Strobe Recommendation

[joe rock]

I am new to underwater photography. After reading all the posts I could find and doing additional internet research I decided to buy the Canon housing for the SD800IS. I know, no manual controls I took a lot of time making this decision, but felt as my first foray, I'd minimize costs since I already have the camera.

Anyway, my question. Could you recommend a decent strobe to use with this camera? I've identified a few but would like to see what you guys & gals think.

Thanks,
JR

 

[f3nikon]

I am new to underwater photography. After reading all the posts I could find and doing additional internet research I decided to buy the Canon housing for the SD800IS. I know, no manual controls I took a lot of time making this decision, but felt as my first foray, I'd minimize costs since I already have the camera.

Anyway, my question. Could you recommend a decent strobe to use with this camera? I've identified a few but would like to see what you guys & gals think.

Thanks,
JR

In the end you will be better off getting a full manual control camera. The Canon A630/640 has full manual control over the internal flash and full aperture control plus a larger LCD, larger sensor and more megapixels, so for starters you can use the A630/640 internal flash and get an low cost external strobe later.

But since you have no manual controls on your camera you just cut yourself out on using a low cost strobe because they can only be used in manual mode. So now you will be at the mercy of the snake oil salesman trying to sell you an over priced strobe plus adapters that may or may not work.

If you are staying with what you have, I say skip the external strobe and use your camera with the flash off or experiment in diffusing the flash out by covering it to reduce the power output since you have no manual control.

 

[Dannybot]

Sealife makes a couple of universal strobes -- the SL960d and a new one I believe the 340. They are designed to go with any digital. I undertand that the newer one is fully automatic for exposure.

 

[gary-ramey]

Go with an Inon. When you upgrade later it will move nicely to another platform and you can't beat their s-ttl.

 

[joe rock]

Thanks for the input guys. The Inon was the way I was leaning.

f3Nikon, I understand your position and respect the opinion. I am not ready to buy a new camera at this time. I'm really just interested in taking some "snap shots" to remember my dives and show the family what it's like down belowright.

 

[bigfrog23]

inon make well built strobes but i don't know much about them i have used my friends inon 240 and it was nice strobe with a fast recycle time. the color of the light is cooler than that of the sea and sea strobes. i personally use sea and sea strobes. there are two that i would recommend for your set up one is a the ys-110 or the ys-90 DX or ys-90 auto. you can pick up a ys-110 for 400 dollars with tray and strobe arm on ebay. the nice thing about the ys-110 is that it has a DS-ttl. which means that it monitor the light from the strobe and adjust the light out put to match the light coming from the camera. this works fairly well. i personally have used the ys-90 DX and have recently upgraded to the ys-250 pro's. the ys-90s are nice little strobe very bright. you can get them for around 250-300 also on ebay. both strobes have settings to ignore the pre flash.


here is the info for the ys-90 atuo from sea and sea web sight

A high-performance YS-90AUTO strobe has been added to the SEA&SEA YS-90 series. Designed to fully utilize the advanced features of digital cameras, YS-90AUTO is adjustable through a range of 12 f-stops (f22/f16/f11/f8
/f6.7/f5.6/f4.7/f4/f3.4/f2.8/f2.4/f2) and offers improved performance. For digital cameras with manual aperture control or program auto function, you simply turn the dial to adjust the aperture level of YS-90AUTO and you are ready for auto strobe lighting. No more trial and error adjusting of manual light level controls. Just leave it on the auto sensor and YS-90AUTO supplies the appropriate amount of light. This strobe has excellent performance characteristics including the pre-flash mode. Connection with the optional YS-90 fiber optic cable makes this strobe compatible with most compact-type digital cameras. Auto strobe lighting is also available with the digital SLR housings with our strobe sync cord (s). The YS-90AUTO's built-in Duo circuit responds to N-type (used in MMIII and S-type TTL circuits, both used in SEA&SEA housings.

 

[f3nikon]

Thanks for the input guys. The Inon was the way I was leaning.

f3Nikon, I understand your position and respect the opinion. I am not ready to buy a new camera at this time. I'm really just interested in taking some "snap shots" to remember my dives and show the family what it's like down belowright.

Thats fine, no problem, keep in mind that the A630 camera with a canon housing cost about $340 ready to hit the water with all the benefit I stated earlier VS the Inon 240 strobe only, no arms, list at $749 plus the price you paid for the housing on the camera you have now. A camera that may or may not work with the Inon or Sea and Sea strobes.

Good Luck on your search.

 

[joe rock]

Thats fine, no problem, keep in mind that the A630 camera with a canon housing cost about $340 ready to hit the water with all the benefit I stated earlier VS the Inon 240 strobe only, no arms, list at $749 plus the price you paid for the housing on the camera you have now. A camera that may or may not work with the Inon or Sea and Sea strobes.

Good Luck on your search.

OK f3, please bear with me 'cause I don't know a lot about this stuff. The best I could find is the A630 and housing for $400.

I went back and read your first post. I guess what I don't understand is why I need a strobe with the SD800 and don't need one with the A630. I thought I would need a strobe either way since the internal flash would be inadequet so it would be an extra $240 on top of the housing and strobe for the camera.

Do you mind explaining a little further?

JR

 

[joe rock]

Thanks everyone for the input. Going back to the drawing board.
JR

 

[KARELNIJEBOER]

Hi Joe;

You can just use the internal flash, and get great shots,a s long as you get close to the subject. You must be a good diver to do this.
Alternatively you could get a flash that has a metering of it's own, like an epoque 230ES. This is a very strong flash and cheap too, and can be fired using a fiber cable that you stick over the place where the flash sits on your housing. Works for sure, but may require manual adjsutment on the strobe output; which is possible with this strobe.

Karel

G9-Ikelite housing-230ES/150DSalpha.