Which Strobes for eTTL?

Aquatica is said to have worked out TTL for their A300 Digital Rebel Housing. (I can't find any information on the net about this other than the mention on this site). Inon is also meant to have eTTL support on its X2 housing. And Ike made a mention elsewhere that they were working on Canon eTTL sometime soon. So it seems that by mid 2004 Canon TTL strobe support should be pretty good.

Can anyone give me advice as to which strobes would be necessary/best for TTL functionality now and in the near future. I figure it would be a shame to invest in strobes now that I have to upgrade in a year when all the housings support TTL.

well i would say that if you are looking at an inon housing, then the z220 is the way to go. with the tokyo dive show this week end and pma, hopefully we should be able to get some more info (in english :twisted: ) on how it supports the 10d ttl...

/paul

My favorite sushi chef Fumi, who I must add is finally becoming interested in UW photography after translating about 2 thousand Japanese press releases for me, says the release makes no reference to the Auto control mentioned about every other sentence actually being through the lens. It does mention that the x2 controls the strobes, leading me to infer that this is an auto sensor built into the housing.

This is speculation, I don't know Japanese, I haven't seen this housing, I just tip well. My guess is still that it is not actually cracked eTTL, merely an old technology reborn, an auto sensor.

Remember the Helix aquat flash, or auto flash, or whatever it was that screwed an auto sensor into the hotshoe of the Nikonos. This isn't rocket science.

Maybe your sushi chef can get a job with Inon USA translating the press releases?

If it's true about an on housing sensor, it would probably be a poor substitute for eTTL, which I actually like as a flash exposure system although I seem to be in the minority!

I shoot in Av or M mode with flash, and in either case the camera determines flash exposure with shutter speed/f stop generally making no difference to this. This is quite different from how you're forced to shoot with a manual flash.

Aquatica + 300D sounds the most promising, but I've searched the net and aquatica's site a few times and haven't found any mention of Canon TTL except for here on wetpixel.

At this stage I figure ds-125 and manual controller would be the way to go for Canon underwater strobe, but it's not a very elegant solution to the problem of underwater flash exposure.

Aquatica has my Inon 220 strobe right now. I will let you know when I hear back from him.