Inon Z220 vs Ike DS125

The Z220 does not have a press-in button to activate the spotting light.

I used to have a pair of 220's and loved them. But I had a 1-pin non-TTL connection in my housing and could not get the lights to come on, no matter what I did. Herb found a fix, but it requires soldering - which I sort of never got around to.

Cheers

James

A DS125 is like having a mega dive light. The INON Z240 is like have a BIC lighter.

Great, many thanks all for your help!

I now just need to find a UK retailer who carries both so I can compare in the flesh so to speak!

Power, it's all about power...

No, it's not!

I first noticed that the artistic quality of my shots improved when I had to resort to a Sea & Sea YS20Duo with my Nikonos, when a big gun failed.

Using Inons and iso100 makes you get close, and improves the even-ness of the illumination with wide-angle lenses. It makes you use the ambient light creatively, and, particularly, the shadows. The only time that I've regretted going with a twin Inon set-up is when shooting big pelagics, and even then it can work:

Looking downwards at 52m...

Tim

B)

Don't want to start another debate over the issue of guide numbers but if you compare strobes on the attached link you will find that both the Inon Z-220 and Z-240 have the same beam angle and more power (I.E. higher guide number) than the DS-125.

http://www.digitaldiver.net/strobes.php

Phil Rudin

I also, do not want the engage in a my * is better than your * debate. But, fair is fair. I am a mere consumer; I neither work for Inon nor distribute their products. I have many friends using the DS-125 who are very pleased with its performance.

My Z-240’s tested f22+ @ ISO100. I did not measure the zone of maximum illumination, but on my slightly darker than 18% grey fire place the lighting appeared even (with -1/3 diffusers). In close up and macro shots, I get 300+ flashes (2400 mAmp NiHM) with plenty of reserve. I have not use them for w/a yet and this the first year of operation.

The diving forces in my choice of u/w gear were size, weight, and compatibility. The Z-240 is obviously smaller and lighter than the DS-125. With the exception of my camera batteries, all my gear uses AA NiMH batteries.

Too right.

I only wish that my cameras would run off AAs as well (the D200 does, but only on the surface: and the battery pack is plastic - what a cheek! I'll have to buy a D300 just for the alloy battery pack...). My strobes, torches etc all run off AAs, with wonderful flexibility.

I do use my Inons for wide angle, and I am happy enough to upgrade to Z240s in the near future, for the fibre-optic capacity. I get about 200 flashes before the recycle lag starts to be annoying with 2400mAhr AAs.

Tim

B)

Sorry, I meant to add this:

I have always found the strobe modelling light to work poorly as a focus light: it comes from the wrong direction unless the strobe is back-scatter close to the lens axis. I find the gentle light from the Inon strobe very useful for modelling, especially with the red filter attached. I use a high-intensity focus light for macro lenses, mounted above the port.

I'm not sure why the strobe light needs to be bright; for direction the Inons have a little red laser that easily penetrates out to 2-3m away.

Tim

B)

I have put the Z240 modeling light with the red filter to good use photographing Mandarinfish on Kapali. The red light was much less disruptive to the fish than my other lights. It could be the reduced intensity due to the filter, or it could be the color. Whatever the case, it worked well.

Here is an example (click for a bigger image).

Don't want to start another debate over the issue of guide numbers but if you compare strobes on the attached link you will find that both the Inon Z-220 and Z-240 have the same beam angle and more power (I.E. higher guide number) than the DS-125.

 

http://www.digitaldiver.net/strobes.php

 

Phil Rudin

Sorry Phil that website is wrong... The guide number of the DS 125 is 32 underwater and 64 air. That is almost three stops brighter than the z240 with a guide # of 12 underwater and 24 air. You can test this by using your flashmeter and setting both strobes to full power then take a reading at exactly the same distance from each strobe.

Sorry Phil that website is wrong... The guide number of the DS 125 is 32 underwater and 64 air. That is almost three stops brighter than the z240 with a guide # of 12 underwater and 24 air. You can test this by using your flashmeter and setting both strobes to full power then take a reading at exactly the same distance from each strobe.

Have you verified that the DS125 is 3 stops brighter than the Z-240? The DS-125's air guide number of 64 feet compares to the Z-240's GN of 79, the Z-220's GN of 72 and the DS-200's GN of 76. Inon's Z-240 guide number is 24 meters.

