Sea and sea strobes with ikelite housing

[shaller]

I was set on getting a canon g12 rig for the summer until I started to add things up. The price of the whole rig wasn't that much less than buying an ikelite set up for a dslr. I plan on buying it for a 7d(I have a 40d now but am getting one in the near future). I already have a ys-01 and I am fond of sea and sea strobes. I was wondering if there are any compatibility problems with ikelite housings and other companies' strobes. I was thinking that it could be a problem because ikelite housings are transparent and that the ys-01s are read off the flash.

 

[darook]

I would not think that would be a problem. I am not familiar with the Sea & Sea strobes but if you can use an optical sync cord then you should be able to attach them to the housing and pick up the flash. Why not throw that 40D in a housing and use that? It is a great camera and I bet you can get a housing more reasonably and you are out less if it floods. Use the 7D topside and the 40D for UW.

 

[shaller]

I'm not completely against that, but I wanted the ability to shoot video. The question came up because I know that ikelite has its own ttl system and wondered if sttl from other strobes would work. Sort of like ikelite forcing you to buy more of their product.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Does the ikelite housing allow the dslr's flash to fully pop up? That's what is needed to trigger the external strobe.

 

[shaller]

Does the ikelite housing allow the dslr's flash to fully pop up? That's what is needed to trigger the external strobe.

I made the post because thats the sort of thing I wasn't quite sure of.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

I made the post because thats the sort of thing I wasn't quite sure of.

you should probably ask this in the ikelite forum then. From the few housings pictures I see, they are generally not much larger than the camera itself.

 

[Warmwater Wank]

There isn't a compatibility issue if you use a fiber optic cable to trigger, unless of course nothing sends that triggering pulse of light. If a camera's on-board strobe can't fire due to not being able to pop-up (like a 7D in an Ike) that would be an issue for FO connections. Ike housings can use their hardwired bulkhead to trigger external strobes but...yeah. This only works on their strobes, at least for "true" TTL. The YS-01 doesn't have a hardwire connection option like say the YS-110A, so you can only trigger it via fiber optic no matter what housing.

What to do, what to do. If you go the 7D route and stick w/ an Ike you are close to 3x the housing cost of an Ike for a G-12 (around $1,500 vs around $650) and you would be upgrading your strobe(s). Not knowing your budget, another possible option is to go the G-12 route, use your YS-01 on a Canon housing (under $200.) or go for the Ike and then you can use your YS-01 w/ a fiber optic cable.

One advantage of going the G-12 route is that enough dives down the road, if/when a dslr calls your name, you'll have a lot more experience and could make a better overall decision. I'm just sayin' ...

I would check the Ike forum as Lwang mentioned, to get a sense of what else might work for you. // ww

 

[shaller]

There isn't a compatibility issue if you use a fiber optic cable to trigger, unless of course nothing sends that triggering pulse of light. If a camera's on-board strobe can't fire due to not being able to pop-up (like a 7D in an Ike) that would be an issue for FO connections. Ike housings can use their hardwired bulkhead to trigger external strobes but...yeah. This only works on their strobes, at least for "true" TTL. The YS-01 doesn't have a hardwire connection option like say the YS-110A, so you can only trigger it via fiber optic no matter what housing.

What to do, what to do. If you go the 7D route and stick w/ an Ike you are close to 3x the housing cost of an Ike for a G-12 (around $1,500 vs around $650) and you would be upgrading your strobe(s). Not knowing your budget, another possible option is to go the G-12 route, use your YS-01 on a Canon housing (under $200.) or go for the Ike and then you can use your YS-01 w/ a fiber optic cable.

One advantage of going the G-12 route is that enough dives down the road, if/when a dslr calls your name, you'll have a lot more experience and could make a better overall decision. I'm just sayin' ...

I would check the Ike forum as Lwang mentioned, to get a sense of what else might work for you. // ww

Well If I was going to go the g12 route, I would get a fix or recsea housing and they aren't terribly far away in price from an ike dslr housing. Also, the ports are more expensive for the g12 than the 7d. Thanks for the help, I will look around on the ikelite fourms