Optical for 7D?

So, back to my musings, will the on cam flash withstand 1) repeated firings over a short period of time, 2) withstand the heat build up of these firings.

I converted my Subal C40 housing to fibre optics back in mid 2008 and have used it extensively with both the 40D & 50D on both local diving and trips to Indonesia (all of which are warm tropical waters where heat build up problems should be aggravated). Never had a problem with the internal flash being used heavily over short periods of time or heat build up.

Cool! Are you having the optical cables provide camera E-TTL II control to the strobes as well or is there only strobe triggering from the flash?

I see no problem with any of this with Macro. But how does optic TTL hold up when shooting close up wide angle? Scenario I'm envisioning is shooting an active bait ball while shooting a Tok 1017 FE or Sigma 17-70Macro and have very fast action and I'm shooting in continuous high speed @ 8fps (and why I got the 7D)

In this scenario I want to focus on the action and not on strobe settings and recycle times.

Bo

Cool! Are you having the optical cables provide camera E-TTL II control to the strobes as well or is there only strobe triggering from the flash?

I see no problem with any of this with Macro. But how does optic TTL hold up when shooting close up wide angle?

Bo, to really take advantage of the 7d's fast continuous shooting, hard wired strobes are the way to go. A little over a a year ago, Eric did a test with the Canon 1d MKIII and Sea and Sea YS250 strobes. His test is a video (posted here on WP somewhere) showing the YS 250 strobes firing for approximately 6 of the 10 frames...VERY nice for shooting fast action, but would definitely be slowed if using fiber optic ttl.

Although TTL itself is not always extremely accurate for wide angle shots...being hard wired will allow your strobes to fire off more times then not when shooting in continuous mode for big animals. Sharks, whales and dolphins are my thing too...so in that case its hard wired only for me. For macro, the camera's internal flash recycling is much less of an issue.

Bo, to really take advantage of the 7d's fast continuous shooting, hard wired strobes are the way to go. A little over a a year ago, Eric did a test with the Canon 1d MKIII and Sea and Sea YS250 strobes. His test is a video (posted here on WP somewhere) showing the YS 250 strobes firing for approximately 6 of the 10 frames...VERY nice for shooting fast action, but would definitely be slowed if using fiber optic ttl.

 

Although TTL itself is not always extremely accurate for wide angle shots...being hard wired will allow your strobes to fire off more times then not when shooting in continuous mode for big animals. Sharks, whales and dolphins are my thing too...so in that case its hard wired only for me. For macro, the camera's internal flash recycling is much less of an issue.

Mike..

I hear you!

I have the need for speed!

Whatever it will take................,but I realy was hoping that fiber was going to be the way on this, because of all the reasons I had stated before.

I'm a stubborn Dutchman...lol

Bo

to really take advantage of the 7d's fast continuous shooting, hard wired strobes are the way to go

Hi Mike,

Hope I can pick your brain on this.

Assuming I had the Canon 7D, the Nauticam housing and 2x Z240 strobes... what extra electronics would I need to get for electical TTL to work? I have read about HeinrichsWeikamp convertors - are they really necessary?

Thanks!

Hi Mike,

 

Hope I can pick your brain on this.

 

Assuming I had the Canon 7D, the Nauticam housing and 2x Z240 strobes... what extra electronics would I need to get for electical TTL to work? I have read about HeinrichsWeikamp convertors - are they really necessary?

 

Thanks!

You would need some sort of electrical TTL converter. Matthias's stuff works, but I don't think they are selling them to individuals any more but they are still available at the Reef site. You could go the S&S route but there are several of these and it isn't clear which one will work best with the z240. I have the Heinrichs external converter and it works well with my Inons. Other than that you will also need to get your housing with the s6 bulkhead installed so you can get TTL from Canon. A PITA but when it works it is quite nice.

Bill

Thanks for the info Bill,

Is this the external convertor you are talking about? (http://reefphoto.com/index.php?main_page=p...roducts_id=2355)

Do I only need one to control both strobes? I hope so 'coz they're quite pricey!

Thanks

I had a chance to play with this yesterday with a 7D in a Nauticam Housing with Inon strobes. While the 7D can not shoot at its full frame rate with the internal flash popped up and the power set to 1/128, it does do pretty well.

If you needed 5 or 7fps for behavior work, the electrical firing is the way to go. If you want ttl, and just under 3fps is sufficient for continuous shooting, then optical firing with Inon or Sea & Sea YS-110a strobes is a great option.

The camera shows "busy" in the viewfinder for an instant after shutter release, then fires again. The hesitation after around 20 frames is buffer related, not flash related.

Some more clarification:

I was under the impression (probably wrong) that the Zillion guys were using the Inon optical converter,

Not currently. Now they are using a proprietary circuit that they will not sell on its own. There are other options available, but they are all a bit too large for most housings.

My concern is, over say a 2 week dive trip, it's not uncommon to fire well over 3-4 thousand images. The on cam flash is enclosed in an insulated environment, and heat can build up. The air surrounding the camera inside the housing is a poor conductor of heat, it's not like it'll quickly dissipate (assuming it's present). Our UW strobes are designed to release heat into the water. So, back to my musings, will the on cam flash withstand 1) repeated firings over a short period of time, 2) withstand the heat build up of these firings.

I've never heard of any issues with this... Combining all of the Japanese housings that trigger strobes optically, I'd say there are thousands of units in the field, so if this were to be a problem I imagine it would have surfaced.

Do I only need one to control both strobes? I hope so 'coz they're quite pricey!

You only need one, then run a dual sync cord from the converter to 2 strobes.

Thanks for the info Bill,

 

Is this the external convertor you are talking about? (http://reefphoto.com/index.php?main_page=p...roducts_id=2355)

 

Do I only need one to control both strobes? I hope so 'coz they're quite pricey!

 

Thanks

Yep. I have one and it works pretty well. BUT make sure you take it apart (from the housing and the strobe cord) every night and grease things up. I had one in Indonesia that totally froze the sync cord to the converter. Fixed now (thanks Reef)

Bill

Thanks for the info guys!

Any ETA for an internal version of the HW converter?

S.

I had a chance to play with this yesterday with a 7D in a Nauticam Housing with Inon strobes.

Thanks Ryan! That helped me alot

Any possibility to get some pics of the inside of the housing and close up of the port system? How does the Ikelite adapter work?

Again thanks!

Bo

I posted this in the Nauticam Quality thread but it is probably of more interest in this thread:

There are 2 possible benefits of optical flash firing; ttl & relaibility.

Any ETA for an internal version of the HW converter?

We used to offer these, but had moved exclusively to the more reliable external converter. Now that it has been discontinued, we are reevaluating our options, but the internal route isn't my preference.

Any possibility to get some pics of the inside of the housing and close up of the port system?

Soon. There are lots of port images on nauticam.com.

How does the Ikelite adapter work?

This is the adapter for the 8" dome port which converts it to a Nauticam mount. This combo does not vignette with fisheye lenses, and can be used with all Nauticam locking extension rings for longer lenses.

http://nauticamusa.com/dealers/images/parts/21313-a.jpg

http://nauticamusa.com/dealers/images/parts/21313-b.jpg

This is the adapter for all of the clear flat ports, most of the clear dome ports, and most of the modular port bodies. It is a two part adapter, with the port pressing down into a base piece, then tightly secured with the threaded locking ring. This has a very solid feel.

http://nauticamusa.com/dealers/images/parts/21303.jpg