Seahorn snoot with Inon Z240

Hi David,

Many thanks for the cool advices for the lenses. Your octopus adapter looks very cool, but I can imagine how difficult is to use it.

My above water system has only 4 arms, so it's only a half-octopus, but sometimes I feel it too much.

I think 3 arms would be optimal (Two long and a shorter in the middle)

Cheers

Marcell

How much difference does the positioning of the fibres at the strobe end make? In some of the pics people have made essentially flat covers whilst others had more of a 'cup'

Duncan

How much difference does the positioning of the fibres at the strobe end make? In some of the pics people have made essentially flat covers whilst others had more of a 'cup'

 

Duncan

Good question. The cup type may help to focus a bit the light to the fibers, especially if it covered inside with reflective material. When additional lenses collecting and focusing the light to the fiber ends it requires also a bit of distance from the strobe, so the flat covers wouldn't work.

How much difference does the positioning of the fibres at the strobe end make? In some of the pics people have made essentially flat covers whilst others had more of a 'cup'

 

Duncan

Hi Duncan

Interesting question. I have tried many ways to spread, diffuse and "project" light from the fibre optic tips. Even the tips could be made into tiny snoots. It all boils down to what you want to do. I personally prefer to make it simple and try to make light transmission as efficient as possible. Once this is achieved I could start to alter the light from the tip to the subject. Marcell's snoot is excellent and ingenious but I doubt for UW work you need reflectors as water absorbs and diffuse light very efficiently so the tips have to be close to the subject but not in the image field and that is the point (pun not intended) of the fibre optic snoot. The version I make have very long arms so that it coils back to itself if needed and provide a back light light to a macro subject. Since I am getting a few orders now I am sure some feedback with surface in a few weeks. I love this forum for this type of open discussion and it is a real treasure trove of information and ideas.

Cheers

David

Hi Duncan

 

Interesting question. I have tried many ways to spread, diffuse and "project" light from the fibre optic tips. Even the tips could be made into tiny snoots. It all boils down to what you want to do. I personally prefer to make it simple and try to make light transmission as efficient as possible. Once this is achieved I could start to alter the light from the tip to the subject. Marcell's snoot is excellent and ingenious but I doubt for UW work you need reflectors as water absorbs and diffuse light very efficiently so the tips have to be close to the subject but not in the image field and that is the point (pun not intended) of the fibre optic snoot. The version I make have very long arms so that it coils back to itself if needed and provide a back light light to a macro subject. Since I am getting a few orders now I am sure some feedback with surface in a few weeks. I love this forum for this type of open discussion and it is a real treasure trove of information and ideas.

 

 

Cheers

 

David

Hi David,

I was talking more about the other end of the fibre snoot where it meets the strobe. i.e getting light into the fibres in the first place. Any thought on this?

Hi David,

 

I was talking more about the other end of the fibre snoot where it meets the strobe. i.e getting light into the fibres in the first place. Any thought on this?

Hi Duncan

The fibre optic snoots I made and now producing uses a lens that focuses the flash light from a strobe to the tips of the fibre optic. These tips themselves are highly polished- almost like little lenses themselves. Like I said in my last post I wanted efficient transmission of light. If this is still unclear just imagine the sun and when you use a magnifying glass to concentrate the sun's light to a point it will burn things. Same principle is used here. Not to burn things but to concentrate the light. The only difference is that the focal length of the lens you want to use will depend how far it is away from the light source. The shorter the focal length the better. makes the unit more compact. If you are building one - have fun.

Cheers

David