5050Z Price
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Looks a little steep nowadays.
Goto www.kelkoo.co.uk and you'll find companies doing the 5050 for about £400. The housing should cost you no more than £150.
Looks a little steep nowadays.
Goto www.kelkoo.co.uk and you'll find companies doing the 5050 for about £400. The housing should cost you no more than £150.
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got mine for uk pounds 398.97 for the camera and 135 for the housing from a place in manchester, great service and free delivery about 3 weeks ago.
UK Digital cameras 0845 123 5345 114 mauldeth Road, fallowfield, M14 6SQ.
[email protected]
The price they have listed for the housing was 139 but I found it cheaper and he matched it.
www.uk-digital-camera.co.uk
Just looked and they have it now for 404 quid but they negotiated on my housing so worth giving them a call. It comes with a 8Mb card and you will probably need a 256Mb whci is about 40 quid and many some extra good batteries.
hope that helps, it's a very nice bit of kit and if you look in trip reports and photgraphy you will see the stuff i took with it last weekend, my first serious play with it and i am well pleased with the results.
Jules
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got mine for uk pounds 398.97 for the camera and 135 for the housing from a place in manchester, great service and free delivery about 3 weeks ago.
UK Digital cameras 0845 123 5345 114 mauldeth Road, fallowfield, M14 6SQ.
[email protected]
The price they have listed for the housing was 139 but I found it cheaper and he matched it.
www.uk-digital-camera.co.uk
Just looked and they have it now for 404 quid but they negotiated on my housing so worth giving them a call. It comes with a 8Mb card and you will probably need a 256Mb whci is about 40 quid and many some extra good batteries.
hope that helps, it's a very nice bit of kit and if you look in trip reports and photgraphy you will see the stuff i took with it last weekend, my first serious play with it and i am well pleased with the results.
Jules
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Thanks for the help guys...I was a press photographer for 10 years, but never taken any shots below the waves. I was intending to stick with film, until I´d viewed the quality of digital shots on YD.
Can anyone recommend the best flash unit for a 5050?
Thanks for the help guys...I was a press photographer for 10 years, but never taken any shots below the waves. I was intending to stick with film, until I´d viewed the quality of digital shots on YD.
Can anyone recommend the best flash unit for a 5050?
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Your price is too steep.
Dito underwater cameras of Manchester, they do a pack with a bigger CF card which I went for. Buy extra "O" rings too, you need two.
James
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Your price is too steep.
Dito underwater cameras of Manchester, they do a pack with a bigger CF card which I went for. Buy extra "O" rings too, you need two.
James
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I got mine for about £358 from Dabs, and the casing £135 from UW cameras about 4 months ago.
As Timing said, do a search on Kelkoo
ATB
Rick
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You'll be surprised with the quality of shots that can be taken with the inbuilt flash.[b said:
I got mine for about £358 from Dabs, and the casing £135 from UW cameras about 4 months ago.
As Timing said, do a search on Kelkoo
ATB
Rick
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When it comes to external strobe (cos as Rick has said the internal flash actually gives good performance) you've really got a choice between Inon, Ikelite and Sea & Sea. Of these Inon and Ikelite seem to be the most popular choices to go with the 5050 / PT015 combo.
From Ikelite you can go for the DS-50 although the DS-125 is better (in terms of power and colour temp) than the 50 but more expensive. From Inon you have quite a wide choice from the Z220, Z220s, Z180 and Z180s. I originally went for the DS-125 but, due to out of stocks, have reverted to the Inon Z220s - I'm still awating delivery so can't personally comment on its performance.
For suppliers of strobes you can get Ikelite stuff from Cameras Underwater or Inon stuff from Ocean Optics in the UK. You can also get stuff from the US - Underwater Camera Pros stock both Ike and Inon and gives good impartial advice on both (unlike the UK guys who behave a little more like dealerships - although they do know their stuff).
For even more info try Digital Diver, another forum where there is simply loads of info and people with lots and lots of experience with the 5050 and PT-015 set-up. (Don't you just love that sentance construction?).
I'd love to see some of your photos once you've got the rig given that you're an experienced top-side photographer. UW is different (stating the bleedin' obvious) but you will have command of the skills necessary for all photographers eg. composition, knowing how cameras work with light etc etc.
