TG-5 Strobe - just starting out but future proofing?

[Donbot]

I'm in need of some input from photography gurus, having jumped in head first to a TG5 and housing upgrading from GoPro footage... now seeking out input on lighting.

What strobe should I seek out? A few things about my dive profile:

1. I love night diving.
2. I want to focus on macro on regular dives, but keen to do some wide-angle shots. I understand its not entirely the TG5's strongest point, but for my purposes it should be sufficient.
3. I dont want to buy twice, but also dont want to 'over-do' it as I'm just a weekend diver and unlikely to grow out of the TG5 by all reports.
4. I've read problems with the Sea & Sea strobes of late - so thinking to go with Inon.

I'm thinking my pathway would be:
1. Initial Strobe with my dive torch to the 2nd grip / cold shoe mount for night dives as primary light. Focus light of the strobe being backup light to bail on the dive should my dive torch fail (more than I've got now).

2. Wide angle lens in time and possibly a second strobe to assist with non-macro shots.

With the strobe, everything I've read is - power, power and more power. Therefore, am I worth paying a bit more and getting an Inon z330 rather than a Inon S2000, particularly given the focus light addition for night diving as a secondary light source incase primary fails?

Given its matched with a TG-5, its the z330 overkill for the general weekender use?

If I do extend down the Wide-angle lens and second strobe (down the track once funds permit), what would my second strobe be - a paired z330?

I want to buy once, not twice. Happy to fork out the dollars provided its not wasteful - alternative options definitely considered if you have a different view on what to do.

Appreciate any input

 

[Barmaglot]

Note that at night, you do not necessarily need as much strobe power as you do during the the day. It's a bit counterintuitive at first glance, but one of the main reasons to use strobes underwater, in daylight, is to have them overpower the sunlight - the ambient light filters down through tens of meters of water, and that's what gives your photos a blue/green tint; whereas when you light a photo with the white light from a strobe, you get good colors. Correspondingly, while your camera shutter is open, you want as high a proportion of light that enters it as possible to come from your strobes, and as little as possible to come from the sun, which is accomplished by using small apertures and powerful strobes. All of this is not a factor at night, where all of your light comes from the strobes and/or lights, so you're free to use wide apertures to get more light in, without worrying about blue-tinted sunlight contaminating your shot.

While I don't own a Z-330 myself, I've seen feedback from users that in some situations - particularly macro - it's actually somewhat too powerful, without extra diffusers to scatter the light. Also, while using one strobe is certainly possible, it's a good deal more challenging, as a single light source tends to cast all kinds of unwanted harsh shadows.

With that in mind, I would hazard a guess that a pair of S-2000 strobes would produce better output than a single Z-330, while costing a similar amount.

 

[Hoag]

While I don't own a Z-330 myself, I've seen feedback from users that in some situations - particularly macro - it's actually somewhat too powerful, without extra diffusers to scatter the light. Also, while using one strobe is certainly possible, it's a good deal more challenging, as a single light source tends to cast all kinds of unwanted harsh shadows.

With that in mind, I would hazard a guess that a pair of S-2000 strobes would produce better output than a single Z-330, while costing a similar amount.

A pair of S-2000s would also give you the benefit that when you do shoot wide angle, you can illuminate a much wider area with two strobes than you can with a single strobe.

@Donbot I think that you are making a good decision going with Inon strobes. I have shot with D2000s and loved them. I currently have just replaced a pair of Sea & Sea strobes (one of which failed on the very first dive) with a pair of Inon S2000s. Some people have had outstanding results with Sea & Sea, but at this point in time, I would (and ultimately did) opt for Inon.

 

[Chris Ross]

Power is important but you generally don't need as much with a compact as you are not stopping way down for depth of field. While the TG-5 has aperture priority it basically only shoots at f2 or f2.8 at the wide end - f8 uses an ND filter. You might use f8 in daylight for macro to get around the the lack of manual controls - you can't use manual so shutter speed drops at f8 but if you are in the right flash mode shutter speed bottoms out at 1/30. By going to f8 you can exclude daylight from the image and flash is the main light source. But then you have the strobes close and even f8 is not a huge power requirement. Plus you can get two S-2000 for around the price of one Z-330 and unlike the Z-330 are not bigger than your housing. Your dive torch can then go to a cold shoe mount on your housing. I'd suggest going with two S-2000.

 

[Donbot]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to go with the 2 x S-2000's and a dive torch on a cold shoe mount.

It seems the z330 is overkill for my newbie needs, and the wallet has taken a beating. TG5 held up as well as can be expected without lighting (still to order) - weedy sea dragons galore today down here!

 

[Hoag]

@Donbot one thing to keep in mind ... underwater photography is in many ways totally different than photography above the surface. Try not to get frustrated although at times you almost certainly will.

Here are a couple tips that I have found useful. Keep them in the back of your mind and have them available in you "bag of tricks". If they help you, then great. If they don't, well you still have lost nothing other than the time it took to read this post.

• Do not try to do photography (especially near a reef) until you have your buoyancy nailed. You don't want to be "that guy" who was bouncing off the reef as you paid more attention to getting the image that you did to your buoyancy. Hand in hand with this is you should also have really good "Situational Awareness". Know where your buddy is (don't lose them) and if you are diving with a group, know where the group is.
  
• Try whenever possible to shoot up at your subject or as a minimum to be at the same level with your subject. This will help to isolate it and make it stand out. Sometimes it is difficult to get below your subject to shoot up at it especially when your subject is something like a Stingray that live on the bottom. In those cases, try to get as low as you can.
• Physics will always be physics, but light does behave differently underwater than it does in the air. Red light starts to disappear in as little as 10ft with other colours soon becoming muted or disappearing. With that in mind, for your strobes to be effective, get in really close. Closer than you think you need to. Robin from Backscatter often states the Rule of Thumb that if it isn't close enough that you could touch it, then you can't effectively light it. (Two strobes will increase how wide a scene you can light, but not how far away you can light.)
• Strobe placement is very important and you will learn what works best for your strobes and camera. As a rule of thumb, with dual strobes, you will normally want the strobes the same distance from the camera and pointed slightly outwards. The goal is to light up your subject, not the water between you and your subject. You don't want to light up all the stuff (the "suspended particulate") between you and your subject. Most people do not want their image to look like a winter wonderland of falling snow.

I know that probably seems like a lot to remember, so if you only remember one thing, remember to have your buoyancy totally under control and almost down to an instinct before you start concentrating on your photography.

Oh and one more thing to always remember ... remember to have fun!
Good luck with your new gear.