Inon Z 220 with Subal C10 housing

Hi there,

Well, I have finally been able to get my camera wet and, as expected, had the usual first time troubles - mainly with the strobe.

I am using my Canon 10D in a Subal C10 housing with Inon Z220 single strobe. A few shots were okay (maybe 1 or two), others were either way over exposed or had a streak of light across the top whilst the rest of the shot was without flash at all. I assume the reason for the streak is because the shutter and strobe weren't in sync, is that right?

Does anyone know the best setting for macro and strobe angle? How about advice as to white balance? Obviously this is all manual and not TTL.

Cheers,

Bubble Girl

Hi,

Did you put small magnet (it comes with strobe) into Z220 ? If not, try it after read manual throughly.

Good luck.

shchae

Hi,

Since only 2 pins on the hotshoe are connected, the camera doesn't even "know" that you are using an external flash. As such, you need to be careful that you don't exceed the flash-sync shutterspeed. I'm not sure what it is for the 10D but I'm guessing somewhere around 1/180th of a second.

If you do, you'll see the dark shutter curtain in your shots.

You'll need to adjust the strobe power manually as the strobes won't work in TTL with your setup. For ISO100 F22 shooting, start with your strobes at full power and work down from there. The power will depend on how far the strobe to subject distance is.

For white balance, just use Auto. Strobe angle is entirely up to you - whatever looks good.

HTH

James Wiseman

Bubblegirl,

10D will flash sync up to 1/200th (officially, may work at slightly faster shutter speeds).

I've shot more underwater with white balance on 'daylight' rather than 'auto', when shooting JPEGs. I saw that suggested on a Canon site somewhere a while back - arguement being that odd colors underwater may confuse auto setting. Not really sure myself whether 'auto' or 'daylight' is better. I'd always shoot RAW by preference, I was only shooting JPEG due to my recent tendency to destroy high capacity CF cards...

I'm happy to test your Subal housing with my camera, just to check it's not a camera issue. I'll send you my EWA-Marine to use whilst I'm testing. Just send the C10 on over whenever you're ready.

Cheers,

Rob