Need strobe advice for 5050

[scubaguy655]

Hi everyone.....I have a 5050/PT-015 (purchased ~6 months ago) and need strobe advice.

I have read comparisons/specifications until I am going blind! The problem is that I am trying to work within a budget....sigh...I would love to get one of the Inon strobes but it is a bit pricey right now.

I have an old Reefmaster SL960 (I know.....but it is all I have right now).
I have been looking at strobes that are available for $500.00 or less for the total package.....strobe head, tray, arm, and optical cable if applicable. As I am sure you know, there are very few options in this price range.

I have looked at the Sea & Sea YS-25DX and Ikelite DS-50...as well as a few other names that are too embarrasing to mention!

My question is that versus my really cheap SL960, will I notice a big difference with either of the two (YS25-DX, Ikelite DS-50) above?.....or does anyone have any suggestions that are within my budget....or even slightly above?

I am headed to Little Cayman the first week of June and would like to have a halfway decent set-up so I will only be able to blame myself for the poor photo quality

Thanks for any assistance!

 

[alcina]

Have you had a look on ebay for Inons - in particular the 180? I know several people are changing to newer models so that might be an option, too.

 

[Kim]

Maybe others will have better ideas but if I was already going to spend $500 on a strobe then I would probably add the little extra needed to get the Inon D-2000 from Yuzo. You can look at these on his page here:
http://www.uwdigitalcamera.com/English/euwdigitalindex.htm

I have the D-180 which is really excellent and the D-2000 is the successor model.

If your budget really doesn't allow for that then maybe someone else has a better idea.
I suppose you could also check around and see if you can find the D-180 second-hand. Ebay maybe?

 

[DrSteve]

There's always the much maligned Epoque strobes (due to their apparently flimsy construction)

 

[scubanimal]

Strobes are expensive. I have been steadily upgrading my stobes, but I don't ever toss them, the smaller ones I started with I use as slave fill strobes and for effects. So any strobe I get must have a slave mode as someday it may be required. Since you're using the PT housing you must have slave anyway. So if a YS25 is all that your budget can handle then just realize you are just limiting some of the shots you can make. The 5050 is a great camera, learn to use the White Balance. Spend time on your check out dive ( or better still be for you travel) experimenting with what ever you get. I would expect that you could get a used strobe in your price range.

Another suggestion is that if you happen to meet up with other photographers, ask them if they would let you try the following: At the beginning or end of the dive, find a big sand spot or other not easily damaged environment, have them set their bigger strobes to slave and let your smaller flash trigger them. This does take a bit of cordination, but by comparing shots of the same thing with different settings you'll get an idea of what the bigger strobes buy you. Since I now have larger strobes I other divers try what I discribed, as I was helped out early on.

SAFE Diving

 

[KidK9]

I have the Onon D180 and it is phenomenal. Really started making all my photos "pop".

By the way - does anyone know how to figure out Yuzo's site to regular American dollars?

 

[dbh]

I use this site for all of my conversions

Currency Conversion

Before I bought a strobe from a foreign country (I live in the US), I would check with a US dealer to see how close their price was. Remember, advertised prices and actual prices are not always the same .

Service & advice / coaching after the sale is worth something. Ryan at Reef Photo & Video has earned my business.

HTH,
Dave

 

[scubaguy655]

Thanks for the help everyone. I have managed to find a D-180 that is new for a reasonable price. I think I am going to go in that direction based on all of the good things I have heard about Inon.

Hope to have some nice pics to share in a few weeks.

 

[KidK9]

I bought from Ryan for my strobe. he asked what day I needed it by, I gave it to him. 2 weeks went by before I finally called and asked where my stuff was - he finally had to overnight it to me and I got it the day before I left. In my opinion he was negligent on that transaction and for that reason I have not gone back.

 

[BrantD]

I bought from Ryan for my strobe. he asked what day I needed it by, I gave it to him. 2 weeks went by before I finally called and asked where my stuff was - he finally had to overnight it to me and I got it the day before I left. In my opinion he was negligent on that transaction and for that reason I have not gone back.

guess I'm alittle confused here. You tell him a day you need it by, and he gets it there by that date, and he was negligent?

He may have had to get his next shipment in or a magnitude of other possibilities could have delayed your shipping, but he got it to you by the day YOU told him you needed it. So he overnighted it to make sure you had it in time, did he charge you this Overnight shipping rate? Having bought MANY items from Ryan, I doubt it. I doubt he charged you ANY shipping.
Let me see if I got this right, you give him a date you need it, he pays the extra shipping to overnight it to you so you have it by the date YOU told him, and then you bad mouth him here. I'd say that is excellent customer service on his part. As far as you bad mouthing him.......I'll let the facts you have stated, speak for themselves.