Best all-rounder?

Hi all,

I've been shooting with 2xDS-125 for a few years now and have been pretty happy with them, apart from the battery pack plastic snapping and jamming once, but performance wise they've been good.

However they do weigh a fair bit and are on the larger side (a bit like me) and as I get stung with excess baggage fees lugging my Nexus housing, 2 storbes, various ports etc in a Pelikan I wondered if there was a tradeoff I could make by going to a smaller set up.

Obvious candidates would be the Inon Z240 or perhaps the YS-110 (underpowered for WA???) ?

I suspect the only issue for macro not so much power as color temp, which I'm not overly fussed with as I shoot raw and process as necessary through Nikon Capture and/or Photoshop.

But for WA, any comments on how to balance size and weight with getting reasonable coverage and power ? Despite many years of photography guide numbers still confuse me! Sad but true - was never brilliant with numbers .

Steve

I've used the DS125's, the Inons and various Sea and Sea strobes.

I think the new DS160's are probably the best all-round strobe as they are actually pretty small, and incredibly powerful for their size. They have a fantastic color temp too.

I used to have DS125's but they were just a bit too underpowered for my style, so I upgraded to DS200's. That was before the 160's were introduced of course :-)

The Z240's are nice, but they are not that much smaller, don't have a round flash tube (which I prefer) and are not as warm. With that said, I have a pair of Inons that I use for macro.

Cheers

James

James, I warm my Z240s to 4800°K (1/6 stop loss) (sometimes 4400° with about 1/3 stop loss of light). Once diffused and warmed, I think it holds up well for the power to size ratio, the beam is as wide if not wider than the ikelite. The falloff is more gradual with the DS160 (diffuser on) from what I can see.

I don't think there's much between the Inon vs DS160 in terms of performance. DS160 has the advantage of having a cleaner beam without the diffuser. I think Craig posted a pic of the Inon's beam undiffused and it came out to be a "T" shaped beam. So the Z240 have to have the diffuser on.

Regarding size and weight, the Inon is 750g with batteries and diffuser, the Ikelite 1.3kg. It uses 4 AA batteries vs the proprietary Ikelite battery which requires the Ikelite charger as well vs a 4 battery AA quick charger.

Steve, if you are a tech diver who regularly goes down to 60+m around Tioman, then the Ikelite is worth considering. However, for the best W/g ratio and compactness, the Inon Z240 is hard to beat.

James, I warm my Z240s to 4800°K (1/6 stop loss) (sometimes 4400° with about 1/3 stop loss of light).

How do you warm the Z-240?

I suspect a colored diffuser...so which one?

How do you warm the Z-240?

I suspect a colored diffuser...so which one?

Strobes And Water Colour

You can also use the Mired Shift Calculator on the Lee Website to calculate what filter you need to convert from one colour temperature to another.

I use Lee #223 to get it to 4800°K and #223+444 to get 4400°K.

I use Lee #223 to get it to 4800°K and #223+444 to get 4400°K.

Being a cheap bastard, I use the Rosco poly filters about $6.50 USD for a 20x24 sheet. I also use the red filters for stealty night dive lights.

Get your mired val. and look up the filter number. The 05, 10, 20 cc yelows are used to "warm" a blue light.

http://www.rosco.com/us/technotes/filters/lee_equiv.asp

Most of the time I just adjust the WB in my camera.

Bob

But for WA, any comments on how to balance size and weight with getting reasonable coverage and power ?

Here's another shot showing the S2000 alongside a Z240 and YS110:

The S2000 has the same angle of coverage as the Z240 and is slightly less powerful.

The original question's answer is probably an Inon Z-240 because of the weight and size. If you can us the fibre-optic connection, then I would say that it's a no-brainer.

Alex M suggested a cheap straw gel to warm up the Z-240's colour: it works for me.

Tim