Strobes? They said there'd be no math!

Okay, I know this has been asked a gazillion times before,. But not by me. I am a digital novice and have a cp5000w/ ikelite housing. I am looking for suggestions on strobe selection. So........ would a single ds 125 be a better starting place, than (2) ds 50s? I shoot everything from macro to WA recreationally. I need a good starting place for a system that will obviously grow as I climb the learning curve and resign myself to schlepping around more and more STUFF! anyone out there have experience between these two systems? Thanks :?

On a given trip, it is always wise to have an extra strobe. So having 2 is good, so at worst you might be forced to shoot with 1. Not that anything actually ever goes wrong, but...

Maybe one of each? Get nice main/fill effect... The 125 is much nicer for wide, though several folks I've seen shoot wide with dual DS50s, and get good results.

On the other hand, I think the size and power of the 125 is just right. And you don't loose that much carrying 2 of these, versus 2 ds50s, and if you don't want to carry both, you know you'll end up with 2 ds125s!

Welcome to the world of uw photo...

Don

As a novice UW photographer, I started out life with a single DS-125 strobe, which was fine (I thought) a year ago. My photos turned out heads and shoulders better than the guy who took the manufacturer's housing and no strobe.

Then I added a WA lens and port...

DMoss and I went to Little Cayman this last November, with the same setups except he had snuck along a second DS-125....taking photos of the same thing, his dual-strobed images make mine look sub-par.

If the choice was to go with 1 DS-125 or 2 DS-50s, I think I would go with the 2 DS-50s, or if at all possible 2 DS-125s. I had hoped to plug the hole that UW photography had blown out the bottom of the wallet, maybe next year....

That being said, an IOU for a second DS-125 and EV Controller is in my camera bag.

Geggle...

My buddy Joel has some good points in his reply. He was not totally correct, however, on one of his comments :roll:

I didn't actually 'sneak' the 2nd DS125 on the trip. He saw the outfit a few days prior to our departure (shame he didn't have time to order one himself )

The dual strobes makes a big difference...improved overall lighting without shadows is the real plus. You just have to experiment with toning down the strobes for closeups.

Whether to buy 2 DS50's or 1 DS125 is tough to answer. The dual stobes is the better settup, but the DS50 has a recycle time of 3.5 seconds while the DS125 has a blazing 1 second recycle time. I shoot a lot in sequential mode and the faster recycle time makes all the difference when trying to get the perfect shot of a darting trunkfish. You might want to get a single 125 to start with and then add a second one when your budget allows.

The best advice I can give for your first UW photo trip....when you think you are close enough...get closer !!