Inon z240s, diffusors and color temperature...

Hi All!

I've been looking around the web trying to find out what temperature the Inons have on a full dump with the two optional diffusors attached. If I remember correctly they will go a little warmer, but I would like to know exactely how much.

Anyone ?

Cheers,

Espen :-)

Espen,

You know that Inon sells blue-tinted 0.5 and 1.5 stop diffusers as well as the white ones? I can't answer your question about the color temperature with the white diffusers, but I do use the 0.5 diffusers almost all the time. I'd say they are fairly neutral, and certainly within the range of color temperature correction that we all do as a standard procedure when converting raw files.

I've experimented with Inon's blue filters to see if they could be used to yield the reciprocal of Alex's "magic filter" or an 85B on the lens in order to use fill flash with those filters. The experiments were not very successful - I had much better luck with discs cut out of sheets of blue gels used for studio lighting, inserted behind the white 0.5 diffusers.

Frogfish (Robert Delfs)

The unfiltered temp is 5050*k

I asked the INON rep at the LB dive show about color shift of the diffusers and he will get back to me. I'll post his response.

The unfiltered temp is 5050*k

I asked the INON rep at the LB dive show about color shift of the diffusers and he will get back to me. I'll post his response.

Thanks,

I'll be very interested to know.

My reason for asking is linked to the challenges of using balanced light. A warmer flash lets you cool the background easier and thus get richer blues without the flash lit area becoming unnaturally blue.

Thanks for the feed back!

Best wishes,

Espen :-)

I'll be very interested to know.

http://www.inonamerica.com/content/docs/Diffuser_System.pdf

The aforementioned response fron Inon-Japan on diffuser color shift:

"We have changed material of diffusers from the one

supplied with Z-220 series strobe. The current version is

made from three different color materials; transparent, translucent

and blue to reproduce actual natural color tone of a subject in an image.

There is almost no influence of current diffuser in terms of

color temperature of strobe or slightly lower the original value

at 100 Kelvin at largest which does not make any difference. "

The aforementioned response fron Inon-Japan on diffuser color shift:

 

"We have changed material of diffusers from the one

supplied with Z-220 series strobe. The current version is

made from three different color materials; transparent, translucent

and blue to reproduce actual natural color tone of a subject in an image.

 

There is almost no influence of current diffuser in terms of

color temperature of strobe or slightly lower the original value

at 100 Kelvin at largest which does not make any difference. "

Thanks a lot for the info Okuma.

I was hoping I could get a warmer image by using the diffusors. Seems it just ai'nt so...

Cheers,

Espen

I tried attaching some warming filters to a pair of Inons - but the ones I used were far too strong and the results were not nice. I bought some lighting gels, cut them to size and then held them in place behind the diffuser.

If you were going to try it I would suggest using the weakest warm up filter you can find, like an 85C.

I gave up on the idea and decided to carry on shooting with my big heavy strobes!

Alex

Thanks a lot for the info Okuma.

 

I was hoping I could get a warmer image by using the diffusors. Seems it just ai'nt so...

 

Cheers,

Espen

Are there any chance that you can get the old filter they made before, the white diffuser can get you from 5500 to 5400 close to sunlight.

Also, diffuser is not hard to find, right? Lens diffuser, strobe diffuser etc.

My reason for asking is linked to the challenges of using balanced light. A warmer flash lets you cool the background easier and thus get richer blues without the flash lit area becoming unnaturally blue.

The more prevelant it's use the more prevelant pasty fleshtones are becoming, not mention the overall bluish pall many photos are acquiring. I think it takes a very schooled hand to work this technique properly both in-water and in-post. I think Alex's comments about warming filters, for those of us who do not have strobes on which you can dial in temps, is the most promising way for people to acquire a balance in their lighting that will work for the post change in temp because I am not convinced a 4800k strobe allows for sliding to a cooler temp but still maintaining warm fleshtones.

Personally, while I've seen some images that become striking when the water is cooled, I don't find the Microsoft blue backgrounds visually effective for most images. By and large too much is too much. Plus you forsake pleasing fleshtones in most cases. But it is certainly another digital tool to employ under the right circustances.

Espen, these comments are not specific to your desire to cool water. But rather about what I see happening as more and more people attempt to create blue-blue background water.

To be completely honest. My subtronic color flash died that day (only two weeks before my trip). I'm completey dependant on my warm strobes to counteract the filtering effect water has on distance in water on WA shots. I tried my Inons but they are way to cold having a medium color temperature. And I was hoping a diffusor could give me a more subtronic look. Fortunately I had a long talk with the guys at subtronic and fixed the problem. So I'm back in buisness.

What I'm looking at now is a way to narrow down the beam from the inons to get more selective lighting. 100deg is too wide for macro IMHO.

Best wishes,

Espen

What I'm looking at now is a way to narrow down the beam from the inons to get more selective lighting. 100deg is too wide for macro IMHO.

Me too. I've looked but haven't seen anything interesting. I think some modifications could be made to the strobe to narrow the coverage but then they would be dedicated to macro. Inon's have diffusing lenses over the strobe tubes and a curved face that could be changed out fairly easily. I'd rather have a snoot.

Me too. I've looked but haven't seen anything interesting. I think some modifications could be made to the strobe to narrow the coverage but then they would be dedicated to macro. Inon's have diffusing lenses over the strobe tubes and a curved face that could be changed out fairly easily. I'd rather have a snoot.

I'm thinking more about a honey comb system attached to one of the diffusors for quick on/off attachment. I dont have a clue where to get the hold of some honey comb though.

any ideas?

Espen

How about a lighting store? You can get plastic grid (they call it diffuser) there. They have white and silver.

I used to use it in my aquarium all the time. It's not honeycombed though - it has a square design.

Cheers

James

How about a lighting store? You can get plastic grid (they call it diffuser) there. They have white and silver.

 

I used to use it in my aquarium all the time. It's not honeycombed though - it has a square design.

 

Cheers

James

Thanks James,

That might work. I'm thinking to reduce the part of the diffusor where light gets through (shading the edges) and then perhaps superglue the plastic grid to it. Getting a narrow and deep enough grid is the challenge I think.

This would let you mount and remove the diffusor and grid easily for any shots that require a wider beam.

Best wishes,

Espen