GLOC
12-23-2006, 10:26 PM
I have recently bought a secondhand Aquatica S2 Housing which I will plan to use with the new Sigma 10-20 lens and an 8" dome port with extension.
My main subjects are wrecks and I am potentially involved in mapping an unknown sailing ship in 52-54m of water of Weymouth this summer.
At those depths natural light is rather hit or miss to say the least and therefore I will need some strobes. To get the most of the lens and dome I am going to need to get a pair strobes but at the price for the higher guide numbers, I nearly died http://www.digigreen.net/forums/images/smilies/smiley.gif
Couple of questions....
1. Which strobes would you recommend? Here is the info from the guy I bought the housing from about the connections.
Quote:
-The Nikonos bulkheads are not the original ones from Aquatica. I replaced them by German ones from Subtronics [lower profile, contacts are + reliable than the mickey mouse ones from Aquatica]. They have spring loaded pins so they are 100% compatible with Ikelite cables. German Nikonos sync cables [usually made for fixed pins] can be used. I did use such cables with my housed SB800.
-Secondly, the wiring configuration of the bulkheads was soldered and done by myself. This was to avoid once and for all the problems I was having with wires breaking lose inside the bulkhead that I had with the Aquatica. It is set-up so that you can use either the 1st or the 2nd bulkead as the primary for redundancy, therefore you don't get stuck in the middle of the liveaboard and if you have a split cable you still can use 2 strobes from a primary bulkhead.
2. Once I get the strobes (YS110 or SS200 look good from what I have read), what else do I need bearing in mind the lens and dome set up. All I have is the standard Aquatica housing with holes top and bottom.
3. I have posted this request elsewhere and the SS200 seem to come out well but there aren't any on Ebay at the moment. Anyone got any for sale? ;)
I am looking at a budget of somewhere around £1000 for the complete lighting rig (obviously less if I can do it :) )
Regards
My main subjects are wrecks and I am potentially involved in mapping an unknown sailing ship in 52-54m of water of Weymouth this summer.
At those depths natural light is rather hit or miss to say the least and therefore I will need some strobes. To get the most of the lens and dome I am going to need to get a pair strobes but at the price for the higher guide numbers, I nearly died http://www.digigreen.net/forums/images/smilies/smiley.gif
Couple of questions....
1. Which strobes would you recommend? Here is the info from the guy I bought the housing from about the connections.
Quote:
-The Nikonos bulkheads are not the original ones from Aquatica. I replaced them by German ones from Subtronics [lower profile, contacts are + reliable than the mickey mouse ones from Aquatica]. They have spring loaded pins so they are 100% compatible with Ikelite cables. German Nikonos sync cables [usually made for fixed pins] can be used. I did use such cables with my housed SB800.
-Secondly, the wiring configuration of the bulkheads was soldered and done by myself. This was to avoid once and for all the problems I was having with wires breaking lose inside the bulkhead that I had with the Aquatica. It is set-up so that you can use either the 1st or the 2nd bulkead as the primary for redundancy, therefore you don't get stuck in the middle of the liveaboard and if you have a split cable you still can use 2 strobes from a primary bulkhead.
2. Once I get the strobes (YS110 or SS200 look good from what I have read), what else do I need bearing in mind the lens and dome set up. All I have is the standard Aquatica housing with holes top and bottom.
3. I have posted this request elsewhere and the SS200 seem to come out well but there aren't any on Ebay at the moment. Anyone got any for sale? ;)
I am looking at a budget of somewhere around £1000 for the complete lighting rig (obviously less if I can do it :) )
Regards