Second strobe dilemma - or what setup for dual strobe

Hi all!

I would appreciate a comment and suggestion how to solve a DSLR strobe setup dilemma.

I have a Nikon D2Xs in Subal Nd2 housing with two bulk head connectors. Taking Macro and wide angle pictures. Taking pictures in good and bad visibility seas.

I already have Ikelite Substrobe 200 (not DS200) and appropriate cabling for Nikon (used on my previous setup on Nikon F5).

Since I upgraded to digital I am also looking to upgrade to dual strobe setup. I am now in a dilemma what to do:

· TTL or manual? A year ago it would probably be a straight answer- manual. Today? What to do with old Ikelite?

· Second strobe TTL old one manual? How to set it up? Slave on old one. Stay with same size same brand?

· What power of second strobe? Same? Can be smaller?

· Combinations that I considered:

o Sub strobe 200 + Manual controller and Ikelite DS200 –ITTL converter for Nikon

o Sub strobe 200 + Manual controller and Ikelite Ds125 (or 160) –ITTL converter for Nikon

o Buy all new (not to happy L) What?

o Sub strobe 200 + Manual controller and Nikon SB800 in a housing (Subal)

o Sub strobe 200 + ??????

I would appreciate any suggestions

BR

Robert

Hi Robert,

I was going through the same dilemma a while ago... trying to blend the old with the new... and found it just wouldn't work.

Regarding manual vs TTL, personally, I wouldn't bother with all the add-ons for TTL. It's not like manual shooting is difficult when you see your results right away. There is so much better creative control with manual shooting. I start every dive at f8/125... something I learned when I stated shooting with a Nikonons III a long time ago. That's the setting that will work much of the time, so if you fall of the boat, and there happens to be a blue whale giving birth to triplets, while mantas circle overhead, you can shoot from the hip and probably get a keeper. Then simply tweak your settings as you go.

Someone here will be able to answer this better than I, but I am not sure how compatible the 200 is with new systems, and if you want to add a second strobe, you have no redundancy as chargers etc aren't the same.

I started out with one DS-161, then added a second a few months later. The second strobe made a tremendous difference.

I have an inherited substrobe 200, which I use off camera with a homemade slave sensor from the same era. When cabled to my 5DII through an Aquatica housing, the 200 will only fire on land if I have my inon Z240 in the other bulkhead and turned on. It won't fire underwater at all. I'm not sure why, but it seems overly complicated to fix - unless you know an experienced electronics person who's happy to work with you for free, it might be best to save your money for new strobes.

Note that ikelite doesn't make flash tubes for the substrobe series any more - once the tube goes, the strobe is finished. If the 200 substrobe is working reliably at the moment, I'd be happy to buy it off you for use as an off camera slave...the substrobes are nice in the (bigger) caves.

From looking thru the posts TTL on digital is fare from desired on most setups. It is complicated and proprietary to camera housing and strobe.

So if you go with strobes, manual is still preferred mode for most of the users.

If you set all to manual including strobe power, by my logic camera should be able to fire any strobe since it just sends info about timing and nothing else. Or is film manual different from digital manual?

So even in manual mode you should go with digital strobes for digital and analog strobes for film?

What to do with analog strobes? Use slave modules? Which ones?

Or use them as expensive paper weights J

BR

Robert