Which external flash/strobe is compatible with Canon S50 (WP-DC300 UW housing)

[beir]

I have a Canon S50 with the WP-DC300 UW housing. I am having problems getting photos without a lot of backscatter when using the built-in flash. I'm looking for an external flash or strobe (recommendations welcome here) to improve the pictures. Anyone that has a similar setup I'd love to find out what you are using. Btw, I am a newbie/amateur photographer and do all rec. diving if that matters in the decision making.

Thanks

 

[alijtaylor]

I am in exactly the same situation as you re camera and housing and I suspect regarding visibility as well 3m -7m being my normal range. So I have decided to bite the bullet and go for a strobe, it is ordered but not yet using it so cannot give practical comments on results.

I have ordered the Ikelite DS50 with manual controller arm and tray (no other cables or thingies required the controller has a slave stobe it it, you do need to mask your internal flash so that it will still give enough light up for the slave but not dfirectly out for backskatter. I can give you specific references to order numbers and so on if you want, just PM me. It it is not TTL you need to set it manually from a choice of 10 settings but you get to learn what is likely to work pretty quickly and that is what bracketing is for, at least that is my current understanding!

The person who recomended this combo to me said Inon D180 (I think that is the set up) also works for the Canon.

Good luck.

Alison

 

[Gilligan]

The Inon D-180 is listed as compatible with your housing. Some of the parts in the fiber optic cable kit are what make it camera housing specific. The method of attachment to your housing will be different than the one shown below.
The Inon will not require an additional manual controller such as the Ikelite. All the controls are on the back of the strobe head. The strobe head has a choice of manual settings or Auto F stop settings. A dark piece of film material is placed over the cameras flash to convert the flash to infrared and transmit it via the fiber optic cable to the strobe head. The dark film strip also prevents the housing from lighting up when the cameras strobe goes off. This strobe reads the cameras pre-flash and calculates adjustments to it for the amount of light to be fired by the strobe. I use this strobe with my Olympus camera/housing. The strobe head price does not include the fiber optic kit. One of the major selling points for me was the built in focus light which automatically goes off when the shutter lever is pushed. The light can be turned on for 10 seconds or left on.

Also keep in mind that you will need a handle/tray/arm. These are a Fisheye tray and grip with either the flexible (loc-line) type arm joints (photo A) or the ULCS arm components (photo B), the latter being more expensive. Both of these setups can be purchased from Yuzo in Japan.

Hope this helps.

 

[beir]

Thanks for the information. Being new to photography, just knowing what & where to look for equipment can be half the battle.

 

[hdtran]

Have you considered using a great big light to illuminate your subject (or have your buddy illuminate the subject) while you take a picture w/o the flash? I read a posting about using a "Light Cannon" (uwkinetics) combined w/ a digital camera (as opposed to video camera) where the photographer was pretty happy; can't find a pointer to the post, sorry.

Also, how do you like the S50+housing? I'm considering a S60+housing versus the Olympus 5060+housing.

Thanks!

 

[Gilligan]

I personally don't think the UK Light Cannon is a good choice for a still digital camera over a strobe light. The LC is a heavy light. You will have to leave it on most of the time as constantly turning it off and on is likely going to prematurely kill the switch. The bulb replacement is around $80.00. You will need the rechargeable battery option unless you plan on replacing 8 batteries frequently. You will need some type of an arm/handle/tray setup for it unless you want to swim around with the light in one hand and the camera in the other.
Bottom line is I have seen no data that supports its use for still digital as being equal to or better than a strobe.

 

[H2Andy]

i also wonder as to the "quality" of the light. i would be willing to bet that
the spectrum of a strobe is going to be designed for good photograpy, whereas
the spectrum of the Light Canon is probably not so designed

just a thought, i dont' know for sure

 

[beir]

i also wonder as to the "quality" of the light. i would be willing to bet that
the spectrum of a strobe is going to be designed for good photograpy, whereas
the spectrum of the Light Canon is probably not so designed

just a thought, i dont' know for sure

The housing is very durable (i've dropped it a few times to prove it) and no leakage problems (knock on wood). The buttons are easy to find without looking, but sometimes it's hard to tell what the function dial is set to without looking at the display screen.

I think Canon changed the button layout on the S60, so it will probably use a different housing. I've always been a big proponent of Canon as this is my 3rd Canon Digital camera. I have no experience with Oly, but it seems most folks here like them too.

 

[H2Andy]

sorry, i mean, literally, the "light" that the strobe puts out as opposed to the "light"
that you will get from the Light Cannon. they are probably going to be different
spectrums

(i'm thinking of the difference between HID and halogen lights, for example).

 

[beir]

sorry, i mean, literally, the "light" that the strobe puts out as opposed to the "light"
that you will get from the Light Cannon. they are probably going to be different
spectrums

(i'm thinking of the difference between HID and halogen lights, for example).

Doh, sorry H2Andy, I was responding to hdtran and I accidentally picked the wrong reply button....