Where do you get a strobe for a Canon A570IS?

[jvdk01]

Another "economical" solution is the Sea&Sea YS-60 kit with the Heinrichs-Weikamp adapter.

The strobe is available from Sea&Sea's clearance page for $135 and includes the strobe, a base and a handle/very simple arm. It's not the most modern strobe out there, but the power output is the same as the more modern YS-110. The YS-60 does lack many of the other features of the YS-110 though.

The H-W DA adapter will trigger it from the camera's internal flash (available for $130 from Reef Photo) and supposedly will even get the strobe to mimic preflashes. I just got the strobe kit and am still waiting for the HW adapter to arrive before trying it out, but I have been assured by various people that it will work.

All in all, under $300 for a complete setup with decent power. I figure the strobe will at least be useable as a second or fill strobe should I decide to upgrade my system in the future.

This is the setup I use with a Canon A620. I already had the strobe, so this was the cheapest way to go for me. I think you can buy the strobe pretty cheap directly from Sea & Sea in the closeout area of their website.

Although they are nothing special, you can take a look at some of my photos here: Flickr: Photos from jvdk01

Almost all the underwater photos were taken with this setup.

Good luck
John

 

[Wing_nut]

I just got an a570is from my dear wife (ScubaSweety). At first I was bummed because my old film strobe would not work wit it. However...I have figured out that if I shoot in full manual mode it does work! Now I just need to learn how to take a good picture. Long story short, if you know how to use a non-point & shoot camera you can use an old film strobe. Hope that this has helped. Merry Christmas!

 

[bobf]

I just got an a570is from my dear wife (ScubaSweety). At first I was bummed because my old film strobe would not work wit it. However...I have figured out that if I shoot in full manual mode it does work! Now I just need to learn how to take a good picture. Long story short, if you know how to use a non-point & shoot camera you can use an old film strobe. Hope that this has helped. Merry Christmas!

An "old film strobe" strobe with an attached sync cord might possibly be compatible with the A570 IS if you were also incorporating the use of a HeinrichsWeikamp DA adapter (btw, according to the HW web site, the A570 IS is not "officially" supported yet........doesn't mean it won't work..........it might only mean that Matthias and company have not had the opportunity to test.........yet.......). The HW adapter is designed to translate optical signals into electrical signals. The HW adapter also has the ability when programmed to ignore one or more preflashes from a digicam.

However if the "old film strobe" you are referring to is a slave flash type of external underwater strobe which relies solely upon optical triggers from the master strobe (onboard flash) for it's firing commands, then I'm not sure how this would be possible....... unless somehow you were able to shut the preflash off in the camera's flash menu system........................are you able to?

Keep in mind, "old film cameras" did not rely on preflashes like newer digicams do. So "old film strobes" were not designed to address the preflash requirement.

If you were unable to suppress the preflash from the digicam, your "old film strobe" would then have to have the ability to not only dump a certain amount of energy when prompted by the preflash, but also recycle quickly enough to allow itself to fire once again on the subsequent optical sync signal emanating from the onboard flash which would be in sync with the shutter opening. Once again, this accomplishment is attainable by a relatively few newer external strobe models.

That said, I guess it might be possible if your legacy strobe were manually set to fire a relatively small amount of energy (1/16th power?).......but I'm not sure if even that would suffice.................otherwise........hmmmmmmmm.......I would have assumed a very dark image due to the "old film strobe" not being able to sync with the newer digicam.

Anyhow, you've piqued my curiosity...........when you say "old film strobe", which one are you referring to?

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

An example of an old film strobe that works with digital p&s is the Ikelite SS200 with an Olympus 5050. Using the Ike Slave Sensor and setting the Oly internal flash to slave, shooting in manual is very similar to shooting an old Nikonus V with the same strobe in manual. One nice perk is the digital camera sensors are much more sensitive to light than film, so the lowest strobe settings are more than enough for most shooting. At quarter or eighth power the recycle time of a SS200 is less than 1 second so shooting the 5050 in high speed continuous (~4 images in 3.5 sec) results in only a small drop in strobe intensity for 4th shots late in the dive at quarter power. Other Ike strobes also work with the Slave Sensor this way, if the internal flash of the camera in question can be set to slave.

 

[bobf]

............ unless somehow you were able to shut the preflash off in the camera's flash menu system........................are you able to?

