New Inon Z330

See this on the front page: http://wetpixel.com/articles/full-details-of-the-inon-z330-strobe-announced

However, I did not see the energy output: Watt-Seconds or Joules

I appear to be missing something; why would you want a ND filter for a strobe? Where no just turn it down. I am well aware of the value of a ND on a lens but struggling with the idea on the light. I appreciate I must be missing something obvious.

I am just guessing, but if you want to shoot at f1.2 or similar situations, the lowest power of the strobe can still overexpose the foreground.

I've used ND filters on strobes multiple times. Especially if you're balancing with ambient light around dusk, minimum power is still too much on a z240. The minimum power on the z330 will be higher.

Some info received from Inon UK this morning:

We have further specifications on the new Z-330. Please see the attached link:

http://www.inon.co.jp/cgis/news/img/Z-330_spec_201712_En.pdf

Last nights black water dive (12/30/17) north of the Palm Beach Inlet, Florida USA in 500 feet of water. Very slow north current, only covered about a mile. Olympus EM1 II, 30mm macro lens, Nauticam NA-EM1 II housing, two INON Z-330 strobes.

Great images Phil, assume from the look of them the Z330s performed well?

Hi Berry, Yes the Z-330's performed well. My review should post in the next two or three days at UWPMAG.com

Last nights black water dive (12/30/17) north of the Palm Beach Inlet, Florida USA in 500 feet of water. Very slow north current, only covered about a mile. Olympus EM1 II, 30mm macro lens, Nauticam NA-EM1 II housing, two INON Z-330 strobes.

 

 

Thanks Nicole, my review is now active at uwpmag.com

Here is an underwater image comparing the power and beam angle of the Z330 to that of the Z240

No diffusers were attached and camera settings were identical for both images.

Three things that are fairly obvious:

1. The Z330 is significantly more powerful. I would guess around a stop

2. The beam of the Z330 is quite a bit wider. The specs suggest a 10° difference, this would suggest that it is more.

3. The fall off and edge of the beam of the Z330 is a lot softer. In practice, I think this will make the light produced by the Z330 much better.

Testing continues...the Retra Flash arrived today!

Adam

Thanks for posting Adam,

I can see that the Z330 has less fall off, but oddly looking at the two photos the one shot with the Z240 looks brighter in the center.

I think it is just contrast Geo...

The histogram are here:

Z330

I just posted the wrong histogram! The above one is correct.

Z240

Adam

Here is an underwater image comparing the power and beam angle of the Z330 to that of the Z240

 

COMPARISON_1_800.jpg

 

No diffusers were attached and camera settings were identical for both images.

 

Three things that are fairly obvious:

 

1. The Z330 is significantly more powerful. I would guess around a stop

2. The beam of the Z330 is quite a bit wider. The specs suggest a 10° difference, this would suggest that it is more.

3. The fall off and edge of the beam of the Z330 is a lot softer. In practice, I think this will make the light produced by the Z330 much better.

 

Testing continues...the Retra Flash arrived today!

 

Adam

 

 

This same shot Adam Z330 vs Retra would be very interesting to see

Hi Barry...

Soon!

Adam

Hi,
what about trigger sensivity with the new ones?
Same or more than the z240?
Thanks,
Wolfgang

Hi Wolfgang,

Not sure what you mean by trigger sensitivity?

Adam

I have had quite a few questions about heating issues with the Z330.

Inon have added a metal heat sync that is exposed to the water.

I have been testing battery durations and have been firing the Z330 continuously for around 230-250 flashes at high power. The strobes have been immersed in room temperature water (around 15°C). The strobes have been cool to the touch throughout.

I should point out that I have been doing the same with the Retra Flash recently, and they have not been heating up either...

This is not particularly scientific and is simply an observation on our testing so far.

In terms of the review, I will be finishing the UK testing of the Z330, Retra Flash and iTorch Symbiosis SS2 on Saturday. The Z330s will then go to the Caribbean with Alex Mustard till late January and then all the strobes will go to the Red Sea with me in early Feb. Many thanks to Emperor Divers for hosting me.

I will keep responding to specific queries on here too.

Hi Adam,
i mean the sensivity for ignition with fibre wire.

I have S&S 250pro and D2, they are hard to fire, Inon D2000 Typ 2 needs less input, Typ 4 ( z240 / d2000 ) much less.

This is inportant if you use led trigger. Depending on the construction of the housing, position of led and acrylic window.....

So the more sensivity, the better for my combination ;-))

The Inons were getting more sensitiv from type to type, so i hope that has been done now as well...

Regards,
Wolfgang

I have been triggering the Z330 with an Anglerfish Remote trigger and an Underwater Technics optical board installed into my Seacam housing. The UW Technics board uses an LED bulkhead, while the Anglerfish uses an LED too. In all cases, the strobes have been in manual mode and connected via (Nauticam) fiber optic cables.

So far, none of the strobes under test has had any issue with triggering. I actually can't think of a single instance when they did not fire (except when I was testing recycle times....)

To be fair, my experience with the Z240 was no different. One important consideration is the quality of the fiber cables. I had some from another manufacturer that were not as reliable. I have found Nauticam, Sea&Sea and Inon ones to be very reliable.

Adam