Noob Question on LX5 and strobes

[Cosmographer]

Hello all! So I just bit the bullet and purchased an LX5 and a used 10bar housing. I'm seriously considering purchasing the YS-01 in a few days (using a fiber optic connection). My LDS said they will need to cut the fiber optic cable and attach an adapter so the cable will fit with the case's bulkhead. Does that make sense? Anyway, that's a really a tangent. The question that's on my mind is as follows:

When a strobe is connected by a fiber optic cable (which I guess would mean I'm using TTL), the flash is basically controlled by the camera, right? In other words, the camera tells the strobe when to fire. When shooting, I expect to have the built-in flash closed because I'm worried about the backscatter. However, when the built-in flash is closed, the camera automatically goes into flash-turned-off mode. So would the camera still tell the strobe to fire even though the "no flash" icon is displayed?

If not, how can I use the strobe without firing the built-in flash? As a noob, all I can think of is popping open the built-in flash so the camera will fire the strobe, and then using tape to block the built-in flash to prevent backscatter. But this seems like an awfully crude solution.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

 

[scipionems]

Hi Cosmographer,
i have the Lx5 and the 10Bar Housing.
I use two Inon D2000 connected with fiber optic cable.
You MUST pop up the internal flash of the Lx5 ALWAYS, or the external strobe will not fire in sincrony with the internal flash.
If you turn off the internal flash , the external flash will not fire never.
All you need to connect the external strobe with the 10Bar Housing is this kind of cable (look the picture).
Ciao
Scipionems

 

[scipionems]

Hi Cosmographer,
I made a mistake before, attaching that kind of cable, that one is right for the Nauticam housing, sorry.
This one unterwasserkamera.at - 10Bar Slavekabel Connect Set 20mm is the right connector for the 10Bar housing.
The right cable for the 10Bar connector is this one unterwasserkamera.at - 10Bar Slavekabel INON
Sorry, forgive me.
Scipionems

 

[Cosmographer]

Thanks for the reply. So if you always have the internal flash activated, doesn't that cause backscatter? How do you avoid that problem?

 

[cardog]

Thanks for the reply. So if you always have the internal flash activated, doesn't that cause backscatter? How do you avoid that problem?

The internal flash is masked when you attach the fiber optic cable (s) for your strobe (s).

 

[scipionems]

Hi Cosmographer,
as Cardog told you, the 10Bar Housing is made of black aluminum, not of transparent polycarbonate like Canon Housing.
So the light of the internal flash cannot create problem of backscattering.
The 10bar Housing has a very small circular window for the internal flash and the adapter for the fiber optic cable connection cover completely that window.
So you don't have the risk of backscattering from the light of the internal flash.
The backscattering risk depend by the right positioning of the external strobe (s).
Try to position the external strobe with an angle of 45°, higher and back from the housing.

 

[Cosmographer]

Great thanks for the clarification!