Seaflash 150 on location in Bonaire

I just returned from teaching my Digital Master class in Bonaire, and used it as an opportunity for doing some overdue testing. The results of the corner testing on various lenses is at http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28444 over on the D-SLR forum, but for myself I was eager to try out my new Seaflash 150 as a single strobe for wide angle.

I used to shoot that way a lot, going back to my old Subsea 150 and Nikon SB-104 and Ikelte 200, because I liked to be able to handhold a single flash, put it where I want, and let ambient light essentially be my second strobe. Of course, the Subsea and Nikonos strobes are no longer made, and would be too big and heavy to travel with anyway. Plus, no one laments not having to buy the 510-volt battery packs of the old Subsea MK150, no matter how nice the light was for wide angle.

As strobes evolved into smaller and smaller packages for travel considerations, I began to wish I once again had that one strobe head that could cover my full frame fisheye lens when needed, and punch through the water column to light a distant subject if it had to. This strobe seems to offer that kind of performance ... Big Strobe coverage and power in relatively Small Strobe size and weight.

Here's the strobe with the new accessory diffuser attached:

Here's the kind of coverage it gives with the Canon 15mm on a 1DsMKIII, single strobe only:

Here's some more random shots from Bonaire, all with Seaflash 150. The wide angle shots are single Seaflash 150, and the fish/macro shots usually had an Ikelite DS160 on the right:

http://stephenfrink.blogspot.com/2009/02/d...in-bonaire.html

Wow, that's impressive!

Bringing back the lost art of hand-holding your strobe....cool. The next thing you know, a single straight 2 1/2 foot long stobe arm will be all the rage.

Hi Stephen,

First, thanks for your always useful posts

I am thinking on buying the 5D MkII+ housing and I was wondering if when used with the new TTL Seacam strobes the rear curtain synchro can be activated. Since I switched to Canon with my now old 5D it is a function that I've missed a lot, and I haven't found the way to have 2nd curtain flash since then.

Thanks

jordi

Hi Stephen,

First, thanks for your always useful posts

I am thinking on buying the 5D MkII+ housing and I was wondering if when used with the new TTL Seacam strobes the rear curtain synchro can be activated. Since I switched to Canon with my now old 5D it is a function that I've missed a lot, and I haven't found the way to have 2nd curtain flash since then.

Thanks

 

jordi

Jordi - Thanks for the kind words ... and yes, rear curtain synch does work so long as all 5 pins are in hot-shoe (necessary for E-TTL as well) and an S6 connector is installed on housing. Nikon can work in i-TTL with 5 or 6-pin connectors (N5 or S6) but Canon requires all 6-pins.

See http://stephenfrink.blogspot.com/2008/12/r...h-it-works.html for more on rear curtain, or see this photo to see trailing light behind implied motion, typical of rear curtain synch:

For more about S6, in general, see http://www.seacamusa.com/s6-connector.shtml

I can't speak for E-TTL and rear-curtain synch functionality on all housings, as I've only tried on Seacam. But, the strobe is certainly enabled, so long as the synch sockets and housing circuit board will support the technology.

Very nice, Steve! I had a chance to handle the 150 en route to delivering it to someone else, and was REALLY impressed by the size/weight and apparent build quality! It's pricey, but I was assuming I'd need a pair...

I hadn't considered buying just one...and using some other strobe (e.g., one of my little Inon Z-240's) to supplement it! Hmmm....

Very nice, Steve! I had a chance to handle the 150 en route to delivering it to someone else, and was REALLY impressed by the size/weight and apparent build quality! It's pricey, but I was assuming I'd need a pair...

 

I hadn't considered buying just one...and using some other strobe (e.g., one of my little Inon Z-240's) to supplement it! Hmmm....

Bruce - That's actually a pretty nice way to travel. The 2 Inon Z240 fit in the same space as a Seaflash 150, and then you have the redundancy of 3 strobes on location. You can dial the Inons way down because they are just fill light and your batteries last longer, and you have the punch of a high powered wide strobe when you need it. The Inons alone have never been enough for me for wide angle, so I've always carried some other more powerful main light anyway. But, you ought to shoot this one with the diffuser attached. That was the nice surprise to me the first time out. There is no snoot to restrict the beam (the black ring on the front comes off when the diffuser goes on), so it is really wide and even for wide angle.