When it comes to external strobe (cos as Rick has said the internal flash actually gives good performance) you've really got a choice between Inon, Ikelite and Sea & Sea. Of these Inon and Ikelite seem to be the most popular choices to go with the 5050 / PT015 combo.
From Ikelite you can go for the DS-50 although the DS-125 is better (in terms of power and colour temp) than the 50 but more expensive. From Inon you have quite a wide choice from the Z220, Z220s, Z180 and Z180s. I originally went for the DS-125 but, due to out of stocks, have reverted to the Inon Z220s - I'm still awating delivery so can't personally comment on its performance.
For suppliers of strobes you can get Ikelite stuff from Cameras Underwater or Inon stuff from Ocean Optics in the UK. You can also get stuff from the US - Underwater Camera Pros stock both Ike and Inon and gives good impartial advice on both (unlike the UK guys who behave a little more like dealerships - although they do know their stuff).
For even more info try Digital Diver, another forum where there is simply loads of info and people with lots and lots of experience with the 5050 and PT-015 set-up. (Don't you just love that sentance construction?).
I'd love to see some of your photos once you've got the rig given that you're an experienced top-side photographer. UW is different (stating the bleedin' obvious) but you will have command of the skills necessary for all photographers eg. composition, knowing how cameras work with light etc etc.
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I am still using a dive torch instead of a strobe to light from the side so will interested to let you lot buy strobes test them and then tell me which one to get!
Bythe way Steve Walker has just taken delivery of the 5050 and underwater housing too.
The onboard flash is ok for machro stuff as long as there arent too many particles in the water. i decided that i should turn it down a bit but havent done my mymode settings yet.
jules
I am still using a dive torch instead of a strobe to light from the side so will interested to let you lot buy strobes test them and then tell me which one to get!
Bythe way Steve Walker has just taken delivery of the 5050 and underwater housing too.
The onboard flash is ok for machro stuff as long as there arent too many particles in the water. i decided that i should turn it down a bit but havent done my mymode settings yet.
jules
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Do the underwater strobes allow you to play around with the settings so you can use them to " fill in ". Being used to film, you could change the film ISO on the flash, so it would emit only a little light.
Do the underwater strobes allow you to play around with the settings so you can use them to " fill in ". Being used to film, you could change the film ISO on the flash, so it would emit only a little light.
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The ones I've mentioned above can be operated in fully manual mode so you have full creative control.
They aren't cheap tho cf standard flashes for top-side use you would be paying £700+ for strobe, arms, tray and cables at UK prices. Get the right strobe tho and it will still be in use if you upgrade later with a housed D-SLR.
The ones I've mentioned above can be operated in fully manual mode so you have full creative control.
They aren't cheap tho cf standard flashes for top-side use you would be paying £700+ for strobe, arms, tray and cables at UK prices. Get the right strobe tho and it will still be in use if you upgrade later with a housed D-SLR.
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http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/d_stills/flash/es150ds.html
Wouldn't one of these do?[b said:Quote[/b] (Julia C @ Mar. 11 2004,16:13)]700 quid is way beyond me! i will stick with my torch for now. Let me know when someone is selling one second hand!![]()
http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/d_stills/flash/es150ds.html
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Lots of people use it with the Oly mju 400 and are satisfied, according to postings on the Digitaldiver.net forum, so I don't see why it shouldn't work fine with the C5050Z as well. Don't take my word for it though.
Lots of people use it with the Oly mju 400 and are satisfied, according to postings on the Digitaldiver.net forum, so I don't see why it shouldn't work fine with the C5050Z as well. Don't take my word for it though.
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C'mon John it doesn't look anything like sexy enough.
A flash like this just isn't, well, flash.
Actually its a good price, and if you know you're only going to do macro or close W/A then I'd say go for it. For WA shots it wouldn't have the coverage (although only lacking by about 5 degrees) or the power output of the strobes I mentioned above (it does quote a Guide number of 15 cf the 10 of the DS-125, but the Ike specifies this as UW whereas the Epoque does not, potentially misleading? - difficult to say). It also doesn't have the same degree of precise control of the flash strength in manual - but I most for most uses this may not be an issue. The recycle time, however, is also a painful 6/7 secs - it may not seem like long but when you're waiting U/W for that it'll seem like ages, esp compared to the 1 sec achievable with the Ike 125.
