selecting strobe

I am new to underwater photography and I can't find any info on selecting a strobe and how exactly to set up a strobe to a camera.

I am starting with a Canon S110 and a Meikon Housing. How do I know which strobe would work with this camera and what type of connecting cable type would I need. I know everyone says buy the best strobe you can afford and I am poor so I am opting for a low budget starter flash like the Sea and Sea ys-03 or the Intova ISS 2000. I can always sell this strobe and buy a better one later.

Would these work with this camera and housing and what fiber optic cable should I buy? Wish I could find info for a beginner and strobes.

Thanks

Skip the Intova, it will give you very little light. The YS03 is a much better option. The internal flash in your Canon will trigger the strobe. Unfortunately, I have no experience with Canon, so just do a search on ScubaBoard or here, and see if the YS strobes and the Canon have some issues.

+1 for the S&S, maybe you should consider the INON S2000 as well, that a fantastic little strobe.

Your CanonS110 will fire a flash which is then transferred via a fiberoptical cable to your external strobe.

Something that you must consider is how much power your strobe will give out. This will depend on which mode you have/use for your strobe.

If your strobe ONLY can be used in manual mode then you will have a hard time shooting with your camera in Auto mode.

Your camera will chose its settings depending on your ambient light, but if you and/or your strobe doesn't know what your camera is doing then you will end up with a lot of over/underexposed images. Not good!

If you shoot with your camera in auto mode then I would strongly suggest that you get a strobe that can "mimic" the strobe power from your Camera. That way you will get a lot more properly exposed images. This "mimic" feature is called STTL on INON strobes, the S2000 also has it.

Believe me, for a beginner photographer that STTL mode is worth a million bucks!

If you are comfortable with shooting in manual mode (setting your own shutterspeed, aperture and ISO), then you can of course use a strobe in manual but as I said, STTL makes your life a lot easier!

I hope that helps,

Lots of greetings from Indonesia, Morten