Sealife DC 1200 & Intova ISS 2000

[AngieD300]

I'm getting my DC1200 this Wednesday, but don't have a strobe for it. Don't really have big bucks, but could anybody tell me if the Intova ISS 2000 is a decent starter strobe? I really just need a decent strobe just so i can have some kind of strobe until i can afford a really good one. I appreciate any advice & tips. Would like to get something before next Friday. Thanks!!

 

[The Blue Whale]

The SeaLife digital pro strobe has the features suited for that camera that will really make your system complete. The Intova ISS 2000 would be one way to save some money in the beginning. You'll find that the diffuser will need to be used with almost every shot. Also, if you're using the wide angle lens with your DC1200 you'll want to move up to a bigger strobe.

The real selling feature of the DC1200 is the outfit which includes the SeaLife strobe and wide angle lens with the camera for $800. That's going to be a camera outfit that will get a lot of divers into photography.

You might find yourself using the video feature more and more, and if that's the case, you'll want a good LED light for your movies... so think about that before you spend too much on your strobe. But for $120 or so, the little Intova will work fine. Hope this helps.

 

[AngieD300]

That helps very much...exactly what i needed to know. I just wanted the Intova as a starter strobe, but i will most definitely be saving for a higher end strobe. By the way, not sure if you're interested, but, i happened to get an extra Sealife DC1200 for my birthday, so i have one for sale. I will be posting it in the classifieds. Again, thanks for your help!!

 

[Shayne]

Hi i have the intova strobe and have used on about 50-60 dives with no issues and does supply enough light to the photos can view them under my name on this site.

 

[savholic]

So you can use any strobe brand with de DC 1200? i'm getting one and my friend have a spare non sealife storbe (don't recall the brand) thanks!

 

[ScubaSaipan]

So you can use any strobe brand with de DC 1200? i'm getting one and my friend have a spare non sealife storbe (don't recall the brand) thanks!

I am wondering the same thing. Has anyone tried a non-sealife strobe on the dc1200?

 

[sabbath999]

Well, yes and no

You can use any strobe that uses a "slave" firing system, via fiber optic cabling or through sensing the flash in the water.

The Intova's are slaves, so they will work just fine... in fact you can use the fiber opitcs kit that Sealife uses to make it all nice and neat... but keep in mind the Intovas are "manual" flashes, which means you set the power with a button, and they don't work automatically like the Sealife ones theoretically do.

I could never get the dual Sealife Pro strobes to actually expose properly on automatic (always too blown out) so I just ran them manually anyway, so for me this would be no big deal.

The newer Intova model costs about half what the sealife one does, and when you order the strobe, base & kit the first thing you will see is that the base is made of metal as opposed to sealife's flimsy and (in my case three times) breakable plastic. The Intova comes with a diffuser, but the bases and cabling is extra.

As far as other brands go, if they can be used in slave mode then you can use them with your sealife cameras. If they require cabling that is anything other than fiber optic to operate, then they can't.