new seacam flash for nikon and canon

hope this was not already posted elsewhere but here goes:

i went to the seacam stand this afternoon, and waiting there was a really great surprise for me and a moment of terror for the wallet, the secam strobe, not only is there an ittl version that was on the stand, but there will also be a canon ettl2 version available in a month or so!!!!! also to note that this is not subtronic based, it is a seacam development.

the main characteristics of the strobe are:

- housed in the casing that currently is offered for system flashes

- GN 20 underwater

- 120 degress of coverage

- ittl or ettl2 compatible

- 123 manual settings avalaible as well

- 2 tube colours to choose from, normal or warmer light, the choice is made when you switch on the strobe

- led based focus lamp

- sos position

- battery charge should be good for 100 full dumps

thats about all i remember. the nikon is ready now i think, the canon one should be ready in a month or so.

the wet diopters were also on display, and the 5d housing is planned for march 06 timeframe.

did not have time to go look around yet and meet up with the other wetpixel members, though i did run into to jerome (jerome@gasava) on thesecam stand.

now, to go figure out how to save the money for this babies...

/paul

Hi Paul, I moved your post to the Strobes forum, I think it will get more exposure here. Good info, thanks for posting!

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the report! It sounds exciting.

Does it have a removable battery pack?

Cheers

James

Hey monsieur

Drink less wine and let the kidneys and liver heal... then sell one kidney. LOL

red wine is good for kidneys so maybe i can get more money for it

james, no it does not have a removable battery unfortunately. frederic, the french seacam person, was saying that the batterie's life was probably about 3 to 4 years.

/paul

edit: i did not specifically ask if the battery pack was removable, i'll try and check again tomorrow

What kind of sync cord will you need for it?

They have their own sync cords (Nikonos on the housing side), check the page below (strobe info is on the bottom):

http://seacamusa.com/products.shtml

for the canon it will most likely be the s6 connection (both housing and strobe).

another question to ask tomorrow i guess

/paul

So it sounds as if the strobe itself has the required Nikon or Canon conversion ciruitry. Will that mean that the strobe could be used with other housings as long as the housing has a S6 connection? In my case I would be interested to see if I could get ETTL2 with my 20D in a Subal housing. Could you add that to your question list please Paul

Hey monsieur

Drink less wine and let the kidneys and liver heal... then sell one kidney. LOL

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nah, don't need to quit drinking for the kidney to recover. Alcohol generally does not bother the kidney much

Sell one kidney now and put the money in the bank for that 0.5% interest until the strobe comes out!

Hmmm..I was thinking of Ikelite DS200 but Seacam sounds interesting too!

I have photos of this strobe (taken by Wetpixel member Steve Jones) for the Antibes report that I will get on to during the week.

Alex

red wine is good for kidneys so maybe i can get more money for  it 

james, no it does not have a removable battery unfortunately. frederic, the french seacam person, was saying that the batterie's life was probably about 3 to 4 years.

/paul

 

edit: i did not specifically ask if the battery pack was removable, i'll try and check again tomorrow

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I asked about a removable battery also - no it definately doesn't have one.

One thing I immediately noticed about this strobe was it takes 5 seconds to recycle from a full discharge. I queried Harald on this, and he explained that it was a conscious decision - faster recycle times stress the circuitry and battery so can lead to unreliablity. Of course on half power it recycled in about 2 secs and on quarter power, the ready light did not go off at all. Given it's a 250 watt gun there should be more than enough power and recycle speed for digital camera users. I liked this strobe very much, and I'll probably get one myself next year.

As for the pictures, I'll get them over to Alex tomorrow or so - 3 hours sleep and too much Pastis is taking it's toll!!

Steve

Can one have two of these strobes set in ittl, one as master and one as a slave like in topside photography with 2 SB800 and if yes how do they manage this communication between the two strobes? that would be the real innovation... otherwise just another strobe gun...

faster recycle times stress the circuitry and battery so can lead to unreliablity.  Of course on half power it recycled in about 2 secs and on quarter power, the ready light did not go off at all.  Given it's a 250 watt gun there should be more than enough power and recycle speed for digital camera users.  I liked this strobe very much, and I'll probably get one myself next year.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am very curious about GN and wattage. I realize that there is no one standardized way of measuring it and different manufacturer's published GN is not always comparable but it seems a bit odd that at more than twice the wattage, underwater GN for the Seacam is significantly less than Ikelite DS 125 (20 vs 32).

With dSLR, DS-125 is a bit underpower sometimes with very small aparture. I don't like using full power very much as I prefer to not have to recharge the strobe after every single dive. With DS-125, I pretty much use only full power and occasionally 1/2 power most of the time. If I only need 1/2 power or 1/4 power most of the time with the Seacam when shooting say F18-F22 for macro, that would be very tempting.

The Ike DS 125 is a powerful gun - it produces an output of 110 Watt Sec.

The new Seacam flash is seriously powerful - producing light at 250 Watt Sec.

(the quoted UW GN are not consistent with the light energy outputs - they many be in different units to each other - ft versus m?). Watt Secs are easier to understand as they have the same units and most manufacturers quote them. GN is really a photographers measurement for determining camera settings (in the days before LCD screens!).

For comparison I use a pair of Subtronic Alphas (each of which is 160 WS) and I routinely use these on 1/4 power - that is a combined 80 WS of light per shot. Which I think gives some perspective on these numbers. Subtronics biggest strobe is the Mega Colour, which produces 350 WS of light. I think Hartenberger make some that are even more powerful.

Alex

Alex, thanks for the clarification, I keep forgetting about ft vs m and al those units. I guess that would explain the discrepancy.

Now I am just waiting to see what I can afford, DS200, Seacam strobe, D200 for land use, a backup D2X body... hmmm shopping list seems endless and wallet has not quite recovered from the D2X shopping spree yet

I know about Ikelite's new DS-80, but is there a DS-200? Or do you mean the regular (non-digital) SS-200?

Luiz

Ike has indicated that they are moving fwd with a DS200.

Cheers

James

OK, let me make sure I understand this thread correctly. Seacam now has an i-TTL strobe. This is not a Nikon strobe housinge (e.g. SB800dx)?

Hmmm, a DS200. I can see the ad now:

Dirty Harry, "I know what you're thinking. Did he fire 100 shots or 150? Seein' as this is the worlds most powerful digital strobe, and can burn a hole right through you, you've got to ask yourself one question. Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, fish?"

hi guys

just back from antibes where i met the boss .......

Alex it was really great to meet you

Harald the boss from Seacam showed me it was NOT a kind of Ittl converter but a real complete system built by seacam (contrary to subtronic's new ones with heinrich's converter).

So it will also be possible to shoot one in ttl and the other one in manual mode .... the strobe everyone seeemed to wait ...... just a precision : 1600 euros for a piece