Ittl strobes for action photos

I am really new with underwater strobes and i have a old subtronic gamma plus that i use manual

Everything works perfect if the subject is not moving very fast but is imposible to use for action photos underwater where freedivers moving fast to me..

I mean i have situations where the diver in the 1 frame is 2meters away then is 1 metter then .5 metter I have not the time to adjust the strobe or the camera..

So i was thinking if a New Digital Ittl strobe is the solution

I have to read somewhere that if you have a ittl strobe you can send the info to my old subtronic so its kind a second ittl becuace the amount of light is controled by the master strobe

Anyway .. what are you thinking

Solution?? back to my Magic filters again ;-)

Hi Lambis,

It sounds like an iTTL strobe will help you a lot. The only other thing that I can think of is to roll the f-stop up as the diver comes closer.

The thing I don't like about iTTL is that it is different between Nikon cameras. If you use a D70 and get iTTL strobes for that camera, then upgrade to a D200, you need different strobes!!! That is not good.

That's why I think the iTTL converter should be between the camera and strobe. This is what Ikelite and M. Heinrich's converters do.

I thought you had some Inon strobes??? I think the Inon 220 and 240 will do iTTL w/ the D200 when used w/ the Heinrich's converter. Sea and Sea also uses this same circuit in their converter, which you may be able to just plug into your Nexus housing if you have all 5 pins in your hotshoe connected.

Cheers

James

The thing I don't like about iTTL is that it is different between Nikon cameras. If you use a D70 and get iTTL strobes for that camera, then upgrade to a D200, you need different strobes!!! That is not good.

What example are you referring to here?

Hi Ryan,

Please jump in as I don't have much experience w/ strobes w/ built in iTTL converters (Subtronics)

Would it be correct to say that a Subtronic w/ a built in converter for the D70 would not iTTL with the D200? How about the D2x?

Can you do a "firmware update" to the Subtronics to flash the memory on the iTTL converter board? That would be cool.

Cheers

James

James,

the subtronic strobes - at least the new ones like the nova - can be reprogrammed to new future camera and its flash protocols I was told. It's a software thing these days! And iTTL with dual subtronic novas works pretty well as long as there is enough relection from the subject. Otherwise corrections with the plus/minus knob can be made easily.

Subtronic strobes use Heinrichs circuitry, which historically has needed an update when new cameras come out to match that profile. One of my concerns w/ the Sea & Sea controller is future compatibility as they've announced no update or upgrade path, but how that plays out remains to be seen.

So yes, Subtronics can be updated, but it requires sending the strobe back to Germany.

The holy grail would be all strobe manufacturers switching to S-6 connections, and loading their TTL profiles on sd cards that could be user swapped. I'd settle for just Ikelite.

Thanks James

roll the f-stop up as the diver comes closer a good thrick.. but only in manual mode..

Hmm the nikon D200 have a funtion that you can over & underexosue in the A modus to.. have newer try it but maybe this is a way to do this.. if i am fast as superman..

Lambis,

You can also shoot in A mode with compensation. I think with a light diver on dark blue water you'd want something like -.5 or -1 metering. You'll get slower shutterspeeds as the diver comes closer and you close down the aperture, but that may be cool too.

Ryan: thanks for the info. I agree that strobe firmware updates would be cool. I also lust for a better connector than the Nikonos, but I don't see Ike changing his connector in a million years :-)

Cheers

James

TTL of ANY description (film or digital) is just another form of automation. As such it can only deal with a situation as the programmers originally decided. What it can NOT do is to balance the light or even output the light as you, the photographer, may actually have wanted. Whilst it is very good most of the time and can certainly save shots at times, it will do so only in a specific way when confronted by a specific set of circumstances when an image is being taken. To be perfectly honest, although I used ttl extensively on film, I no longer see the need to use it given the ability to learn from the histogram what is going on. I would stick my neck out and say that if you use a set-up often enough with manual output, then a quick adjustment becomes second nature and ttl is really pretty irrelevant much of the time - even for 'action' shots.

I see an awful lot of discussion of the merits of ttl but have not used it myself since shifting from an S2Pro - to my surprise I have not missed the lack of ttl, and can even say that my exposures are more as I want them to be now I use manual flash control all the time. Just my opinion!

Lambis, another option is to change the way you aim your strobes so that more light hits the person when they are further away and less and less hits them as they get closer. Eric is the master at this so perhaps he can explain it when he gets back.

Hint - try aiming your strobes out a bit.

Cheers

James

Ohh James Thanks

Genial technic..

SÃ¥ that means that i aim my strobe so that in 2 meters i light the person total but in .5 meters i light him with the corners off my strobe but what you mean with "aiming your strobes out a bit." in wich direction ??

Hi Lambis

by "out a bit" james means that you kick them out slightly to the lateral edges of your rig and not directly in line with the lens/port.

regards

craig

Also Lambis as a general rule TTL works best when the subject fills most of the frame. When the subject is small in the frame and surrounded by blue water then TTL will not be accurate and will tend to over expose.

You can solve this by dialling in some compensation - but then as your subject comes closer and fills the frame the TTL will work better (but with the TTL set to under expose it will now under expose).

Alex

Also Lambis as a general rule TTL works best when the subject fills most of the frame. When the subject is small in the frame and surrounded by blue water then TTL will not be accurate and will tend to over expose.

 

Alex

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Could it be useful to use spot or centerspot metering and get ttl measurement only from the spot or the small area surrounding it? Maybe this way the camera does not take into acount the light getting lost in the blue which causes overexposure...

I didn't realise that TTL would follow the metering pattern set on the camera. I though that this was just for the ambient light exposure - and TTL used its own metering pattern (which was generally a multizone one)?

Alex

I have no idea! I will try later at home with the sb 800 and a small piece of paper to see if it iTTL is affected at all with the metering chosen...

I didn't realise that TTL would follow the metering pattern set on the camera. I though that this was just for the ambient light exposure - and TTL used its own metering pattern (which was generally a multizone one)?

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Alex is on the money. Setting the D200's metering mode to spot puts the camera in standard iTTL flash mode rather than "balanced iTTL fill flash" mode. Only the ambient light metering is restricted to the smaller spot when in this mode. Flash metering is multizone as Alex suggests.