IKELITE: Canon G5 and Dual DS125 Strobes

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Westwinds

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I am currently shooting with a Canon G5 in an Ikelite housing with a DS50 Digital Strobe. I have recently determined that the DS50 strobe is simply not sufficient for the darker lake water in Canada. I’m thinking about moving to a dual Ikelite DS125 strobe system.

1. Is the hot shoe adapter on the Ikelite G5 Housing TTL metering or just a trigger?

2. If the housing has a TTL hot shoe adapter, is it better to use a TTL cord with dual DS125 strobes or utilize the slave sensors?

3. Can you connect two strobes to one digital strobe sensor?

Westwinds.
 
Westwinds:
I am currently shooting with a Canon G5 in an Ikelite housing with a DS50 Digital Strobe. I have recently determined that the DS50 strobe is simply not sufficient for the darker lake water in Canada. I’m thinking about moving to a dual Ikelite DS125 strobe system.

1. Is the hot shoe adapter on the Ikelite G5 Housing TTL metering or just a trigger?

2. If the housing has a TTL hot shoe adapter, is it better to use a TTL cord with dual DS125 strobes or utilize the slave sensors?

3. Can you connect two strobes to one digital strobe sensor?

Westwinds.

Firstly I would stick my neck out and say that, assuming you are not using any wide angle lenses on your G5 housing the Ikelite DS50 is more than good enough for the job. Believe it or not the DS50 has a far higher REAL guide number than the DS125. Of course if you are shooting wide angle then the DS50 will not have a big enough angle of coverage. You could combine 2 DS50's ... would save youself a lot of money. I suspect that if you think the DS50 is not powerful enough the problem lies with you camera settings. What camera aperture setting are you trying to use?

The Ikelite G5 housing has a sync cord connection but this acts only as a trigger. TTL not possible. You must use one EV controller per strobe. In your case if you go for twin strobes you would need an Ike dual sync cord to connect the housing to the two EV controllers, then connect the EV controllers to the strobes.
 
I'm using the combination of the DS125 (very nice and necessary for aiming the flashlight onto the subject (and for autofocus) with its modeling light) and the DS50. The DS50 I'm using is for reducing the harsh shadows. Both flashlights are connected via the dual sync cord to my ikelite SLR housing (Canon Rebel or EOS 50E), and I'm very satisfied with it. However, to obtain a good picture, I try to keep the distance between the subject and myself less than 1.5 metres. If you are more interested in macro pictures, the handling of 2 DS50's are better. For more info about your specific needs, I presume that Ikelite will give you advise...
 
I forwarded my questions directly to Ikelite recently and received this concise, to the point response.

1) Just a trigger


2) Shooting manually with the 4 power settings on the strobe works very well. If you want ever more power settings, try the manual controllers with 10 settings. It is always better to hard-wire the strobes whenever possible, so a dual cord would be best.


3) No. you will need a sensor for each strobe.

+++

I wish that the ikelite G5 housing came with a TTL sync connection. The amount of equipment required to operate 2 strobes seems excessively bulky (with two TTL sensors and all). I guess I was hoping for a cleaner setup.

However I bit the bullet and purchased the dual DS125 strobes. Now all I need to source is a wide angle lens. That would minimize the distance between my camera and the subject.

Scuba_Eric I tend to shoot more people and things (wrecks) than small details. I just don't find the quantity of small objects of interest in my parts.Westwinds
 
Gazzer:
Firstly I would stick my neck out and say that, assuming you are not using any wide angle lenses on your G5 housing the Ikelite DS50 is more than good enough for the job.



Unfortunately, I am not using a wide angle lens. This is the next purchase.





Gazzer:
Believe it or not the DS50 has a far higher REAL guide number than the DS125. Of course if you are shooting wide angle then the DS50 will not have a big enough angle of coverage. You could combine 2 DS50's ... would save yourself a lot of money. I suspect that if you think the DS50 is not powerful enough the problem lies with you camera settings. What camera aperture setting are you trying to use?



I do find it harder to believe that the DS50 has a higher real guide number than the DS125. I have yet to see any reports that document this. I have seen many comparisons between competitors and the DS125 but never seen the DS50 go up against the DS125. If you know of any DS50 / DS125 comparisons, fire over the link.



Gazzer:
The Ikelite G5 housing has a sync cord connection but this acts only as a trigger. TTL not possible. You must use one EV controller per strobe. In your case if you go for twin strobes you would need an Ike dual sync cord to connect the housing to the two EV controllers, then connect the EV controllers to the strobes



You're correct. IF I have the choice between a manual EV controller and the TTL controller I think I would go with the TTL controller. It just seems awkward to have that much equipment to operate the strobes in TTL mode. Oh well life isn't always ideal.



Westwinds.



 
Gazzer:
Firstly I would stick my neck out and say that, assuming you are not using any wide angle lenses on your G5 housing the Ikelite DS50 is more than good enough for the job.



Unfortunately, I am not using a wide angle lens. This is the next purchase.





Gazzer:
Believe it or not the DS50 has a far higher REAL guide number than the DS125. Of course if you are shooting wide angle then the DS50 will not have a big enough angle of coverage. You could combine 2 DS50's ... would save yourself a lot of money. I suspect that if you think the DS50 is not powerful enough the problem lies with you camera settings. What camera aperture setting are you trying to use?



I do find it harder to believe that the DS50 has a higher real guide number than the DS125. I have yet to see any reports that document this. I have seen many comparisons between competitors and the DS125 but never seen the DS50 go up against the DS125. If you know of any DS50 / DS125 comparisons, fire over the link.



Gazzer:
The Ikelite G5 housing has a sync cord connection but this acts only as a trigger. TTL not possible. You must use one EV controller per strobe. In your case if you go for twin strobes you would need an Ike dual sync cord to connect the housing to the two EV controllers, then connect the EV controllers to the strobes



You're correct. IF I have the choice between a manual EV controller and the TTL controller I think I would go with the TTL controller. It just seems awkward to have that much equipment to operate the strobes in TTL mode. Oh well life isn't always ideal.



Westwinds.



 

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