which strobe

[rubbachicken]

hi all
i have a 3.3mp sony p5 with a sony 40m housing, which i am almost very happy with, what would be the best/ smallish strobe to use with it, i'd like to find something that will work well with the camera and would not add too much weight to my already over weight scuba gear
i plan to change the camera at some point in the future, probably to the 7 mp sony p150, again with a sony housing
but someone has mentioned that there is a cannon camera better suited to under water photgraphy, because of it auto focus and macro settings but unless it's a hell of a lot better, i'll be wanting the sony so i can use memory sticks and card readers

but if anyone can shed light {excuse the pun} i'd be very grateful
thanks for looking

[edneeves]

I have been researching this at the moment so I thought I would let you know what I have found out.

I am using the P150 with the Sony MPK-PHB housing. This and all Sony housings do not allow for direct syncing of the strobe so you will need to get a strobe that will work optically. This takes the flash from the camera itself and this in turn triggers the strobe.

A couple of good strobe options are the Sea & Sea YS-90 (I think thats the model number!) or and probably preferably the Inon D2000. Both of these support the optical triggering however the D2000 seems to be a little bit more sophisticated and can be used in an automatic mode which will measure the correct exposure level (I am sure someone could probably explain this better so hopefully correct any mistakes) as well as being fully manual also.

The triggering mounting is something that I haven't figured out just yet, I think that it is just attached to the external of the housing so that it obscures the flash. I think there might be a second option which is in the form of a lens adapter. This adapter has an attachment which allows for additional lenses (Fisheye if your wealthy, Wideangle or Macro) but also has an additional piece which covers the strobe and allows for the sensor to be installed.

All you need then is the tray and arm, this seems to be just personal preference as I haven't found 1 that everybody raves about.

Prices for the above are, Inon D2000 Strobe ($509), Sea & Sea 90 (about $545), Inon Lens Holder W12 for MPK-PHB ($61.95), Inon Wide Angle Lens VWL105AD ($259), Optical Kit for Strobe (89.95).

Most of the stuff above is for Inon stuff, no particular reason why but thats about as far as my research has gone at the moment. If anyone else knows of some good stuff I would be eager to hear.

Ed.

[edneeves]

I was lead to believe that the Inon D2000 works with the Sony P150. I found a link to pretty much the exact setup I described earlier. Check it out and see if it suits:

http://inonamerica.com/news.php?news_id=24&newscat=0

I also checked the PDF manual for the P150 and here's what it says in the flash section:

"The flash strobes twice. The first time is the pre-flash which is used to adjust the flash light quantity, and the second time is the actual flash during which the image is recorded" (Page 28)

This should mean that the full sTTL functionality of the D2000 is available. Do I have some of this wrong?

Ed.

[edneeves]

I should conceed that the above option is by no means the cheapest option and there are plenty of budget systems out there, but for the Sony P150 this probably represents one of the best semi-pro options around...

... but it will damage the wallet the best part of $800 - $900 (excluding camera and housing). However in its defence I have seen results using similar setups and the results are pretty professional!

Ed.