Do I really need a $500 strobe?

[Prodaytrader]

I'm just now getting into photography and know so very little. I have a tiny digital camera that takes great digital shots. I am buying a case for it in the next few days that runs about $180. The camera was only $250. Now I am wondering about the strobe. I see they cost $500 and up and I am really confused. How can the tires cost more then the car? Are there no cheaper options as an entry point into this hobby? Surely there must exsist a 100 dollar option? Could I maybe just use a marine torch and not use a flash on the camera? I bet there are some pretty intense flashlights out there and I could get my lighting that way? I just know how dark it can get down there at 60 feet and without some sort of light source I will end up with nasty pictures but I can justify spending more money on the flash then I did on my dive computer or the camera/case combo. I could use some guidance here...thanks.

I just found this strobe on ebay.. http://http://cgi.ebay.com/Sunpak-Marine-32-Underwater-Strobe-Slave_W0QQitemZ230117992095QQihZ013QQcategoryZ4703QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

would something like that work for my needs as a starter strobe?

Another edit I just realized that my camera doesnt have any sort of input connector for a flash attachment. Is that a common issue that is overcome with another device? Maybe that flash from above will still work for me with some sort of attachment. How do you connect a flash without a 4 or 5 pin terminal on the camera already?

 

[GONEHAWKN]

well, i will chime in here and say this(because i kinda just went through the same thing) initially i bought a moderately priced point and shoot digital camera and housing. i quickly learned that while the camera took great land shots, my shots underwater were not so good. i found that in order for me to get OK shots with it, i had to be in rather shallow water, and REALLY close to whatever i was shooting. it was at this point that i decided to add a strobe. i did some howework and found out that i wanted to shoot TTL. well my previous camera did not support this option. so, i was back to square one, buying a new camera and housing, to facilitate a new strobe. in the long run, i based my decision of strobe choices on the fact that MAYBE, JUST MAYBE somewhere down the road i may find myself buying a DSLR set-up and i wanted a strobe that would grow with my rig, eliminating the need for another purchase down the road. so, yes, there are cheap strobes out there.(and you may find a great deal from someone here on the board) BUT, they are like cheap dry suit, you will only end up buying a better one later on and wished you had just done that in the first place and saved the extra money.

Bill

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board.
In short, yea you do if you want to take colorful photos in water more than a couple of meters deep. The internal flash on some cameras will do a good job on some macro shots but otherwise they cause more problems than they solve.
There are $200 strobes but the question is will you be happy with their performance. The less expensive strobes don't provide a lot of the functions I feel are necessary, variable power setting for example. They are also lacking in output power and beam angle. UW lights do not provide to necessary light to be very much use in photography. High power HID lights have some use in macro photography but even they are limited in use.
As to why they cost so much, it's mainly supply and demand. Your camera cost little because 100s of thousands are sold so the unit cost can be low. In contrast, a good strobe may sell a few thousand.
IMO, Save your coins and buy a good strobe.

 

[Wisnu]

I just got SL960D from ST - less than 250 bucks for SB member - reasonable output, variable setting, easy set-up, indeed the arm and mounting base is not impressive but still very good value for the money I spent; and at least for now - I feel it suit my need in tropical clear water - deep less than 30 m - mostly 12 - 25 m.
The next plan is to modify the arm /mounting base to give better coverage angle. I believe I still can expand in the future if my demand increase.

 

[Karibelle]

Another edit I just realized that my camera doesnt have any sort of input connector for a flash attachment. Is that a common issue that is overcome with another device? Maybe that flash from above will still work for me with some sort of attachment. How do you connect a flash without a 4 or 5 pin terminal on the camera already?

You can get a sensor with your strobe, so it fires the flash off of the camera flash rather than using a connector into the actual camera... you'd use a deflector or covering over the built-in flash to keep it from affecting your photo, point the sensor at the built-in flash (sensor would be on the arm) and make sure the built-in flash is "on." When you take the photo, the built-in flash goes off, but rather than illuminating the subject, it fires the external strobe.

does that answer your question? this part, anyway?

kari

 

[Zeeman]

A buddy of mine saved quite a bit of money by making his own base from perspex, and used bunch of plastic ball joints for the arm (no idea what this part is actually called - but I have seen them sold as proper arms at dive shops).

