Maldives camera crisis...

Hi community, it's been a while but I'm in crisis mode. I just arrived in the maldives and managed to flood my strobes on day 1... not a great start. I was using two ys-d1 with a dual ikelite to sea and sea cable... one of the strobes is definitely done for and I assume this means the cable is done too as that is where the leak was... 

Extra upset as I'm going to fuvahmulah in a few days to see the tigers....

So... im aware that it's a super long shot but i was wondering if anyone is heading from UK to Maldives/Male/Fuvahmulah in the coming days.... I know it's very unlikely but I thought if any chance at all it's on wetpixel...

Also I searched hi and low for u/w camera supplier in maldives and can't find anything... does anyone know of any shops or gear supplier here? 

Worst case scenario is I'll end up shooting tiger sharks with natural light... so it's not all bad :)

Tanks all for any help. 

I'm sorry to hear this and I know I would be seriously annoyed if that were to happen to me; as you say it is an opportunity to shoot natural light but also black & white !

Yeah, sadly I just can't afford to carry spares of everything. Anyway as you say, a good chance to try different techniques. Also, in trying to be positive I realised the truth... better to be diving in the maldives with no strobes than not to be diving in the maldives at all!

You may be able to shoot macro with a good dive light.

4 hours ago, nickthegreeek said:

better to be diving in the maldives with no strobes than not to be diving in the maldives at all!

Amen to that. I think! Really sorry to hear the news, Nick. I hope it doesn't spoil your trip.

PS: switch to fibre optics if and when you can. It removes a number of potential strobe problems.

Thanks mate, I used to use fibre optics when I dived with rx100, made a lot more sense to me,  simple and fairly indestructable, but then I decided to get an ikelite housing for my canon 200d (which I've used happily for a few years tbf) so no option for fibre optics. I really think they could add a FO port without to much trouble but hey ho. I've always used budget systems so never really had the perfect set up. Maybe have to rob a bank before the next trip. 

Now wondering if my insurance will pay out fir the strobes....

Ayyyy, yeah, fingers crossed on the insurance.

Quite understand on the fibre optics/Ikelite. Tough one.

I believe selling a kidney involves less jail time than bank robbery? Provided of course it's your own kidney.

You can adapt a led trigger to activate the strobes. 

Thanks I remember reading about that when I got my system together? Is there a commercial product available now? Or do I need to macgyver something together?

I do not know if the is an off-the-shelf solution for an ikelite housing (and that would need to be for the specific housing you own), but you can take advantage of the acrylic housing (when I owned an Ikelite it was the full house that was clear, now it is only the backdoor).

Most probably you need to go the macgyver route...

I do not know your camera / housing, and if it is as my old one, with the the camera mounted directly on a tray fixed to the rear door, and also if it has space to have the let trigger, but if so, you can route the led to the back and use a system like the small housings to connect a fibre optic.

http://www.divervision.com/strobes/strobe-accessories/deeproof-fixed-plate-with-velcro-for-dual-strobe-fpv2?sort=p.price&order=ASC&limit=100

So how did you manage in the end? 

On 5/14/2022 at 9:01 AM, nickthegreeek said:

Thanks I remember reading about that when I got my system together? Is there a commercial product available now? Or do I need to macgyver something together?

There is, but it will run you $600 + shipping, plus right now it may be difficult to source parts from Russia:

https://uwtechnics.com/index.php/online-store/ttl-converters/for-canon/16079-hss-r-ttl-converter-for-canon-for-ikelite-housings-detail

https://uwtechnics.com/index.php/online-store/bulkheads/91302-optical-bulkhead-for-ikelite-housings-1-2-unf-screw-mount-detail

I flooded my Ikelite DS161 strobes because of the sync cable. It took me weeks to replace them (I live in Belize), only to have them fail again. I finally bought a Nauticam housing and Inon Z-330s with the optical cables which are water proof. Never going back to electronic sync again. 

Thanks for all the helpful info team. will be looking into options soon. might be time to upgrade the whole system anyway although that will have to wait for funding issues to be resolved. Im currently using canon 200d and tokina 10-17 in an ikelite box with (well was anyway) two ysd1 and although its a bit outdated and a bit budget ive had great results that im happy with. 

I did manage to get some reasonable shots but unfortunately without the strobes i didnt get the tiger shark sunburst mugshots i was hoping for... But i guess it just means ill have to go back!

In the meantime im on the lookout for a single ys-d1 so if anyone knows of anything would be very grateful to hear about it. ill post in clssifieds anyway.

willhave to post some photos here when ive been through them all!

thanks again