To strobe or not to strobe?

I have a Canon Rebel XT with Ikelite housing, and will primarily be using the 17-40 lens, and maybe on a few occasions the 10-22 lens. I tend to like taking shots of "the big stuff", like mantas, dolphins, sea lions, sharks, whale sharks, ... Not so much into macro. I usually can't get the lens right up against these guys. So I was wondering if having a strobe would really help these kinds of shots very much. If not, I'd rather put the $$ into glass. On the other hand, if it would really be beneficial, I'd consider something like the Ike DS-125.

What do you think? And guidence and experience would be greatly appreciated!

Strobe. I think you will find it very beneficial to add a bit of fill flash, especially sea lions.

I have a few sea lion shots on my website that you might like. All but one are shot with strobes.

Todd Winner

http://users.adelphia.net/~tswinner/

Hi

If your happy with your ambient light photography then be happy with it, however.

i'd just like to add, Apart from the above, EVERY shot benefits from FLASH photography not just macro photo's.

Most of us use flash to perfect what we call, wideangle balanced light, quite simply adding flash to an amount which will capture natural looking tones and colours and to revel textures in our subjects.

Granted, if you can't get close enough to you subject, but we all suffer this from time to time, however, there always comes a time when we get close enough and coupled with just the correct amount of flash we can produced stunning results.

Below is a typical example of a Balanced light shot, If i was not to add flash to the foreground of this picture, the turtle in the shot would have looked ok, but, his true colours would'nt shine through.

instead what i've ended up with is a shot that show's just how perfectly the average turtle can blend into his surrounds. not a master peice, but it shows the true colours of the reef and the creature

another one below again a turtle, but its balanced against a sunburst, if i shot without flash, we simply would have ended up with a silouette shot, which still would be nice, but, the fill light adds impact to this shot

Get yourself a couple of Strobes, you want be dissapointed.

another item you could look at is Alex's Magic Fliters. but you need to shoot correctly and using the sun correctly to acheive good results with them, but they are excellent

regards

craig

did you take that second shot on film or digital, Craig?

it's a well rendered sunburst if it was on digi

BTW agree that you should get strobes, you can always turn them off when you want to shoot natural light.

There are many ocassions when strobes would ruin a shot - like this one:

strobes would have added nothing to it except illuminating backscatter

Other times your subject is just too far away to light:

But generally, strobes are pretty much essential. This took twin 350 watt strobes to light up (at full power):

Steve

Hello Steve.

The sunburst, was actually taken with my old D70 !, so yeh its digital, & i quite agree, its not bad at all for a digital sunburst ! one of my better results on digital.

was taken using 2x Z-240 and the Excellent Tokina 12-24 "i think"

regards

Craig.

BTW agree that you should get strobes, you can always turn them off when you want to shoot natural light.

 

There are many ocassions when strobes would ruin a shot - like this one:

 

 

strobes would have added nothing to it except illuminating backscatter

 

Other times your subject is just too far away to light:

 

 

But generally, strobes are pretty much essential. This took twin 350 watt strobes to light up (at full power):

 

 

Steve

Hello Steve.

 

The sunburst, was actually taken with my old D70 !, so yeh its digital, & i quite agree, its not bad at all for a digital sunburst ! one of my better results on digital.

 

was taken using 2x Z-240 and the Excellent Tokina 12-24 "i think"

 

regards

 

Craig.

Thanks a lot guys! BTW, great turtle shot Craig! And great whaleshark shot Steve! You're pushing me toward a strobe. <_< I was afraid of that, since strobes aren't exactly cheap. And it's yet another item that adds weight and bulk to my travel gear.... housing, regs, computer, domes, camera, multiple lenses... all stuff I want to have in carry-on; not check! Have you guys ever run into airplane weight limits or had carry-on problems? I've been on some little planes to get to dive sites, and they can sometimes be pretty restrictive.

Thanks again!

Hello

re: Check in luggage.

So far ive never had a problem at all, i carry all my delicate gear "CHECK IN" everything else like

Ports - Strobes - Arms - cables - Spares , goes into the checkin in baggage, which is my dive bag packed into HARD PLASTIC containers firstly.

i carry on in a small camera/laptop rucsac that looks small on my wife

1x D200

1x 60mm

1x 105mm

1x 12-24mm

1x 10.5mm

1x 18-70mm

1x laptop

in a should style bag "lowepro nova 5" i carry

1x Housing with D200 body also mounted inside.

Both my bags are almost exactly 5kg each, maybe a little more, if i get any problems at all i simply fill my pockets with the lenses and voila !! the weight limit is acheived.

