C8080 + Ikelite housing + Sea & Sea 110 Strobe?

[LVX]

I have been trying to get my Sea & Sea 110 strobe to work TTL through my Ikelite housing. So far, it has worked a couple of times but that is all. The problem is I can't open my camera's internal strobe inside the housing. There is just not enough room so I can't operate the Sea & Sea in slave mode. I contacted Sea & Sea as well as Ikelite. Ikelite said I can only use TTL with a Ikelite strobe. After pressing them a little they said I might try a Heinrichs converter. I searched around but could not find a source. Anyone have any experience with this converter and more importantly, where to get one?

thanks so much.

Layne

 

[Lawyer56]

LVX, is that an Olympus 8080? I have one with the Olympus housing. Have you found the best settings for underwater photos that you would be willing to share? Is the Sea & Sea 110 the best strobe?

 

[davelew]

I don't know if it will work on the C8080, but I know some people with Canon dSLR housings have filed down a tab with a nail file so that the camera always thinks the flash is in the "up" position. That way the camera fits in the housing, and still fires the flash to signal external strobes.

 

[LVX]

I don't know about the 110 being the best strobe because I have not been able to use it in TTL. I hated the olympus housing so I went with the ikelite. Now, I just need to find out if I can use the Sea & Sea or if I "have" to go with an ikelite strobe.

Dave - what tab are you talking about?

thanks

 

[davelew]

First a caveat: I don't know anything about the C8080. However, the general idea might be useful to you.

The general idea about removing the tab is that camera makers installed sensors so that flashes won't fire when the flash is mostly closed. Underwater photographers try to do something that the camera makers never thought anyone would want to do (use a half open flash), so they need to over-ride those sensors. Sometimes the over-ride is as simple as filing or bending a tab, sometimes it requires a little more work.

The setup I saw in person where this was done was a Canon dSLR in a Subal housing, but I don't know which Canon. I also saw this done with a Nikon D70 somewhere on the web, I'll try to see if I can find the link.

Of course, with the location of the flash on the C8080, you might need to add something to direct the light from a half-open flash to the fiberoptics. I wonder if some of that reflective aluminum tape that Home Depot sells to seal home insulation would work?

 

[davelew]

Here's a link to the D70 mods that allow the flash to fire while half-open:

How do I optically connect two Inons Z240 to a Nikon D70 - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums

 

[calypsonick]

HW

LVX, try them on the link above. They were very helpful in setting me up with a synch cord adapter so my C8080 in Olympus housing could talk TTL with my twin Ikelite DS 125s. Results here :
Diving Komodo National Park - a set on Flickr

But first you need to know that the synch cord will not help you if the only way to fire the Sea & Sea strobes is by fiber optic cable. If this is the case, the Olympus housings for the C8080 are fine and I have used mine in over 200 dives without a problem.

I hope that is helpful.

Nick

 

[BigJeff]

LVX,

I used an 8080 in Ike Housing with Ike strobes for 4 years - the TTL worked great, especially for Macro.

I guess you have two options, keep the 110 (it is compatible with the HW converter) - and buy a converter OR buy an Ike strobe.

There are a few second hand DS-125's around now they have brought out the DS-160.

Having used the 8080 with the Ike TTL circuit that's the way I would go. The Oly has an advantage over many other prosumer models in that the TTL will still work in full manual mode.

Manual settings of 1/200, F8, ISO50, centre meter, centre focus and flash compensation -0.3 to -0.6 worked good in most Macro situations.
Using RAW does test your patience, but the extra latitude in post processing is well worth the wait.

These were both taken with that setup:

 

[LVX]

LVX,

I used an 8080 in Ike Housing with Ike strobes for 4 years - the TTL worked great, especially for Macro.

I guess you have two options, keep the 110 (it is compatible with the HW converter) - and buy a converter OR buy an Ike strobe.

Thanks for the info. You say the HW converter is available, would you have any idea where I could find it. I have looked around but have not found anywhere I can by a Heinrech converter.

thanks

Layne

 

[rwe]

I have an Olympus C-8080 in a PT-023 housing (broken port tabs, of course). I used a Heinrich Converter to connect it to a Nikonos 105 strobe for several years. Sometimes got over-exposures on close shots because the 105 is quite slow to shut off but could usually be controlled by reducing camera strobe setting. In general, I was very happy with the Heinrich product and they are very customer orientated with respect to questions or upgrades (which they did free for my adapter).

I purchased the adapter/bulkhead from Reef Photo. My link to the english Heinrich site no longer works but you can probably contact them at info@heinrichsweikamp.com or info@heinrichsweikamp.de . If you can find their web site, there a table with compatible strobes and timing information but I am confident that the 110 is included and that it is much faster than the 105.

I added an Inon Z-240 strobe with fiber optics and used in combination with the Nikonos 105 for one trip but I didn't like the extra bulk of the second strobe so am now just using the Z-240. The Heinrich bulkhead is still installed in my housing (it is more robust than the original Olympus bulkhead) since I didn't go to the trouble of removing it and re-installing the Olympus bulkhead. I would offer to sell but the bulkhead will not fit the Ikelite housing and not sure if the 5 pin connector is compatible with the Sea and Sea strobe.