Strobe for A70??

[Parrothead_Diver]

I have an A70 and recently bought a housing for it (WP-DC7000).

I initially plan on just using the built in flash, but when or in what situations should I plan on getting/using a strobe?

And how does the strobe sync with the built in flash?

 

[alcina]

Congratulations on your new purchase!!

That camera can produce some great results with the built in flash, but an external strobe will allow you to play with light angles and reduce the backscatter. External strobes allow you to vary the light to create moods, highlight particular areas of your photo and add colour to a wider area (strobe angle dependent). Have a look in my gallery for some examples of lighting and A70 photos. LukeRob's gallery is awesome and he uses the same setup with Inon strobe.

You're on the right track, IMHO, to learn to use the camera only first, though! And when you learn how to work with the limitations of your system you'll get some excellent results (and this is a vital step as every system has limits!)

As far as I know, there is no way to hard wire a strobe with this unit.

I have used two different strobes with that set-up: one my trusty Ikelite 50 and slave controller and two my Inon 220s with fibre optic cable. Both work a treat.

With the Ike the only control over output I had was distance and angle as there are no manual controls on that particular model.

With the Inon I have 11 manual control settings on the strobe.

 

[Azotomix]

Received the base english version of the manual for the new Inon D 2000. From what they are saying it work with your camera and housing. The D 2000 can work with the digital camera with the S-TTL (do not ask me what it is and how it’s work but make your life easier when shooting under water). The strobe sync with the build in strobe through a optical cable.
With your camera if you will work in manual mode you will not be able to use the S-TTL. Other mode yes.
The D 2000 has also 24 steps external Auto control and 13 steps manual mode. Very complete.

I used for the moment only a couple of time and because I did not have the manual till two day ago I used not correctly. I got however some acceptable shots. (Will post some of them soon)

I would go for the D 2000.