Sorry ... don't want to make it sound like a pitch, but as a shooter, I happen to like this strobe, particularly for wide angle.

This strobe continues to impress me. The wreck shot shows that it gives nice wide coverage combined with soft fall off - ideal. I am very tempted!

I'd agree that using a single 150 with two 240s can make an ideal travel kit providing some redundancy and various options. I took a similar set of strobes on my recent 4 week trip to Indonesia using 2 Inon Z240s and a Subtronic (older and less well specified than the 150) as a set. For macro I used the two INONs, for close focus wide angle I used the Subtronic as key/main light and the INON for fill. And for mega-scenics in Lembeh I used a three strobe setup with the two INONs fitted with my softboxes and the Subtronic. I also add filters to the INONs so that they are spectrally matched to my Subtronic's colour temperature, but I am not sure how significant that is.

Alex

Is color temp similar to the Subtronics?

Steve, what is the US price?

Is color temp similar to the Subtronics?

Steve, what is the US price?

Jeff - the Seaflash 150 with diffuser is 1995 euro, at today's exchange of approx. $1.26, about $2,500.

I'm not all that familiar with Subtronic to know if color temp is similar. I would think so, but can't say with certainty.

I'm not all that familiar with Subtronic to know if color temp is similar. I would think so, but can't say with certainty.

Subtronic are always changing their colour temperature anyway - so there is no simple answer!

For example the coolest Subtronic I know of is the Alpha Pro Macro - which is 5300K. Their new strobes (Nova, Midi etc) are 4800K. The Subtonic Mini is 4500K and Subtronic Alpha and Alpha Pro are 4300K.

The Seaflash 150 is 4400K, which is considerably warmer than your Subtronics, Jeff.

Alex

Subtronic are always changing their colour temperature anyway - so there is no simple answer!

 

For example the coolest Subtronic I know of is the Alpha Pro Macro - which is 5300K. Their new strobes (Nova, Midi etc) are 4800K. The Subtonic Mini is 4500K and Subtronic Alpha and Alpha Pro are 4300K.

 

The Seaflash 150 is 4400K, which is considerably warmer than your Subtronics, Jeff.

 

Alex

I have Novas and Midis, I thought those were both 4300-4500

Might be my mistake with the Nova, Jeff. That was from my notes - the Subtronic website has changed since I last looked it up!

Looking at the "new" subtronic website you can see the colour temperature of the Mini, Midi and Maxi are all 4800K:

http://www.subtronic.de/downloads/datenblattmini.pdf

http://www.subtronic.de/downloads/datenblattmidimaxi.pdf

The colour temp of the Nova is not listed:

http://www.subtronic.de/downloads/datenblattnova.pdf

My guess would be that it is the same. But it may not be.

The Seaflash 150 is noticeably warmer.

Alex

Just FYI, the difference between 4300 and 4800K is 25 mireds, or an 81B warming filter. The difference between 4800K and 5500K is about the same.

It appears that this strobe has a power supply similar to a DS-160, a color temp at least as warm, and a wider beam width. Anyone have any underwater brightness measurements? I'm curious how bright it is capable of. An optical trigger would be nice.

Novas are 4600 ºK

http://www.subtronic.de/downloads/anleitungnovaen608.pdf

By the way, the second day of my february trip to Cocos one of my Novas decided it was holiday for him too . It is the third time that one or the other have developed the same problem... Luckily, I had audited Luisa´s luggage and swapped different sunscreens/oils for my YS250pros but it is just not the same.

I have strobe fetishism as I am always thinking on getting more like Hartenbergers, Seacams or old subtronics.

Jordi - Thanks for the kind words ... and yes, rear curtain synch does work so long as all 5 pins are in hot-shoe (necessary for E-TTL as well) and an S6 connector is installed on housing. Nikon can work in i-TTL with 5 or 6-pin connectors (N5 or S6) but Canon requires all 6-pins.

