Advice for an affordable solution for a strobe for Canon XTI

HI All,

I am very new to underwater photography and am confused about which strobe to buy. I just purchased a package that contains the following:

F-400D Underwater Housing for Canon Rebel XTI Digital Camera with Standard Flat Port with Zoom Control

F-580EX Underwater Housing for Canon 580EX Flash with Sync Cord -

Small Ball -Joint Arm Set (Connector Base, Strobe Head Adapter, and One 7" Section)

15mm Port Extension Ring for FD80, FD70N, FD50N, F400D and F350D Housings

104 mm Single Port Bracket for Canon 18-55 mm Standard Port and 100 mm Lens Macro Port

LED Nano Focus Light with Mounting Ring - Rated up to 300'

I already have a canon XTi but do not have a flash for it. I am very stretched on the budget as is so I'm looking for a chaper solution. I guess one option is to buy a canon 580EX flash for the housing but they are very pricy. Is there an analog strobe I can use with this setup and get good results. If not what's the cheaest digital probe that will work. Please post model numbers for stobes that have worked for you or ones that you think would work.

Thankyou

Let me make sure I understand you seti: You already have the Fantasea housing for the Canon 580EX flash?

If so then you should buy the 580EX and use it in the housing - you will be hard pressed to find a cheaper alternative. The 580EX has also been replaced by the version II so you can find the 580EX version 1 very cheap if you buy used.

Cheers

James

Let me make sure I understand you seti: You already have the Fantasea housing for the Canon 580EX flash?

 

If so then you should buy the 580EX and use it in the housing - you will be hard pressed to find a cheaper alternative. The 580EX has also been replaced by the version II so you can find the 580EX version 1 very cheap if you buy used.

 

Cheers

James

James, That is correct, I already have the housing. Would a 580EX be powerful enough or would I need a second flash? I have seen the 580Ex flashes for about $350. Is there a substrobe that would be same or less than the 580ex (in price) and give better results? I can always sell the housing for the 580Ex to cover some of the price of an underwater strobe.

Thanks for the response.

The 580EX is an excellent flash for topside use and I'd imagine it would be awesome for underwater macro and maybe fish photography. The flash head zooms when you change focal lengths and it's a decent color temperature. It runs off of 4 AA batteries, so can't be that much more or less powerful than the other AA powered underwater flashes.

Cheers

James

The FE580EX housing is being updated slightly to work with the new vII of the strobe.

The new strobe has quite a few improved features and power, and I would pay the extra for it. The good news is that either strobe will work with either housing, except for the power control, which was changed on the new strobe. ie you just have to turn on the new vII before you close the case, otherwise all buttons and features work fine. It has a sleep mode and won't use power. The same holds true for an older 580 in the newer housing.

The ETTL is awesome on these strobes. You can use two together with an optical sync cord between them and have eTTL with both.

Jack

Hi Jack,

Do you have a photo showing the two 580's connected together using the optical sync cord? That sounds like a good plan.

Cheers

James

NO, it works the same as with the Nikon SB800's though.

Colin Gans has a web article here: http://www.gans.co.nz/dive/SB800_Dual/index.htm

I think Matt Segal was going to try it out with the Canon strobes...? Matt?

Jack

I Think I am leaning towards a 580Ex. However, Someone locally is Selling a couple of strobes namely the ys90 Duo and a Ys60 both for $500. My question is, would these Strobes work better than the 580 EX? would they work at all with my setup?

If I were to go the 580 EX route, what (cheap) strobe would you recommend to go as a slave with the 580 EX other than a secoand 580 EX. I see a lot of older strobes designed for Analog 35mm Cameras on Ebay and Craigs list. Would Some of those work as a slave?

I looked at the guide numbers and Seems like the guide numbers for the UW strobes (I mentioned above)are in the 20s to 30s range while the guide number for the 580EX is in the 50s. Does that mean that the 580 Ex would be better for UW than the YS 60 and 90 that I mentioned earlier?

thanks a lot

The YS 90 or 60 won't work with your housing/camera. Sync cord is not compatible.

Something like that might work in manual slave mode, but it may affect using the 580EX in auto eTTL mode. I know that the Nikon SB800 will not work properly in iTTL with another strobe in manual, it underexposes. Your combinations/modes, etc may vary; too many variables to comment on.

The GN given is for land, in water it is probably about a third of that, but numbers lie and I'd say the 580 is probably about the equivalent to a GN of around 19-20 in water.

Jack

Thanks for the response Jack. You saved me a lot of money by not getting these and finding out that they dint work. So what Strobe would you recommend. would a Gflash work? they are Sure cheap.