Cheap and cheerful (?) strobe

[Muzzer]

I thought I'd post this for anyone thinking of making their own DIY strobe a la Woz.
I'm not sure if this has been covered on here before (couldn't find any references by searching), apologies if I'm going over old ground.

I decided I needed an underwater strobe for my old housed Canon Powershot, but didn't want to spend much money on buying an expensive one as I don't take that many photos. A recent post by Woz here: http://www.yorkshire-divers.co.uk/fo...light=otterbox
describing using an Otterbox and a slave strobe seemed ideal, so I did a bit of searching and found a great article on the Devilgas site here: http://www.devilgas.com/uwstrobe/index.php that seems to be exactly what I am looking for.
This DIY strobe uses a Vivitar DF120 (£18 from 7dayshop), and Otterbox 1000 and some "locline" modular hose like that used on Sea&Sea strobes, all for a total outlay of about £40! If it floods, buy a new DF120. Now to build it and see what happens....................

Steve

[recurve]

First class info, have a greenie

I'm planning on cheating a little and using one of the Sea & sea strobes off an MX10 that I sold on when I went digital and kept the strobe.

Triggering is via a piece of fibre optic from Maplin, glued into a piece of Infra red filter perspex that slots in front of the camera housing flash port.

Again, the only down side is having to shoot fully manual.

[Muzzer]

Mmmmmmmmmm green

I was going to try the bent-metal-plate-with-a-shiny-bit-on-the-end that covers the camera's built-in flash and reflects it to trigger the slave unit, but the fibre optic cable seems like a better idea, probably more reliable too.

Cheers

Steve

[David G]

Hi,
The Vivitar DF120 seems to be dis-continued and no stock is left with 7Dayshop

Does anyone have any idea where a similar unit may be purchased???

Cheers,

David.

[okeefa]

Originally Posted by David G

Hi,
The Vivitar DF120 seems to be dis-continued and no stock is left with 7Dayshop

Does anyone have any idea where a similar unit may be purchased???

Cheers,

David.

david

i searched for a slave flash on ebay and found a couple that would do the trick, i managed to get it for £1.51 incl postage so if it doesn't work i have no worries.

i'll be trying to put this together over the next week or so and will let you know how i got on.

i am struggling to fing the extender segment mentioned on the devilgas web site though. although with woz's contraption you don't need it.

good luck.

keith

[David G]

Originally Posted by okeefa

i am struggling to fing the extender segment mentioned on the devilgas web site though. although with woz's contraption you don't need it.

good luck.

keith

Thanks Keith,

It seems that the extender is still available from Cromwell, here:

Cromwell UK: KEN-447-2280K

Carriage makes it a bit expensive though.............

Will be interested to hear how it goes.

David.

[okeefa]

Originally Posted by David G

Thanks Keith,

It seems that the extender is still available from Cromwell, here:

Cromwell UK: KEN-447-2280K

Carriage makes it a bit expensive though.............

Will be interested to hear how it goes.

David.

david

thanks for that, i found it last night.

they have depots around the country so i guess i could pick one up.

i'll post the results on this thread.

cheers

keith

[chugger]

right, i've got hold of the loc-line flexible tubing. couldn't be @rsed with buying the special pliers for a one-off job so how the hell do you put it together and pull it apart??? hot water to expand the socket maybe? it's bl00dy tough...

[Woz]

Originally Posted by chugger

right, i've got hold of the loc-line flexible tubing. couldn't be @rsed with buying the special pliers for a one-off job so how the hell do you put it together and pull it apart??? hot water to expand the socket maybe? it's bl00dy tough...

Push and pull hard. Don't do it too many times though as it weakens the plastic.