Best strobe lights for Sony A1 camera

I am in the market for a new strobe light to use with my Sony A1 camera in a Nauticam housing, and I was hoping to get your advice and opinions on which one to purchase. After doing some research, I am considering the Ikealite DS230 strobe, but I am not entirely sure if it is the right choice for my camera and housing.

My budget for the strobe, TTL trigger, and cables is around $4,000, so I want to make sure I am getting the best quality for my money. I am looking for a strobe that is compatible with the Nauticam A1 housing and that will give me high-quality lighting for my underwater photography - wide angle mainly.

I would appreciate any advice you may have on the compatibility of the Ikealite DS230 with the Nauticam A1 housing, as well as any recommendations you may have for compatible TTL triggers and cables (fiber or electronic) to use with this combo. If you have any other suggestions for strobes in this price range, I would be happy to hear them.

Thank you in advance for your help and input.

I've got the same camera and housing as you, and can happily recommend the retra strobes - preferably with the added superchargers if they are within budget.

Great light, powerful, decent recycling. I've done 2 trips to Tiger beach with them, no problems lighting up large tiger sharks 

I use manual but I believe  there  are  ttl  options - I'm sure I've read  others here using them with ttl, a quick search should give you  the options

Mike

Retra Pro X with superchargers, plus other accessories to taste. OneUW 160X or Ikelite DS230 might throw more light, but the Retras have unmatched flexibility in how you can modify the beams - between various diffusers, restrictor rings and reflectors. I've been shooting a pair of Retra Pros since they came out (I did an early preorder) and I couldn't be happier with them.

The criteria you have not touched on is weight and portability.  The ikelite strobes are fine but they are very large and bulky and use proprietary battery packs.   The Retras are only a little bigger than the INON and S&S strobes.  A lot of people on here are happy with the Retras.  

Then there is triggering - electric triggering requires an o-ring that needs to be serviced at each strobe and at the housing end.  Fibre optics do away with this issue.  Ikelite are very much setup around electric triggering while Retra are designed around optical triggering.  Fibre optics can get damaged and electric cables can have problems with shorts and corrosion.  I think overall once you have it setup the optical triggering is easier to deal with.

As for light quality the light from Seacm. OneUW and Retra with the circular flash tubes are all rated highly, the DS-160 strobes were one step behind in testing it seems but very close, the new models may have improved further.  

@Yehia

You've seen several recommendations for the Retra strobes already - I would add to that.

I just spent a week diving (in the southern Philippines) a pair of Retra Pro X strobes with superchargers. Definitely recommended...

Shot them both for macro and w/a, great light in both situations. The circular beam, color temperature, and power were great shooting turtles and big schools of fish (as well as all unique macro critters).

You may be tempted to not get the superchargers - I highly recommend not skipping these. I was able to shoot 3 dives/day easily with these on, whereas my previous experience (w/out them) was that by the third dive shooting anything close to full power introduced significantly longer recycle times and less available light output.

If you want big, powerful strobes (primarily for w/a) take a look at the Seacams (expensive) or the OneUW 160x, these are all "heavy" options vs. the Retras.

Ikelite make nice stuff - but in the strobe market they are middle of the pack (this is coming from someone who still has 3-4 Ike strobes sitting in the garage somewhere).

 

2 hours ago, oneyellowtang said:

@Yehia

You've seen several recommendations for the Retra strobes already - I would add to that.

I just spent a week diving (in the southern Philippines) a pair of Retra Pro X strobes with superchargers. Definitely recommended...

Shot them both for macro and w/a, great light in both situations. The circular beam, color temperature, and power were great shooting turtles and big schools of fish (as well as all unique macro critters).

You may be tempted to not get the superchargers - I highly recommend not skipping these. I was able to shoot 3 dives/day easily with these on, whereas my previous experience (w/out them) was that by the third dive shooting anything close to full power introduced significantly longer recycle times and less available light output.

If you want big, powerful strobes (primarily for w/a) take a look at the Seacams (expensive) or the OneUW 160x, these are all "heavy" options vs. the Retras.

Ikelite make nice stuff - but in the strobe market they are middle of the pack (this is coming from someone who still has 3-4 Ike strobes sitting in the garage somewhere).

 

Seacams are way out of budget, if you want to get decent one, they are about 2200 alone. I was considering the ikealite because i can get two strobes for the price of one seacam. but now i am leaning towards the retra for it's versatility and accessories from diffusers, restrictor rings and reflectors. I guess it's a good bang for the buck, but i still need to look for TTL compatibility with the Nauticam housing.

3 minutes ago, Yehia said:

but i still need to look for TTL compatibility with the Nauticam housing.

https://uwtechnics.com/index.php/online-store/ttl-converters/for-sony/11075-hss-ttl-converter-for-sony-for-nauticam-housings-na-a7ii-a9-a7riii-detail

34 minutes ago, Yehia said:

Seacams are way out of budget, if you want to get decent one, they are about 2200 alone. I was considering the ikealite because i can get two strobes for the price of one seacam. but now i am leaning towards the retra for it's versatility and accessories from diffusers, restrictor rings and reflectors. I guess it's a good bang for the buck, but i still need to look for TTL compatibility with the Nauticam housing.

TTL compatability comes via the flash trigger which sends the signals via fibre optics to the strobe.  The Ikelite strobes have a separate TTL module that is connected to the sync cables .  Having said all that many people revert to manual strobe for wide angle work, it's not as difficult as it first sounds.

7 hours ago, oneyellowtang said:

I just spent a week diving (in the southern Philippines) a pair of Retra Pro X strobes with superchargers. Definitely recommended...

7 hours ago, oneyellowtang said:

You may be tempted to not get the superchargers - I highly recommend not skipping these. I was able to shoot 3 dives/day easily with these on, whereas my previous experience (w/out them) was that by the third dive shooting anything close to full power introduced significantly longer recycle times and less available light output.

Totally agree with oneyellowtang on the Retras. I've done around 450 dives over the last 2 years with them and rate them highly. As you say, highly versatile with the various accessories - and very good indeed with the Retra LSD for snoot shots. Ease of use, quality of light and design, customer support, AA battery use.... all first class.

@Yehia, +1 on the Retra Pro X with superchargers. One aspect to consider is the white balance. They have the potential to be a tad warm, but you can always play with diffusers or adjust on post.

On 3/18/2023 at 10:30 PM, Yehia said:

... but i still need to look for TTL compatibility with the Nauticam housing.

When I started out I was so focused on getting a setup that would with TTL. Which was extremely challenging considering that I used to shoot Pentax and now Fujifilm. I could've made life so much easier by choosing Sony or Nikon .

But after spending a lot of time researching and then finding and purchasing components that would work for me, I never actually use TTL. Ever.