S6 = S6?... oh no!

Calling all you clever folk out there!

I've got myself into a right muddle with my camera and flash housings, both of which have 'S6' bulkheads... which turn out to be totally different!

Sigh, I suppose I should have known better but as this is my first foray into dSLRs I wasn't really prepared for the vagaries of manufacturer 'standards'.

Anyway, if anyone has got any bright ideas about how I can get the two to talk I would be most grateful.

The camera is a Canon 1000D in a new Epoque C1010 housing with the 6-pin bulkhead as shown below.

The flash is a Canon 420ex in a Sealux housing with their European 6-pin bulkhead.

I'd love to know if anyone actually manufactures a sync cable that will let the two talk to each other, or failing that I was rather hoping that the Epoque bulkhead is the same as the 10Bar 6-pin system so I can at least replace the European S6 bulkhead in the Sealux housing & use the 10Bar one with their cables.

All help, thoughts, comments gratefully received!!

Calling all you clever folk out there!

 

I've got myself into a right muddle with my camera and flash housings, both of which have 'S6' bulkheads... which turn out to be totally different!

 

Sigh, I suppose I should have known better but as this is my first foray into dSLRs I wasn't really prepared for the vagaries of manufacturer 'standards'.

 

Anyway, if anyone has got any bright ideas about how I can get the two to talk I would be most grateful.

 

The camera is a Canon 1000D in a new Epoque C1010 housing with the 6-pin bulkhead as shown below.

 

The flash is a Canon 420ex in a Sealux housing with their European 6-pin bulkhead.

 

I'd love to know if anyone actually manufactures a sync cable that will let the two talk to each other, or failing that I was rather hoping that the Epoque bulkhead is the same as the 10Bar 6-pin system so I can at least replace the European S6 bulkhead in the Sealux housing & use the 10Bar one with their cables.

 

All help, thoughts, comments gratefully received!!

I had sort of the same problem in reverse. Change the bulkhead to the "normal" s6 and you should be fine.

Bill

I know of a guy who makes custom cables based in the UK - company is called KMR (I think), and the guy's name is keith, tel 01621 868805, www.aquaphot.com

He made a 40' sync cable for me almost next day, is really helpful and knows his stuff. Maybe try giving him a call to see if he can make a cable up for you?

Good luck

I would favor swapping one of the bulkheads out rather than a custom cable. If a cable goes out then you are stuck trying to get another one made rather finding a more standard one. Which depending on where you are and how much time you have may be a limiting factor.

Thanks for all your replys & info

I've managed to order a new bulkhead & cable so I'll see if that will work first of all.

Failing that I'll go with the custom cable idea - Jurgen at Sealux has also offered to customise a cable but wants me to send both the camera & flash housings along with the cable... not sure I can be without it at the moment!

When (if!) I get this to work I'll report on the solution!

Thanks again!

Just in case anyone's interested & because I said I would, here's an update...

The Fantasea cable arived from Japan & the 6 pins all align perfectly with the Epoque bulkhead... except that Epoque added a plastic notch thus preventing the cable from sitting in the bulkhead... sigh!

Anyway, after much moaning to my dive buddies I abandoned the whole idea of synch-cable ttl & decided to go for a shiney new Sea & Sea YS110a and optically controlled 'ds-TTL' instead. Why dind't I just go with this option in the first place?! It's brilliand and as far as I can tell it's giving me as near as TTL as I'm going to want :-)

My Canon 1000D can easily go for a 2hr dive with over 200 flah dominated photos & show no signs of battery drain, the colour es excelent & the exposure & flash control spot on... so I'm a happy chappy at last.

Here's an aperture chart, f/2.8 top left, f32 bottom right:

Underwater it's just as good:

You realize that with the 420EX you have access to rear curtain and high speed sync?