seacuke

> > Apple not allowing flash is like having a TV but you cannot watch the ABC or BBC on it. Actually talk around the campfire in my line of work is that Flash is done for. HTML5 will do it all... including brewing your coffee in the morning and taking the dog for a walk. Microsoft is even beginning to de-emphasize Silverlight and their precious .net. Who knows.

Hi Mike, Does this housing have a type 3 or type 4 port? Thanks, Brian

Hey Jcc -- these baby-blue colored "High Capacity" NiCad batteries came with a charger that discharges the batteries completely before charging them up. It's a cool feature, because of that NiCad charge memory problem. I've had fantastic luck with these batteries, and will be sad when they finally do give up the ghost (which has to be sometime soon, based on their age) - especially if they can't be gotten anymore. So when you run 2700mAh NiMHs in your strobes you don't have any overheating/hydrogen O-ring reaction/etc? I was thinking about getting Eneloops because they're actually lower powered batteries...?

I am somewhat embarrassed to say that this is probably user abuse by me. I played with the strobes last night, in every combination of cable & port I have available to me (2 sync cables, 2 ports, 2 strobes), and with probably 500 test fires there were no misses or mess-ups by the '110. My neighbors probably thought something weird was going on though... The only variable that was different last night is that I loaded the '110 with my old faithful "Hi Capacity" NiCAD batteries (the old blue Radio Shack variety), as opposed to some (old) NiMH batteries that I had loaded it with previously. I'm thinking these NiMH batteries have outlived their usefulness (they're very old), and and I'm guessing the NiCADs delivered a better voltage/current signature that perhaps the '110 is more sensitive to than the '90. So I'm off to buy some new rechargables in the immediate future. Are "high capacity" NiCADs even available anymore? I'm not seeing anything at the Radio Shack web site. Back in the day I was told that NiCAD batteries are superior to NiMH in strobes because of the higher current they deliver... is this a line of hooey? Cheers, brian

Wow, thanks for the tip. I think you might be on to something! When I typed "canon hot shoe pin out" just looking for a schematic to do some thinking about, the first entry was from Seacam talking about various pin configurations needed for 1 & 2 strobe systems and manual vs. TTL. I think this may prove to be a fruitful trail to follow. Thanks a bunch! -brian

Hey everyone, I know before I post this that there is some degree of "you get what you pay for" to this thread, but I think I should "get" a little more than I have so far... I bought a supposedly-new YS110 (not an alpha) off of a major online auction site for about 350 dollars US. I have it paired with a YS-90 that I've had for quite a while, and these are attached to a Subal C10 housing with a Canon 10d camera in it. The YS-90 is extremely reliable (as it's been since 2000 or 2001 when I bought it), but this 110 does not fire reliably. I tried it in 'slave' mode over the past few days and that's even less reliable than when it's got a sync cord plugged into it. I use Nikonos-style sync cords. Does anyone have any information on the YS110; like known incompatibilities that I should have checked before I compulsively bought it? Thanks in advance, brian

Thanks for sharing, that's a good one!

Cal, I live outside of San Francisco - southeast of there (Pleasanton). I haunt Monterey a lot, diving as much as I can. If you want to cold water dive I'd be happy to show you what I know of the local beaches. May/June is awesome diving in these parts. You can couch surf at my place, but I have to warn you - my couch isn't new (but it -is- comfy), and my apartment is tiny. Cheers, brian

Hey John, I prefer the one with the "wooden" background. Actually I prefer it by a rather large margin - I think the other one is a little too busy and the bright background is distracting. I like the subtlety of the wood "paneling." Just fwiw. -b

Awesome, I'll get those from Sears. I really appreciate it! Cheers, b

Thanks for the opinions all! A strap wrench looks like it's in my future... any suggestions on good ones for this application? > > Not sure you can mix type 3 and type 4 components! So is this a reference to revisions of the extension tube and flat port? I'm a Subal n00b (been diving a Light & Motion rig for about 10 years) - so I'm pretty green at identifying what is what on my new-to-me C10 rig. Thanks again everyone, much appreciated! -b

Hi Kilili, I did a pretty thorough inspection/cleaning with a magnifying glass and super bright light before assembling it for the first time. I don't think there's any residue anywhere in the extension tube. It went together easily, which is why I was surprised it was difficult to get apart. I did open the housing first, and took the extension tube & port off the housing before I took those two entities apart. For whatever it's worth, the port's O-ring is the small diameter kind and the extension tube's O-ring is the big diameter kind. So I would expect the port to be easier to get out of the extension tube than harder... Thanks for the input! -b

Hi y'all, I recently acquired a used Subal C10 rig that included among other things an extension tube. If I had to guess, I'd say it's 4" long. This past weekend I put the rig together with a 10d, 50m macro lens, and a 1:1 diopter ("Life Size Converter" in Canonese). The only way this lens combination fits is with the extension tube attached to a macro port. I lubed up the O-ring between the port and the extension tube as I normally would a camera O-ring, which is a very thin coating of grease. Well, the diving got blown out over the weekend and I didn't get to shoot. When I went to disassemble the rig last night, I had a very hard time getting the port and the extension tube apart. I did eventually get them apart, and didn't have to resort to anything outside of elbow grease, but I was wondering if I was missing something. Is it standard practice to lube up the O-ring between the flat port and extension tube more than normal? Is it just something where I need to stop being a sissy? I hate to use a lot of strength to do anything on the housing, because I don't want to break anything.

