Unattached slaves

[Diver Lori]

My buddy and I were playing with some photography in the Florida caves last month and were trying to light up the cave system behind our subject. We were using a second strobe as a slave. Due to the water column/distance from each other, the slave did not fire.

I recall seeing another caver using a slave and some sort of handheld sensor for his buddy who was taking the pictures with camera/strobe a bit of a distance away. This was 3 years ago when I wasn't interested and didn't pay attention! (rats)

Are any of you aware of a sensor such as I describe?

TIA

 

[Uncle Pug]

...saw the thread title but didn't notice it was in the photography forum.

OK... back to new posts.

 

[ike]

Wireless TTL Slave will trigger the Ikelite strobes dependably to at least fifty feet away in caves, and some people report it works at 100 foot distances:

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/sync_cords.html

 

[Diver Lori]

Hi Ike!

Thanks for replying to my post. Question for you....can this sensor be handheld? ..... with a long sync cord attached and running along the bodyline to the flash bungied between doubles?

TIA

 

[ike]

An extension cord is listed farther down on the Sensor URL. Some people have hidden strobes around a corner of a cave and brought the sensor out to where it can see the primary camera and strobe for example. No reason why you can not hand hold the sensor or mount it on anything............

 

[-hh]

ike once bubbled...
An extension cord is listed farther down on the Sensor URL.

Another thing to consider is that if you're trying to light up a really big space with multiple strobes, the between-water distance from strobe-to-strobe is what's important, not the total spanned distance.

The reason why is because Ike's Slave sensor does its thing from any flash source, so a slave can be triggered from another (closer-to-the-primary) slave: you'll need to get the visibility angles right from strobe-to-strobe, but you can "wirelessly" daisy-chain a series of slaves together across a proverbially infinite distance from the primary, around corners, etc.

No reason why you can not hand hold the sensor or mount it on anything....

Absolutely. In fact, my basic UW camera system configuration is set up such that my slave is completely detachable from my camera, courtesy of Ike's Slave Sensor and Quick-Disconnect strobe arm.

With this setup, I've frequently popped the slave strobe assembly (strobe, sensor & upper QD arm) right off, and handed it to another diver to model with (or use with his own camera!), placed it into a different hole in a coral ledge to photograph the shy critter with side-lighting, etc.


-hh

 

[diveski01]

I have a "beginner's" camera: Sea&Sea MX-10 with YS40A. I have added the gbundersea MX-tender optical cable and strobe arm which has greatly helped in reducing backscatter. But the YS40A is a very weak strobe and my wide angle reef scenes are way too dark, even with long f-stops.

recent examples can be viewed at:
http://allenhost.com/gallery/album191/aaa

Now I'm interested in adding a good strobe ($400-600), but can only add a slave since the MX-10 has no capability to add any other type of strobe.

Can anyone recommend a slave strobe that could be triggered by the YS40A?

 

[cdiver2]

but look into the ys30 duo, I just got one to work with my ys60 and I am very pleased with the results.

 

[Dee]

I used to use my YS-30 slave that way. Beast would hold it just beyond the field of view but withing 'sight' of my strobe in order to backlight subjects or just get a different angle on things.

I've been considering another one for my current set-up. It's small and fits in a pocket but you can add it to a second strobe arm, too.

 

[seabat]

by diveski01

"Now I'm interested in adding a good strobe ($400-600), but can only add a slave since the MX-10 has no capability to add any other type of strobe.

Can anyone recommend a slave strobe that could be triggered by the YS40A?"

diveski01,

The MX-10 does have the capability to add other strobes. I have the MX-10 and have switched from the YS40a to a Sea&Sea YS25. Two reasons for this, my extender fiber-optic cord got broken and I am gonna purchase the DX-3000 soon.

I get a lot more versatility with the 25 flash than I got with the YS40. I purchased the 25 with the base plate and arm and it connects to the MX-10 with no problem provided you have the later model with the screw mount on the bottom. I also purchased the sea&sea velcro attachment for the 25 sync cord. It comes with a socket that you mount over the MX-10 flash to trigger the 25. The velcro is black so it blocks the MX-10 flash. The connection looks kinda "amaturish" but it works so what the heck.

The 25 can be used as a slave and I imagine you could reverse the base plate so the 25 is on the opposite side of the YS40 but I have not tried it. Note that the 25 cord will not transmit the infra-red that triggers the YS40 so you cannot use the extender mount if you have it.

The price for the 25 and accessories is in the range you mentioned. And as it is compatible with other systems you have a strobe already if you decide to look at another system.

Re-reading the my post I imagine some of the other Sea&Sea strobes will work with the velcro accessory.

Diver Lori, sorry for the hijack