 

See http://stephenfrink.blogspot.com/2008/12/r...h-it-works.html for more on rear curtain, or see this photo to see trailing light behind implied motion, typical of rear curtain synch:

 

For more about S6, in general, see http://www.seacamusa.com/s6-connector.shtml

 

I can't speak for E-TTL and rear-curtain synch functionality on all housings, as I've only tried on Seacam. But, the strobe is certainly enabled, so long as the synch sockets and housing circuit board will support the technology.

As update, I just tried rear curtain synch (RCS, aka 2nd curtain) on my 5DMKII and Seacam housing. Unlike the MKIII where RCS is set be a custom function, with the 5DII the camera has to detect the Canon speedlight to enable the external speedlight control. With my Canon speedlight attached to hotshoe, no problem. With Seaflash 150 through the Seacam housing the electronics aren't detected and menu is not active and 2nd curtain can't be selected. E-TTL works though.

So, to amend the info above. Yes to RCS for Canon MKIII/Seacam housing, apparently no to RCS for Canon 5DII/Seacam housing. At the moment anyway.

That's important to know Stephen. Thanks for that. Although that news really sucks for 5D2 shooters. That means there's no rear curtain for other cameras other than the 1D MK III series.

I do have to ask if the rear curtain sync with the Seacam is anything like when the Heinrich converter is connected.

In this thread there is discussion of Canon RCS:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24346

It seems there is a preflash then a flash. My experience with the HW converter is that it'll fire the preflash followed by a flash for approx every 1 sec. This sort of gives the illusion of RCS but Matthias Heinrich himself told me his Canon external converters do not have rear curtain sync on any camera.

So Stephen, just to confirm since your blog and previous posts don't mention a preflash. Did your tests show only one flash or a preflash followed by a 2nd flash?

That's important to know Stephen. Thanks for that. Although that news really sucks for 5D2 shooters. That means there's no rear curtain for other cameras other than the 1D MK III series.

I do have to ask if the rear curtain sync with the Seacam is anything like when the Heinrich converter is connected.

In this thread there is discussion of Canon RCS:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24346

It seems there is a preflash then a flash. My experience with the HW converter is that it'll fire the preflash followed by a flash for approx every 1 sec. This sort of gives the illusion of RCS but Matthias Heinrich himself told me his Canon external converters do not have rear curtain sync on any camera.

So Stephen, just to confirm since your blog and previous posts don't mention a preflash. Did your tests show only one flash or a preflash followed by a 2nd flash?

Drew - I can't speculate as to how Seaflash 150 acquires TTL information. I know it is not as you describe with the Heinrichs, but it would take someone like Harald Hordosch at SEACAM or his electronics guru to accurately describe, and I don't want to give false information. However, you may find relevant info here, http://www.seacamusa.com/seacam-seaflash-150-user-manual.pdf.

In doing this test for you on the MKIII, I also discovered some bad news for me. Since doing the newest MKIII firmware upgrade (either that one, http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/eos1dsm3/firmware-e.html, or some other since I did my initial tests in early December) now I don't have rear curtain synch in my 1DsMKIII either.

I think RCS for Canon is going to remain a moving target, especially with ongoing firmware updates from the camera company.

Update ... later this day. I tried my Canon Speedlight with this same camera body, and it doesn't work with RCS either. I'll need to send it for repair. So, disregard all above, as test is meaningless. RCS worked on Canon strobe + 5DII, so the wild card is the camera body in all of this.

That would be typical, wouldn't it? The kiss of death once you have to test it. Sorry to hear that and I hope you don't blame me for it . If you haven't had issues with your AF, why not downgrade the firmware to the older one to keep RCS? So what happens now with the new firmware? Does it not recognise the strobes and fires 1st curtain anyways?

Just to confirm, there is no preflash with the Seaflash 150 right? Thanks for taking the time to do this. I hope it's just an anomaly and you get RCS back.