Strobe Dilemna

[Hotpuppy]

Howdy,
Before I begin a little wry humor. Whoever said Scuba was an expensive hobby never took a camera diving. Scuba Photography is *the* expensive hobby. (/end rant)

My last dive photography trip was like asphalt surfing. It was a harsh wake up that I needed better gear and to brush up on my photo skills. I replaced my POS Canon case with an Ikelite case and I took some photography courses. Along the way I met a very nice EOS 40D that has me looking at my G9 like a ball and anchor. I'm not quite ready to spend $2K to take the EOS diving.

So, like any responsible diver, I got my gear together this week and did a local dive. I call it the sacrifice to Murphy of Murphy's law. Better to entertain him here then in Mexico. All of my scuba gear checked out nicely and the dive went well. My camera gear on the other hand seemed to have been waiting for me. The night before my local shakedown dive I did some hot tub photography. Lacking a pool, I use my hot tub at night for "simulated dive photography" sessions. It's dark, wet, and hey if the camera is covered it's underwater right?

The camera and the ikelite case worked great. The strobe and the Heinrich Weiskamp adapter on the other hand weren't interested in coming out to play. It appears that my HW TTL adapter had suffered a fatal case of the salt water demon dip. This is a technique for ridding electronic devices of gremlins where by you power the device on and submerge it in salt water. The gremlins do not like water and electricity so they will leave promptly. Oh by the way, this is an expensive treatment and is usually fatal to the gear. Close inspection showed that HW adapter had extensive corrosion at the connection point.

I wrote to them on a Friday night and they wrote back the next day. Kudos to phenominal support for H-W. Unfortunately, they said that the Sea and Sea cables are prone to leaks. They thought cleaning it off would revive it. Closer inspection under a high power macro lens with the 40d shows that no, nothing is going to revive this baby. Flickr: ntjock03's Photostream (you are welcome to look at my photostream to see for yourself). The photos were taken with a MP-E 65mm 1-5x Canon Macro lens.

I eventually want to move to SLR photography. I'm not there yet. I'm impressed with Ikelite. I like their gear, I like their service, and I like their support. I'm not amused with Sea & Sea. It's not the strobe's fault... but really guys after 30 years you haven't come out with a better cable design that doesn't leak? Oh by the way, it's not like it's repairable.... so why do you have screws in the connection elbow? I certainly don't abuse my gear.

So I'm looking for opinions:
Option 1: Go dive the built in flash with the Ikelite diffuser. Not like I'm doing panoramics underwater anyhow.

Option 2: Get a color correcting filter ($65) and go dive the Ikelite case with or without the diffuser. (Which I guarantee is just waiting to fall off on my next wall dive!)

Option 3: Take the Sea and Sea flash along for personal punishment. Operate it in manual mode because I'm really bored when I dive and TTL is reserved for photographers who like nice pictures. Okay, honestly I have enough going on when I dive and TTL is the simplest way to get great shots in a non-studio setting. Does anyone really use 1/2 and full and get redeemable shots in manual mode?

Option 4: Buy another HW adapter and realize I am probably lighting $200 on fire because the S&S cable will fail again most likely. Brand new cable with new o-rings with grease and no obvious signs of damage.

Ideally I want to buy an Ikelite strobe, but I'm not listing that as an option because it's not in the budget this month. I want a DS161 Movie and it's only a little more expensive then the DS51 which looks underpowered to me.

So what are your thoughts?

 

[weeksd]

I would use the sea and sea strobe in manual mode. I NEVER use ttl as even on land the cameras light meter gives average quality pics. If you want average pics go with ttl. If you want spectacular pics use manual modes. You will have a learning curve to get the correct exposure. I use f13,100asa,100 film speed RAW mode and shoot to 2.5 feet with strobe on 1/2 or full power. I use an ikelite ai strobe which is 20 years old. The camera does not even know there is a strobe attached. Aquatica housing, ikelite ai strobe, nikon d40x camera, nikon 16-85 lens. I found these settings after a bit of experimenting so i get good depth of field, no digital noise, ability to freeze subjects and movement of myself, and rich saturated colors. Attached is a couple of pics from komodo. With these setting your foreground will be rich saturated colors.

 

[beautybelow]

I have never used TTL either. If you are really asking, take the strobe and forget the TTL for a while.

You will learn your camera quickly and it will help you a lot when you get more camera.

 

[bvanant]

Another vote for manual mode. Once you figure out how to shoot manual (its not hard) you will be getting great pics. As for the HW converter and S&S cables, it isn't always (or even often) the cables fault. That is why there are no more HW external converters for sale in the world. But really you know you want to house the 40D. Just bite the bullet, you already have the strobe and your pics WILL be a lot better. Put a housing wanted ad here and on wetpixel and you can probably pick one up for a few hundred dollars. There is one right now on ebay from reef that will likley go for $1000 or less. Join the club
Bill

 

[Hotpuppy]

I would use the sea and sea strobe in manual mode. I NEVER use ttl as even on land the cameras light meter gives average quality pics. If you want average pics go with ttl. If you want spectacular pics use manual modes. You will have a learning curve to get the correct exposure. I use f13,100asa,100 film speed RAW mode and shoot to 2.5 feet with strobe on 1/2 or full power. I use an ikelite ai strobe which is 20 years old. The camera does not even know there is a strobe attached. Aquatica housing, ikelite ai strobe, nikon d40x camera, nikon 16-85 lens. I found these settings after a bit of experimenting so i get good depth of field, no digital noise, ability to freeze subjects and movement of myself, and rich saturated colors. Attached is a couple of pics from komodo. With these setting your foreground will be rich saturated colors.

