Magnet in or out. Olympus tg5 and inon S2000 strobes

[Dennis ter Braak]

Hey All,
I just recieved my new s2000 strobes for my olympus tg5.
I did some test shots with and without the magnet (cancel advanced circuit). For manual mode it shoots much brighter in a dark room at manual 1/64 and the magnet in. I do not understand this because many sites say that in this combination I should leave the magnet out because the tg5 has a pre flash in all modes.....
Can somebody advice me on this

 

[Dennis ter Braak]

Extra question
Why is it that in manual mode the s2000 gives a less powerfull flash at manual 1/64 in comparison to manual full?
I thougt it did not matter what the output of the internal flash was in manual mode.
Ps. I am waiting on my inon opticale cables, I am using a diy opticable cable for testing now

 

[Chris Ross]

I'm not sure I really follow you. What do you have set to manual 1/64 is it the TG-5? If the TG-5 has a manual 1/64 mode then there should be no pre flash on that mode and you need the magnet in. Make sure that certain modes don't disallow manual flash as well. I looked at the manual and P and A modes are the only ones that allow all flash options, other modes say "some functions cannot be set" without saying what they are.

Regarding Q2 is that with or without the magnet and is the TG-5 in manual flash or TTL? The S-2000 should give the same output all the time if the S-2000 is in manual mode.What it will do is mimic both the pre-flash and main flash if they occur.

To test I would have TG-5 in manual, S-2000 in manual and magnet in. Then take a series of test shots at various flash powers and look at the images to see that they are getting brighter/darker as they should as you increase/decrease flash power.

 

[Dennis ter Braak]

I'm not sure I really follow you. What do you have set to manual 1/64 is it the TG-5? If the TG-5 has a manual 1/64 mode then there should be no pre flash on that mode and you need the magnet in. Make sure that certain modes don't disallow manual flash as well. I looked at the manual and P and A modes are the only ones that allow all flash options, other modes say "some functions cannot be set" without saying what they are.

Regarding Q2 is that with or without the magnet and is the TG-5 in manual flash or TTL? The S-2000 should give the same output all the time if the S-2000 is in manual mode.What it will do is mimic both the pre-flash and main flash if they occur.

To test I would have TG-5 in manual, S-2000 in manual and magnet in. Then take a series of test shots at various flash powers and look at the images to see that they are getting brighter/darker as they should as you increase/decrease flash power.

Thanks Chris for your answer.
I did set the tg5 to a manual flash output of 1/64 in A mode. At this mode the flash control is working as expected. When I leave the magnet out, the flash is minimal at these setting. But when I set the 1/64 manual to 1 manual, the s2000 is giving a much higher output in manual mode, also with the magnet in. I do not understand this.
Also it is impossible the put the magnet in during a dive when switching to S-TTL mode. I wonder if I can leave it in on S-TTL settings.

 

[Chris Ross]

You need to have the magnet in or out as needed for S-TTL vs manual shooting and it's one down side of the S-2000. I have the Z-240s and they allow magnet in or out on the fly, they have a locking button that allows you take the magnet in or out. I can tell you from experience if you shoot manual with the magnet out (S-TTL) the photos are very under exposed if you forget to push the button in. The flash does not know what the camera is doing it only reacts as it is programmed to either ignore or copy the pre-flash.

You say the output is higher with manual 1:1 flash, I don't know why it would be, but if you set the exposure to 1/64 can you dial up the manual output and get proper exposure on the TG-5. I would think if you can you are probably good to use this all the time and just don't set the camera to use full manual flash. Also I don't know if you are aware f8 on these cameras is achieved by using an ND filter, you don't get a depth of field advantage. SO set the camera at f2.8 for wide angle shot, unless you have a need for a slower shutter speed for some reason as you are wasting light at f8. As for swapping between TTL and manual on a dive, not really easy on the S-2000. I thought I would do that sometimes as I can with the Z-240, but if find I use manual for everything and I don't trust myself to remember to push the button back in anyway.

 

[Dennis ter Braak]

Thank you for your answer. So of I understand correctly: best to leave the magnet in and use 1/64 manual camera and strobe also on manual?

 

[Chris Ross]

I would think so but still suggest you test to be sure exposure changes as you would expect. I would do it in a darkened room so ambient light is not a factor, camera in housing and camera and strobes and subject in fixed position then vary the strobe output to see that exposure does indeed get brighter as you would expect when you turn the power up on the strobe manually. I only suggest this as the response to full vs 1/64 power seems odd and I would want to check that the setup behaves as I would expect before diving with it.

 

[Dennis ter Braak]

I would think so but still suggest you test to be sure exposure changes as you would expect. I would do it in a darkened room so ambient light is not a factor, camera in housing and camera and strobes and subject in fixed position then vary the strobe output to see that exposure does indeed get brighter as you would expect when you turn the power up on the strobe manually. I only suggest this as the response to full vs 1/64 power seems odd and I would want to check that the setup behaves as I would expect before diving with it.

Hey Chris
I recieved my inon cables and all seems to work fine. Magnet is in at all times also in ttl that seems to work fine. So I am ready for diving
Thanks again for your help.