newbie advice - strobe or light cannon

Hello all! Ive been diving with my 5050/015 for a few months and Ive been lookin at getting a strobe.

I was doign my homework at my regular LDS and the shop dude recommended me to get a UK lightcannon instead of a strobe.

he showed me a few pictures taken with the setup and gave a convincing argument about how you can just 'let the electronics do the thinking' and how it 'takes the guesswork out of the lighting.'

I can see where hes coming from and actually, and i think it might just shorten the learning curve for soeone wanting to become a better photographer..

what are the advantages/disadvantages of strobes vs a bright video-ish light?

what factors do i need to consider?

oh.. the LC rig h will only cost 2/3 of a rstrobe rig with an ikelite 125

Thanks in advance!

Get a strobe.

Use a different shop.

Even a weak strobe will put more light in your photo than the best dive light, but the most important point is that the short duration of the strobe will let you choose the ratio of background lighting to strobe light by changing the shutter speed.

Do a search on this issue in the lighting forum. There's been many similar discussions.

I second both pieces of herb's advice.

I'd add that the "guesswork" in lighting is much of the learning curve toward being a better photographer. A video light is easier but a strobe provides much better results.

No contest. I had both when I started with my first UW setup (DS-50 and light cannon). There is no contest, a strobe is a much better choice, especially if you have the option to shoot in TTL. The 5050/pt015 combo works pretty well with the Ikelite wireless TTL sensor from what I understand, so I would go that route, as tempting as it is to save the money...

Check out my article on Page 4:

http://www.hups.org/11-2002.htm

It explains the difference in results that you will get when using a strobe.

Cheers

James

I echo Herb and Craigs comments entirely.