Jonny_A

Erol,

Just saw your post, thanks for the info. I'm a little confused about how to get both the flash synch chord and the shutter remote wires through a single bulkhead. Is the idea that you use all 5 pins on the bulkhead, 3 go to the remote shutter, and 2 go to the flash synch cable? I can see how this could work, but I'm unsure of how the dual synch cable fits into the equation. With a dual synch, wouldn't the two cables outside the housing converge to share the same 5 pins on the bulkhead--seems this would prevent me from having them diverge again to go to shutter/hotshoe inside the housing.

I only need to be about 5 ft. deep... I might just put one of my old SLR's in a pelican case with a 4x4" glass filter set in the side for a lens port and cable glands to pass the shutter/flash synch chords. This is my setup for camera traps topside and I'd think it'd work underwater.

Thanks,
Jonny

I used the second option on my Hugyfot housing using one of the Nikonos penetrators (Ikelite in your case I believe, but it is the same deal), these have five pins plenty enough for the remote release. On the housing inside I belled out the connections with a multi meter and spliced the ribbon cable into the N3 three pin plug used by Canon. (Pinouts found here http://martybugs.net...Connector.html)

I then butchered a dead sync cable for the Nikonos plug and spliced a cable that was long enough into a second hand remote release that I had. Jobs a goodun.

As for remaining flash capability I have three Nikonos bulkhead connectors on my housing, but if I had only one I would have used a dual sync cable.

Overall this is much better than drilling a new hole as aside from have to tap the thread for the new bulkhead connector you would need to machine a recess for the oring. It a job of fairly low tolerances and one I would feel uncomfortable doing with the correct tooling (press drill, etc). If you where to go down that route a trip to a maching job might be in order.

Best Erol

I didn't realize radio triggers could work underwater. I'll have to experiment a little. I have Cactus V5's that I use all the time topside, but They'd be too big to fit in the housing...

You have RF Remote on the bay or anywhere, one piece in the ikelite housing plug in the remote plug. No need to drill and crash your housing, and all ather stuff working (manual shutter, flash...)

The other piece you have a plug to sinchronise with flash, and you can plug an ILS and make with a small pelikase or something like this a housing for the remote. (an hold small light is the best i think).

I just think that drill an epoxy a cord way in your ikelite is dangerous. I don't know the way of remote under water, but outside water it's 100m RF, so i thnik you can use around 10M in water...

In 2 feet of water, do you need a strobe at all? I would think not!

I shoot in coastal Alaska where sunny days are rare. You'd be surprised how hard it is to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze action, even in really shallow water. Portraits are fine, but I want to capture behavior and I am lucky to get 1/250 at ISO 1600. I'd also just like a strobe for creative control over lighting--in my topside photography, I don't use speedlites only when it's dark.

Jonny_A,
i may used the wrong wort, i was talking of the exposure control knobs and LED's on the lower backplate of your Ikelite housing.
This comes handy when you have to correct the exposure because the e-TTL is getting confused (especially on WA shots) and is
under- or overexposing. With a turn of the dial (on my D90 housing) or pressing the 2 buttons on your 7D housing you can
adjust the exposure - or better strobe power - without changing settings on the camera.

Chris

Thanks Chris. I think I'll take the plunge and get the Ikelite. If they're too bulky I can always sell them--I'm eager to get anything right now because young-of-the-year salmon are emerging and there's lots of opportunities to photograph other fish eating them--but I can't freeze action with only ambient light.

If your Ikelite housing allow the internal 7D strobe to fire you can drive the Z240 as optical triggered slave strobe,
resolving the hypothetical problem of water and electricity and the INON sTTL is working very well.
If your housing don't allow the internal strobe to fire you have to use the Z240 connected electrically using the Nikonos protocol,
and you need to shoot in manual 8what in your situation may be too complicated).
The Ikelite DS160/161 is a excellent, powerful (more powerful then the Z240) strobe, but much more bulkier and heavier than the Z240.
I use a DS125 on a Ikelite D90 housing and it works perfectly, and especially the built-in EV controller makes
photographing under complicated situations more easy.

For your specific needs i think that a Ikelite DS160/161 may be the better choice as it works very good with the Canon e-TTL

Regarding the Arms, normally i suggest ball joint arms like ULCS, Ikelite, Inon due their far bigger possibilities to position the stobe.
In your case flexarms may be the better choice as the can be bent with one hand instead of loosening and tightening the clamps in awkward positions.
In case of flexarms make sure that they can hold the weight of the DS161/161 strobe!

Chris

Thanks a lot for the information Chris. Could you tell me when the EV controller is necessary with the Ikelite--I've found this a little confusing. My understanding is that I would not need the EV controller to use a DS-161 with my setup.