Slave flash with cheap housing?

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wagen13@yahoo.com - 12 Apr 2006 22:20 GMT

I'm a very infrequent diver with an old Canon A20 in a Canon-brand
waterproof case, which I've used on a couple of dives. For 20 meter
max depth and my modest expectations, this would be fine except for the
back-scatter from the on-board flash. Is there a slave unit, hopefully
moderately priced (whatever that means, but I guess I'm thinking a
couple hundred bucks or so) that will give a reasonably successful
off-camera flash?

I'm thinking of getting a Canon PowerShot S1 or S2 IS due to their
purportedly excellent video mode, which I might similarly use a few
times for shallow dives. Does that affect the answer?

Mike

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-hh - 12 Apr 2006 22:38 GMT

Mike,

You might be able to find an affordable Ikelite strobe, either one of
their older Slave strobes (50 series?), or one of their current ones
with their TTL Slave Sensor that has a short pigtail that goes into the
strobe's standard sync cord connection.

If the digital pre-fires, it probably will be "interesting" as to what
happens, but it is something that you should be able to figure out some
way that it can be made to work.

-hh

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wagen13@yahoo.com - 13 Apr 2006 00:07 GMT

Ikelite seems kinda pricey, due to deeper capability?

Looks like the Sealife SL960D addresses the preflash problem. Not
clear yet how well the flash sensor/cover will fit my current housing,
but it looks like it would work poorly with the PowerShot.

Sunpak G-flash looks similar but a bit cheaper. Lacks fiber optic
pickup?

Also the Fantasea/Sunpak CoolFlash RL claims to deal with preflash.

Any experience with these?

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-hh - 14 Apr 2006 03:17 GMT

> Ikelite seems kinda pricey, due to deeper capability?

In part. Ike also stands behind his products when they do break.

> Looks like the Sealife SL960D addresses the preflash problem. Not
> clear yet how well the flash sensor/cover will fit my current housing,
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Any experience with these?

Absolutely none. Most of my UW photo is still with film, partially
because I have so much invested in my current setup. I did see that
Ikelite has updated his SS-200 strobes to DS-200 strobes, which is what
I'd probably end up buying when I finally go a serious UW-digital
system, although at current prices will set me back around $2k. Then I
only need another $2K for a dSLR housing, maybe $500 for a good WA
lens....etc. Not cheap, so it won't happen overnight.

-hh

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marshallkarp@gmail.com - 14 Apr 2006 02:05 GMT

Most inexpensive way I've found is to get a Vivitar DF120 slave flash
and put it in a clear otterbox.

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wagen13@yahoo.com - 14 Apr 2006 17:57 GMT

Good trick. Do you have a pre-flash problem to contend with? I
actually don't know yet if my camera does it.

$20 for a strobe seems kinda perverted. I had no idea these
accessories were so cheap. No prize for guessing where it's made, eh?

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