ds-125 and housed nikon flash?

Hello, I upgraded from my oly 5050 setup to a d70 setup and I have some questions for you guys about strobe use. From my old setup I have a ds-125 and the TTL sensor. I am trying to figure out what new equipment I will need for the new camera since I will probably go with two strobes.

1. I saw the thread in this forum about the Subal housing for the sb-800 flash. Will this flash perform well underwater? I already have the sb-800 and it seems like one less thing to buy, even though the housing costs about as much as a ds-125.

2. Can a housed sb-800 work with a ds-125? What would the cable situation be? Would one over power the other?

3. I need to switch my ttl sensor out for a manual controller on the ds-125, if I were to go with a second ds-125 instead of the housed sb-800 what does the second ds-125 run off of? A ttl sensor aimed at the other strobe, or a second manual controller.

Thanks

Dustin

Hi Dustin,

If I interpret your question correctly, you are pretty much asking: I have a DS125 and an SB800. I also have a D70 and want to house it. What are my lighting options, and what's the BEST option."

Well, the best option will vary depending on your shooting style, and whether you want or need to shoot TTL.

For macro shooting, you will be happy with the housed SB800 for most circumstances. If you want some strobe fill from a second strobe, an optical slave that can be set to ignore preflash wold be good. So you would have one strobe TTL and one strobe set to a less powerful setting on manual (slave) for fill.

The other option would be to get another DS125 and a dual sync cord. For most shooting situations w/ your D70, you can shoot dual strobes in manual. With the 4 power settings on each DS125, you will be able to properly light just about any shot. For my dual strobe macro shooting, I tried manual on a few dives and I usually just use half or full on both strobes, since I tried to get the highest f-stop possible. That's what I did recently w/ my D100 as well - manual settings on the DS125 and I mostly just shot it in full w/ the diffuser.

You CAN use manual controllers if you want more power settings, and I think the preferred setup would be to have 2 manual controllers going to 2 bulkheads on the housing (that's how Eric shot his D60).

Cheers

James