Sony DSC-W7 Slave strobe or Sony video light ???

We have just bought a new Sony DCS-W7 digital cam. Sony dosn't sell a flash with it, and I understand slave flashes are a little trickey with the digital cams. Sony does sell an underwater video light, asking for advice on useing a video light for this cam? I have a u/w video system with 2 lights a 50 and 100 watt. They light up well just not very far out.

Thanks, Jeff

Basically there are different slave systems (strobes) available. Simple slave strobes just use the internal strobe as a “flash now†command which causes the external strobe to flash. Power adjustment is up to you and limited in some cases. But there are smarter solutions available: Slave TTL systems use the internal strobe’s power output for adjusting the right amount of light for the external strobe as well. I am sure you could get a slave strobe which fits your needs and delivers proper results.

Basically I would not recommend buying video lights for stills as the have less lighting power in the short moment of exposure compared to strobes. Especially for DSLR cameras you need more power for smaller f-stops and coverage for wideangle. On the other hand small digicams do not feature such small f-stops (often smallest f-stop is around f8) and you already have video lights. If you start to use the camera without any wideangle conversion lens, you could try if the video lights are OK for you for the time being.

Regards,

Julian

forgot to mention: slave TTL requires true thru the lens metering. Some digicams use an external sensor which might be blocked by the underwater housing. I am not familiar with Sony digicams. You should check your camera before.

Regards,

Julian

Hi!

This is a late reply... Just joined WetPixel.

I use dual Sea&Sea YS60 with the Digital Adapter from http://www.heinrichsweikamp.net/blitz/indexe.htm with my DSC W1 and it will probably work with the W5 and W7.

It works great.

/Martin