Two strobes unnecessary?

[Nemrod]

I have the store bought handle because I was being fancy but all those are is a Serfas mountain bike grips on a piece of plastic tube and some stainless all-thread.

http://www.serfas.com/product_details.asp?ID=178

You will have to get the word on arm length from the pros, I have two six and two eight but I do not use them together, one or the other per side, I want to fold them down when getting on and off the boat.

BTW, OP, what housing, Ikelite?

N

 

[phillybob]

Where do you buy raw strips of aluminum for a diy tray?..

You can get aluminum flat stock at Home Depot or Lowes.

 

[MdkSniper]

I have the store bought handle because I was being fancy but all those are is a Serfas mountain bike grips on a piece of plastic tube and some stainless all-thread.

http://www.serfas.com/product_details.asp?ID=178

You will have to get the word on arm length from the pros, I have two six and two eight but I do not use them together, one or the other per side, I want to fold them down when getting on and off the boat.

BTW, OP, what housing, Ikelite?

N

Yeah, I'm purchasing an Ikelite. I can't afford the FIX housing (recent college graduate).

 

[Nemrod]

Yeah, I'm purchasing an Ikelite. I can't afford the FIX housing (recent college graduate).

That is what I thought and that is good but you may have to engineer your own strobe cable hook up. Ikelite does not supply any means of connecting strobes from Inon or S&S, they do Ikelite and the only strobe they offer that will work with the S90 is the AF series which are nice little auto strobes but if you are planning something else as I think you are then prepare to DIY.

Grad student, poor, while everybody else was partying, been there and done that.

In this link if you look in the upper left corner you can see an Inon optical connector, that is the easiest thing and then put it into a DIY flash shield like this:

Inon Optical D Cable (L Type)/Cap W34 Set for WP-FXF40 [ino.313] - $96.80 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros

or maybe:

Fiber Optic Cable Adapter Set for Compact Digicams [rpv.foa] - $24.95 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros

In this photo you can see the Inon optical socket on the Canon housing and on the DIY Ikelite flash shield. I think you can buy that thing by itself, I found mine on eBay but right now I cannot find it by itself. Of course, if you do a S&S then that is another set of plugs--and you thought this was easy huh?

N

 

[phillybob]

... and the only strobe they offer that will work with the S90 is the AF series...N

The DS-51 with E.V. controller will work with the S-90 in an Ike. The 160 will, too. But then you're talking over a grand for strobe and arm package.

 

[boogs]

I dont mean to threadjack but I'd like to ask the same question. I am planning to get a Fantasea Bigeye for my G10 in Canon Housing. I'm currently using a single YS27dx. Will I get by with just one strobe? AFAIK, the Bigeye has an 80' angle of coverage and the strobe has a beam angle of 105x84. Am I right in assuming the strobe can cover the Bigeye field of view?

 

[MdkSniper]

The DS-51 with E.V. controller will work with the S-90 in an Ike. The 160 will, too. But then you're talking over a grand for strobe and arm package.

I already have a DS-51 /w e.v. controller. It's not powerful enough for me.

I figured instead of the FIX housing, I will use the 400 dollars that I saved (and money made from selling DS-51) on a better strobe system.

 

[Nemrod]

The DS-51 with E.V. controller will work with the S-90 in an Ike. The 160 will, too. But then you're talking over a grand for strobe and arm package.

I suppose that is right, I am so into "Inon strobe think" that I really don't care much since the DS-51 is not a very powerful or versatile strobe compared to the Inon D2000 for the money and requires some sort of external controller that is built into the Inon, I guess it falls off my radar screen. Thanks.

Looking forward to the day I own an Ikelite housing for a M4:3 with a new electronic computer controlled Ikelite strobe to go with it. Waiting, waiting----

N

 

[Nemrod]

I dont mean to threadjack but I'd like to ask the same question. I am planning to get a Fantasea Bigeye for my G10 in Canon Housing. I'm currently using a single YS27dx. Will I get by with just one strobe? AFAIK, the Bigeye has an 80' angle of coverage and the strobe has a beam angle of 105x84. Am I right in assuming the strobe can cover the Bigeye field of view?

The same answer applies to you, if you expect to fully cover the FOV then two strobes will likely be needed, if you can settle for strobe-ing your subject and letting everything else fade into the blue then you can get by with one. That would be my guess.

Here is a pic that shows a 130 plus degree FOV with Inon WAL100 and dome lens with a single 100 degree coverage Inon D2000 strobe. I took this pic on purpose to view the coverage at a distance, yes, I am too far away, yep, I did it on purpose to highlight the coverage:

A "Bigeye" probably only has about a 60 degree FOV so in theory, a single strobe might cover. Buy one and report back and let us know.

Here is another single strobe shot with a wide angle lens, notice the pic is "hot" in the middle:

Can you live with that? If so, one strobe is enough. I kind of liked the "still life" aspect of some of the coral heads and was trying to get that in an image, I failed, two strobes might have helped but I had brought only one. A little better skill might have helped more.

N

 

[boogs]

The same answer applies to you, if you expect to fully cover the FOV then two strobes will likely be needed, if you can settle for strobe-ing your subject and letting everything else fade into the blue then you can get by with one. That would be my guess.

Here is a pic that shows a 130 plus degree FOV with Inon WAL100 and dome lens with a single 100 degree coverage Inon D2000 strobe. I took this pic on purpose to view the coverage at a distance, yes, I am too far away, yep, I did it on purpose to highlight the coverage:

A "Bigeye" probably only has about a 60 degree FOV so in theory, a single strobe might cover. Buy one and report back and let us know.

Here is another single strobe shot with a wide angle lens, notice the pic is "hot" in the middle:

Can you live with that? If so, one strobe is enough. I kind of liked the "still life" aspect of some of the coral heads and was trying to get that in an image, I failed, two strobes might have helped but I had brought only one. A little better skill might have helped more.

N

That's very helpful Nemrod, thanks! I'm actually more interested in macro photography but I thought the Bigeye would be pretty useful to have. I guess the best thing to do is get one and try it out myself. I'd be happy to post the results. Btw, how long should my strobe arms be for it to be effective for this setup?

Apparently the Bigeye is out of stock (opticaloceansales) til March 1st so I guess I'll have to wait til then - and maybe another 3 weeks for it to get here.