Which strobes for Canon DSLR?

Ok if you had a Canon DSLR in a housing and were going to buy two strobes which ones would you get? I like the idea of using two of the same strobes for both macro and wide angle. I don't care too much about beam angle since I will have two which should cover my WA needs. I am taking a close look at the Inon Z220 and the Ike D125. The D125's seem are a little larger than what I would care to pack around and having two underwater might be a little ungangly, but if they are the cats meow then so be it.

Also I don't care about TTL or ETTL or whatever, I like to shoot in manual.

Any Canon shooters out there that can tell me what works and what does not with their set up?

Thanks, Keith

I just went through the same process about 2 months ago, choosing between the Inon Z220s and the Ike DS-125s. In the end, I decided on the DS-125s for a couple reasons.

1. I had personal experience with another Ike strobe, the DS-50, and was comfortable with the brand.

2. I could only buy a single set of strobes (2 of them) and felt that for very wide angle the DS-125s had slightly more power

3. I prefer Ikelite bulkheads to Nikonos ones, and there wasn't a sync cord available for Ike to Inon.

I definitely liked the Inon's, especially the size, weight, and the AA batteries. I just felt that the points above outweighed the benefits of the Inons.

Based on about 25 dives with the -125s, I've got to say, I'm very happy with them. They are definitely large and heavy is a factor, mostly out of the water. One thing I don't like is that they are hard to change settings on when you have them extended out at the end of 2 8" arms if you don't have the manual controller (which I don't). I find the 3 settings to be ok for the most part when shooting manual. More would be better, but I can't say that a lack of settings has seriously hampered my ability to get a shot. I'm the limiting factor, not the strobes.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying one is any better than the other, at least not in my hands, just that I chose the DS-125. If I was in the same situation as you (Seacam / MkII), I'd probably make the same decision again.

Hope this helps.

Tom

Thanks Tom, sounds good. I will have to take another look at them. On another note...have you heard when the Mark II's are coming in? From what I gather still will be the end of the month. Can't wait...Keith

FWIW, I've used both of these units, but the Inon only on one trip. Craig and I talk about these two strobes a lot...:-) Craig uses the Inon's w/ his D100 and I use Ike's with my S2pro.

For an ISO200 camera like the D100 or D70, the Inons put out all of the power you need for almost ANY shooting situation.

On the other hand, shooting an ISO100 camera like the S2pro or 10d, you need an extra stop of strobe power. The Inons don't seem to have quite enough power for all shots - they are somewhere in the middle. They are small and great for macro, but so are a lot of other strobes which are smaller and cheaper. They are a bit better for wide angle, and can cover most situations, except for balanced ambient/flash on bright days.

For my S2pro, I use Ike 200's for wide angle and Ike 50s or DS125s for macro.

Cheers

James

Craig if you are following this I'd like to hear what you have to say about the Inons or anyone else that has used them. What is appealing to me about the Inons is size, disposible or rechargable battery option and multiple power settings in manual mode. I am not sure if the laser or focusing light will work with a Mark II but they sound promising as well. But if they don't work then whats the point.

Keith

Another question came to mind as I was looking at the specs for the DS125 is the number of flashes per charge - 150. Do most of you that have the DS125 have a spare battery? The most dives I would do on small day boat would be 3 in a day and now with not having to worry about film, I wonder if 150 flashes would be enought for a day of diving. On a live aboard I could see charging the batteries during surface intervals. Any thoughts?

Thanks, Keith

Another question came to mind as I was looking at the specs for the DS125 is the number of flashes per charge - 150. Do most of you that have the DS125 have a spare battery? The most dives I would do on small day boat would be 3 in a day and now with not having to worry about film, I wonder if 150 flashes would be enought for a day of diving. On a live aboard I could see charging the batteries during surface intervals. Any thoughts?

 

Thanks, Keith

Keith

When diving with the DS125 I can get a whole days diving (3 dives) out of one charge. Probably take 70-80 mixed shots per dive. Way more than the estimated 150 flashes per charge. Of course this number would drop if you were taking nothing but full dump wide angle shots but then again you probably would take fewer shots! I was initially concearned with this feature of the strobe but is has been no problem. I have found it unnecessary to use the smart 'quick' charger and just use the basic 'overnight' charger. Of course you can also give the strobe a bit of a charge during surface intervals but I have not found that necessary.

Keith.........ditto with Gazzer

I can easily get in 4 dives without charging.........I bought an extra battery and have never used it in nearly 2 years of using the DS-125's

For night diving, with a fresh charge, I use the modeling lights as my primary lights......duals........easily last the entire dive of 1+ hour

Karl

Not to beat a dead horse but yes, they can easily last three dives, especially when you aren't using a full dump for every shot. I did get 2 extra battery packs (I like the idea of redundant equipment when practical), but I didn't *need* to use them on my last trip to Coz where I was doing 4 dives per day, sometimes 5. That being said, it was nice to be able to quickly run into my room, grab the charged set, throw the old ones on the charger and get back out to the boat. I did make sure to have a fresh set before a night dive though because I was relying on the modeling lights as my primary dive light (carried a backup as well).

