Housed SB-800 ...Why not?

Hello, I am still new to UW photography and I'm slowly finding my way through it all. Subal makes a housing for the Nikon SB-800 speedlight. I use these topside and I love them. They are incredibly versatile and put out loads of light. I've never heard of anyone using these underwater, however, which makes me wonder, "Why not?" If anyone has had experience with these, or has an opinion about their use, please weigh in.

Thanks!

Usual answer to housing a land strobe is that they do not have a very high guide # UW. What is the price of the housing?

Usual answer to housing a land strobe is that they do not have a very high guide # UW. What is the price of the housing?

I just found a price for these at Backscatter, which actually explains why so few divers use them. ($1,000.00 ouch!)

I just found a price for these at Backscatter, which actually explains why so few divers use them. ($1,000.00 ouch!)

Try this: http://www.fantasea.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.494/.f

I have toyed with the idea of using my sb-800 in the fatasea housing and slave one or two of my inon-z240 flashes. That way I would use nikons ttl and avoid a third party converter. should be able to get plenty of light that way.

I f the SB 800 can do the job it would be a cheaper way to go and may yeild better ttl results

I have toyed with the idea of using my sb-800 in the fatasea housing and slave one or two of my inon-z240 flashes. That way I would use nikons ttl and avoid a third party converter. should be able to get plenty of light that way.

 

I f the SB 800 can do the job it would be a cheaper way to go and may yeild better ttl results

I was also looking at the sb-800. The benefit is you get an above ground strobe / with dual usage ( above and below ) ie more value and some redundancy with strobe and ttl converting.

Murphy's Law still applies to underwater photography and having SPARES is important.

I did loose 2 z240 strobes on a long , long 6 week livaboard in PNG.

I expected your could get better shutter speeds, in excess of 1/250

which is what my d300 and sea and sea ttl converterIII are limited too.

ie better sunbursts ie >1/1000 and well lit foreground subjects.

Is anyone shooting >1/250 using flash

Bentoni

I use the SB800 in a Subal housing for three years now and I'm very happy about it.

TTL is obviously working. I might add a slave later on.

rgds

Sven.

So, does the 5 pin "nikonos" style sync chord also work with the Ikelite housing? I would think that they would come up with a wireless flash that can be used underwater, to avoid having to use the cords.

Hello, I am still new to UW photography and I'm slowly finding my way through it all. Subal makes a housing for the Nikon SB-800 speedlight. I use these topside and I love them. They are incredibly versatile and put out loads of light. I've never heard of anyone using these underwater, however, which makes me wonder, "Why not?" If anyone has had experience with these, or has an opinion about their use, please weigh in.

Thanks!

Hi I've been using a single SB800 and slave YS90 works very well TTL. I have now got a second 800

and the results are better than with the YS90. I make my housings so cost is not a factor which

I suspect is the reason more SB800's are not used .

Hi I've been using a single SB800 and slave YS90 works very well TTL. I have now got a second 800

and the results are better than with the YS90. I make my housings so cost is not a factor which

I suspect is the reason more SB800's are not used .

I am interested in how you make the housings. Can you post a photo or two? Perhaps a 'how-to' description? Thanks.

Hi I've been using a single SB800 and slave YS90 works very well TTL. I have now got a second 800

and the results are better than with the YS90. I make my housings so cost is not a factor which

I suspect is the reason more SB800's are not used .

Hi Kevin,

I too, would really like to see how you fire the second SB800 flash, AND,

How you make your housings??

BTW, now that we have the fibre optic ports from Inon, has anyone tried firing the SB800

flash as a slave directly from the camera's built in flash??

Should work well and with dual strobes also???

Bruce...

I am interested in how you make the housings. Can you post a photo or two? Perhaps a 'how-to' description? Thanks.

I made 2 one from aluminium tube and perspex with no controls, you set up the flash before inserting in the

housing .

The other is made from all perspex which allows viewing of the screen so I have control over some of the

buttons.

control rods are stainless 3mm through 3 o rings able to move in and out and twist to push the buttons.

Hot shoe to flash and a standard 5 pin nik lead.

The second flash is fired through 2nd slave socket ready light and monitor disconected on this socket.

I am interested in how you make the housings. Can you post a photo or two? Perhaps a 'how-to' description? Thanks.

I made 2 one from aluminium tube and perspex with NO controls, you set up the flash before inserting in the

housing .

The other is made from all perspex which allows viewing of the screen so I have control over some of the

buttons.

control rods are stainless 3mm through 3 o rings able to move in and out and twist to push the buttons.

Hot shoe to flash and a standard 5 pin nik lead.

The second flash is fired through 2nd slave socket ready light and monitor disconected on this socket.

Hi Kevin,

I too, would really like to see how you fire the second SB800 flash, AND,

How you make your housings??

 

BTW, now that we have the fibre optic ports from Inon, has anyone tried firing the SB800

flash as a slave directly from the camera's built in flash??

Should work well and with dual strobes also???

 

Bruce...

The second is fired through second socket , the monitor and ready light pins not connected.

Attached is pic of the aluminium housing no controls on this ,not easy to describe the construction

sorry.

I've been using a single housed Nikon flash for the last six years, and I love it. First of all, the SB800 is a great flash for land photography. The flash works so well with a Nikon DSLR that you have to try it to understand how effective and how flexible it is.

The guide number underwater is comparable or higher than most underwater strobes, so that's not an issue. I have a Subal SB800 housing, which is expensive but well made. I have friends who use the much cheaper FantaSea SB800 housing, and although some of the early production units weren't very well made, I think they've gotten their act together now.

The Subal and FantaSea housings have all the flash controls, so adjustments are easy to do underwater. I shoot in iTTL, but it's very simple to adjust or bracket exposures with the flash controls - much easier than it is using the camera controls, and the large digital readouts on the SB800 are very easy to see. The SB800 gives very good results in iTTL, although I do bracket shots.

One very nice feature of the SB800 is the ability to automatically or manually zoom the beam width, which in effect lets you diffuse the light as much as you want and still have a decent guide number.

The biggest disadvantage of a housed SB800 is the size and weight, but to me the results outweigh that, and some of the bigger digital underwater strobes aren't that much smaller.

I have a Fantasea SB800 housing and a second SB800 that I may try firing using fiber optics linked to the first SB800, but I haven't tried it yet.

Here are the topside guide numbers for the SB800 flash. For underwater GN, I divide by 3, although other people use numbers ranging from 2-3. With the old Nikonos strobes, Nikon always maintained that 2 was the proper number, although Jim and Cathy Church preferred to use 3.

For those of you considering a Fantasea FSB-800 housing, I was told yesterday that they have been discontinued. I would act quickly to find one from a dealer with stock (not me - I have none!), they are not shipping any more.

I think they are redesigning for the new SB-900, etc., but that's just a guess.

Just a heads up.

Jack

I think they are redesigning for the new SB-900, etc., but that's just a guess.

Jack, is there really going to be an SB-900?

Jack, is there really going to be an SB-900?

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0807/08070101nikonsb900.asp

Yup.

The SB-800 is an amazing flash, but the specs on the SB-900 look incredible.

Oh me, another budget buster.