reefmaster strobe on a cannon housing?

[reefrat]

I'm looking for a strobe to fit to my digital cannon S40 camera/ DC 300 outfit and am on a fairly tight budget.

It has occurred to me that the Reefmaster SL 960 strobe/tray/arm might be adaptable to my needs!

The physical dimensions look about right and there's no cords- just a flash deflector.

I would imagine the strobe would work OK as long as red-eye reduction is switched off on the camera.

Anyone got any ideas about this??

 

[plongere]

I jsut got back from the Underwater Sports sale in Seattle. I spoke to the Reefmaster people there and they told me a guy came in with a Canon outfit, hooked up the strobe and it worked!

$170 is a heck of a lot better than Sea and Sea's YS-DX 25 strobe outfit at $500.00. Sometimes I wonder where these people come up with these prices!

 

[ReyeR]

I'm not familiar with the Reefmaster strobe but if it has an optical sensor then it should work with your S40 and clear housing. It'll slave off your camera's flash. But it will only work in manual.

Does the strobe have any manual output settings i.e full, 1/2 etc? If not then you will need to control your exposure by varying the f-stop and/or the distance of the strobe and/or use diffusers.

Also you will need to turn the pre-flash off on the S40 (set flash to manual) so the strobe will not try and fire on the pre-flash and the main flash. You might also want to shield the camera's flash.

 

[Gno]

Reefrat,

Please let me(us) know when you do get the setup to work as I'm also looking for a strobe for my DC300 housing.

Thanks.

 

[ReyeR]

Another option would be if the strobe has a TTL mode then you could get three psuedo-manual settings from it. You could switch the strobe to TTL and set the flash adjustment on the camera to manual. The manual flash adjustment gives you 3 levels of flash. You could get the strobe to copy these three durations to give you 3 psuedo manual levels. (TTL? Manual Levels? Aaargh, I'm all confused myself!). What those 3 levels correspond to on your strobe is anyone's guess.

 

[Gno]

Reye,

I was looking at the Reefmaster SL960 on the net but I can't seem to find out how does the strobe sync with the camera. Is TTL function available? Sorry if this sounds confusing but I 'm new to underwater photography.

I thought that thee are only 2 ways whereby the strobe syncs with the camera i.e. vide optic cable or direct connection with the camera vide a port on the underwater housing.

Please enlighten me.

BTW, you're right in that it is a very much cheaper option available.

Thanks.!

 

[desertdiver]

Reefrat,

heres some experience I have with the Reefmaster strobe. Im using the S30 camera/ DC300 housing

It will fire in sync with the Canon in manual mode only. But not always. strong ambient light & improper strobe positioning may prevent firing of the strobe.

Strobe has no power adjustment, Will always fire in full power. It will be too bright for subjects 3 ft or closer. The canon S30(I suppose its the same w/ S40) smallest app is only f8. You have to find a way to stop down the strobe output when shooting close.

recycle time is around 5 secs with fresh alkaline AA batt. You have around 25 shots before the batt conks out.

The S30's internal flash will also fire in full power when in manual mode. flash compensation will not work in this setting. So the camera's batt lasts almost the same time with the strobe. i.e about 25 flashes.



overall, I would not recommend this strobe for the set-up you have. The YS-25 or any other similar strobes with adjustable power/ reliable synchronization would of better value IMO.

 

[ReyeR]

I can't seem to find out how does the strobe sync with the camera.

The strobe uses a light sensor located at the bottom of the strobe to sync with the camera's flash - much like using the fibre optical cable, but without the cable.
A quick squiz through the Reefmaster DC200 digital camera and SL960 strobe manual reveals all. The DC200 fires a pre-flash to determine exposure when using the internal flash (TTL). But when using the SL960 as an external strobe you have to select 'external flash' which disables the pre-flash. Which basically means the strobe is not 'pre-flash aware' - it's not capable of duplicating it and neither is it capable of ignoring it (it'll try and do a full dump twice which ofcourse it can't in that span of time).
The strobe only has 3 settings - on/off/test. Which means it can only do a full dump. The manual suggest using diffusers to dial down the output of the strobe for macro. The strobe diffuser is an accessory that can be clipped onto the strobe head in order to modify the brightness by dialing a degree of diffusion.
You also have to position the strobe so the light sensors is to the side or above the camera and that the shine of the camera’s built-in flash can trigger the strobe.
Re: the manual flash on the Canon I believe (at least on the S45/S50) you can select 3 levels of flash intensity. So if you select the lowest it should still trigger the strobe and save batteries.
BTW I was quite impressed by the availability of info on the Reefmaster documentation including details like pre-flash interval of 0.2secs.
Conclusion: exactly what I said in my first post - manual (full dump) and you'll have to use a combination of f-stop, distance (which is limited since you have to keep the strobe close to the camera) and diffusers to control your exposure.

 

[wetman]

That strobe is the same on the bonicas. I tried it and now have a sea and sea ys90 auto. I didnt haven anything for a diffuser so it was pretty much full white out blast the whole time. Most settings on the camera didnt seem to make much of a difference either - seemed far too bright.

steve

 

[Gno]

Reye,

Thanks a lot for the information!! No wonder you can only get 25 shots for new alkaline batteries. "Full dump" as you said.

Looks like it may be worthwhile getting the YS-90 after all.

Shucks, there goes another potential $$$ saver.

The search goes on!!!!