Inon/Ike sync

Does anyone know of a sync cord to connect an Inon 220 strobe to an Ikelite CP5000 housing?

Does S and S make one.

I belive Ikelite only support Ikelite and Nikonos strobes.

OR

is it possible to have the Ikelite socket on the housing replaced with the Nikonos style.

Unfortunately the Aussie distributor was unaware of these incompatibilities when I ordered the housing.

Ikelite will have a sync cord for Sea & Sea or Inon strobes to Ikelite housings available during January............

I love you !

...sorry, am I allowed to say that here

Ikelite will have a sync cord for Sea & Sea or Inon strobes to Ikelite housings available during January............

wahoo....great X'mas news!

I love you !

 

...sorry, am I allowed to say that here

yippeeee.... ike

I LLOOOOVVEEEE you

Ike............................please make the 5050 housing with the TTL since you've done it for the 5060. I'll bet the 5050 housing will outsell the 5060

So Sir Ike,

When will the sync cord be ready?

I'm ready to order ASAP.

Could you make an announcement here possibly?

Ikelite will have a sync cord for Sea & Sea or Inon strobes to Ikelite housings available during January............

Any progress?

Just heard that they are aiming for the end of March now........cant wait!

Just heard that they are aiming for the end of March now........cant wait!

Don't know if you have considered this but you can also connect the strobe with a fibre optic sync cable. The Inon Z220 has a connection just for this reason, the other end you attach to the housing pointing approximately at the camera flash (in the case of the Ikelite 5000 housing this would be on top of the housing as it has a built in flash deflector. It works well. You can be up and shooting immediately!

True gazzer,

I'm up and shooting already just slaving the Z220 off the redirected internal flash. It works pretty well but a proper synch cord would be better. If this proposed synch cord does not eventuate soon I'll do as you suggest.

True gazzer,

I'm up and shooting already just slaving the Z220 off the redirected internal flash. It works pretty well but a proper synch cord would be better. If this proposed synch cord does not eventuate soon I'll do as you suggest.

Well actually the fibre optic cable would be a proper sync cord and behave exactly like an electronic cable, 100% reliably. The only slight disadvantage would be the possibility of a missfire if another divers strobe went off very close to your own camera but it does give the advantage of one less point of potential leakage. Much cheaper too :-) Just a thought!

The true disadvantage to the fiber optic setup is that it relies on your in camera strobe to fire on each shot. This decreases your battery life and often requires a battery change between dives. In my experience with smaller housings, this also increases condensation inside the housing because of the heat generated by the camera compounded because you let in the humidity by opening up the housing on the dive boat to change batteries. I don't know if this problem affects larger housings to the same degree.

This problem was so bad on my last trip that it kept setting off the humidity sensor on the camera and the camera shut down. I had to wait for it to cool before I could restart it.

The advantage of the fiber optic setup over just wireless slave sensor is that you can block out the internal strobe and still get it to fire reliably. This is better because it reduces the backscatter of having the light source so close to the camera.

The true disadvantage to the fiber optic setup is that it relies on your in camera strobe to fire on each shot. This decreases your battery life and often requires a battery change between dives. In my experience with smaller housings, this also increases condensation inside the housing because of the heat generated by the camera compounded because you let in the humidity by opening up the housing on the dive boat to change batteries. I don't know if this problem affects larger housings to the same degree.  

 

This problem was so bad on my last trip that it kept setting off the humidity sensor on the camera and the camera shut down. I had to wait for it to cool before I could restart it.  

 

The advantage of the fiber optic setup over just wireless slave sensor is that you can block out the internal strobe and still get it to fire reliably.  

This is better because it reduces the backscatter of having the light source so close to the camera.

On most point & shoot prosumer digital camera the internal flash fires every shot. Even the Nikon 5000 being discussed here has a setting to turn off the internal flash but it still fires (something to do with focusing??) The amount of battery power used for the flash especially when dialled down or turned off (in the case of Nikon 5000) is very small. The Nikon 5000 does not have great battery life and requires a battery change at every dive, internal flash or not. The heat generated by an internal flash is also nothing compared to the heat generated by battery/general camera operation. The Ikelite housing being larger is not prone to fogging and is something I have never had an issue with.

In terms of the advantages of fibre optics syncs. A major advantage is having one point of potential water leakage less to worry about although of course you would need to cap the sync port connections anyway. You also don't have to play around with the camera settings to fire the external strobe. On the Nikon 5000 that is a bit of a pain especially when you use the camera above water and want to reset things. It is not as easy as it should be.

The fibre optic route is cheaper, available now and most importantly, offers no real dissadvantages when used with the Nikon 5000/Ike housing combination.

Gazzer,

What about the LCD turning off during internal flash recharge when battery is getting low.

That is a feature I cant wait to banish with a direct sync cord.

Gazzer,

 

What about the LCD turning off during internal flash recharge when battery is getting low.

 

That is a feature I cant wait to banish with a direct sync cord.

Well I try to never dive with a battery that gets that low. I make a habit of changing battery after every dive. In general after a dive of heavy usage that camera battery still seems to have enough juice to prevent the LCD switch off routine.

I am a bit puzzled as to why you think using the sync cord would prevent this happening. A low battery is a low battery sync cord or not. As I said earlier I do not believe the camera flash firing significantly effects camera battery life. Far more important is how you are using the camera, i.e. in one spot firing shot after shot which keeps the LCD on, and what the auto off time on the LCD is set to. Just my experience, others may dissagree?

Sounds like you need a better battery. My Sony battery lasts 4 to 6 dives taking 60+ pics a dive, all with the flash in force mode and LCD on all the time. I didn't think there was that big a diffrence in battery life.

I tested the new Ikelite #4118.1 sync cord connecting Inon Z220 to Ikelite CP5K housing today and am fairly happy with it.

The finish quality is poor, looks like someone has gripped the Inon end in a vice leaving sharp edges and burrs standing up just where the oring passes over when removing and the plastic locking nut is very roughly finished.

It only transmits the trigger signal so only provides manual flash and the focus light and laser are not operated through the sync cord.

On the positive side you can turn the internal coolpix flash off meaning that in low battery mode the LCD does not turn off whilst recharging the flash. My internal flash definitely does not fire when turned off.

It's great to be able to hand hold the Inon, and the focus light, laser and sync cord all work if you select optical/slave setting on the flash.

Could the roughness be from shipping damage? What I saw in shipping looks fine. The real mystery is why you would give up TTL which works very well with Coolpix 5000 in our housing.

If I had bought an Ikelite DS-50 or 125 then I would have had TTL from the start. However useful info was very scarce downunder back then. I was led to believe that I could order a housing with a nikonos bulkhead socket. If I go for a second strobe I'll probably get a DS-50.

Pretty sure it's not shipping damage. Vice marks 180 degrees apart.

EDIT: Link removed....problem solved.