Oly E-330 with DS-51 strobes in manual setting

[AbyssalPlains]

Hi all,

I'm going to the kelp forests for the first time and will take my Oly 330 and two DS-51 strobes. So far I have used this setup only in TTL mode but I want to start going all manual, especially for CFWA shots. When metering for correct exposure of the blue water background, I understand that I need to set the cam to Manual, set the aperture/shutter accordingly, and tune the strobe output up or down, depending on the subject in the foreground and its distance. So far so good. My question: In order to fire the strobes, I have to set the camera to force flash, so I wonder if the camera will correct the exposure setting that I set before, because it thinks if I'm using flash it needs to adjust for that? Or is it rather that the camera just triggers the flash but doesn't change any of the settings I made?

 

[jlyle]

If you are using the Ike housing strobe controls in "manual" mode, you have full command of the strobes. The camera won't change the exposure settings.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Cool, thanks!

 

[Life-Is-Good-Diver]

Hi all,

I'm going to the kelp forests for the first time and will take my Oly 330 and two DS-51 strobes. So far I have used this setup only in TTL mode but I want to start going all manual, especially for CFWA shots. When metering for correct exposure of the blue water background, I understand that I need to set the cam to Manual, set the aperture/shutter accordingly, and tune the strobe output up or down, depending on the subject in the foreground and its distance. So far so good. My question: In order to fire the strobes, I have to set the camera to force flash, so I wonder if the camera will correct the exposure setting that I set before, because it thinks if I'm using flash it needs to adjust for that? Or is it rather that the camera just triggers the flash but doesn't change any of the settings I made?

depending on the distince of your subject, you would shoot the strobes in manaul, meaning setting your EV controler to the correcting, and then setting the strobe output to 1/8th ,1/4, 1/2 , or full, etc, and that will give you full manual control over your strobes.

 

[jlyle]

Pteranodon doesn't have an EV controller. His strobes are connected to the camera via a dual sync cord. The Ikelite housing has TTL and manual strobe control. You switch between TTL and manual by holding down two buttons on the back of the housing for a second or two. In both TTL & manual control, the strobes are set to TTL - all strobe control is done via the housing.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

In both TTL & manual control, the strobes are set to TTL - all strobe control is done via the housing.

Thanks for this info - I didn't know that. So even if I want to use manual strobe control I would set the switch on the strobe itself to TTL, I take it?

Can I set one strobe to TTL and the other to manual?

Sorry for asking all these really basic quastions, but I couldn't find this type of info in neither the manuals nor in UW photo books.

 

[jlyle]

With the sync cord attached to the Ike housing, the strobes are set to TTL in both TTL and manual control on the housing.

I have never tried different settings on the two strobes...interesting question. It should work.