Seaweed Blenny in Sea Shell (using Ringflash)

This was the first chance I have had to try out my Inon Ringflash which I had picked up about 3 months a go from ebay (from someone who didn't know what it was worth). You need good macro subjects for this set up, so off to Phil Foster Park in West Palm Beach for some Florida muck diving.

I am using a Sea&Sea strobe arm connector for the strobe, which I am basically hooking into my regular strobe arms and basically hanging it in front of the flat port. This works nicely for the 105mm lens.

I screwed up a lens setting, so the first dive wasn't quite as productive photo wise as I would have liked, but I did get a real feel for the lens. I did another dive with the ringflash on Saturday, which was better (but I haven't processed those images yet).

Here is a Seaweed Blenny in a Sea Shell.

When I get a chance I'll write an article (like to get at least one more dive in with it first), but first impressions are as follows:

1. It is very easy to maneuver the housing and strobe.

2. Small subjects only, or centering on something real small that you can get real close to the lend.

3. Suprisingly little backscatter in the images even in bad vis - likely due to the small distance between the subject, the strobe and the lens. I also used a difuser which I am thinking of not using next time.

4. Images produce a winderful 'hill' levels/curve profile consistantly. Which should be expected when you have basically 4 even light sources on a close subject.

Definetly a speciality strobe for macro work. I'll need another couple of dives to really get used to how it works.

Questions welcome (as it will help me write a proper review).

M

Paul: Check out the other post on this topic. Bdickson jury-rigged the Oceanoptix port by bonding it to an Aquatica extension ring. Right on Bruce!

Sincerely,

James Wiseman

Paul: Check out the other post on this topic.  Bdickson jury-rigged the Oceanoptix port by bonding it to an Aquatica extension ring.  Right on Bruce!

Be nice to have the sorts of skills it takes to do that, but I don't think I will be exploring that option as I don't.

I'll buy a port if Aquatica put one together (heard a rumour they might).

M

Paul, did you get the ring flash to work in TTL mode with your camera and housing combination? I have one on order, and I am hoping it will work in TTL with the S2, since the other Inon strobes are doing so. The Inon America web site says it has not been tested in this environment.

Also, did the focus light work?

What are your thoughts about using the INON “Close-up lens No. 3” attached to the front of it for additional magnification, as mentioned on their web site?

Enough questions?

I'm really jealous that you got yours for such a deal on e-bay ....... :mrgreen:

Regards, Linda (edited typos)

Paul, did you get the ring flash to work in TTL mode with your camera and housing combination?

Yes, it does work with TTL on the S2

Also, did the focus light work?

Haven't tried it

What are your thoughts about using the INON “Close-up lens No. 3” attached to the front of it for additional magnification, as mentioned on their web site?

 

Enough questions?

For it to work you would need a port specifically for the ring flash and not use my method (which is to hang it in front of my port with strobe arms) as it would require the flash to be completely stable.

I would probably go the diopter way first to see if that works better (and cheaper) before going for an add on specifically for the ring flash.

This is probably the biggest design flaw in my mind - why they didn't design it to be bigger with adjustable calipers to fit a wider range of flat ports is beyond me. It would make it so much more usable and attractive to others. I don't want to 'manufacture' something (actually I am incapable of doing it probably) just to secure it around the port.

M