Ikelite Substrobe AI

Greetings,

I have a Nikonos V with 20mm lens and have been using dual Ikelite MV's. Using the duals is kind of a pain (bulky/aiming) and have been thinking of consolidating down to one strobe but money is tight. I found an Ikelite AI on eBay cheap and would like to know opinions on using it instead of the MV's (good/bad/waste of time). From what I'm reading power output will be about the same but that's all I've come up with. Also, what is a normal used price? Any opinions welcome!

spyder:

Greetings,

I have a Nikonos V with 20mm lens and have been using dual Ikelite MV's. Using the duals is kind of a pain (bulky/aiming) and have been thinking of consolidating down to one strobe but money is tight. I found an Ikelite AI on eBay cheap and would like to know opinions on using it instead of the MV's (good/bad/waste of time). From what I'm reading power output will be about the same but that's all I've come up with. Also, what is a normal used price? Any opinions welcome!

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Use them all. The Ai is 100 watts the 50s are 50 watts each. A single 100w cannot control the shadows as well as dual 50s can.

In my case I will use the Ai as the main light, and the 50s or AQs to knock down the shadows.

Dive Safe

I agree, it is going to be very hard (if not impossible) to properly light the field of view of a 20mm lens with a single strobe.

Thanks for the suggestions! f3nikon, what kind of strobe mount is in your picture? Currently I'm using a plastic Ikelite tray with 2 arms which is not really too my liking. Should I look for a bigger strobe (200/300/400 or 105) in addition to the MV's?

Thanks Spyder for asking the question about the strobes. I have acquired two of the Ai's used and didn't really know if they would be together for wide angle shots (i.e. 20 mm) or just for murky shots (all year round right here in Alaska).

spyder:

Thanks for the suggestions! f3nikon, what kind of strobe mount is in your picture? Currently I'm using a plastic Ikelite tray with 2 arms which is not really too my liking. Should I look for a bigger strobe (200/300/400 or 105) in addition to the MV's?

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UR welcome, the large one on the left is an Ai 100 the one on top of the camera is an MV/MS-50 strobe, the two slaves strobes are AQs. All from Ikelite via eBay of the $23 to $70 price range. I also brought some of these brand new some years ago. Built like a tank. The Ai is more than enough, its ony 25 watts less than the DS-125.

Like I said the Ai 100 will be the main strobe the slaves are just there to fill in the shadows.

I divide the lighting coverage over all the strobes, the Ai for the top part of the frame and the slaves for the left and right botton of the frame.

Dive Safe

f3nikon,

I was asking about the aluminum mount for the cameras/strobes. It looks strong and sturdy although it might be tough to get the viewfinder for my 20mm on the hotshoe.

The term for measuring the energy stored in a strobe is watt-seconds. (A watt-second is a unit of electrical energy equal to the work done when a current of one ampere passes through a resistance of one ohm for one second).

The amount of Watt-seconds a strobe can store does not address the intensity of the strobe light emitted. Strobe "A" may store twice as much power as strobe "B", but both strobes may still share a similar Guide Number Rating. The Guide Number is a better indication of how "bright" a strobe may be.

Such is the case with a DS 125 and DS 50. The reason a DS 125 stores more than twice as much energy as the DS 50 is because the larger strobe spreads its light across a greater area. Think in terms of a flood light versus a spot light. Both lights may shine as bright, but since the flood light is designed to cover a wider area (beam angle), it needs to store more energy to successfully accomplish the feat.

The Ikelite 50 and 100A share similar underwater guide number ratings (28 former vs 28-30 latter, ISO 100, feet). The light emitted is similar in intensity at full dump. The 100A however spreads the light over a wider area, between 80-95° (the strobe is designed to vary the beam, which affects the guide number). OTOH, the Ike 50 has a beam angle of 70° without a diffuser.

The DS 125 is rated at 110 Watt-seconds, not 125 as implied.
The 100 A is rated at 100 Watt-seconds
The 50 is rated at 50 Watt- seconds

For more details, visit the Ikelite web site or the Strobe Finder Database.

spyder:

f3nikon,

I was asking about the aluminum mount for the cameras/strobes. It looks strong and sturdy although it might be tough to get the viewfinder for my 20mm on the hotshoe.

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spyder

My camera tray is homemade, just a 1.5" (1/8 thick) al. stock wrapped around the camera. It protects the camera for getting banged up. Did not install yet, but there will be a metal strap from the large lens port to the base of the tray to support the lens port.

I believe your viewfinder mounts to the Nikonos hotshoe? It maybe possible to bend the frame around the viewfinder? You maybe check to see how this will look by bending a wire coat hanger to shape. The arms I am using are just the standard Ikelite arms. The slaves are mounted via angle al. stock. Good Luck

Thx for the info. Bob, the Ai seems to be closer to the DS-125 than I thought.

Dive Safe