New to this U/W photography, need as much help as I can get!

Hello Everyone.

This is my first post on Wetpixel, And I am a newbie when it comes to underwater photography, so please be gentle with me?

OK, I recently bought a used Ikelite TTL housing for a Nikon D70 off some-one who has upgraded. Along with the housing, and ports came a Subal Flash housing for the Nikon SB80dx, so I went and found a s/h SB80dx.

My problem is connecting the housed flash to the housing. It didnt come with a cable of any sort, so I started looking and searching, (which is how I found Wetpixel), but cannot seem to find any info.

Looking at the Ikelite website, there are loads of cables, but I dont know which one is the one to use. I understand that I will not be able to use TTL with this setup, which is a bit of a shame, but I dont use TTL topside all the time, so I can live with that.

So, to Summarise my wafflings, How do I connect a Subal housed SB80dx to an Ikelite D70 housing, and get it to fire?

As much as I would like to rush out and buy shiny new strobes, I cannot afford to do it for a while. I also understand the Subal housing is quite an expensive bit of kit, so it would be a shame not to use it, and I wouldnt know how much to ask for it if I wanted to sell it and buy new strobes.

Please help me, as I am really excited about getting addicted to underwater photography, and I dont know how yet.

Sorry for the long and waffling first post, next time, I'll make it a short one.

Thank you all in advance.

Well, I have to say over 70 views and not a single reply, I am a little disappointed to say the least!

Can no-one help or advise?

I think you have had many readers and no replies as those reading are not certain how to help.

I have none of the equipment you are using, except a D70 I use on land only.

Others use the Ike D70 housing but perhaps have other strobe situations.

You could consider using a Magic Filter, search on this site with that name or Google magic filter as well.

I cannot help with your real issue, getting the Subal to flash, etc. When people have an answer here, they are rarely bashful.

If I was in your situation and could find no answers for the connection, I would use the magic filters and color correct using Lightroom 1.4 (NOT version 2.0) until my cash flow was better. I would immediately sell what I could not use and buy what I knew would work when cash flow was better, whether used or new. Not suggesting you should do this, its what I would do.

Sorry I cannot be more helpful. I have an novice to all this as well, compared to most people at this site. I looked at your entry before and did not answer since this is not the answer you are really after. Since you are pressing for someone to answer, here is one attempt, feeble as it is.

I use fiber optic triggered flash and like it a lot.

Dave

The problem is that is quit unusual setup, no many photographers use the Subal's SB80 housing and even less combine it with Ikelite's housing.

I for example don't have a clue what is the connector of the Subal's housing so it's hard to advice.

Check in Ikelite's site if one of the cords feet it.

Hi,

First of all, welcome to the world of underwater photography. It's a very exciting hobby and you've come to the right place for answers to most questions.

I agree that your setup is most unusual (your housed flash used with the Ikelite housing) and that has a lot to do with why you haven't received many replies.

You might try contacting Ryan at Reef Photo and Video. There's a link to Reef Photo on this site. He is very knowledgeable about everything related to underwater photography. If he doesn't know the answer, he will find out someone who does. So you might want to check with him and see what he has to say about your specific situation.

Hope that helps.

Ellen

Hi GHP, I would suggest you give the folks at Ikelite a call and ask them how to connect that particular strobe to that housing. Ikelite has some of the best tech support I've experienced anywhere so I'm pretty sure they will be able to help you out. The bulkhead on the Ikelite housing is unique to Ikelite, so unless the person you bought it from had it configured differently, its probably an Ikelite bulkhead, so you would need to buy the synch cord from Ikelite. The strobe end could possibly be a standard Nikon connection or something else. It might help if you took some snapshots of the pieces you are trying to put together and posting them, especially where things look like they should connect. There are a lot of different configurations and even when all the ducks line up, it still might not work. Welcome to the world of underwater photography.

Don't get discouraged. You can always sell off the odd pieces on ebay or pick up something else that's more compatible. Perhaps a used Ikelite strobe. You can also post in the classified section here on wetpixel if you're looking for something in particular. Most of us here have big boxes of bits and pieces that make things connect and might be able to offer you a good price on what you might need.

Nothing another $1000 can't fix. (just kidding)

Hope this helps!

Thank you all for your replies.

I have spoken to various technical people on this, and it would appear that this combination is not going to work, unless I get the Ikelite housing adapted and rewired, a new cable, and even then we are not really sure!!

I have decided to buy a pair of Nikonos 105 strobes ( mainly because they seem really cheap @ $200 each approx.) I know that Ike sell a cable off the shelf for this setup, so I will have a pair of strobes which should work. I dont really want to go down the road of "converting" my housing, because eventually I would like to buy a pair of DS160s, so that I can have TTL, so I would have to pay to have it "un-converted" later down the line.

Diver Dave, I will be getting some magic filters, but as I dive mostly in the UK, I need as much light as I can get to compensate for the miserable lack of sunshine over here ! I know that green magic are available, but in this dull light?

So now I need to sell the Subal SB800 housing, and all should be well.

So, anyone want a Subal flash housing?