite well UW without a strobe, but i dont really believe it will take quality pics without.

So the question is Strobes. Im no dive expert, been diving 3 years, hooked on it completely, now a Rescue Diver.

Ive used a couple of crappy UW cameras that make good paperweights!. But i want to get some good pics. Also im not a millionaire and alot of strobes are Priceyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!! to say the least. But i also dont want to get anything that is rubbish and would rather save up for a good one. One of my fav dives in Cyprus is the Zenobia wreck and i want to be able to take some cracking pics next year when i go over in June (getting married there, but im there for the diving )

So you know what i have, what else do i need? And what is good and bad.

I dont want rubbish stuff. But im hoping not to sell some body parts to pay for it.

Thanks

Rob. UK

 

[chippy]

Hi Rob

Well firstly, how much is too much? I.e. could you cope with just losing the one kidney?

Seriously though, I've just finished sorting my rig out, and NONE of it was bought in the UK - far to expensive!!!

I'm a big Ikelite fan, so I'm a bit biased here, but looking at the ikelite range only 2 strobes fit the bill:-

DS50, a smaller version of the DS125 minus some of the settings, such as the modelling light, nicad pack (the DS50 uses standard AA batteries, which is handy if you plan to go on holiday - although the Ikelite battery pack only takes 1.5 hours to charge and has a blinding recycle time).

DS125, more powerful than the DS50 also wider coverage, faster recycle time, modelling light which doubles as a dive light, etc. Of course - more expensive!!

Next, you have a choice of either manual controller or TTL controller. I'd go manual, it's not nearly as complicated to use as you may think.

I've had both strobes before (now using dual DS125's - one manual one TTL) and would say that the DS50 can be a litte underpowered for our murky UK waters, but it performed well in the tropics with 20m+ viz, although don't expect the strobe to fully light a very wide angle shot. Given the choice again, I'd have gone for manual controllers on both strobes.

To give you a rough idea of prices - i bought my strobes from the U.S. and it cost me £386 for one DS125 and controller, whereas in the UK they're going for nearer £699!!!

Even with the VAT added you'll still save enough cash to either buy your kidney back, or buy a macro or Wide angle lens.

Other considerations - you'll need a Tray to mount the strobe to the Housing, and if you go for the DS125 you'll also need a charger (£90 or so).

My preference would be a DS125 Olympus "kit", which includes the strobe, controller, strobe arms and tray.

There other options of course - Inon, and the YS strobes (manufacturers name escapes me at the mo!!) There's a few people on here that use those, so I'm sure they'll be adding there comments in.

Other than that, give some serious consideration to buying from outside the UK, you'll save a bomb!

 

[Talisman]

Thanks for that.

Yeah i had been looking at the Ds125 as alot of you peeps recomend it. Whats the diff between TTL and Manual though? I dont have a clue really, the camera i got isnt your simple point and shoot and you can amend everything, exposure, flash , etc and i dont have a clue on all that (and im not looking for it either in this thread, ive found info on that on here already i just need to play with it).

Where did you get your kit from then?? im not fussed about ordering from abroad, but i got my camera housing and it came with an FL20 flash (not for under water use though) for £500, which i thought very good . Anyway ive got it now.

I can afford the ds125 and gubbings to go with it, you guys were scaring me by getting 2 and thats a bit sore in the pocket right now.

Whats this charger for the ds125? do u mean it has internal bateries and the charger is to charge the actual strobe itself or am i missing something.

 

[chippy]

TTL is basically automatic, with no way of adjusting it, it's all done for you, it can work fine, but can also be a bit hit and miss.

With the manual controller, you have a dial with (from memory) 10 different power values, you simply dial in the required amount of power.

BHphoto.com - Ordered it on a tuesday, and it was here, by courier (which happened to also be the cheapest delivery method to the UK) by Friday - outstanding.

I presume you've seen the DS125? it has two dials on it - the whole rear section (about 1/3rd) of the strobe including the rear dial IS the battery pack. It doesn't have separate "cells" to speak of (it does but built into the unit), just a flip, twist and pull arrangement and the whole rear end comes off. The fast charger (you'll need one for sure, as the 6 hour chargers are a different kind of charger that has the mains "pins" imbedded in it, which isn't much use for us 3 pin plug users) it also cleverly conditions the battery as well as being much quicker. The fast charger uses a standard mains lead with the same type of end plug which goes into the charger as our standard kettle leads - i.e. easy to get hold of a UK lead which will work in a charger bought in the U.S. - the charger auto switches to the voltage supply.

 

[Talisman]

Excellent thanks for that matey. Any pics of what you have been able to acomplish with yours at all?

Ds125 sounds good. I was leaning that way to be honest. But even more so now. Another toy to play with.

 

[chippy]

Yeah sure, all of these are taken with the DS50 - I haven't had chance to get in the water with the 125's yet (trying to get the combination of tides/weather recently hasn't been easy):-

(All the diving pics are towards the bottom of the page):-

Dive Pics

 

[Seadiver5]

I find Sea and Sea strobes outstanding

Kevin