hdtran
Geography Police
Just bought an Intova ISS4000 kit from one of the authorized US dealers. Haven't gotten it wet yet; I may do a bucket/sink submersion test before my trip in July. This is a "dry, just opened the package" review.
The kit included: ISS4000 strobe; stayslim flex arm; PX35 fiber cable; optics cleaning kit; 4 AA's & charger.
My camera and housing are the Panasonic Lumix ZS3 (aka TZ7) and Panasonic housing. I lost the housing weights a while back, so the camera is (will be) slightly buoyant.
The Intova tray fits nicely on the bottom of the Panasonic housing. I'm setting it up so the flex arm is on the left side of the housing (grip flex arm with left hand, shoot by pushing shutter button using right hand). The flex arm itself is a very tight fit on the Intova tray. I had to run hot water on the flex arm to soften or lubricate the plastic slightly, then push hard to get the flex arm in. No fear about the flex arm coming loose off the tray! I'm likely to cobble something with a couple of screws to attach extra weights to the flex arm (5 gallon bucket submersion test to add weights until I get slightly negative buoyancy in tap water...).
The 4 pre-flash settings work very nicely with the Panasonic ZS3. I set the ZS3 to forced auto flash, then, followed the ISS4000 instructions. Start at 4 pre-flash, then shoot. Switch to 3, then shoot. At 2, the ISS4000 fires (I'm still seeing spots; this thing is bright in air!!! Try again, to make sure it's not a fluke. Sure enough, it fires at the 2 setting.
I'm looking forward to getting the unit rigged up with the fiber, and in the water (even if it's just the garage sink or a 5-gallon bucket...).
Fuller review in mid-July (probably in the Travel/Central America/Bay Islands forum) after my midlife crisis
The kit included: ISS4000 strobe; stayslim flex arm; PX35 fiber cable; optics cleaning kit; 4 AA's & charger.
My camera and housing are the Panasonic Lumix ZS3 (aka TZ7) and Panasonic housing. I lost the housing weights a while back, so the camera is (will be) slightly buoyant.
The Intova tray fits nicely on the bottom of the Panasonic housing. I'm setting it up so the flex arm is on the left side of the housing (grip flex arm with left hand, shoot by pushing shutter button using right hand). The flex arm itself is a very tight fit on the Intova tray. I had to run hot water on the flex arm to soften or lubricate the plastic slightly, then push hard to get the flex arm in. No fear about the flex arm coming loose off the tray! I'm likely to cobble something with a couple of screws to attach extra weights to the flex arm (5 gallon bucket submersion test to add weights until I get slightly negative buoyancy in tap water...).
The 4 pre-flash settings work very nicely with the Panasonic ZS3. I set the ZS3 to forced auto flash, then, followed the ISS4000 instructions. Start at 4 pre-flash, then shoot. Switch to 3, then shoot. At 2, the ISS4000 fires (I'm still seeing spots; this thing is bright in air!!! Try again, to make sure it's not a fluke. Sure enough, it fires at the 2 setting.
I'm looking forward to getting the unit rigged up with the fiber, and in the water (even if it's just the garage sink or a 5-gallon bucket...).
Fuller review in mid-July (probably in the Travel/Central America/Bay Islands forum) after my midlife crisis
