S-2000 vs DS-125

Any thoughts or barriers to this rant?

I have 2 DS-125's and am wondering why I shouldn't switch to 2 Inon S-2000's. I see used 125's bringing $500 on eBay and the new tiny Inons are $450. I have a Subal housing with Nikonos bulkheads and use an Ikelite ttl dual sync cord, which I figure I can sell also if need be. (the cord, not the housing)

It just seems like a step up to not have the extra weight and drag on land, in the water and at the airport.

What would I need to buy in addition to the strobes to make them compatible? New sync cord? I hear that Inon makes an adapter for this. Can I keep the ttl adapter and just buy a sync that goes from it to the Inons? People love both strobes so I don't think I'd be losing anything as far as picture quality, would I?

Trying to figure out if this makes sense or if I'm looking for an excuse to buy more stuff, but it seems like I'd be close to an even $ exchange.

Andy

The Inon S2000 can only be fired optically. As long as you can raise your camera's internal flash enough to fire (Nikon dSLRs have to have the flash fully raised, Canon only needs to be a raised a few millimetres) the S2000 will fire in sync with the camea's flash. You have the option of using a fibre optic sync cord or a wireless system where there is no sync cord at all.

You may want to compare the power of the S2000 to the DS125 before changing over, the S2000 is less powerful.

Got this back from Ryan at Reef, who we all know, KNOWS ALL...

The S-2000 are only triggered optically. Inon makes an optical converter, which converts the electrical signal to an optical one for triggering. It works well, but not perfectly. I'm getting an errant pop of the flashes every 5-6 minutes when I use it. I can tolerate this, and appreciate that I have more reliable optical triggering instead of electrical, but I'm sure I'll be really mad some day when I forget to turn my strobes off at the surface and the batteries tank. I quoted a spare optical converter, just to be safe. I haven't had one fail, but it is electronic, and without it you don't have strobes, so I think it is worth buying a spare.

The Inon Optical Converter D will let you use the S2000 in manual mode only. If you want to use the excellent Inon sTTL system you'll need to go optical all the way as I described in my previous post.

The Inon Optical Converter D will let you use the S2000 in manual mode only. If you want to use the excellent Inon sTTL system you'll need to go optical all the way as I described in my previous post.

Sorry. I didn't mean to imply u weren't correct. I was just posting more info and it wasn't clear on this site that I found here http://www.oceanoptics.co.uk/inons2000microst.html

So, you're saying that would mean that I would need to replace my housing if I wanted ttl? (which ain't gonna happen if I want to stay married) I rarely use ttl anyway so that isn't necessarily a deal breaker, but then again, as soon as I don't have it, I'll want it ;-) . It would also be nice to have a little more control over the strobe power beyond the settings that the 125 has. And the more that I think about it, other than the weight, that is the only operational thing i have been unhappy with. I'd love to be able to use my thumb to turn a dial like the Ikelite housing guys especially for CFWA stuff when that blue background is perfect and you just want to kiss the closer stuff a little differently, or get that perfect mix of ambient light inside of a wreck. Plus, I've scared of more than one subject adjusting strobe power.

Or.... Could I use the 125's ttl setting and use the camera (D300) to bracket the flash?

I used a friends D2000's last year and they seemed to be powerful enough and the s2000 is supposed to be close to that.

I actually converted my Subal housing to fibre optics using a kit from Reef Photo & Video that Ryan developed. Unfortunately as a Nikon user things aren't so simple for you. With my 40D/50D the camera's flash only has to be raised slightly to make everything work properly and there is sufficient room in the housing for this to happen. On a Nikon the cameras's flash has to be raised all the way before it will work and there isn't room in a Subal housing for this to happen. I have seen a work around where someone modified the switch that controls the flash in a Nikon D70S by bending one of the contacts so that the flash would work when only partially raised:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...hl=fibre+optics

So if you're willing to modify your camera and housing it may be possible to use fibre optics with your existing housing.

Thanks. Nice shots on your website by the way.

I'll probably stick with what I have. A couple of people recommended the Inon z240 but we have a Bonaire trip coming up and the play money account is getting low.

I like my 125's. Just looking for a weight reduction and a little more control over strobe output.

I actually converted my Subal housing to fibre optics using a kit from Reef Photo & Video that Ryan developed. Unfortunately as a Nikon user things aren't so simple for you. With my 40D/50D the camera's flash only has to be raised slightly to make everything work properly and there is sufficient room in the housing for this to happen. On a Nikon the cameras's flash has to be raised all the way before it will work and there isn't room in a Subal housing for this to happen. I have seen a work around where someone modified the switch that controls the flash in a Nikon D70S by bending one of the contacts so that the flash would work when only partially raised:

 

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...hl=fibre+optics

 

So if you're willing to modify your camera and housing it may be possible to use fibre optics with your existing housing.

Oh.... Was that your boat and trailer all tangled up and upside down? You're obviously alive, but scary pictures for whoever that was.

Oh.... Was that your boat and trailer all tangled up and upside down? You're obviously alive, but scary pictures for whoever that was.