Inon D-2000 vs Z220 on a Canon digital SLR

I am swiching to Inon strobes, and am having trouble desiding which way to go.

while the D-2000 is optically triggered, Inon makes an Optical Converter

which is basically a small strobe that plugs into the Nikonos V socket and

will connect by optical cable to the D-2000.

has anyone out there seen or used one of these optical converters?

I am leaning toward the D-2000 because it has an Automatic mode.

Manual strobe has worked well for me, but I am sometimes off on exposure

when shooting a new subject that is a different size form what I had been shooting. the A mode, would greatly improve the hit rate and the D-2000

has the ability to dial in exposure composition.

Thanks, in advance for your help

rich

Hi Rich,

I've seen the optical converter at DEMA. Mark Rupert had one which we looked over and talked about.

Find out how much the optical conver costs and if you can even get it. Add that cost to the cost of 2 D-2000's. I think you'll find that it is equal or more than 2 Z220's.

So my opinion is to get the Z220's. If you want to optically trigger them, you can do that. If you want to use a sync cord, you can do that too.

You won't get any kind of "TTL" with your Canon DSLR, but I think that's just something you may have to get used to.

If TTL is really really important to you, you should have a look at the Ike and Aquatica housings which come with TTL converters built into the housing.

Sincerely,

James

Also, the optical convertor only understands Nikonos TTL . So in all probability it won't work with Canon E-TTL. So if it doesn't put out the correct pre-flashes etc, the D-2000, which is a 'mimick TTL' strobe, won't give you the correct results in S-TTL either.

I'm not sure which Canon DSLR you have but this: http://www.muenster.de/~matthias/blitz/ettle.htm might work for you with Inon Z220 strobes.

I've got a D60 in a Sea&Sea housing, and my GF has the D2000 for her Sony P150.

Now, although I have driven the D2000 from the D60 out of the housing, mimicing the pop up flash, I haven't tried the D2000's auto mode. I'll give it a bash and report back if you like. Obviously, this will be a dry run, as I don't have the Nikonos to optical converter.

I take it you are thinking of using the D2000 rather like a switchable YS-90DX / YS-90Auto if you understand my meaning. Being able to run in full manual or non-TTL Auto flash.

Sounds quite feasible, plus you could use the D2000 with a consumer cam on full TTL if you wanted to. I did actually try to work out if I could run the D60 with the flash slightly open, but it would need some internal mods to operate.

Regards

Martyn

Rich, what camera and housing are you using or planning to use?

I have a Sea & Sea D30/D60 housing and have been shooting with a D60.

Planing on jury rigging the housing to use my NEW 10D.

rich

Did you see the thread about using the D60 housing with the 20D? It looked like it worked the trick.

Cheers

James

Optical Converter D will only enable a manual slave trigger with the D-2000. S-TTL will not function.

As James pointed out, the total cost of a D-2000 Strobe + Optical Converter, just to get a manual slave trigger, will be much more expensive than option below.

For your camera, a hardwired Z-220S model would be most practical. The Z-220 Focus Light and Target Laser do not function with Canon cameras. Note however that Z-220/Z-220S use a 5 pin sync cord connector, not a 6 pin as may be installed on your housing. Recommended sync cord is Sea & Sea “Sync Cord N” (Sea & Sea part number 17100).

Hi Mark,

A couple of things...

I have the same setup as Rich, plus my girlfriend has the D-2000. I don't understand however why you say this:

For your camera, a hardwired Z-220S model would be most practical.

Surely, the D-2000 gives you Manual control with a 6 stop range in half stop increments, PLUS an integral sensor based Auto mode with 5 and a half stops range.

The Z-220 doesn't have BOTH of these modes, it only has the manual mode (because TTL doesn't work with the EOS DSLR)

Yes the D-2000's main selling point is the S-TTL, but it's other features are great too. Don't be so modest. :wink: People are using Auto strobes again now and getting good results. Not everyone's cup of tea, but the system works quite like a studio flash setup and a flash meter. Also, the focus light on the D-2000, because it is manual works fine, either tap it so it comes on for a few seconds, or leave it on.

The only hitch is that you have to use the Nikonos to Optical adapter.

Note however that Z-220/Z-220S use a 5 pin sync cord connector, not a 6 pin as may be installed on your housing. Recommended sync cord is Sea & Sea “Sync Cord N” (Sea & Sea part number 17100).

No worries, the DX30/60 has a 5 pin Nikonos bulkhead.

I hope my post makes some sense, I've been talking to Rich and the D-2000 does look like a good solution for him, even if he can't use the S-TTL mode in his rig.

Best Regards

Martyn

Hi Martyn,

Opps, you are absolutely right – I forgot to mention that External Auto mode is possible, and that the D-2000 has more manual settings than the Z-220/Z-220s, and that the Focus Light works fine too. I’m definitely slipping these days :? and am glad you guys keep me in line. :wink:

Yes, if you can deal with the cost of the Optical Converter D then the D-2000 is much more versatile.

Good luck setting up the system.

-Mark Rupert

Mark,

My concerns with the optical converter route is

1. can I trigger dual strobes from the Optical Converter D?

how? just two optical cords or do I need some kind of special dual cord?

I only use one strobe 95% of the time, but do like dual strobes for WA photogrphy.

2. The Sea & Sea only has two wires going to the Nikonos V bulkhead.

is this enough to work with the Optical Converter? I know that it was made

to work with Nikon/Nikonos cameras with 5 wires - quench, etc.

rich

Hi Rich,

1) Dual strobes no problem. Connector part is “Double Optical Cable” which is a “Y” configuration fiber optic with two cables having strobe connectors, and a single cable coming from those having a connector which attaches to the diode port of the Optical Converter D.

There are two versions of the single cable, a standard 43cm cable, and a long 68cm model. The Double Optical Cable version uses the 68cm length fiber optics.

2) 5 pins officially specified, but actually you don’t need the TTL pin so 4 pins will work. But having all 5 hooked up won’t hurt either so might as well connect the whole bulkhead.

Note: At Inon we have only tested and confirmed the Nexus D100 and D70 housings for full compatibility. The Optical Converter D should work with your configuration.

-Mark Rupert