Oly C-5050,Ike TTL, DS-125, TTL cord in Manual Mode?

Hi,

I have a olympus C-5050 with Ike TTL housing and the DS 125 strobe with the TTL connection cord. My question is, is it possible to shoot the strobe in manual mode using the TTL cord without switching to the manual controller?

Thanks,

Art

I don't have that exact setup, but I do have a camera that does TTL. All I have to do to get manual control is adjust the power setting on the strobe.

Cheers

James

There are two ways to use your configuration with manual control of power.

1. Set up everything for TTL then just switch the power settings on the DS 125 to 1/8, 1/4, or 1/2. Full will not work because in TTL mode the camera signals for a preflash and then a main flash and the strobe is not fast enough to fire two full dumps that fast.

2. Set up everything to TTL EXCEPT set the camera strobe setting to slave strobe. Then just switch the power settings on the DS 125 to 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, or Full. Full will work in this case because in slave mode there is no preflash.

That said, having shot manual for 100s of dives, I now shoot TTL exclusively. On any given shot, given enough tries, I might be able to beat TTL. But in reality, my shot opportunities are like pop-up targets. Point - shoot, point - shoot. No time to fool around.

For more on the settings I use, see the following URL.

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gall...aphy/index.html

Whew! Sure helps with people like Peter Schulz posting correct answers............

Thanks very much for your detailed and very informative answer!

My only problem with TTL is when I am shallower and there is a lot of ambient light. The TTL seems to meter the background and not the subject and gives off inadequate flash and the subject comes out green/blue. I was hoping to override the TTL in those moments.

Thanks again,

Art

Art, from my Settings page, this is the ideal way to fix exposure problems.

"For general purpose shooting with an external strobe (My Mode 1) my baseline settings are F 5.0 and 1/100 sec.

From these base line settings I adjust the amount of light based on the Exposure Value in the LCD display.

When checking the EV I aim the camera toward the surface e.g. at a 30 to 45 degree angle and where possible I try to shoot at an up angle to get some "sky" and some more light in the background if needed/possible.

I try to keep the Exposure Value between -1.0 and -3.0 to avoid over exposing the picture. However, I do shoot when I can't get the EV above -3 and just take the background that I get.

To decrease the EV value I increase the the speed up to 1/200 of a second for a darker background or the F stop up to 5.6 for a darker foreground.

However, I find adjustment is normally only necessary on very bright, clear water days and in settings against white sand or bright sky backgrounds."

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gall...up_settings.htm