Inon Z240 shooting modes, what to use and how to setup Canon G9 with it?

I recently changed from optical to electrical sync with my Patima G9 housing and Inon Z240 strobe. Because the optical sync drained the battery.

I’m fairly new to underwater photography, and thus would very much welcome any views on how to configure the Z240 and the G9. As some of you may have noticed, the Inon strobe manual in English is pretty obscure.

For starters:

1. With electrical sync, is it true that the only modes available in the strobe are External Auto and Manual?
   
2. Does the advanced cancel circuitry switch (up or down) have any affect, with electrical sync?
   

Read this:

http://reefphoto.com/tt/index.php?action=kb&article=7

Note: S-TTL Mode is not available when models D-2000W, D-2000WN, or Z-240 are connected to camera/housing with an electrical sync cable.

Yes the ACC switch does have an effect with electrical sync, you're going to need to have ACC disabled.

Hi UWP

I've been using the G9 and fibre optic sync'd Z-240s for more than a year and I'm surprised to hear your critisism of the G9's battery life used thus.

The Z-240 advanced cancel circuitry function ( http://inonamerica.com/content/docs/AdvCan...ircuit2F375.pdf ) seems to work very and gives me up to two dives of use though usually I swap out after each dive.

Forget S-TTL or TTL when e-synching the G9 to Z-240's. An e-TTL converter like those from Heinrichs Weikamp may restore eTTL for you. His converters work on the Nikonos protocol so, in theory, they should talk the right language to the Z-240's. Another option for you may be the Sea & Sea Canon TTL converter III which also speaks 'Nikonos'.

Hope this helps, Tim

... the optical sync drained the battery...

It sounds as if your G9 is putting out full power: have you checked the camera flash settings and the Inon Z-240 settings? I know that you need a PhD in Japanese manual-ology to follow the Z-240 instructions, but if the set-up is correct the camera should put out only a very brief pulse of light, and consume relatively little power.

Tim

It sounds as if your G9 is putting out full power ... but if the set-up is correct the camera should put out only a very brief pulse of light, and consume relatively little power.

Not sure that's so ... in a TTL-enabled mode on the G9 (Auto, P, TV or AV) I don't think one can control the internal strobe power because isn't that what determines the strength/length of the external strobe dump?

I think one can only dial-down the strobe power directly like that in Manual mode - which is not an e-TTL enabled shooting mode.

Right?

Hi UWP

 

I've been using the G9 and fibre optic sync'd Z-240s for more than a year and I'm surprised to hear your critisism of the G9's battery life used thus.

 

The Z-240 advanced cancel circuitry function ( http://inonamerica.com/content/docs/AdvCan...ircuit2F375.pdf ) seems to work very and gives me up to two dives of use though usually I swap out after each dive.

 

Hope this helps, Tim

Hi UWP,

I too have been using the G9 with optically connected dual Inon Z-240's for a while now. In my experience, and as Tim indicated, there's no reason you should not be able to get at least a couple of dives or a couple of hundred plus shots with the G9, before the batteries gives out on you.

The setup should work fine when set properly, however, as an added edge, you may want to consider picking up some inexpensive aftermarket spare batteries. I use these (http://www.ebuybatteries.com/product/camera_batteries/Canon/Canon-NB-2L-battery.htm), and I feel as though I get more battery life than the camera's factory battery.

Regardless of the battery, I would first definitely check your settings on the G9's flash output.

Adrian

I recently bought my second Z-240 for my G9 and headed to the local pool for testing. I am 1000 miles from an ocean and its been -15C here lately...so a bit too chilly for a dip in the local lake...

I put the 0.5 diffuser on the left, the 1.5 diffuser on the right.

Both strobes are about 12" from the camera and the front of the strobes is in line with the back of the camera, strobes pointed straight forward.

I varied the strobes to A and C from the usual B position when in s-TTL. I expected to see changes in light, shadows, etc. when making the changes. I particularly expected to see a difference when putting the 0.5 strobe to A and the 1.5 strobe to C.

I found no visible changes in shadows and lighting when changing the settings and no difference between the lighting of the 2 strobes.

I was using another diver as the model and some fake fish...real one's do not seem to last in the pool long.

Am I missing something?

I have yet to get the G9 into the ocean but other canon camera's I have used never ran out of power during a dive even if I took 100 pics with flash - and I never bothered to set the internal flash low even when using an external flash.

The only time I ran low on power was when I first started with a camera underwater and kept the back screen illuminated all the time. Now I turn it off between subjects and have no problems.

Are you keeping your camera back screen illuminated all the time or letting it go dark? I force my dark once I have finished with one subject, waiting to re-illuminate it once I see or anticipate something of interest.