Ike manual strobe controller

Tested the Ike manual strobe controller. In the pool it worked fine with 2 strobes. One on an Ike remote TTL slave sensor and the other hard wired to my Ike CP 5000 housing and 2 DS 125 strobes. I used it with one DS 125 hard wired to the controller in the ocean and it also worked fine. I thought it easier to get good exposures with than using TTL. Especially for bracketting. I posted some samples at: http://homepage.mac.com/daveburroughs/PhotoAlbum9.html.

Very easy to use. The cord is long enough that you can position the controller right by your housing handles. The numbers are big and the switch easy to turn.

:ph34r:

Are those macro shots with the 19mm?

David,

Were do they sell it? I didn't know they were being shipped yet..

Yes, all the macro shots were taken with the 19mm lens.

Ike sent me a controller to test. Not sure if it is for sale yet. :ph34r: :ph34r:

Has anyone used the dual cord with the Manual controller? It looks like from the below one controller should be able to control two strobed but I have heard differently.

From Ikelites Page

A second strobe with a Manual Controller can be set to any desired power and will operate dependably with the built-in slave sensor of the Controller aimed at the subject or the primary strobe; or the Controller can be connected to a dual sync cord. A second strobe with a wireless TTL Slave Sensor will duplicate any manual power level it sees on the primary strobe.

Hopefully I have adequately described that each strobe must have a controller. We do not have a way for one controller to be used with two strobes. Manual Controllers will be fine with a dual cord, but one can watch the other strobe on a single cord and fire with its slave sensor. Note that the controller is priced less than a dual cord which is bad math...........

If I may recap, you can use one manual controller to control 2 strobes assuming the second strobe is using the TTL sensor. Is that a true statement?

If so can I assume the TTL sensor measures the amount of light coming from the primary strobe and duplicates it?

Although you may price the dual sync cord higher than the manual controller some of your resellers have decided they are of equal value. I personally prefer cords over controllers and If I could use one Cord with one controller I certainly would, regardless of price. Reaching from Arm to Arm after everyshot seems like a Pain.

My Suggestions for a future model

Incorporate the TTL function as an option on the manual controller, 10 settings and TTL. We all know TTL fails in certain circumstances so it would be nice to go manual and have 10 options at times. Produce one model that does it all. This should cut costs from your end since you we be supporting / developing / QA and Beta testing on a single product rather than multiple. If I am wrong, increase the cost.

Do not include cords only ports so that we can use whatever configuration we want, example it seems then we could use the dual cord.

Yes to Reefkeep's analysis and assumptions. We are working on what he suggests and considerably more............

I've read in other threads on this formm that "on a preflash camera (like Oly c4040) you can use the manual settings on the DS-125 in lieu of TTL..........However, the strobe can't double flash on full power.....so you can only use 1/2 power and below" (quote from Karl)

I assume that with the manual sensor and an Oly c4040 there would still be a problem with powering the double flash. Since there are ten power settings, is it just the full power setting that has the problem or are some of the settings below full power effected as well?

Rick, I believe the manual controller ignores the pre-flash and allows you to use the entire range of settings.

Karl

Rick,

There are a lot of misconceptions about the way Ike's digital TTL slave sensors work in manual with the preflash cameras. At the most basic level, the afremorentioned sensor will signal the strobe to fire and quench once for each time the camera flash fires (in synch with the camera's flash). If the strobe is in TTL, it will obey both the fire and quench signals and "re-create" the camera's flash timing. If the strobe is in one of the manual settings, it will only obey the fire signals. In other words, it will give you a flash of the power you've selected on the strobe for both the preflash and the main flash (TWO flashes at the power you've selected on the strobe). Most strobes cannot recycle fast enough to give you two flashes this close together -- with them, you'd get a flash on the preflash and nothing on the main flash. however, the Ike DS-125 can recycle fast enough to give you two flashes very close together if you select 1/2 power or lower. If you try to use full power, the strobe can't keep up. So, there is no electronic trickery or magic here. The digital TTL sensor was not designed to work with the strobe in a manual mode, however, the fact that the strobe will work with the sensor that way is an artifact (or "added benefit") of Ike building a very quick strobe. The manual sensor is used with the strobe set in *TTL mode* and gives a fire and quench signal based on the setting you dial into the sensor. This sensor will ignore the preflash and only synch with the camera's main flash.

HTH,

Mike

Will the manual controller work on strobes other than the DS-50 or DS-125? Based on the description on the Ikelite web site, it sounds like it should work with any TTL strobe. If you set it to ignore the pre-flash, it seems like it would work with an Ike 100 or 200 strobe which I can probably find on e-Bay fairly cheap.

There are settings for the DS 125 and DS 50. I believe you have to use one of these strobes.

Yes, there are settings for the DS-50 and DS-125, but there are also two additional settings: fire at every flash, and ignore the pre-flash. Since the strobe is set for TTL with the manual controller, it seems like any TTL strobe would work if you set the controller to ignore the pre-flash.

No. No. The Manual Controller can only be used with the DS50 and DS125 SubStrobes because it derives its power from these strobes. Misunderstandings are an embarrassment, proving we have done a poor job of describing............

Your website does state that clearly. I just forgot.

Yep, it sure does say that, but it's under the "Switch Settings" link. I'll pay more attention next time! Maybe I can hot-wire a battery into it? B)

As much as I loved my 200's, selling them for 125s was the best move I ever made. I'm convinced it's the best overall strobe for digital or film. The 125 and the manual controller is as good as it gets.