Strobe Choices for Ikelite Housing

For the past few years i've been shooting with an Olympus TG series camera (first a TG-4, currently TG-6) and housing paired with 2 Sea and Sea YS-03 strobes via Fiber Optic cables. For the most part this setup has served me well and i've learned a lot about underwater photography using it however it's somewhat limiting as to what i can do. 

I decided earlier this year that i wanted to move up to a full frame camera so i can start taking advantage of manual settings and so on. I've done a bit of land based photography using a Canon Rebel SL1 however i took this as an opportunity to upgrade the camera for use above and below the surface. 

I've been slowly acquiring gear over the past few months and chose the Canon EOS R. I picked up an ikelite housing with dual handles, extenders and 8" dome port second hand for a great price and the next item to tackle is strobes which i'm a bit confused at. 

Based on my research (and correct me if i'm wrong) using my existing strobes is not an option due to the lack of TTL support from the housing and only a fiber interface not he strobes themselves. Outside of support for ikelite strobes, my options appear to be limited to Inon or Sea and Sea strobes with the electrical sync cord bulkhead and compatible sync cable for the housing. 

Assuming i'm correct, what would you recommend for strobes that are compatible? A little background, most of my underwater shooting is larger items such as sharks, turtles, reefscapes and wrecks. I have dabbled in some close up and Macro but not often.

For the sake of compatibility and the reviews I've read i was looking into the ikelite DS-161 strobes but before pulling the trigger on anything i would love to hear some opinions of those more versed in this area than i.

Thanks for any suggestions.

If you are interested in taking a little more control of your images through manual settings, you can save yourself a bunch of cash, and use your current strobes with the ikelite housing manually as well. Once you go manual, you wont care much for TTL.

24 minutes ago, Sharkhottub said:

If you are interested in taking a little more control of your images through manual settings, you can save yourself a bunch of cash, and use your current strobes with the ikelite housing manually as well. Once you go manual, you wont care much for TTL.

Sea & Sea YS-03 is a TTL-only strobe, it does not have manual controls. It also does not take a sync cord, which is the only option with an Ikelite EOS R housing that does not involve spending $500+ on a third party optical conversion kit.

Ikelite has decided to build only electrical sync strobes, and stay away from fiber optic.  As they also use proprietary connectors, their housings are designed for their own Ikelite strobes. As their housings are plastic, they are less durable than those made of metal. So if one has an Ikelite housing, one is constrained to use Ikelite cables and Ikelite strobes, unless one is willing to spend time and money and find adapters. 

A good approach to build an underwater photo system might be to first choose the camera, then a housing with fiber optic ports, and build from there, add strobes and ports for the lenses to be used. 

One factor in housing choice is that housing makers each use their one port mounts, which may limit one's choices.  Fortunately, the Sea&Sea 3-bayonet port mount is also used by some other top makers, such as Isotta, which increases one's range of choices.  The availability of port converters also increases ones's ability to use ports of different makes with a given housing. 

In your case, one temptation is to sell the Ikelite housing and buy a more adaptable housing with built-in fiber optic ports, such as an Isotta, Sea&Sea, or Subal. Excellent second hand housings and ports at reasonable prices pop up here and there, such as on eBay and these pages.  (I would avoid Nauticam as they are expensive, much too complicated with costly maintenance, plus recent reports of broken plastic parts are worrisome.)

Good luck! 

The ikelite strobes will work well, they are good units by all accounts but they are large and heavy and effectively electrical sync only so you need to maintain the sync cords.  They have circular flash tubes which provide nice even lighting and they also have a good amount of power.  If you want to use TTL you need to purchase the ikelite TTL converter modules for them.  The ikelite strobes are setup with the TTL electronics in a separate module unique to the camera in use.

As others have said you can also use INON and S&S strobes via electrical sync connection but they are manual strobes only in that configuration. 

I took into consideration the limited options for strobes when i purchased the housing. For what i paid for it the savings will cover the majority of the costs for strobes and sync cords. Having only used the TTL Sea and Sea strobes the electronic ones are a new area for me. Thank you for the suggestions.

I've used an Ikelite Four-Lock Housing for around eleven years and it has performed very well. The only issues I've had with it involved user error. My collection of strobes includes two Ikelite DS161's and two DS160's along with a couple of Sea & Sea YS-D1's.

As others have mentioned, Ikelite housings are designed for strobe connection via a sync cable rather than fiberoptic cables. Personally, I have never experienced any negative issues with using a sync cable. And, I prefer using a sync cable as opposed to fiberoptic cables.

My Sea & Sea YS-D1's work just fine with my Ikelite housing. Ikelite makes a sync cable that will allow you to use their housings with strobes that have Sea & Sea sync cable connections. Unfortunately, your present Sea & Sea strobes don't have the required sync cable plug-in.

So, are your options for strobes limited? Well, opinions will vary, but I don't think so. You can use any strobe that you want with your Ikelite housing as long as the strobe has a Sea & Sea sync cable plug-in. You just need an Ikelite sync cable that has Sea & Sea sync plugs.

Ikelite makes excellent strobes. Both my 161's and 160's have performed exceptionally well over the years. All of my battery packs for these strobes were manufactured in 2016 and still work very well.

As others have suggested, it might be time for you to move away from the TTL stuff and begin learning how to capture images in manual mode. I've worked with underwater photographers who have decided that TTL was limiting what they could do and wanted to take their underwater images to a higher level. It's been fun to help them take full control of the images they capture. Try it; I think you'll like it!

If your budget can handle it, I encourage you to consider Ikelite DS230 w. Video Light Strobes. Ikelite has made some improvements with this model. DS230's are a little shorter than DS161's, but use the same rechargeable battery packs.

It's worth noting that Ikelite provides exceptional customer service. Ikelite is an American company that is run by the family that started it. They're good people! The company's website offers a wealth of educational information that will help developing underwater photographers improve their skills.

Do you need to ditch your Ikelite housing for a different brand? Nope, your Ikelite housing will work just fine.

If you have questions, PM me and I'll try to help you.

-Tinman

That was kind of the thinking of moving up from the compact camera, to take advantage of manual settings not only in the camera but strobes as well. Thank you for the suggestions, i appreciate the assistance!