Strobe Recommendation for SWC

[The_Darkness 6]

Hello,

While I am not new u/w photography, I have never shot my dad's Hasselblad u/w. We have the 500c and SWC with the Zeiss corrector lens set. His Subsea strobe is obsolete of course. I'm looking for recommendations for dual strobes. Devon said that he can make me an adapter to the current EO connector. So sync cable type is a non-issue. 

Thanks! 

[Tom_Kline 141]

I used the Subsea strobes as well as the Ike 150 back in the day with my Hasselblad system and used the EO plug on the housing (for the EL). These were 150 watt-second units. EO is a bit out of fashion with current strobes. Better off adapting to a bulkhead or fiber optic. With the blue housings it may be possible to swap out bulkheads - possibly a reduction fitting will have to be added as those old bulkheads appear to have used a larger diameter hole than the 14mm being used these days. I would be interested in knowing if Devon can do this.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Tom_Kline

[The_Darkness 6]

Thanks Tom!

I'll have to ask Devon about changing out the bulkhead fittings. Since you've run the Hassy housing, there are two PC cords inside. What is the difference? I'm assuming both bulkheads are wired to one or both of the PC cords to run dual strobes. 

[ChrisRoss 150]

Any strobe that can be manually triggered will work, the old cameras just have a conncetion switch for want of a better term to connect two wires to trigger the flash - very simple.   Probably need some decent power as I suspect even with the correction lens you would need to stop down quite a bit with wide angle work.   _ there is very little information on what the Zeiss correction lens for the SWC actually does - it appears to be a shallow dome with a diopter to allow the lens to focus?? 

I'm not clear you say you have the 500C and SWC - two separate cameras and presumably housing for each of them?

Some buoyancy would also probably be useful as the UW weight of the housing for the SWC is a reasonably hefty 1.3kg.

depending on what type of thread is used for the flash connection bulkhead it may be worth considering changing that to a modern style Nikonos bulkhead so you can use standard cables. 

So back to your original question any of the strobes that do manual would be fine - INON Z-330, Ikelite DS-160 etc.  You don't need a particularly wide beam as even the SWC is "only" about 23mm equivalent focal length.  The literature doesn't seem to cover using the very wide 30mm lenses underwater.

[The_Darkness 6]

Thanks Chris.

My understanding is that the correction lens set widens the angle of view back to 90 deg u/w. The port is flat on the outside. Spherical inside. 

My dad never acquired the SWC rear section. Instead, he removed the prism from the 500c rear section to fit the SWC and just imagined the SWC viewfinder frame. Haha. 

I agree on your point about adding some buoyancy.  

[Tom_Kline 141]

29 minutes ago, The_Darkness said:

Thanks Tom!

I'll have to ask Devon about changing out the bulkhead fittings. Since you've run the Hassy housing, there are two PC cords inside. What is the difference? I'm assuming both bulkheads are wired to one or both of the PC cords to run dual strobes. 

Redundancy. The Hasselblad lenses that are needed are the ones with Compur shutters in the lens. There is a PC post on the lens to plug the wire into. To use two strobes one will need a Y type synch cord - two strobes plugged into one fitting. There are both cabled (wired) as well as fiber optic cords of the Y type. The Sea and Sea model is no longer made but can be found on the auction site and maybe here.

[Tom_Kline 141]

7 minutes ago, The_Darkness said:

Thanks Chris.

My understanding is that the correction lens set widens the angle of view back to 90 deg u/w. The port is flat on the outside. Spherical inside. 

My dad never acquired the SWC rear section. Instead, he removed the prism from the 500c rear section to fit the SWC and just imagined the SWC viewfinder frame. Haha. 

I agree on your point about adding some buoyancy.  

I was wondering about this. The prism fitting on the 500C is much longer than the top of a SWC.

[ChrisRoss 150]

9 minutes ago, The_Darkness said:

Thanks Chris.

My understanding is that the correction lens set widens the angle of view back to 90 deg u/w. The port is flat on the outside. Spherical inside. 

My dad never acquired the SWC rear section. Instead, he removed the prism from the 500c rear section to fit the SWC and just imagined the SWC viewfinder frame. Haha. 

I agree on your point about adding some buoyancy.  

So how do you use the correction lens for the SWC?   Does it work inside the dome of the 500C housing?  I assume I found the right housing online with an 8" dome on either end.  Focusing might be interesting as well.

[Tom_Kline 141]

4 minutes ago, ChrisRoss said:

So how do you use the correction lens for the SWC?   Does it work inside the dome of the 500C housing?  I assume I found the right housing online with an 8" dome on either end.  Focusing might be interesting as well.

The two housing rear sections shared the same front section. He simply has to replace the standard flat port with the correction port - this may already be done. There is another lens that goes on the front of the Biogon lens of the SWC. The two (port and this other lens) correction lenses work as a unit.

[The_Darkness 6]

I'll post pics shortly. Stay tuned.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[The_Darkness 6]

I started a new thread in the General Chat. https://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?/topic/66488-hasselblad-swc-zeiss-corrector-lens-set/

[The_Darkness 6]

Interesting, there are 3 PC cords! Two gray, one black. 

