Opinions Needed. To keep or sell my old strobes in favor of new ones.

After two-floods, I parted ways with my Ikelite D200 housing. To replace it, I just purchased a D200 housing from Sea&Sea. A better made unit for sure. Come to find out that picking out a suitable housing was the easy part. Now I am facing another dilemma. Primarily, should I use my Ikelite strobes (DS-125 and DS-50) or go to a different brand? Sea & Sea makes two that I am somewhat interested in. The YS-110 and the YS-250 Pro. I am going to shoot mostly macro and portrait with this set-up and a pair of 250’s might be overkill--heavy too!. Then again, the pics I’ve seen with the 110’s seem a little underexposed and lackluster. A pair of 110's fits my budget better, so does picking up a second DS-125 and running three-strobes. However, I would certainly come up with the extra dough if there were something that much better out there. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Wow - this is an easy one! Keep your strobes! The Ikelite strobes are totally compatible with the Sea and Sea housing - in fact, I think you can even use them with the iTTL converter if you get 2x Nikonos to Ikelite sync cords.

I would spare yourself the expense of switching strobes - I don't think it's necessary. Instead, I'd consider getting another DS125.

Cheers

James

hmm..i disagree, but i have a thing about ikelites, don't like their batteries ,functions and weight. i would stick them on ebay and buy 2xinon z-240's. i just did and i adore them, fast, powerful,light and liable to increase in power as battery power increases, but in the end it's personnal preference and if you have 2 working strobes that you know already.....

Jez

Get a DS 160 and the Ikelite iTTL adaptor.

Get a DS 160 and the Ikelite iTTL adaptor.

Hi Dave,

Hmm, How can you recommend something to someone else that is not even on the market yet?

It could be as useless as a box of rocks with a red and a black wire...

Unless of course, you have some inside information.....please share, we love scuttlebutt...

Bruce...

... and liable to increase in power as battery power increases...

Why would battery power increase during use? If anything it would decrease. If power decreases as battery power decreases, this would make these poor strobes as you would not be able to predict what the power output would be.

buy 2xinon z-240's. i just did and i adore them, fast, powerful,light and liable to increase in power as battery power increases,

Those little Inons are so powerful. They even go up to 11!

"Look, right across the board, 11, 11, 11, 11."

Sorry wrong picture:

Alex

Hahaha! "Mine goes to 11"

Well - the power of the strobe won't go up just because you switch from 2300maH batts to 2500 - it just means that you'll get more flashes before they go dead. Once they drop below the threshold voltage the strobe capacitors just won't get to full charge = end of the photo dive.

And I've got some more interesting news - the Ikelite battery packs are packed w/ NiMH batteries too - so as the power on those goes up (in the industry) I'm sure Ikelite pack's overall power will go up too. It's just easier to change the small cells in the Inons.

The Ikelite NiMH battery packs for the DS125 last a LOOOONNNGGG time - I can attest from intensive use in the PI last month. You can do a full 4-dive day on one battery pack - which is awesome. You might be able to get that from 4 AA's in an Inon, but since the Inon is slightly less powerful, you'll have to use a higher power on the Inon vs the Ike...

Cheers

James

Those little Inons are so powerful. They even go up to 11!

 

"Look, right across the board, 11, 11, 11, 11."

 

Sorry wrong picture:

 

 

Alex

One of the best, ever.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=akaD9v460yI

cheers

One of the best, ever.

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=akaD9v460yI

 

cheers

I haven't seen that in a long time. Thanks for making me laugh. I needed it!

I sent it to my son who makes this: http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=53 (See? It's goes past 11)

After two-floods, I parted ways with my Ikelite D200 housing.

..blaming it on the housing, are you?

I resemble that!

I have been sitting on this gag for a while, waiting for the right moment to use it. I am amused ever time I look at the back of my Inons.

Alex

I am amused ever time I look at the back of my Inons.

Now I'm also going to be giggling about that every time I use them. I can't believe that I never noticed that my numbers go up to 11! The things we take for granted.

I love my Inon Z-240s. I've been using them since I tried them in Cozumel last year. I couldn't give them back.

I also have two Ikelite DS-125 strobes and can't get myself to part with them either. Other than the weight and the proprietary batteries and dedicated chargers, I do still like them. I'm afraid that with all the changes in airline policies I may have to leave them at home in the future.

I also have the S&S DX-D200 with the TTL converter. Both strobes work beautifully with this setup, but I have also heard great things about the new Sea & Sea YS-250 Pro.

I have been sitting on this gag for a while, waiting for the right moment to use it.

And perfect timing it was too

Post of the week imo. .... (now I understand it)

Those little Inons are so powerful. They even go up to 11!

It's like how much more black could this be? And the answer is none, none more black.

Great I will be thinking of Spinal Tap all day instead of doing work - It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.

... but since the Inon is slightly less powerful, you'll have to use a higher power on the Inon vs the Ike...

The Inons are NOT less powerful. We've had this discussion before. Every test I've ever seen has shown the Inon Z-220/Z-240 to be brighter than the DS125, including the reference in this thread you started.

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20722

The DS125 consume more electrical power but the Inon Z240 is brighter. The key is the light color output. The redder, "warmer" Ikelite source is much less efficient in converting electrical power to light.

Personally, I prefer the Inons. I'd dump the old Ikelite strobes for a new pair of Z240.

Well - the power of the strobe won't go up just because you switch from 2300maH batts to 2500 - it just means that you'll get more flashes before they go dead. Once they drop below the threshold voltage the strobe capacitors just won't get to full charge = end of the photo dive.

And that was pretty much my point. More battery power should equal faster recycle time and more flashes, but it should not affect the power of each flash. The strobe would be basically unusable if the power fluctuated with the batteries as you could not predict how bright it would be.

The Ikelite NiMH battery packs for the DS125 last a LOOOONNNGGG time - I can attest from intensive use in the PI last month. You can do a full 4-dive day on one battery pack - which is awesome.

Really? I have only once tried to get more than one dive out of my DS125s (well twice, but I don't count the second time as the sync cable died and the strobes only fired around 10 times total for 2 dives). I actually replaced the battery pack on the master strobe after the first dive. The second strobe was basically dead at the end of the second dive after taking just over 320 photos across the two dives.

The NiMH pack will give around 300 full power flashes. So if you're shooting at 1/2 power most of the time you're looking at 300-600 photos.

Cheers

James

The key is the light color output. The redder, "warmer" Ikelite source is much less efficient in converting electrical power to light.

I've heard a lot of talk about the color temperature between the two strobes, but I can hardly tell the difference between the same shot I took with the Inons vs the DS-125. Is this something we should be able to see with the naked eye or just some technical specification? Does anyone have a photographic example of the difference that they could post? Or am I getting color blind in my old age?

The NiMH pack will give around 300 full power flashes. So if you're shooting at 1/2 power most of the time you're looking at 300-600 photos.

They must wear down with age. I can only get 2 1/2 dives out of mine.

I've heard a lot of talk about the color temperature between the two strobes, but I can hardly tell the difference between the same shot I took with the Inons vs the DS-125.

Alex posted some things here

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...24374&st=20

regarding filters and color temps