Great feedback.... I'm not quite ready to do the 40D..... in fact by the time I'm ready to spend money on SLR dive photography I may replace the body. I bought the 40d mainly for land photography and so I could master the fundamentals. The one thing that I realized after a week of dive photography is that I needed to master the fundamentals if I wanted good pictures.


How do you decide if you should use 1/2 or full? just chimp it?

Are the ikelite cables better quality then the S&S cables? The Sea and Sea cable design is crap IMHO.

 

[DaveCT]

FWIW, you might want to try some DeOxit and a fiberglass brush to see if it will revive the corrosion. I have used DeOxit for years and it has performed miracles for me. Even revived corrosion on the strobe connector of my old NikonosV years ago. I recently restored the charging connections to my beard trimmer which always gets moisture. The easiest is to get the 5% spray as part of a kit from Radio Shack: DeoxIT™/ProGold™ Twin Pack - RadioShack.com. The red stuff is what you want, the gold is for preserving new connections. Amazon also carries DeOxit in various strengths, sprays, and liquid forms. The Shack also carries a fibreglass brush that is good for cleaning off the crud: Pro-Grade Abrasive Fiberglass Pen : Fiberglass Pens | RadioShack.com. I figure that for the small cost it doesn't hurt to try and they make great additions to any emergency repair kit.

Dave

 

[Hotpuppy]

Another vote for manual mode. Once you figure out how to shoot manual (its not hard) you will be getting great pics. As for the HW converter and S&S cables, it isn't always (or even often) the cables fault. That is why there are no more HW external converters for sale in the world. But really you know you want to house the 40D. Just bite the bullet, you already have the strobe and your pics WILL be a lot better. Put a housing wanted ad here and on wetpixel and you can probably pick one up for a few hundred dollars. There is one right now on ebay from reef that will likley go for $1000 or less. Join the club
Bill

Yes, you are correct I want to dive an SLR. The how part is not a question. I want to get some more dives on the G9 before I make the leap to an SLR. The G9 is a capable point and shoot.

I will heed the advice though and get the Ikelite to S&S housing. I think the 120duo is a capable flash for my purposes.

I looked again at the cable and I really can't tell if it was the outer seal on the HW or if it was the inner seal on the cable that failed. Either way the HW adapter is shot and the cable is suspect as it has corrosion on the pins. I'm reasonably certain that I know what dive the failure occurred on and we were not deep. The camera wasn't banged and the cable wasn't tugged on. In fact the HW adapter was mounted with velcro which would have let go.

How do you manage the light thought? Normally TTL would manage exposure. I'm planning on shooting in shutter priority, raw, 100 ASA equivalent, shutter speed of 1/125th. My thinking was that flash or not I need to be within 6 feet of anything and ideally in the 2 to 3 foot range.

Any suggestions on my shooting assumptions? Aperature range is f/2.8 to f/8 according to the camera.

Thanks

 

[Hotpuppy]

FWIW, you might want to try some DeOxit and a fiberglass brush to see if it will revive the corrosion. I have used DeOxit for years and it has performed miracles for me. Even revived corrosion on the strobe connector of my old NikonosV years ago. I recently restored the charging connections to my beard trimmer which always gets moisture. The easiest is to get the 5% spray as part of a kit from Radio Shack: DeoxIT™/ProGold™ Twin Pack - RadioShack.com. The red stuff is what you want, the gold is for preserving new connections. Amazon also carries DeOxit in various strengths, sprays, and liquid forms. The Shack also carries a fibreglass brush that is good for cleaning off the crud: Pro-Grade Abrasive Fiberglass Pen : Fiberglass Pens | RadioShack.com. I figure that for the small cost it doesn't hurt to try and they make great additions to any emergency repair kit.

Dave

Yea, $10 is not a bad option. Only problem is "The Shack" doesn't actually appear to stock anything. Have to "ship-to-store" which is annoying.

I think the root issue here is a cable design which doesn't seal properly and may not be sealable anyhow. The connector design is really chintzy and I suspect this is where the water got in.

 

[weeksd]

Use both 1/2 power and full power on strobe. Its Digital. If you don't like it delete. Sometimes the best shots you set something by accident and the settings should not work but the pic is spectacular. Ikelite make great strobes. Their housings are clumsy. Very heavy. My aquatica housing is 6lbs, similar ikelite housing 14lbs. Ports on the ikelite are hard to put on with those tiny clips.

 

[slowhands]

It sounds like you have trouble with O-rings, not strobes. OK, don't beat yourself up any more. Switch to an optically coupled system using a fiber optic cable to the strobe. You'll need a new strobe probably (I'm not sure what model of Sea&Sea, some allow optical cords). The benefit of using optical is you don't expose electronics to water.