G9/Ikelite housing/DS125: Will internal flash fire?

Does/can the internal flash of the G9 be disabled by the eTTL hookup to the Ikelite strobes? It would seem that this would be a major plus for eTTL vs. sTTL operation since it would double the camera's battery life and prevent fogging. It would also seem to trump any concerns about the eTTL cable flooding the housing since you'd be sealing the main compartment half as often to recharge.

Does/can the internal flash of the G9 be disabled by the eTTL hookup to the Ikelite strobes? It would seem that this would be a major plus for eTTL vs. sTTL operation since it would double the camera's battery life and prevent fogging. It would also seem to trump any concerns about the eTTL cable flooding the housing since you'd be sealing the main compartment half as often to recharge.

While it does save battery, I don't think it quite doubles the life ... but the internal flash will not fire if another strobe is attached to the hot shoe.

Hi Ryan,

If battery life is a major concern, you may like to check out http://www.inonamerica.com/content/docs/Ad...ircuit2F375.pdf which explains the battery saving function of the fibre optic sync'd S-TTL INON strobes, i.e. the Z-240

Thanks for the replies, that clears things up for me a lot. BTW, I just did a single test with a well used Canon S45, which uses the same battery as the G9 and the flash looks like a similar guide number 4 strobe.

Both tests were done with a full battery until the camera decided to shut off, one picture every 4 seconds, camera shut down every 20 pictures for 1 minute, AF at semi-random targets 0-10m, LCD on, no zooming or other operations.

Strobe on, normal EV setting: 192 shots

Stobe off: 263 shots

So about 35% improvement. The camera got a lot hotter with the strobe going. The Inon site claims 20% with their s-TTL, that sems about right considering there is still some flashing from the internal strobe.

The 100% number was just me remembering dive trips where I could get 2x2 tank trips out of a natural light session and only 2 out of strobe (not s-TTL), but I also am in the habit of turning the LCD off for most of the time and it may have been that I could have gotten 3 tanks out of the strobe setup but didn't want it dying on me.