In order for the DS-125 at 110 watt-seconds to be 3 stops brighter, the Z-240 would have to be only 10-15 watt-seconds or incredibly poorly designed. That is ludicrous, of course.

Inon doesn't specify power supply capacity, but it does specify cycle life for various batteries. Z-240 specs

Inon specifies 320 cycles for four 2700mA batteries and that yields 146 watt-seconds per cycle. In other words, the power supplies for the Z-240 and DS-125 are similar in size.

The biggest downside of that test was that it was performed in air. It is not wrong though.

Sorry Phil that website is wrong... The guide number of the DS 125 is 32 underwater and 64 air. That is almost three stops brighter than the z240 with a guide # of 12 underwater and 24 air. You can test this by using your flashmeter and setting both strobes to full power then take a reading at exactly the same distance from each strobe.

You're confusing metres with feet. DS 125 has GN 64/32 in FEET and Z240 has GN 24/12 in METRES. If you recalculate the DS125 to metres, it gives you GN 20/10-22/11. So at least on paper, the Z240 is more powerful.

/christian

Robot,

As you can see not all strobes are tested the same, US. Iklite in feet, the rest of the world in meters and yes I have tested the strobes with a flash meter and the Z-220 has more power than the DS-125 with the Z-240 even brighter.

Phil Rudin

In the center ;-)

In the center ;-)

FUD. Who says either of them even measure their GNs in the center? If you have evidence that the Inon hotspots to up its GN then I'd like to see it. Otherwise, you must mean that the DS-125 is dead in the center. The simplest explanation, though, is that the Inons are simply brighter.

If you shoot a Z-240 and a DS-125 side by side with the Z-240 set at -1 to accomodate the difference in brightness, the Inon will out-recycle the Ike and provide 2.5x as many cycles per charge at 1/2 the weight. Replacement batteries and chargers are a small fraction of the cost and weight as well.

Craig,

It's not FUD - it's my opinion based on using both strobes. Well, I haven't used the 240, only the 220 but it's pretty close.

Remember, from our past light meter tests, the DS51 is brighter than all of these - which pretty much shows that you need more than one measurement.

Cheers

James

Suggesting that the Z-240 is somehow advantaged by measuring through the center is FUD. Both the Inon and DS-125 are rated at 100 degrees. One may argue whether one strobe is effectively wider than the other, but there's no doubt that the Z-240 is brighter.

Ike rates the DS-51 at 70 degrees with an air GN of 56, significantly weaker than all the other strobes discussed here. I've never performed a light meter test that demonstrated otherwise. It doesn't matter, though, because the Inons are not dedicated macro strobes, they are intended for the same applications as the DS-125.

There's more to a strobe than its guide number, but just because you prefer a strobe's beam shape, the design of its strobe tube, the color of its light or the service of its manufacturer does not mean that the strobe you like is more powerful.

Very good points Craig. If the Z240 is to be used as a wide angle strobe then it should have even coverage and a guide number that is within one stop 50 degrees off of center. At one time you were going to measure this - and I'm very interested to see the results. I shot w/ two of them when I was in Fiji using the Nikon 12-24 and I had difficulty getting the lighting coverage that I wanted. That could have been the strobe or it could have been my lack of skills. Either way, I'd love to see some tests so that I won't have to think about this anymore - lol.

Cheers

James

The Z240 and DS125 have very different output color. I think that explains the difference in efficiency. They are both incandescent sources which means that the one operating at higher temperature, bluer light, will be more efficient in converting electrical power to light. See for example

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_efficacy

I think you are right, Herb. I studied this briefly and found that, for a given strobe tube, increasing drive voltage improved efficiency and raised color temps. I believe that it's likely that Inon's colder light and its apparent superior efficiency are connected. We don't know all the details of the different tubes of course.

Accepting that the DS-125 is slightly wider and that warmer is more desirable, you can still use a diffuser and a warming filter on the Inon and get similar light output. You will not get the DS-125's 1 second recycle in that case, you will get 1.6, but it remains half the weight. The thing with Inons is that AA battery technology continues to improve. Proprietary battery packs generally do not and are much more costly. I would love a higher power wide angle strobe that used AA batteries. An 8 cell Inon Z-320??? An 8 cell DS-200???

Strobe advocacy is a lost cause, of course. People end up choosing one brand or another and like what they choose.