Need advice on lighting wide angle

Hello all,

I have a Nikon D80 with a Sigma 10-20mm lens that I will be housing soon. I'll be shooting a good amount of over/unders and w/a reefs.

So far I'm leaning towards Ike's housing and 8"dome which means I would leave the zoom at about 13-15mm.

My budget could swing two DS-51s, or one DS160.

I'm open to other manufacturers , but is loosing i-TTL worth it?

Thanks in advance, guys!!

I'd get the one DS-160 to start and add another when you can afford it. The DS-51s are great little strobes but just don't have enough power for most of the wide work you will probably do.

Todd

Hello all,

I have a Nikon D80 with a Sigma 10-20mm lens that I will be housing soon. I'll be shooting a good amount of over/unders and w/a reefs.

So far I'm leaning towards Ike's housing and 8"dome which means I would leave the zoom at about 13-15mm.

My budget could swing two DS-51s, or one DS160.

I'm open to other manufacturers , but is loosing i-TTL worth it?

 

Thanks in advance, guys!!

Though the DS 160 has 100 deg. coverage with the diffuser, you will need a second strobe to balance your lighting; there is quite a bit of fall out in illumination from the center to the edge of coverage. The DS 51 have 80 deg. coverage with diffuser and an u/w GN of 28 (ISO 100 in ft.). At ISO 200, the GN would be 56! Most do not recommend trying to light beyond 3 ft., so 51's could work. That said I would likely go with the 160's because of their round pattern.

I think you will find that you will use manual exposures for your over/under and most of your w/a. The TTL is helpful for action shots. I haven't explored the ike housing, so I don't know why you are limited to 13-15mm. I would think you could use a different housing/port to use the full range. Also, if the housing has optical ports, the Inon strobes will do sTTL. I have a Nexus housing fro the D80 with two Z240 strobes and a 170 mm port for the Nikkor 12-24 (with diopter) and the Sigma 17-70 (no diopter). I vary between TTL and manual. I think you would need a larger dome for o/u.

There are so many choices of equipment and even more opinions those choices.

Regards,

Bob