Sunpak G-Flash Underwater Strobe

[alcina]

I'm going to try to find some time to do a little shutter speed example shooting this week. I find that if I drop to even 1/160 at ISO 100 on some days here the background water is a bland blue or grey-blue. And our water is no where near the clarity of Hawaii, or it sounds like, Florida. I'll post in a separate thread...

It's an interesting question.

 

[SeaYoda]

Here is the first of two tests of light fall-off / backscatter with the diffuser on the strobe. All the pictures were taken at a distance of about 50 inches from subject to camera. Strobe was at 12 o'clock approximately 15 inches above the lens. Shutter speed 1/250 sec. Aperture 3.6. The strobe was rotated from about 45 degrees below straight toward the subject (picture 1) through about 45 degrees above. Strobe power was set on full. Particle matter in the water was thick and the sky was overcast. Depth was about 25 feet.

 

[alcina]

I have moved Ron's question about shimming the hot shoe and other synch issues to its own thread as they need their own space. Here's the link:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=129392

 

[alcina]

Sea Yoda - why so far away from your subject?

 

[SeaYoda]

Here is the second of two tests of light fall-off / backscatter with the diffuser on the strobe. All the pictures were taken at a distance of about 55 inches from subject to camera. Strobe was at 12 o'clock approximately 15 inches above the lens. Shutter speed 1/60 sec. Aperture 3.6. The strobe was rotated from about 45 degrees above straight toward the subject (picture a1) through about 45 degrees below. Strobe power was set on full. Particle matter in the water was thick. Shots were taken inside a man-made cavern.

 

[SeaYoda]

Sea Yoda - why so far away from your subject?

1. I often have to shoot from that far on those skittish subjects
2. No wide angle lens
3. Made for better composition
4. I wanted more water and more particles to cause problems
5. I wanted to see the reach of the strobe

If I think of more I'll post them

 

[Aggie Diver]

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.

That's fine, I appreciate it. I just made the plunge and bought the strobe. I'm planning on a week long trip to Belize in May, so that's what I'm aiming for as far as comfort with the system.

I'd like to get my rig built so I can start toying with it around the house, taking photos, and being ready to go hop in the pool when it warms up in April to get used to it before the trip.

Looking forward to your "How To"

 

[Larry C]

Yoda, how's your loc-line set-up working. It looks like you updated it from the original spacer washer set-up. I was looking at Gilligan's $20.00 Inon adaptor and thinking it might work on the Sunpak when mine gets here. I think this thread made them so popular, you can't buy one. Mine's been on B/O almost 3 weeks already and they say maybe another 2. I got so impatient I ordered the Oly FL-20 and Housing that works in TTL off the Oly e-bay auction ($97 for Housing, $106 for flash from Discount Foto Club in NY) I'm thinking of setting up a dual flash with the Sunpak slaving off the TTL.

Larry

 

[RiotNrrd]

Looks like I'm a little late to the party, but I thought I'd share.

I've had pretty good luck with this setup. Still working on technique here and there, but I've had almost zero problems. The limitations I've had to date:

1.) Like Sea Yoda said, the continuously variable power adjuster can be a little difficult to use. Generally, I only mess with it if something looks massively overlighted. Of course, sometimes, it's not worth the effort.

2.) Recycle time is not great. Since I'm rarely shooting at full power, this isn't a huge problem, but when it is a problem, it can be annoying.

3.) The arm that comes with it isn't that swift. I replaced mine with all the ULCS gear (the Sunpak is compatible with the S&S mount). I love the ULCS stuff - it is really well designed.

Also, FYI, someone was asking about why the diffuser works in an earlier post. A diffuser makes the light source appear larger, which in turn creates less "point" light and more "ambient" light. This is why you see pro photgraphers using umbrellas, soft boxes, etc... rather than looking like a tightly focused beam, it looks more like a soft ball of light, reducing harsh shadows.

RiotNrrd

 

[RonFrank]

Y I think this thread made them so popular, you can't buy one. Mine's been on B/O almost 3 weeks already and they say maybe another 2.

It has nothing to do with SB, as much as we would like to think we are very powerful I've been watching these flash units for well over a year. In fact I originally posted question to users of the GFlash on SB long ago with zero response.

Now people on the board are starting to use these as an affordable alternative, we are seeing some good feedback.

These things have been hard to get a hold of for the entire time I've been looking at them. They generally sell out everywhere, and then sunpak supplies more, but it can be 1-2 months before retailers see more stock after they run out.

I think this is not a very popular product from Sunpak's perspective, so they manufacture on a demand basis which keeps supplies short. Sunpak is part of ToCad which also owns Sanyo, so they are big. UW products in general are a very niche market.

The bottom line, if you want one of these for an upcomming trip, and see them in stock... BUY IT