Remote strobe: fibre optics

Hey guys,

I have a spare Inon d2000 which is not TTL compatible. It is triggered by fiber optics. I dont want to get rid of it but cant think of anything to do with it.

I was thinking of taking it with me on a dive. It wont be connected to a strobe arm. I will place it somewhere sneaky and use my strobes to trigger it. I'm thinking that I should be able to completely hide the strobe and then put the fibre optic (30cm cord) somewhere easily triggered.

How does this sound?

Any things im overlooking?

what about back scatter?

Cheers,

Cal

Inons are actually one of the hardest strobes to get to fire as remotes - although I have never tried one with the fibre optic attached - that might help considerably.

Off camera strobes can create interesting images.

But the main thing you are overlooking is placing the strobe. It is really tricky to place a strobe and make it stay where you want and particularly point where you want! Especially if it is buoyant like an Inon.

It is great fun, but expect lots of trial an error. I have always found using off camera strobes much more fiddly than expected.

Alex

The strobe doesnt need to be pretty :-)

What about attaching weights to it?

Heres a question for you alex: If you fire a remote strobe, does it induce backscatter? is there a trick to positioning it to avoid scatter?

awesome image btw

Cal

Hi Cal,

Why isn't your D2000 TTL compliant?

I thought that the D2000 had S-TTL ??

Instead of firing your strobe by fibre optics, have you considered keeping it in sight of the primary strobes and firing it as a slave?

Are you sure that your D2000 is not compliant? Anyway, you should be able to fire the strobe manually and keep the power down so that it doesn't overwhelm the primaries...

As for backscatter. Backscatter by definition is particles reflecting the light from the strobes directly back into the lens of the camera. Therefore any reflections should, in theory, direct the light back at the strobe, and not at your camera lens...hopefully.

HTH,

Bruce...

Backscatter would depend on the position of the off camera strobe. As Bruce says - if it is close to the camera and facing in the same direction then it will produce backscatter like a normal camera mounted strobe. Away from the camera it is less of an issue.

Generally I find this technique is either too subtle or too over the top and contrived. And as I said before it is a lot of work to get the effects you want. Often when you use the strobe within the frame a bit of backscatter and flare are actually quite useful if you are after the less subtle effects.

Anyway, as you experiment to post your results here. I have found this a tough technique to use in the field and could do with some pointers to make more of it.

Alex

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?s=&am...st&p=133991

Folks in caves like to stick slaves on people's backs ... with interesting effects.

I liked my d2000 until it was lost, I would recomend you keep yours as a slave backup at least, especially if you go away on any dive trips as strobes do fail.

To test it as a backup. Replace one of your 2 main strobes with the d2000.

Unscrew its fibreoptic cable and you will be left with the plastic or glass pickup thats about 1cm and round.

Put your main strobe arm behind the housing a little and the slave strobe forward making sure the fibre optic pickup gets triggered by your main strobe. If you find your images half lit you might then change the preflash setting on the d2000. Set the magnet for manual shooting. You will need to be shooting manual on your camera and both strobes.

I have seen a few great shots where the 3rd slave strobe was stuck inside a basket star on a night dive with pretty stunning and unique look. The dive master Chris on undersea explorer on GBR made it look easy. But he been shooting fulltime on the liveaboard for a year and he been building up his technique with his buddy who did all the 3rd strobe placement. They had the 3rd strobe mounted on a pole.

For a week in April I tested 2 x z240s on double jointed strobe arms gaffer taped together with numerous point and shoot olympus's. I then gaffer tape the camera to the strobe arms and covered up the internal flashes diffuser with a little tape leaving an opening where the internal flash would trigger the z240s positioned over the top. This combo worked well as long as I did not move the strobes fibre optic pickups out of aliment with the cameras internal flash.

I found the trigger sensitivity of the inon 240s to be very sensitive. I would think the d2000 is probably the same. When it was sunny and clear and I was shallow the bouncing light rays would setoff the z240s.

So I would not turn them on until around 10 meters deep. If you are with other photographers you will find they may setoff the slave when they shoot. So you may need to head off on your own.

I always carry a drop strobe but generally only use it on macro subjects. I've only tried it with wide angle a couple times like shown in Alex's picture but never got usable results.

There is no need to add weight to an Inon strobe for this purpose as they are slightly negative already. If you use a YS adapter instead of a ball adapter the bouyancy will be more neutral and there's a built in attachment mechanism for your BC.

Inon, in their data sheet for the new S-2000 strobe, lists improved sensitivity and range with their optical trigger sensor. Apparently they recognize the shortcoming.

some good replies, thanks guys!

I've got a fair bit of thinking to do now.

ill take it down to a local pier site and see how it goes... I shoot mostly macro at the momment so I doubt I'll really need it.......

Cal

Yo Alex,

As a judge , do you guys view photos that employ different techniques (like off camera strobes) favourably? Ie do they get extra brownie points?

Cal

Depends on the judge, but yes.

There are so many good photos in comps, that having something a little different will help your work stand out.

That said the "creative technique" should not be the reason for the photo. It should be complimentary to the subject.

Alex

yeah of course,

Thats the tricky part though!

I'm off to ponder some interesting shots....................

Cal