If i'm going out on assignment, i do have a slightly larger rucsac that will take all of the above, and i leave my laptop in a small hand held bag, if you read many airline standards they actually state that you can have 1 item of hand luggage plus a laptop case.

otherwise, i have my assignment counterpart carry a bag for me , he has too or simply we cant get the job done

So far, all my checkin items have had very good ride, always nice and snug in there boxes

regards

Craig

Two comments:

1) Magic Filters! I'm posting examples of shots taken at about 12m, one with a filter, and one with twin strobes. You have to guess which is which....

2) Carry-on restrictions: my LowePro is now too big, since terrorist suspicions have dramatically reduced the size of acceptable hand luggage, and I recently flew on a British Airways flight where it was laptop OR Lowepro, but definitely one bag only, except in business class.

Tim

B)

Hello

 

re: Check in luggage.

 

So far ive never had a problem at all, i carry all my delicate gear "CHECK IN" everything else like

 

Ports - Strobes - Arms - cables - Spares , goes into the checkin in baggage, which is my dive bag packed into HARD PLASTIC containers firstly.

 

i carry on in a small camera/laptop rucsac that looks small on my wife

 

1x D200

1x 60mm

1x 105mm

1x 12-24mm

1x 10.5mm

1x 18-70mm

1x laptop

 

in a should style bag "lowepro nova 5" i carry

 

1x Housing with D200 body also mounted inside.

 

Both my bags are almost exactly 5kg each, maybe a little more, if i get any problems at all i simply fill my pockets with the lenses and voila !! the weight limit is acheived.

 

If i'm going out on assignment, i do have a slightly larger rucsac that will take all of the above, and i leave my laptop in a small hand held bag, if you read many airline standards they actually state that you can have 1 item of hand luggage plus a laptop case.

 

otherwise, i have my assignment counterpart carry a bag for me , he has too or simply we cant get the job done

 

So far, all my checkin items have had very good ride, always nice and snug in there boxes

 

regards

 

Craig

I'm posting examples of shots taken at about 12m, one with a filter, and one with twin strobes. You have to guess which is which....

Left one with flash? Right one with filter?

I'm wondering about strobes primarily for the purpose of providing fill-flash for shadows and improved shadow detail. Steve's and Craig's photos above are good examples of that. Having not used a good strobe before, to me, the improved color comes along for the ride. I've been able to do amazing color correction by shooting everything in RAW and correction later on during the raw conversion process.

It just kills me that ONE strobe pushes $1k... and most people seem to be using TWO! <_<

Hello Again,

(not sure of your name, its not in your details)

You dont have to use DS125 with your setup, Only if you require to shoot ETLL , thats if your housing is ETTL wired.

you could simply get a pair of SS100's for good money from Ebay or something and shoot like most of us with Manual flash.

most of the old guns work fine with the new digital rigs in Manual Flash mode.

i bet you could get a pair of SS100's for $600 nowdays.

I personally have been using Nikonos Sb-105's for a long time, it was only the compact size of the new Z240 that took me down the Inon Route, being 1/2 the size of the Sb-105 and very evenly matched in power output.

so far i'm really happy with them.

But your going to have to stay within the ikelite system unless ike does cables for other strobes to ikelite housings.

I got my last pair of 105's from the States "ebay" new items for $299 each, these would suit you fine. and i know for sure ike does a dual cable for nikonos onto ICS.

see this link http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nikonos-Nikon-SB-105...1QQcmdZViewItem

This is the guy i purchased from, great to deal with, for $219 you cant go wrong, all you need is a cable and arm.. get to it !

regards

Craig

I got my last pair of 105's from the States "ebay" new items for $299 each, these would suit you fine. and i know for sure ike does a dual cable for nikonos onto ICS.

 

see this link http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nikonos-Nikon-SB-105...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

This is the guy i purchased from, great to deal with, for $219 you cant go wrong, all you need is a cable and arm.. get to it !

 

regards

 

Craig

Can't agree more with Craig, I also have two SB 105, one is from the same dealer (at 180$ as I remember) they have thus strobes any time around this prices, be aware that some are with the diffuser and some are not.

Its 'funny' but a full arm package costs me more then the strobe itself

Craig, if you don’t have what to do anymore with your dual cable for Nikonos I'm looking for that item

HI Arnon

yeh still have and want to sell it.

would be looking for £50 GBP for it + shipping "approx" £12 its brand new, Ikelite made.

if your interested can you email me direct, payment can be via PAYPAL, or PM me and i'll send you my email addy

not posting here due to spammers

thanks

craig

Can't agree more with Craig, I also have two SB 105, one is from the same dealer (at 180$ as I remember) they have thus strobes any time around this prices, be aware that some are with the diffuser and some are not.

Its 'funny' but a full arm package costs me more then the strobe itself

Craig, if you don’t have what to do anymore with your dual cable for Nikonos I'm looking for that item

Hi Arnon

just remembered, your an Ikelite user, the cord i have is Nikonos bulkhead fitting to SB-105's.. made by ikelite

you need a 4115.32 cable

mine is 4115.2

never mind, good luck in your search for one.