Inon Z220 vs Ike DS125

Good pt about the batteries, I hadn't thought about that. Since I've been doing UW photography they have gone from 1600 to 2700 MaH - not bad.

With that said, the Ike battery packs generally have standard NiCad or NiMH cells in them. The big packs for the SS400's can be re-celled with D-cell NiMH and I think the DS125's have a standard cell inside too but I could be wrong.

I wish I could have a mix of strobes, DS200's for WA and the Inons for macro but it is also a pain having two types of cords, etc.

Cheers

James

Sorry Phil that website is wrong...

Although it is possible that an uploading error might occur, I believe that the present information found in the StrobeFinder to be consistent with that published by the respective manufacturers. I would also like to add that prior to originally publishing the database, Ike Brigham verified all Ikelite specifications, including the DS 125. And Mark Rupert verified all INON data, including the Z220.

As stated, information found in the StrobeFinder comes directly from published specifications provided by the manufacturer. There exists only two exceptions to this rule. The underwater weight of the DS 125 (NiCAD battery pack) was calculated independently and verified by Ike Brigham. The newly released S&S YS 250Pro Watt second rating was measured by a respected independent test facility and can be found by clicking the "notes" link (250 Ws).

For uniformity, all Guide Numbers listed in the StrobeFinder are posted in Meters, ISO 100. Some manufacturers provide both top side and underwater Gn's. Most however provide only the top side guide number.

Not all manufacturers list Watt second ratings.

Strobes are not equally efficient at taking advantage of their stored energy. Strobes by design also use their energy storage differently (some spread the light more whereas some focus their energy more "precisely").

Ikelite strobes tends to derive their model names from their approximate Watt Second rating (DS 51 = 50 Ws, DS 200 = 200 Ws, etc). INON strobes tend to derive their model names from their top side guide number rating, listed in meters (ISO 100). For instance, the D 180 has a top side GN of 18 (meters, ISO 100) and all versions of the D 2000 (S, W, Wn, etc) are rated through air by INON at GN 20 (M, ISO 100). Z-240 =Gn 24.......and so on......

hth,

b

I would love a higher power wide angle strobe that used AA batteries. An 8 cell Inon Z-320??? An 8 cell DS-200???

You can use 4 Z-240. I've see someone dive with 4 Inon strobes. It's not that unwieldy.

Yes, AA batteries have made a lot of progress. Not long ago they were a liability. Now I think they're the way to go for power as well as size and cost. You don't have to worry about custom chargers, cell matching, and special packaging. A custom battery is clearly preferred once you get big enough, but the crossover size keeps getting bigger and bigger. I think an 8 AA-cell strobe could be quite powerful and still fast.

I'm going on my next trip prepared to dive with quad Z-240s. I'm using a single arm on each side with a triple clamp expanding to two strobesand I'm driving the second pair as fiber-connected slaves hoping to avoid having to control quite so many individual power settings. 4 Z-240s gives you a lot of flexibility in shaping the coverage and yields lots of power yet is lighter than a pair of DS-200s and makes a better macro solution. I hope it's managable. I've done an entire trip with triple Z-220s on three arms and it was not difficult.

I stand corrected Being an American I am used to feet instead of metric. The website had listed the guide numbers in meters and was ambiguous in doing so. I am however very familiar with professional stobes, guide numbers and watt seconds. The Inon seems a weaker choice to me however because of the battery design(recycle time & life) and the flash tubes they use. If you look at the strobe heads the ikelite has a ring type flash tube. These are similar to the flash tubes in professional strobe heads like (dyna-lite, profoto, etc.) By nature they have a larger circular coverage angle. Inon gets around this by having two small linear flash tubes mounted perpendicularly from each other.

Enough about that though. In my work I use many different strobes and light is basically light. I'll use different power for different subject matter. The main determining factor is which system is appropriate for what I am shooting or which I am more comfortable with.

Inon Z220 and the Ike DS 125 are both capable of good quality so this tread is a little silly.

happy shooting!

I can't give you an objective test, as I use the notorious Ken Rockwell excuse of "art" not "measurement".

But, I have used the lower-power Z-200s for several years to cover not only a 12-24mm, but also a 10.5mm.

Subjectively, the coverage is quite even with a diffusor plate, and "hot-spots" are usually down to my poor strobe positioning:

12-24mm

Tim

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