As you say it should also work well with the 5050 in a PT-015 or Ike housing. It's not terribly big or heavy either so would be easy to travel with.
It does look like a nice little strobe.
Now my Caveat (applicable to me only):
I can feel UW photography starting to suck me in like top-side photography did years ago - but then I had far less funds so couldn't indulge myself. Now its a different matter and I don't want to be in the same position with this as I have been with all my other diving equipment - ie having to upgrade because I end up wanting to achieve more than when I started out. I know that I will upgrade to a housed D-SLR in the next year or so (in fact I'd have one now if I hadn't felt compelled to return my shiny Canon300d) and I want to be sure that the strobe I buy will go with it - the 5050 will be kept as a back-up and I would be able to use the strobe interchangably on both cameras.
I sometimes wish now that I had never been tempted to take my darn camera underwater.
Jules, I don't recall seeing any reviews for this but jsut go ask for peoples experiences over on DD.
EDIT: Ok just done a search over on Dd and here is a thread on the here is a thread on this flash.
If your style of photography isn't demanding now and you know it won't be in the future then this does look a good buy. No comments on build quality though.
here is another thread.
C'mon John it doesn't look anything like sexy enough.
A flash like this just isn't, well, flash.
Actually its a good price, and if you know you're only going to do macro or close W/A then I'd say go for it. For WA shots it wouldn't have the coverage (although only lacking by about 5 degrees) or the power output of the strobes I mentioned above (it does quote a Guide number of 15 cf the 10 of the DS-125, but the Ike specifies this as UW whereas the Epoque does not, potentially misleading? - difficult to say). It also doesn't have the same degree of precise control of the flash strength in manual - but I most for most uses this may not be an issue. The recycle time, however, is also a painful 6/7 secs - it may not seem like long but when you're waiting U/W for that it'll seem like ages, esp compared to the 1 sec achievable with the Ike 125.
As you say it should also work well with the 5050 in a PT-015 or Ike housing. It's not terribly big or heavy either so would be easy to travel with.
It does look like a nice little strobe.
Now my Caveat (applicable to me only):
I can feel UW photography starting to suck me in like top-side photography did years ago - but then I had far less funds so couldn't indulge myself. Now its a different matter and I don't want to be in the same position with this as I have been with all my other diving equipment - ie having to upgrade because I end up wanting to achieve more than when I started out. I know that I will upgrade to a housed D-SLR in the next year or so (in fact I'd have one now if I hadn't felt compelled to return my shiny Canon300d) and I want to be sure that the strobe I buy will go with it - the 5050 will be kept as a back-up and I would be able to use the strobe interchangably on both cameras.
I sometimes wish now that I had never been tempted to take my darn camera underwater.
Jules, I don't recall seeing any reviews for this but jsut go ask for peoples experiences over on DD.
EDIT: Ok just done a search over on Dd and here is a thread on the here is a thread on this flash.
If your style of photography isn't demanding now and you know it won't be in the future then this does look a good buy. No comments on build quality though.
here is another thread.
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Actually, a friend of mine has just bought one to go with his new Olympus mju 40. It is very neat and compact and seems well enough made.
Tim knows a lot more about this than I do but, regarding the recycle time, the recycle time for the Sea & Sea YS60TTL, which is a later version of the YS50TTL that I use with my MotorMarine IIEX, is 6.5 sec, i.e. almost exactly the same. It does seem like a long time at times but I suppose that is something you have to put up with, as is the limited power, unless you are willing to spend BIG money.
Actually, a friend of mine has just bought one to go with his new Olympus mju 40. It is very neat and compact and seems well enough made.
Tim knows a lot more about this than I do but, regarding the recycle time, the recycle time for the Sea & Sea YS60TTL, which is a later version of the YS50TTL that I use with my MotorMarine IIEX, is 6.5 sec, i.e. almost exactly the same. It does seem like a long time at times but I suppose that is something you have to put up with, as is the limited power, unless you are willing to spend BIG money.
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