Strobe for C-5060

[TeqP]

Hi,

I just recieved the C-5060 for a b-day gift.
I plan to buy a Pt-020 housing shortly and am not sure about a strobe. I have read on the board about S&S YS90DX and INON D-2000 for the C-5050. I assume both will work for the C-5060. Are there others out there that people recommend? Also, are there recommendations for places/websites to purchase the equipment. I am heading to Phuket in April for some diving and will take my camera with me. Is the strobe need to daylight diving in clear waters like Phuket or will I be OK without one?

Thanks for the advice,
Phil

 

[roswin]

the D-2000 will give you something similar to true TTL while the YS-90 can't do it, plus is smaller.
A good site:
www.uwdigitalcamera.com
great service and prices

 

[dbh]

the D2000 can only be fired by fiber optic cable (I am pretty sure). If you plan on keeping this system for awile it is your best choice (IMHO). If you plan on moving to a system in the near future where you want to use a sync. cord, I would look at the Inon Z220, S&S YS90DX or the Ikelite DS-125.

Another great source is Ryan at Reef Photo & Video

Reef Photo & Video

I am a lifetime customer of his due to pricing, customer service and knowledge.

HTH,
Dave

 

[orangeBloke]

Hi,

Is the strobe need to daylight diving in clear waters like Phuket or will I be OK without one?

Thanks for the advice,
Phil

The strobe will make a difference. The blueness of the water isn't that apparent at depth as your eyes adjust for some of the colour but your camera won't be so good at that so the strobe will save you trying to adjust the colours later on. If you don't use a strobe you can use the white-balance adjustment which can work quite well but I find it more awkward to use than the strobe and it doesn't give as good results. The two attached pictures were taken in clear 5m water on a sunny day, one with the strobe, one without. (Neither are works of art and the lit one needs a bit more strobe but they're all I have to hand at the moment and should give you an idea.)

All that said only use the strobe when you're close enough to the subject to light it properly. Being close also helps reduce the likehood of backscatter. For some wide angle shots the blueness of the water can look just right, for others you might want to light the front of the shot with the strobe and let the bluness fill the background. Strobes give you a lot more options as to how you want to take a shot

 

[TeqP]

orangeBloke -Thank you for the pics, I better get a stobe for my trip. Time to go shopping.

 

[Warren_L]

Having a strobe is definitely nice, but there's also lots you can do with just the internal flash. In the pictures above, if the shots were taken closer to the subject, there wouldn't be as much difference in colours with using a strobe versus the internal flash. I found that it was beneficial for me to learn the camera and how to use it with the internal flash before moving onto adding a strobe, and then a second strobe. But if it's not too much information overload for you, go for it.

 

[gasgirl]

We just bought a INON D2000 for our Oly 5060WZ/PT020 set-up and absolutely loved it. The automatic feature made it very easy to use. The built-in target light was also very handy, especially for night dives.

We brought along a Oly 3030/PT010 with a YS90DX strobe to compare. You had to set the strobe manually and a lot of the pictures ended up being overexposed so we ended up just using the internal flash. If you want to use the Sea&Sea strobes, I think the YS25 may be more appropriate for digital cameras.

We dove with someone who just took the diffuser off his Canon U/W housing and it seemed to work really well. The PT-020 diffuser is removable so you may want to try that as well.

We bought our strobe from Ryan at Reef Photo & Video who was very helpful.

 

[jwnca]

Hi,

I just recieved the C-5060 for a b-day gift.
I plan to buy a Pt-020 housing shortly and am not sure about a strobe. I have read on the board about S&S YS90DX and INON D-2000 for the C-5050. I assume both will work for the C-5060. Are there others out there that people recommend? Also, are there recommendations for places/websites to purchase the equipment. I am heading to Phuket in April for some diving and will take my camera with me. Is the strobe need to daylight diving in clear waters like Phuket or will I be OK without one?

Thanks for the advice,
Phil

You might find this site concerning the INON D-2000 helpful.

INON America D-2000 System Chart

I just purchased the D-2000 from Yuzo at UWDigital Camera and he was very helpful answering all of my questions.

 

[gerardnealon]

This might be a little off topic... sorry.

I also just bought the Oly 5060 camera and love it. I got the PT-020 housing and ending up returning it to get an Ike Light housing. I did a lot of research here on the board and so many people said it leaks in the bottom left hand corner. So be careful. The Ike light housing is awesome, and you can directly hook a stobe up to it. Good luck.

 

[gasgirl]

This might be a little off topic... sorry.

I also just bought the Oly 5060 camera and love it. I got the PT-020 housing and ending up returning it to get an Ike Light housing. I did a lot of research here on the board and so many people said it leaks in the bottom left hand corner. So be careful. The Ike light housing is awesome, and you can directly hook a stobe up to it. Good luck.

We have not had any problems with our PT-020 housing so far but we are very careful about inspecting, cleaning, and lubricating our O-rings before getting it wet. We also make sure there is a dry dessicant pack in the housing each time.

We were told the PT-020 housing will only last a couple of hundred dives but we figure we can buy three for the price of one Ikelight.

Also, we have been very happy with the controls on the PT-020 and can access all the menus easily.

Have fun with whatever you decide!