2nd Strobe for Olympus 4040

I currently use an Ikelite DS-50 with an Olympus PT-010 housing.

I also use the Ikelite tray and arm which I find too heavy and inflexible.

I am would like to upgrade to a two stobe setup. Would the Epoque 150DS be acceptable as a second strobe as money is an issue ?

What tray and arm solutions are available for the PT-010 that would support dual strobes ?

Also I have heard that Epoque are releasing a wide angle lens. Does anyone know anything about this ?

When using two strobes, you need to consider how you want to balance the light across the image. If you point the strobes to light half the image each, you may end up with one side of the picture looking lighter than the other if the strobes don't have similar guide numbers. With my film camera, I would use two strobes of different power for some CFWA situations where I used a small strobe (Ikelite MV) to light the center of the image (the CF part) and a larger strobe to light the rest (the WA part). Another thing to think about is how the strobe's slave function operates. The Ike DS-strobes recreate the pre-flash. I think the Epoque does the same. The Sea&Sea strobes ignore the preflash and fire on the second (main) flash. Some practice would probably be necessary (but then again, it always is ).

As for strobe arms, I bought an Ultralight Nikonos tray and it fits onto the PT-010 nicely. It can be adapted for one or two arms -- I currently use one arm consisting of a handle, a 5" standard ULCS segment, an 8" buoyancy arm, two standard clamps, a triple clamp, a strobe adaptor and an adaptor for the Ike remote sensor. These arms are sweet, but you pay for them. My little setup cost around $300, including the tray. You might also go to Underwaterdigital.net to see the Fisheye arms setup and Sea&Sea's arm. Yet another idea might be to build your own. Many companies are offering strobe arms made from Loc-Line modular tubing and you can get the pieces at several industrial supply places. I made some arms out of a similar product called Snap-Loc (I find it to be a bit more sturdy) for my Substrobe MVs. As long as you can figure out how to mount the strobe to the arm and the arm to the tray, this is really cool. I built both arms for less than $70, including some piece-parts I scavanged from old Ike equipment and stuff I ordered from them. Oh, and lots of epoxy . If you're curious, I might be able to post some pictures of my handiwork after I get home this evening . . .

Mike

[Edited on 1-25-2002 by MikeO]

Mike,

You're got my curiousity up about the Locline arms. You BETTER post some pictures...

Cheers

James

OK, I'll post the pictures when I get home. I also screwed up the web link in my above message. It is underwaterdigital.net, not underwaterdigital.com!

Mark,

The Epoque ES-150DS should work as a second slave strobe though you would need a Sea and Sea fiber optic cable to synchronize it. From my experience using the Epoque, I noticed that the Epoque ES-150DS misfires when it is pointed to the water surface. My theory is the Epoque strobe is reading the ambient light that's coming from the surface. In conclusion, I managed to fix the problem by attaching the Sea and Sea fiber optic cable to the epoque sensor using an aftermarket plastic mount. As for the tray and strobe arm, you can try the Sea and Sea multi w stay for the tray and you will also need 1 or 2 ULCS t-plates to mount 1 or 2 strobe arm [ i like to use the INON strobe arm of ULCS strobe arm ] 1 or 2 ULCS t base plate adapter, fiber optic cable and the sensor mount for the Epoque ES-150DS.

Here is a picture of the setup. I hope this helps.

Olympus PT-010 with 2 Epoque ES150DS and INON wide angle lens

Allan

Here is one of my homemade strobe arms. I used Snap-Loc tubing that I got from a company called Cedarberg. You need a special wedge to split the pieces apart and you have to whack the heck out of them to put them together. However, if you keep the length of the arm less than 16" or so and use a small strobe, they work really well. I show it attached to an Ikelite housing fitting. the strobe adaptor and the handle adaptor are epoxied in. Note the holes for drainage . . .

Mike