If you have some basic tools and are even semi capable of using them, making your own base and arm could be a fair saving to begin with. Parts cost him about $15 in total.

Z..

 

[f3nikon]

I'm just now getting into photography and know so very little. I have a tiny digital camera that takes great digital shots. I am buying a case for it in the next few days that runs about $180. The camera was only $250. Now I am wondering about the strobe. I see they cost $500 and up and I am really confused. How can the tires cost more then the car? Are there no cheaper options as an entry point into this hobby? Surely there must exsist a 100 dollar option? Could I maybe just use a marine torch and not use a flash on the camera? I bet there are some pretty intense flashlights out there and I could get my lighting that way? I just know how dark it can get down there at 60 feet and without some sort of light source I will end up with nasty pictures but I can justify spending more money on the flash then I did on my dive computer or the camera/case combo. I could use some guidance here...thanks.

I just found this strobe on ebay.. http://http://cgi.ebay.com/Sunpak-Marine-32-Underwater-Strobe-Slave_W0QQitemZ230117992095QQihZ013QQcategoryZ4703QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

would something like that work for my needs as a starter strobe?

Another edit I just realized that my camera doesnt have any sort of input connector for a flash attachment. Is that a common issue that is overcome with another device? Maybe that flash from above will still work for me with some sort of attachment. How do you connect a flash without a 4 or 5 pin terminal on the camera already?

This should be very interesting, I cannot wait to see the replies!

Oh, what digital camera will you be using?

 

[Prodaytrader]

f3nikon...your obviously fishing. What kind of replies where you hoping to see? These all seem to be very reasonable replies and have helped me a great deal. The thing is, I dont have a starting point so its hard for me to do any research when I know so little. I am starting to get definitions to some terms I have been seeing like deflectors and I can begin to understand whats going on.

 

[Karibelle]

I've given this a bit more thought.

You know, you might try just using the camera without a strobe for a while... I used my camera/housing without a strobe for about a year, and it provided some valuable lessons in shot composition and how to actually dive with a camera. Early this year I got a strobe for my unit, and am finding that I need to learn a lot more about basic photography before the strobe money is going to pay off. Also, adding a camera to a diver adds a lot of "tasks" and adding a strobe increases that task load exponentially, if you ask me.

kari

 

[ce4jesus]

Why do you need a strobe?
1. You start to lose red light after a few meters and the other colors get attenuated at different rates the deeper you go. This means that your pictures all take a very nice blue tint to them and appear colorless and drab. The deeper you go
2. If your camera doesn't shoot in RAW and/or doesn't have a manual white balance, you'll have a tough time post-processing any of that color back in.
I've used the Sunpak as a 2nd strobe. Its actually done a decent job. It also has a variable output and will work with your camera's preflash. It is a manual strobe where you would have to adjust the output based on aperture settting.
Why buy a $500 strobe - The Inon's make a wireless TTL strobe to go with digital cameras that do an excellent job. This means you're not having to adjust strobe output...it's done for you. One less thing to worry about underwater IMHO. Addittionally the Inon's will scale nicely should you decide to go DSLR one day. Some people live by the manual approach and think TTL is useless. Personally, I've enjoyed the TTL on my main strobe. The nice thing about TTL is you get the picture right the first time. Sometimes you just don't have time, or a willing subject, to get that 2nd shot. I'm not a pro, nor am I a frequent diver, so TTL is a no brainer for me.
However, if you're into manual, there's a nice cheap, good strobe that will grow somewhat with any system you choose. Its the YS27DX. It is manual, runs about $360 with an arm and base. Its manual, so you'd have to adjust the output by fstop and then check the screen after your shots to make sure your setting was correct.