Canon Powershot A610 and SL960D strobe???

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the whole underwater photography thing, and even photography in general, so I apologize for what might be a set of very basic questions. I've attempted to research this to no end, but haven't had much luck.

I bought the Canon Powershot A610 and the Canon underwater housing last year and got surprisingly good pictures on my first dive trip. However, I want to add a strobe for my next trip.

It seems like preflash is a big issue with strobe use and choice. However, I can't tell if my camera has a preflash in the different modes. Should it be obvious? Does the red-eye reduction setting mean there's a preflash for sure? I couldn't find any info on the Canon website.

Anyway, Seal Life has a 'universal strobe' that supposedly works with all cameras, but is triggered by preflash (from what I understand!) - the SL960D. Would this work or is there a better choice?

If anyone has some time to help me with this I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks!

All digital cameras now have a preflash. The preflash, as I understand it, is the invisible pulse sent out by the camera to determine the amount of light needed to properly expose the subject. Its sends out the pulse and then reads the reflected pulse off the subject. So, if you have a non-digital strobe that only fires on the first detection of light, it will misfire or not be synced up with the shutter in the digital camera.

The 960D should work fine with your camera as will other digital strobes. These digital strobes have a setting that ignores the preflash and fires with the main strobe. There will be no TTL or auto exposure but you can manually set the output on the back of the strobe.

All digital cameras now have a preflash. The preflash, as I understand it, is the invisible pulse sent out by the camera to determine the amount of light needed to properly expose the subject. Its sends out the pulse and then reads the reflected pulse off the subject. So, if you have a non-digital strobe that only fires on the first detection of light, it will misfire or not be synced up with the shutter in the digital camera.

The 960D should work fine with your camera as will other digital strobes. These digital strobes have a setting that ignores the preflash and fires with the main strobe. There will be no TTL or auto exposure but you can manually set the output on the back of the strobe.

Thanks very much for the explanation - now I finally understand what I've been reading!

All digital cameras now have a preflash. The preflash, as I understand it, is the invisible pulse sent out by the camera to determine the amount of light needed to properly expose the subject. Its sends out the pulse and then reads the reflected pulse off the subject. So, if you have a non-digital strobe that only fires on the first detection of light, it will misfire or not be synced up with the shutter in the digital camera.

The 960D should work fine with your camera as will other digital strobes. These digital strobes have a setting that ignores the preflash and fires with the main strobe. There will be no TTL or auto exposure but you can manually set the output on the back of the strobe.

Thanks very much for the explanation - now I finally understand what I've been reading!