Hey Travy, I know of a Subal housing for a 40d available used at Backscatter here in Monterey, CA. It's $2250 USD. Let me know if you'd like me to inquire after it or to send you a link or anything. Cheers, b

Until ...today!... my current camera rig uses 128mb "smartmedia" cards. I can get 46 .jpgs on the card before it runs out, in theory anyways. The "smartmedia" (quotes definitely necessary in this case) cards are literally disintegrating and have a tendency to throw away a few shots per dive. It's good times! ps: it's an Olympus C4000 with a Light & Motion Tetra housing (+ wetmate adapter + wide angle lens + macromate diopter). I think I have around 6000 dollars in the system, bought in 2000 & 2001... It shoots very nice pictures when the media card doesn't delete them!

Hey y'all, I just purchased a Subal C10 housing with a Canon 10d body included. As the 10d is getting a little long in the tooth (but is still a huge upgrade for me), I'm wondering about anything people have done in the spirit of housing conversions for more modern Canon bodies. I've seen the wonderful article about the 5d conversion by Scubastu, but I'm sort of setting my sights lower for now. I'd just like -any- Canon body that can handle an EF-S lens instead of just the EF lenses; I'm a rote amateur and not sure I can justify the expense of a 5d body. So anyways, has anyone had any luck with conversions for other bodies in the C10 housing? Thanks! -brian

Thanks for the replies guys! In particular that shutter lag is going to be too much to handle... I detest the lag I have with my current Olympus, so that's very good info to know. Thanks for sharing! Unfortunately I'm starting to become afraid the D100 rig has sold. I haven't heard back from the seller all day after getting a prompt response yesterday. The search continues! Cheers, b

Hey y'all, I've got a situation brewing, and I'm shopping for opinions. My current UW rig is ancient. It's an Olympus C4000 housed in a Light & Motion Tetra housing. I've got a Sea&Sea YS90 strobe (which I like a lot). I've got the rig fully accessorized with the L&M wide angle wetmate lens, and a macro diopter called the "macromate" that I got back in 2002 when I bought the rig. As I've just moved back to a place where I can dive regularly, I want to get back to UW photography. And the technology has come so far I'm just in awe of what's available in the digital SLR world. My long range goal is to get into a Canon T2i rig with an Aquatica housing. For the whole enchilada I'm looking at about a 4000 dollar layout. For me, this is significant money, and it's going to be a while before I can swing it. Unfortunately there are 2 things with my current rig that are frustrating me to the point where I am really wanting to get something as an intermediary rig. 1) Picture format. My C4000 doesn't shoot RAW format, the best it does is TIFF - and it will only fit 11 TIFFs onto the memory chip (128mb). I end up shooting JPEG, and they are just... well, not really making me smile much. 2) Memory problems. SmartMedia chips are (barely) still available, and the ones I have are all seeming to deteriorate to the point where they're losing images I shoot routinely. This is (needless to say) incredibly frustrating. I've run across 2 rigs that I would consider as 'holdover' rigs until I can get a modern, expensive camera. They are: a) A used Nikon D100 housed in a Subal D10 housing. No lens. 2 Ikelite strobes. What appeals to me about this rig is the fact that it's a dSLR (even if it's an old one), and it's a great housing. Uses CF cards, up to 4 gigs. They are asking 1300 OBO for this rig. b) A new Olympus Pen rig. This would require a change for my strobe going from a wired connection to a fiber optic connection (which really bothers me for some reason). It's also still a P&S camera instead of an SLR. I think, though, that I could get the entire rig set up (using my existing YS-90 strobe) for under 1300 bucks. What I shoot is 90% macro, 10% scenery. I shoot in water that ranges from 10' to 50' vis regularly, with the occasional foray down to the tropics. My primary concerns with the Pen is the ability to shoot macro, the P&S nature of the camera, and most of all the fiber optic strobe connection. My primary concerns with the Nikon is that I'd have to buy a 60mm macro lens (450+ bucks?), and then I'd have a nice Nikon rig which would make me lean towards getting another Nikon rig when I finally upgrade to a modern rig. I'd love to hear opinions. Particularly from anyone who has shot or is shooting either of these rigs! Thanks a bunch, brian