Advise on SB 105 and SB 104

Does anyone have any advise in relation to the use of both SB105 and SB 104 together in the same rig. I have a D100 in an Aquatica housing. I know that there are a few differences:

1. SB 104 is almost twice as heavy as SB 105 - but presumably in the water they are both just slightly negative?

2. SB 104 has a higher guide number as SB 105 - but presumably the difference is not great enough for me to see the difference?

Any advise on how I can adapt my rig to use these two together will be greatly appreciated. Do I need to add weights onto the side of the SB 105 to make it the same weight as the SB 104? Do I need to position the SB 105 a further distance (how far back) then the SB 104 when lighting an object?

I am heading to the Galapagos in two weeks so won't have time to test these two together so I am quite desperate for some advise.

Kind regards

Paul NG

Paul -

If you are shooting the big critters (whale sharks) you may not be bringing along the strobes. I shot everything natural lite (big stuff, that is).. while you are waiting on the rocks for the sharks to swim by a single strobe may suffice for the smaller stuff (eels, etc.) There is usually a lot of current and a lot of swimming to catch the whales as they drift by...

I would head to a local pool with my rig and test buoyancy and bring some objects to photograph to determine strobe position.

M.

Actually the 105 is positive in water, not sure about the 104.

I have not used the 104 at all but used the 105s for years.

As far as i know the 104 is more powerful, so you would use that as your main light and the 105 for fill. Perhaps shoot the 104 on full with a diffuser and the 105 on 1/4 without diffuser to give decent fill power.

You can also test this on land by shooting at a darker wall from about 4 or 5 feet away and see what sort of light output you are getting from each and then adjust power/diffuser until you get an even look to the two strobe outputs

The 104 is a wideangle strobe and I believe it has a circular "pigtail" type flash tube. That means that if you can only carry one strobe w/ you for Mr Big in the Galapagos, that's the one.

If conditions are dark, you'll probably be shooting the flash on its lowest setting and you should bring the diffuser too.

Cheers

James

according to what I've read in the specs, the SB 104 is one stop more powerful underwater than the smaller SB 105.

If you'd like to see a side by side comparison, check the strobe finder:

http://www.digitaldiver.net/strobes.php

and check the boxes found beside each strobe. The information used in the Strobe Finder for theses two strobes came from Nikon USA:

http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1...productNr=11202

http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1...productNr=11200

In independent tests, the SB 105 was rated at 69 Watt seconds and the SB 104 was rated at 173 Watt seconds.

hth,

b

Hi,

Please, keep in mind 104 & 105 were designed for Nikonos V/RS & widest angle you can get those days were about 100 degree(15mm) & which is not enough for 10.5(180 degree) or 11-22 wide lens on D-SLR. One thing I would like to suggest is you need arm about 3 ft (or even longer) & keep strobe close to your shoulder (Away from camera).

Sam

I think it's hard to evaluate strobe coverage bound to lenses released at that time (by the way, don’t forget the RS fisheye – no strobe would cover it completely).

SB-104 is a very powerful strobe in terms of guide number and the coverage is better compared to SB-105 (small forward tube)

SB-104 is even one of the most powerful (GN) strobes in the Ikelite comparison table:

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/compare_strobes.html

And I guess Ikelite wouldn’t overrate a Nikon strobe to much by accident

By the way, please don't attack me for this, but I’ve never understood how simple milk glass diffusers could enlarge angle of coverage by noticeable steps

Julian