S2000 or D2000 choice

[Puffer Fish]

Ardy, Here, the YS-1 and the S2000 are roughly the same price, add $100 and you can get a D2000, add another $100 and you can get a YS110a. So a S2000 is $400+, while a YS110a is $600 plus (closer to $700)

As light drop off is a square factor (it takes 4 times the light to go twice as far, close numbers don't mean much of a difference.


I used to use honeywell strobes in housings...huge, you could kill a seal with, strobes, they would light about 50% farther than the current S2000 will.

The cave images....three ways to do them. You can use optically triggered slaves (but they have to be close enough to each other to "see" the closest one (sort of chain setup), you can use fiber optic cable (just buy a spool of the stuff), or time lapse.

The later is great fun to do, if you get several people to help.

I know of one current photographer that has two assistants who hold onto two highlight strobes, so he has at least five strobes avaiable for a picture. Just looks rather silly diving.

Hi Puffer Fish - Originally 25 years ago I had a locally made strobe by Sea Tite housings and the output on that thing was tremendous. Never had another strobe as strong or as wide and I miss it.

I disagree with you only on one point and that is doing wide angle photography or landscapes (waterscapes), I find I can never get enough light particularly in caves and have to accept 'light up the foreground and accept natural light beyond there. Have seen well lit wa shots and often wonder if they use multiple slave flashes.

Another point for OP is the SnS 110a costs the same as a D2000 and has a guide number of 22 v 20 for the D2000. Didn't check the coverage but I am guessing similar.

regards

 

[Ardy]

Hi Puffer - I bought my Inon about 6 weeks ago from an ebay site called splashphotography Splashphotography items - Get great deals on Underwater Strobes, P S Prosumer Housings items on eBay Stores!. He sells the D2000 for $540 and the SnS 110a for the same. Shipping is $35 to USA or Australia. He is in the Philippines and is a great guy to deal with.

Would like to burn away one dive messing around with all those remotes but I think one go would be enough for me, hate to be doing that sort of set up each time. It's why I will never give David Doubilet a run for his money.

Lets hope the OP gets some advantage over our rave here.

 

[JimmyAdelaide]

Thanks for all the feedback guys!!

I'll give the sea and sea a closer look, but I think I'll stick with Inon, as I'm being indecisive enough looking at onyl one brand

I've decided to start with a single S2000, see how I like it and the I can either buy a second S2000 or a D2000.

Midget, good tip, I've since decided the Inon Grip base looks a bit chunky and I'm going to go with the ULCS setup, nice simple handle.
I think I'll start with 2 x 5" arms or 1 x 5" and 1 x 8". The second strobe base is nice and neat too.

For night dives mainly, I'm looking at a LED aiming light from reef photo video which switches off when it detects the main flash. Can't post url's yet...
Reefphoto have suggested using the ULCS AC-NB Neck Ball Adapter to mount it which looks good.

Ardy, I am curious on your point re not having 2 smaller strobes?
Do you specifically mena you are better having one larger and one slightly smaller?

 

[Ardy]

Thanks for all the feedback guys!!

Ardy, I am curious on your point re not having 2 smaller strobes?
Do you specifically mena you are better having one larger and one slightly smaller?

I have always believed that if you can afford it 2 strong strobes ie inon Z240's (or better) are best because you can light larger areas. Having a strong master and smaller (less powerful) slave is the next best. The idea is that the slave strobe illuminates the dark side of the shot enough to bring out some detail but not enough to make the image appear flat and a bit unreal. In macro you often want a balanced light situation and a master slave set up will work due to the small distance between subject and strobe.

 

[JimmyAdelaide]

Thanks Ardy, that makes a lot of sense.

 

[ThomasBurd]

Hi there,
I was wondering if anyone knows if the ULCS trays are compatible with the Inon M67 Lens Adapter Base? I am wanting to get a macro lens for my Panasonic marine case and want to know if these two will go together, as the ULCS arms do look far more versatile.

Cheers

 

[Mooseman1007]

Thomas,
Ive just had that exact issue. Basically bought a ULCS tray for my Pana TZ10, then realised that the Inon mountbase got in the way, fixed it real simply though by unscrewing the mounting screw on the tray and replacing the washer with one half as thick then put the lot back together again. Seems absolutely fine.
Mooseman

 

[ThomasBurd]

Hi Mooseman,

Thats great thanks! what strobe do you use by the way? is there any chance you could put some photos of your setup here please?! to good a chance to miss with someone having the same camera!


Cheers,
Thomas

 

[Mooseman1007]

Hi Thomas,
I ended up getting the Sea+Sea YS-01 as it was the best specifications for the price. And the Ultralight tray would fit either the TZ10, or my other camera (a Fuji F100) I had a bit of advice from the guys at OceanOptics and CamerasUnderwater over here in the UK, and the concensus for my needs were a Single arm section should be fine (I went for 5 inch in the end). Ben at CamerasUnderwater was really helpful and even put a mockup together and photographed it so I could get an idea of scale/useability (the pic I attached with the fuji). Was simple to get up and running, just switched the strobe to TTL and the camera to forced flash, no problems !
Still need to cut the strobe mask down to size and take it for its christening, but a trip to Egypt in a month should take care of that ! Ill upload a pic of the setup on the TZ10 when I get home.
Moose

While I remember, you may want to check out the pics I took in Bali using the TZ10 with an Inon 165 macro lens www.flickr.com/Mooseman1007 all the "P" photos from the TZ10 and the "DSC" from the Fuji. No strobe just onboard flash

 

[ThomasBurd]

Hi Moose,

Thanks for the info and photo, looks like a nice set-up, pretty much the same type of thing I'm looking for. Will definitely take Camerasunderwater into consideration also too as I would probably need help determining what arm to get also. Have fun in Egypt! Where are you heading too? I have a Maldives holiday booked that why I want to get my camera ready!

Look forward to seeing the Panasonic setup if you have time, that would be great! how have you attached the fibre optic cable to the housing? I know that Inon have special clip for the Panasonic housings, but how does it work for the Sea and Sea connections?

Cheers, appreciate the help,

Thomas