I use the smart charger (I have two), but I did that more for the trickle charging aspect than the rapid charge.

For an ISO100 camera like the D200 or D70

I think James meant to say for an ISO 200 camera like the D100...

have you heard when the Mark II's are coming in?

I've heard between April 15 and May 1. Unfortunately, I won't be getting one in this first wave, I had a bunch of dive equipment I needed to upgrade that had to come first. I'll probably be looking at one more towards the summer, with a housing to follow later in the year or early next year.

Can't wait to hear how yours works out for you!

Tom

On second thought maybe they shipped yesterday.

Ok, now that it's available I REALLY want one.

Looks like we should have moved to New Zealand to get the first Mark II's, What's up with that? (The guy showing off his new Mark II box and included materials lives in New Zealand, first person I have heard of to get a Mark II.

Ok enough good stuff about the DS125's...you guys are making this difficult for me. I had my mind made up to get the Enon's but now you got me second gussing myself. Where are all the Z220 users????

Ok enough good stuff about the DS125's...you guys are making this difficult for me. I had my mind made up to get the Enon's but now you got me second gussing myself. Where are all the Z220 users????

I chose the Z220 for the following reasons:

1) About the same power and coverage of the DS-125 at 1/3 the size and weight.

2) Uses standard AA batteries which also reduces travel weight and bulk and risk of battery or charger failure. Gets over 200 shots, I usually swap them once a day if I shoot lots of macro. Sooner if I shoot WA.

3) 11 settings, 5 stops of manual power control on the strobe.

Another important reason that applied when I use the 5050 on optical slave is the optical fiber connention is also smaller and lighter fits in much better with my setup than the electical connection to the Ike external sensor.

Thanks for all the feedback, I am going with the Inon's, due to size, AA batteries, output as measured by a flash meter is the same as the D125's and the number of manual power settings.

Keith

I just bought a DS-50 for my canon DSLR. For many reasons, specially because it was cheap. Actually, that's about the only reason I can think of. Anyone using this on a Canon SLR? What about dual DS-50's?

I guess if you're going Mk2 and seacam, you're not likely to be going the low-budget route.

Cheers,

Rob

P.S. Now that I'm hopefully moving to a real housing, I won't be using my Ewa-marine. It will fit the Mk2 fine...will sell it to you for 50% of the price of the Seacam

Keith,

If you want something smaller than the compact Ikelite DS125 strobes I'd recommend you also evaluate a pair of Ikelite DS50 strobes. Uses AA batteries, super fast recycle with NiMH batteries and if you use the EV controller in line to power down the flash you get 10 increments of adjustment.

I used 2 of these for years on a housed Nikon N90s film camera with 20mm and even 16mm fisheye lenses. At 70 degree beam angle even with the diffuser you will more than cover any lens you want to use.

Simple design and readily available parts, etc. Cooler color temperature than the DS125, but with digital you can boost the warm channel anyway

Check it out www.ikelite.com

David Haas

davidhaas@sbcglobal.net

www.pbase.com/dhaas

I just bought a DS-50 for my canon DSLR. For many reasons, specially because it was cheap. Actually, that's about the only reason I can think of. Anyone using this on a Canon SLR? What about dual DS-50's?

I'm using dual DS-50s with a D60 in an Ikelite housing, with the optical TTL controllers. I really like the size of them for macro work, as it allows me to squeeze them into spaces that larger strobes (like my Ike 200s) would never fit without major excavation work...

I've found that especially in the waters up here (Seattle, Washington) the strobe coverage tends to die off very quickly due to the particulates in the water column, and I find that I need to position my strobes fairly close to my subjects to get decent coverage. This would probably change if I switched to the manual controllers, but I'm sort of waiting for my mark II/seacam combination to arrive before buying any more gear. My bank account is starting to creak like an old wooden ship with a belly full of pig iron...

I tend to light things with a sidelight less than a foot away, closer is usually better, and then have the other in whatever mildly top-lightish position gives good background coverage, usually about 50% farther away from the subject than the sidelight.

This is all for Macro of course, I haven't got the housing/port combinations to give me any good wide-angle options. That should change in the next month or two.

-jong

Thanks anyway Rob, I plan to use doubled up freezer zip lock bags for my Mark II until the Seacam shows up. :wink:

P.S. you lucky Ausies get the Mark II first looks like!

Keith

P.S. you lucky Ausies get the Mark II first looks like!

 

Keith

Yes, but have you checked out the Aussie price? Canon gear normally costs almost twice here what it does in the US - so I end up importing all my gear from B&H anyway. I'd dearly love to take a MkII underwater, but housings don't look to be particularly cheap.

Jong, thanks for the info on the DS-50. Your comment and Dave's reassure me that the DS-50 may be alright after all, particularly as a dual strobe setup. I had decided on a Ds-125, but a cheap ds-50 came along so I bought it - the cost of housing my Canon was starting to scare me! I'm hoping I can use the Ds-50 (one initially, then dual) for both macro and wide angle.

Rob,

If you are looking for another DS-50, let me know. I recently added 2 DS-125s, and don't really need the DS-50. PM me if interested.

Tom