Imported post
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.