An example of an old film strobe that works with digital p&s is the Ikelite SS200 with an Olympus 5050............

Agree! In the flash menu system of the Oly c5050 you are able to program a sync signal (10 power levels I recall!) to trigger an external strobe..........

As I mentioned I wonder if a sync signal (no preflash) option is also available in the A570IS flash menu system as well. When I was reading the online manual I never found it specifically stated. I did come across passage discussing manual options ( three step strobe output control). I assume Wing_nut's success is based upon utilizing this technique (unless again he also has the HW DA and a hard wired strobe)

iow, if the internal flash on the A570 IS is set manual control, is there is no preflash?

plausible.........

Hopefully Wing_nut is busy unwrapping presents and will get back to us soon after to concur......


b

 

[SamT]

I just got an a570is from my dear wife (ScubaSweety). At first I was bummed because my old film strobe would not work wit it. However...I have figured out that if I shoot in full manual mode it does work! Now I just need to learn how to take a good picture. Long story short, if you know how to use a non-point & shoot camera you can use an old film strobe. Hope that this has helped. Merry Christmas!

Good info. yes in manual flash mode my Cannon will fire my old land strobe which does not have a preflash. I believe in manual flash mode the Cannons do not fire off a preflash before the main flash, it does not need to because its in manual control and would be wasting power if a preflash is used.

I am looking for an underwater flash or old film strobe on ebay, which make and model worked for your Cannon?

Thanks

 

[Wing_nut]

Glad to hear it works for you. The strobe I have is the neonlite from bonica. I bought it 5 years ago or so. I have no sync cord, just the slaves on the strobe. I have tried turning the flash power up & down and it works with all the settings. My best guess is the same as SamT's, that it does not emit a pre-flash because you are inputting all that data your self in manual mode. Try contacting Bonica directly to find a strobe, I have found them very helpful in the past when I needed to look up parts in their warehouse. I will post my pics in the New Year.

 

[jodomonk]

Another "economical" solution is the Sea&Sea YS-60 kit with the Heinrichs-Weikamp adapter.

The strobe is available from Sea&Sea's clearance page for $135 and includes the strobe, a base and a handle/very simple arm. It's not the most modern strobe out there, but the power output is the same as the more modern YS-110. The YS-60 does lack many of the other features of the YS-110 though.

The H-W DA adapter will trigger it from the camera's internal flash (available for $130 from Reef Photo) and supposedly will even get the strobe to mimic preflashes. I just got the strobe kit and am still waiting for the HW adapter to arrive before trying it out, but I have been assured by various people that it will work.

All in all, under $300 for a complete setup with decent power. I figure the strobe will at least be useable as a second or fill strobe should I decide to upgrade my system in the future.

I used this exact setup (actually on recommendation from randini) for my Canon SD800 Powershot. I had the strobe and HW adapter waiting for today (Christmas) when I got the actual camera so I could hook it up to the camera and underwater case (WP-DC9, also made by Canon). I took it in the bath which, granted, is not a low light situation, but it definitely worked: flashed when it was triggered by the camera and added a lot of light to the photo (obviously). Honestly, I think this is a great solution for a great price. Soon enough, Sea&Sea will run out of the YS-60 as they are discontinued and on closeout, but until then, that is my recommendation.

 

[Zoomer]

Not to hi-jack, but I have the same setup and am looking into getting the Inon D-2000S (found it for 418.00) for the camera and am wondering about the arm length for the strobe... any recommendations?

Thanks

 

[DesertEagle]

Soon I will post a review of the Heinrichs-Weikamp DA2 converter. I'm using a YS-60/S strobe with my Olympus SP-310. Reef Photo carries the adapter.

The converter works well with my camera set to either preflash or slave settings.

I set my Olympus to slave flash, output level 1 or 2 out of 10. Then I cover the flash with a piece of underexposed, processed slide film. That effectively bars visible light from leaking into the housing. It provides enough infrared to trigger the DA2 adapter. While I've found the adapter sensitive enough to use camera flash compensation to controll it, I prefer to just use full or 1/2 power.

My recent gallery: Diving In Eilat/Red Sea Photo Gallery by Josh Krancer at pbase.com

A photo of the adapter is attached. They come with some velcro sticky stuff. One part is glued to the housing, the other goes on the adapter. It makes for an easy quick release.