[Tom_Kline 141]

I guess the black one was added. Do you have a volt-ohm meter aka multimeter? You can use one to test the conductivity between the plugs and bulkheads.

[ChrisRoss 150]

Back to the original question I think any of the more powerful strobes on offer would do the job, the lens gives 90° field of view - equivalent to about a 22mm lens so not particularly challenging to cover.  The ikelite strobes/cables are well documented there is a page about this on the ikelite site and the strobes certainly work with basic manual and the circular tube should provide nice light.  I'm guessing you would be shooting around f16?  so would need sufficient power.  this is the ikelite page:  https://www.ikelite.com/blogs/faq/wiring-diagrams-test-firing-strobes

[Tom_Kline 141]

I recall shooting f/11 with 70mm Ektachrome 200 Pro film - brings back memories especially the hassle of special ordering the film. Using one or two 150 W-S strobes. The whole rig with two strobes (EL housing) was quite the monster, around 50 pounds in air. On the plus side one can sync at 1/500 due to the leaf shutter.

[The_Darkness 6]

I recall shooting f/11 with 70mm Ektachrome 200 Pro film - brings back memories especially the hassle of special ordering the film. Using one or two 150 W-S strobes. The whole rig with two strobes (EL housing) was quite the monster, around 50 pounds in air. On the plus side one can sync at 1/500 due to the leaf shutter.

I have the 70mm back. Too bad 220 roll film is no longer made. Only 70mm B&W from Ilford. But there is the new digital back.... $$$$

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[Tom_Kline 141]

16 minutes ago, The_Darkness said:

I have the 70mm back. Too bad 220 roll film is no longer made. Only 70mm B&W from Ilford. But there is the new digital back.... $$$$

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 

With the prism removed it is possible that you will be able to chimp through the viewing port.

[The_Darkness 6]

Ooohhh! That's right! Definitely not with the 500c though. With the new digital back, the screen tilts to horizontal. When I get them back from being serviced I'm going to go to a store that has the digital back to take some measurements.

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[The_Darkness 6]

Regarding the housing PC cords, I found this in the Hasselblad Way 4th ed book. Also, I have been unable to find how far to stop the camera down when using the corrector lens set.

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[The_Darkness 6]

On 8/31/2020 at 5:58 PM, ChrisRoss said:

So how do you use the correction lens for the SWC?   Does it work inside the dome of the 500C housing?  I assume I found the right housing online with an 8" dome on either end.  Focusing might be interesting as well.

Sounds like the housing for the 500EL. Do you have a photo?

 

[ChrisRoss 150]

yes I believe it is the one I found had a dome on each end.  The SWC sounds like it only has a dome/port on one end.

 

[saga7 6]

I have an Ikelite AI strobe from film days but i still use with digital camera 100 watts of power, cover 96 degrees. I have an ikelite 100A strobe also which is the same specs as you want to shoot twins. $200usd plus shipping A dual sync cord is available from ikelite

[Tom_Kline 141]

On 9/5/2020 at 11:33 AM, The_Darkness said:

Regarding the housing PC cords, I found this in the Hasselblad Way 4th ed book. Also, I have been unable to find how far to stop the camera down when using the corrector lens set.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 

Good catch! Forgot about flashbulbs! The 38mm lens is only f/4.5 so you do not have to stop down much from maximum aperture to reach f/5.6 or f/8! You will have to do some trial and error. The bigger deal is having to estimate the focus distance so it will be a bit like shooting an old Nikonos. The H38 housing had a focusing scale on the focus knob.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Tom_Kline

[Tom_Kline 141]

On 9/15/2020 at 6:18 PM, ChrisRoss said:

yes I believe it is the one I found had a dome on each end.  The SWC sounds like it only has a dome/port on one end.

 

I have this housing and used it mainly during the late 80's and early 90's. It works with 80, 60 and 50mm lenses only. The domes are 8" in diameter. One could stand it up on the roll bars so it resembled R2D2 and is what my housing was nicknamed.

There was a more recent housing for the later SWC models (SWC/M and later) made by Gates called the H38 that used an 8" dome. I bought one from Hasselblad USA shortly before going digital but sold it as it got little use once I went digital. There are some postings on Wetpixel showing this housing. Darkness's housing is NOT this model but the earlier blue housing.

[The_Darkness 6]

On 8/31/2020 at 5:07 PM, Tom_Kline said:

I used the Subsea strobes as well as the Ike 150 back in the day with my Hasselblad system and used the EO plug on the housing (for the EL). These were 150 watt-second units. EO is a bit out of fashion with current strobes. Better off adapting to a bulkhead or fiber optic. With the blue housings it may be possible to swap out bulkheads - possibly a reduction fitting will have to be added as those old bulkheads appear to have used a larger diameter hole than the 14mm being used these days. I would be interested in knowing if Devon can do this.

Hi Tom,

I've been learning a lot about strobes lately and have returned to u/w photography with my compact digital setup. My Hassleblad cameras are back from getting serviced by David Odess. I've been learning about manual shooting with strobes using the guide #/distance = f/stop formula. However, the Retra Pro has piqued my interest but they don't use guide numbers, rather watt-secs. Do you know of a formula for calculating f/stop with watt-sec?