Housed Canon 580EX flash as uw strobe

I've read old threads from last year about housing the 580ES before Subal's housing for it actually came to market, but haven't seen anything about anybody actually using one. I have a 580EX for topside use (love it). It's a quite powerful unit, and my primary interest would be using it on manual uw, NOT using ETTL.

From what I can tell, the main problem with housed flashes like this is that they don't do a good job with TTL for WA. But I can't get a good handle on whether they would work better for WA in manual mode (I don't see why not!).

Questions:

Anybody have actual experience with the Subal 580EX housing yet? Good, bad, etc.? Cost?

Would the wiring inconsistencies between mfgrs make using it with a Seacam housing impossible/difficult?

I've used the 550EX in a Seacam on ttl. My observations are that it worked surprisingly well (on wide-angle) but basically lacks power for wide-angle use and so can only be used for comparative close work. The lack of power may now be less of an issue with reduced noise levels at higher ISOs.

The Seacam housing is switched (and has an inbuilt light) so I wouldn't recommend that it should be rewired - it would be far easier to rewire your Subal or even buy another hot shoe connector and rewire this to plug into the distributor board inside the housing (assuming its like the F100 system) for when you wanted to use the housed flash. (This assumes that you have sufficient connections - if not then you might have to fit an S6 socket - again perfectly feasible, but more expense). All this said, you would still not achieve manual control, and whilst ttl can work surprisingly well, I have been operating on manual for a fair time now and simply don't miss ttl. I'm not sure that the housed 580 is worthwhile for w/a - if you are a macro shooter mostly then it might be a useful option.

That’s the nice thing about the Subal strobe housing, it allows full strobe control and a window for the display. The Seacam strobe housing only features a switch, interrupting one line between camera and strobe to enable ambient light shots (better not to forget to switch the strobe on before diving).

I can not think of any amphibic strobe providing such a high guide number for macro due to its zoom reflector in tele position. I would assume the 580EX could even compare with some smaller amphibic strobes in terms of coverage when used with a Subal/Seacam strobe housing with dome glass. But I have never tried.

And it wouldn't replace a really wide amphibic strobe.

Julian

Bruce -

I've also had thoughts of doing the same thing. A company called 'watershot-online' has been said to be developing a full-function housing for the 580ex, seen here: http://www.watershotonline.com/products/speedlite_580ex.html , but I've been waiting for months now (since last October) and they haven't updated the page nor released pricing information yet. If it's not too expensive, it'd be an excellent alternative. Another (not usually apparent) benefit of using a Canon speedlite is access to FP flash.

~Matt Segal

...A company called 'watershot-online' has been said to be developing a full-function housing for the 580ex, seen here: http://www.watershotonline.com/products/speedlite_580ex.html

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Very interesting looking, Matt, although it doesn't sound like it's immediately forthcoming. Looks like a start-up company hoping to identify a market and dealer network...so the actual product may or may not ever materialize...