Strobe Recommendation for SWC

yes I believe it is the one I found had a dome on each end.  The SWC sounds like it only has a dome/port on one end.

I have an Ikelite AI strobe from film days but i still use with digital camera 100 watts of power, cover 96 degrees. I have an ikelite 100A strobe also which is the same specs as you want to shoot twins. $200usd plus shipping A dual sync cord is available from ikelite

On 9/5/2020 at 11:33 AM, The_Darkness said:

Regarding the housing PC cords, I found this in the Hasselblad Way 4th ed book. Also, I have been unable to find how far to stop the camera down when using the corrector lens set.

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Good catch! Forgot about flashbulbs! The 38mm lens is only f/4.5 so you do not have to stop down much from maximum aperture to reach f/5.6 or f/8! You will have to do some trial and error. The bigger deal is having to estimate the focus distance so it will be a bit like shooting an old Nikonos. The H38 housing had a focusing scale on the focus knob.

On 9/15/2020 at 6:18 PM, ChrisRoss said:

yes I believe it is the one I found had a dome on each end.  The SWC sounds like it only has a dome/port on one end.

 

I have this housing and used it mainly during the late 80's and early 90's. It works with 80, 60 and 50mm lenses only. The domes are 8" in diameter. One could stand it up on the roll bars so it resembled R2D2 and is what my housing was nicknamed.

There was a more recent housing for the later SWC models (SWC/M and later) made by Gates called the H38 that used an 8" dome. I bought one from Hasselblad USA shortly before going digital but sold it as it got little use once I went digital. There are some postings on Wetpixel showing this housing. Darkness's housing is NOT this model but the earlier blue housing.

On 8/31/2020 at 5:07 PM, Tom_Kline said:

I used the Subsea strobes as well as the Ike 150 back in the day with my Hasselblad system and used the EO plug on the housing (for the EL). These were 150 watt-second units. EO is a bit out of fashion with current strobes. Better off adapting to a bulkhead or fiber optic. With the blue housings it may be possible to swap out bulkheads - possibly a reduction fitting will have to be added as those old bulkheads appear to have used a larger diameter hole than the 14mm being used these days. I would be interested in knowing if Devon can do this.

Hi Tom,

I've been learning a lot about strobes lately and have returned to u/w photography with my compact digital setup. My Hassleblad cameras are back from getting serviced by David Odess. I've been learning about manual shooting with strobes using the guide #/distance = f/stop formula. However, the Retra Pro has piqued my interest but they don't use guide numbers, rather watt-secs. Do you know of a formula for calculating f/stop with watt-sec? 

Guide numbers tend to be works of fiction produced by marketing departments - nice in theory.  Most are produced indoors where you get additional light reflecting in from walls and ceiling.  Underwater light gets absorbed quickly so guide No. quickly drops.

Watt-seconds is the light power produced perhaps in theory you could convert to a guide number but it will vary with beam angle among other things. 

Far better to do test shots and adjust.  You can use a digital to work out exposures as an f stop is an f stop.  digital ISO is not always matching film ISO but you can work this out on land - how does a well exposed pic in the digital compare to film exposure?  Just use your chosen strobes on your digital system to work out correct exposure - set it up how you are going setup the Hasselblad and you'll get a starting point to work from.

You can determine the guide number empirically if you want to go that way. Probably easier to have standard settings - best not "overthink" the issue. I used 150 w-s strobes back in the day and recall using f/11 with Ektachrome 200 (which was available in 70mm) at the half to one meter range.

The bigger issue will be synchronizing the Retra Pro as the strobe needs fiber optics.

On 12/14/2020 at 4:17 PM, Tom_Kline said:

You can determine the guide number empirically if you want to go that way. Probably easier to have standard settings - best not "overthink" the issue. I used 150 w-s strobes back in the day and recall using f/11 with Ektachrome 200 (which was available in 70mm) at the half to one meter range.

The bigger issue will be synchronizing the Retra Pro as the strobe needs fiber optics.

Thanks Tom. Retra makes a sync cord to FO converter with your choice of sync plug. Until I pony up the money for the digital back, I'm just going to shoot 70mm B&W with the SWC and channel my inner Ernie Brooks.  I ordered the Ilford HP5+ in 70mm x 50' from B&H. 

On 1/4/2021 at 8:26 AM, The_Darkness said:

Thanks Tom. Retra makes a sync cord to FO converter with your choice of sync plug. Until I pony up the money for the digital back, I'm just going to shoot 70mm B&W with the SWC and channel my inner Ernie Brooks.  I ordered the Ilford HP5+ in 70mm x 50' from B&H. 

Does Retra make the adapter for the Hasselblad bulkhead? If so it is news to me. I presently have two copies of the adapter for S6 bulkheads. I have found them to be rather unreliable due to the design of the connection between the adapter and the fiber optic cable (discussed in another thread). I have had to carry an allen wrench with me to my shoots and have had to re-terminate the connection several times using the wrench to loosen and then tighten the repaired FO. Not practical IMHO for scuba diving.

7 hours ago, Tom_Kline said:

Does Retra make the adapter for the Hasselblad bulkhead? If so it is news to me. I presently have two copies of the adapter for S6 bulkheads. I have found them to be rather unreliable due to the design of the connection between the adapter and the fiber optic cable (discussed in another thread). I have had to carry an allen wrench with me to my shoots and have had to re-terminate the connection several times using the wrench to loosen and then tighten the repaired FO. Not practical IMHO for scuba diving.

Hi Tom, we have updated the design of the E-Opto converter and it now features a rotating insert that fits the standard fiber optic plug. This new feature removes all stress from the cable and in case you need to exchange the cable it is done easily without any tools.

The new design fits all existing E-Opto converters, please send me an email when you can. 

Thank you

So I haven't picked up any strobes yet as I'm content with shooting B&W for now. Here are some images from a recent trip to Catalina Island. Shot with the SWC, Zeiss corrector lenses, 70mm HP5+, home developed. This was the first time shooting the Hassy u/w.