housing/lighting for Canon PowerShot A520

For my birthday a few months ago I received a Canon PowerShot A520, and I am now in the market for a housing (and possibly a lighting system). I tried browsing around the product review sections and reading the beginner articles, but some of the terminology was over my head. I should mention, first and foremost, that I am not currently in the position to spend tons of money on the latest, most advanced equipment for professional-grade photography. This is something that I intend to do as a hobby, and I don't get a chance to do a lot of scuba diving to begin with. I was just hoping that given my camera and the housing that I am planning on buying, perhaps I could get some advice on a lighting system, or whether or not I even need one.

The housing I am looking at is the WP-DC60, which seems to be the standard option available from Canon (http://www.canoncompanystore.com/epages/an...tail=9965A001AA).

Unfortunately, when it comes to lighting, I don't really even know enough about the subject to ask any good questions. One thing that comes to mind is, will my choice of housing limit my choice of lighting system, or can lighting equipment be attached to most any housing? Another thing that seems to be a big deal is TTL, which I don't understand fully (and there seems to be a big debate about it among experienced photographers). From the little I've found on Google, I'm guessing this is the way the camera uses the strobe effect before actually taking the picture in order to gather information "through-the-lens" about the ideal lighting settings. For my particular camera, I notice that it does this (i.e. about 3 flashes, then the picture is taken). Is this TTL? Will it affect the lighting system I choose?

Thanks in advance!

Hey stonieJ,

Well i'm in a sort of similiar position, personally I intend u/w photography to be a little hobby of mine, although more and more i'm convinced that it'll be a very expensive one :-).

Bought an A610 with the Canon WP-DC90 housing, based on what i've read on various boards, I think most strobes can work with it.

In fact I know of one person who uses an Ikelite 3944.77 Ds-125 Strobe kit with the Manual controller.

Now to be honest I have no clue what that really means, but strobes can be used with the Canon housing.

Best of luck, welcome to the board and more knowledgeable posters will be sure to answer your question better .

BOth of you need to make sure you get a DIGITAL strobe - like an Ikelite DS-50 or DS-125 - both the A610 and A520 use preflash and it takes a digital strobe to work with that.

I've successfully used a Canon A20, A40 and A80 with a DS-125, but not with TTL - definitely get a manual controller as it works best with your cameras. And you can still use a Canon housing with an Ikelite strobe - mix and match as you please.

It does turn into a very expensive hobby - so be prepared!!!

Kim

Thanks for the info Kim. Could you please explain the TTL issue? Or at least point me to a site with a good explanation? I really don't understand what it is. Are TTL and a "manual controller" mutually exclusive concepts? Is one of these setups better/cheaper/easier to use than the other? For instance, does the TTL do all the lighting calibration automatically, whereas you tune it yourself with a manual controller? (I don't even know what "lighting calibration" means or if it is even a correct term, I'm just trying to get a feel for what TTL is.)

Ikelite is the best place I can send you to.... Sensor information

There is TTL through a sync cord - a cable that goes from the strobe to the housing and sends information from the camera through the cable.

Then there is TTL through a sensor, and manual through a sensor. Since the Canon Powershot cameras aren't TTL sync cord compatible, we have to use a sensor that sees the preflash and then triggers strobe to fire when the camera flash fires. Ikelite recommends the manual controller and states....

The wireless TTL Slave Sensor has provided years of precision results with film cameras, but has not proven satisfactory with current digital cameras. It triggers and quenches the strobe to which it is attached, but is not fast enough to mimic their preflash and TTL. The Manual Controller is recommended with these cameras.