Sunpak G-Flash Underwater Strobe

[Aggie Diver]

Yoda,

What size links did you get for the loc-line? Also, where did you get the pieces at either end of the lock line that linked up with the tray handle and also the strobe?

Thanks.

 

[f3nikon]

Well as usual Bob is right on when it comes to UW strobes. No agenda - just balanced facts!

The idea that fast shutters are not useful UW doesn't match my experience. I will never pretend to understand all the tech talk but I do know what works for me.

Agenda? Oh come on now, aren't you guys Ikelite Dealers? Now I have Ikelite strobes, arms and housings, but I call it as I see it, whichever product works. That other forum is just one big SALES ad on selling the most expensive U/W equipment.

Very nice picture of the ball of snappers, but if you position the camera to block the sun burst with the ball of fish you would not need such a high shutter speed or stop down on the aperture for a greater DOF. And the background will be a much more eye pleasing, natural looking, even shade of cobalt blue, instead of a black bottom. Again this is just my opinion.

 

[Tortuga Roja]

Agenda? Oh come on now, aren't you guys Ikelite Dealers? Now I have Ikelite strobes, arms and housings, but I call it as I see it, whichever product works. That other forum is just one big SALES ad on selling the most expensive U/W equipment.

Very nice picture of the ball of snappers, but if you position the camera to block the sun burst with the ball of fish you would not need such a high shutter speed or stop down on the aperture for a greater DOF. And the background will be a much more eye pleasing, natural looking, even shade of cobalt blue, instead of a black bottom. Again this is just my opinion.

Easy guy! When I said "no agenda," I wasn't referring to you at all. I was merely complimenting Bob and his well thought out informational post about strobes. Bob has put a lot of effort into helping people - including me - to understand strobes and he always does it in a simple, easy to understand way without ever sounding preachy or condescending. By "no agenda," I meant that he isn't selling anything. I don't think he is a dealer of any kind but I could be wrong. I said nothing negative about you at all. Really. If I wasn't clear enuf on that, I'm sorry.

If by the "other forum" you are talking about DDN, I think you are seriously mistaken. Probably the most respected photographer there is Dr Bob with his incredible shots using a point and shoot with stacked macros. Hardly a sales ad for expensive equipment. If you were referring to another "other forum," I wouldn't know.

My only other point in the post was to state my opinion that a fast shutter can be useful and to give some examples. I can point to many other images that have won awards using fast shutters so I'm not the only one that thinks so. Don't you think examples help make a point? A picture is worth a thousand words and and all that.

I do appreciate your opinion on my snapper shot, although I didn't really want to block the sunball cuz I wanted it in the image and I think the darker bottom gives it a feeling of depth. But it would make sense to try it that way too. Thanks!

 

[vkalia]

Mike, that snapper ball is an absolutely *gorgeous* shot! Could you share some details about lens used, subject-to-camera distance and whether you did this with 1 strobe or 2?

Thx,
Vandit

 

[SeaYoda]

Yoda,

What size links did you get for the loc-line? Also, where did you get the pieces at either end of the lock line that linked up with the tray handle and also the strobe?

Thanks.

Short answer:

http://www.modularhose.com/Merchant5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=6

Strobe end is a modified part 60531 (elbow)
Handle end is a part #60533 (fixed mount)
All sized 3/4"


Long answer:

If you can give me a few days, I'll post a more detailed "How I did it" tutorial with pictures. I make no promises how soon I can get it done but it should answer all questions from handle to strobe.


Detour:

I'll be working on the pictures I got from Saturday to post first. I set the strobe on full with the diffuser on and, with the strobe directly above the lens at about 1.5 feet, adjusted the strobe angle. No change in speed or aperture. The water was pretty full of particulate matter and the sky was overcast - THE PERFECT DAY FOR THIS TEST!. I also went into one of the man-made caverns and did the same test there.

The focus light worked well with the exception of the possible need to spread the beam of my Mini Q40 a little. I still need practice aiming this set-up, but for the first trip, it worked well.

Stay tuned in the next day or so for the pics. I'll post them in this thread.

 

[Tortuga Roja]

Mike, that snapper ball is an absolutely *gorgeous* shot! Could you share some details about lens used, subject-to-camera distance and whether you did this with 1 strobe or 2?

Thanks Vandit. The lens was the very wide 10.5mm, which allowed me to get very close - maximum 18" from the closest snapper. I lit it with 2 ds125's set out about 12" and waaay back. I was only in 30 feet of water and clouds in front of the sun allowed for that sunball swirl. I have found that I like clouds to cut down the sun in that shallow of depth.

 

[RonFrank]

Well as usual Bob is right on when it comes to UW strobes. No agenda - just balanced facts!

The idea that fast shutters are not useful UW doesn't match my experience. I will never pretend to understand all the tech talk but I do know what works for me.

Mike,

I really like both of these shots. However were you using a flash for either? If so how?

I would not argue that the use of higher shutter is desirable, but is it a huge limitation when comparing 1/250 vs. 1/500? I like the fact my D1x syncs to 1/500, but I could live with 1/250. My experience is more land based.

IMO the one stop difference is just not huge. Stopping the lens down one stop is certainly not going to so dramatically impact the DOF as to be the difference between a Great shot, and a good shot. DOF UW is generally desirable in my limited experience.

If one is shooting beyond 1/250 the question becomes is a flash generally going to add a lot to the image? I'm sure there are specific situations where it is, but generally I find myself on the other side of the equasion, not enough light, and upping the shutter is going to result in very underexposed, or black backgrounds.

Most of my images were done in FL in some very clear water (50+ vis most days) at shallow depths (sometimes as little as 15'). Even in those conditions I found myself using ISO 200, and shooting at 1/100 to get F5.6 to gain some DOF. Granted if I was shooting wider (my PnS only has 28mm 35mmEQ), maybe I could get away with a bit less DOF, however my 12-24mm has a max aperture of f4...

So I'm curious other than sunballs resulting in backlight subjects, when do very high Shutters come into play as I was WANTING to up the shutter and lower the ISO, and it just was NOT possible for most of my shooting.

 

[RonFrank]

K, I just answered my own question, you shoot with a non-DSLR, at least on the first shot.

So on the the next

On the first shot would the shot have been all that different if shot at:

ISO 100 1/250 at F12?

How about the second at ISO 100 at 1/250 at f10

In this case the exposure values would match as shot, with increased DOF, and better grain structure with the lower ISO value.

This is NOT in any way to criticize your shots, which I think are both beautiful.

However I don't think that just because one can find a shot that used a high shutter speed is an indication that the shutter speed was a requirement for that shot. High speed action sports is an example of the exception, but not in the scope if this discussion. With a limited sync speed of 1/250 both of these shots were certainly possible... agreed?

 

[Tortuga Roja]

Thanks Ron.

I'm not championing the use of fast shutters all the time, only mentioning that they are nice to have available sometimes. I only use the ridiculously fast shutters when shooting directly at the sun. My D70 also only syncs to 1/500 but with the controllers I can go much higher. There are other ways to "trick" the camera by shimming the hotshoe.

On the snapper shot I am using 2 DS125's at full power to light the fish. The DOF really wasn't a problem because of the 10.5mm.

With the Kayak shot, the strobes may or may not have fired. I honestly don't remember if I had turned them off or not but in that case it wouldn't have changed anything. I was really just playing around during a safety on that shot.

 

[Tortuga Roja]

Oops. Writing at the same time I guess. No both were shot with the D70 at my minimum ISO200