Using the Olympus 5050, PT-015 and Ikelite DS 50 with the manual controller

chubbyman · 7th February 2005

Hi,

I recently bought a new strobe (DS50) and i am wondering what is the best configuration to set. Being new to taking pics using a strobe, i had problems trying to fire the strobe and lighting up the subject properly.

Would like to set the advice on the resident gurus here.

I have set my strobe to Manual, and the camera inbuilt flash is set to Slave and have tried various modes.

1. Aperture priority "A" mode
Sometimes the shots come out very bright; esp when it is bright.

2. Speed priority "S" mode
Here the flash can't be set to slave and so the normal flash is used.
Somehow when i fire the strobe, the camera doesn't register the strobe flash and the picture is very dark, regardless of how close i am.

Is it because of the internal flash cancelling the strobe flash? and if so, do i really need to block out the flash

3. Manual mode
I am still trying out this mode. Haven't really got the hang of it.

hope to hear from you guys soon, many thanks for any advice given.

lovells19 · 7th February 2005

er don't think theres a perfect configuration lor. try to play around with the settings

i shoot in M mode with Slave set to 1. just need a little light to trigger the flash.

then depending on distance of the lens to the subject, adjust the setting accordingly. hey we're shooting digital, why worry just shoot and shoot until you get the result you want. and try to remember the setting

chubbyman · 7th February 2005

Thanks for the note mate, was thinking whether other than M, is there another mode .. hee,hee

will be trying to shoot more ...

beivied · 7th February 2005

ok.. i am not a guru, i have never ever used an external strobe before.. but just wondering, did you set the power on your manual controller? cos you didnt mention... someone mention to me before to set the strobe to TTL to use the manual controller wo ... IF i am not wrong la... fongwee?

lovells19 · 7th February 2005

Originally Posted by beivied

ok.. i am not a guru, i have never ever used an external strobe before.. but just wondering, did you set the power on your manual controller? cos you didnt mention... someone mention to me before to set the strobe to TTL to use the manual controller wo ... IF i am not wrong la... fongwee?

must use switch to TTL on the strobe to use it,

chubbyman · 7th February 2005

okay.. just to clarify.

I am using the Ikelite DS50, with the Manual Controller (which allows me to set the power of the strobe from Full Power). here's the link: http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/mansensors.html

do i set it to TTL instead of Manual?

beivied · 7th February 2005

Originally Posted by chubbyman

okay.. just to clarify.

I am using the Ikelite DS50, with the Manual Controller (which allows me to set the power of the strobe from Full Power). here's the link: http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/mansensors.html

do i set it to TTL instead of Manual?

i believe should be TTL gua ...

chubbyman · 7th February 2005

guys, you are right. .

i just checked the ikelite website. . i must set the Strobe to TTL ... hmm...
guess i misunderstood somethings..
hmm...

beivied · 8th February 2005

Originally Posted by chubbyman

guys, you are right. .

i just checked the ikelite website. . i must set the Strobe to TTL ... hmm...
guess i misunderstood somethings..
hmm...

its ok, we all learn, you just bought your strobe anyway

chubbyman · 8th February 2005

beivied .. thanks..just a few more questions.. i am a bit inquisivie ... hee,hee..

so if i set to TTL on the strobe, the flash on the camera is set to slave.

then in M mode, play around with the Shutter speed and Aperture right? ...
Do i start at Full Power first?

beivied · 8th February 2005

disclaimer: you are getting advice from a non strobe user, just base on her hearsay from other users....

i dun think you need to use M mode in particular. Now you are manually controlling the strobe, all you need to do is to fire the internal flash to trigger off the strobe. Thats why lovells19 set it to slave flash at the power of 1, which is the minimum power, to save on the camera battery and recycling time of the internal flash.

dun need to start with full power. i havent got to test a strobe yet (wanted to borrow from lovells last hantu trip but in the end didnt) but if i were the one, i think i would start from lower power settings and move up if i think it is underexposing my pictures. very simple reasoning that more than half the time you do not need full dump, so why even try that?

Originally Posted by chubbyman

beivied .. thanks..just a few more questions.. i am a bit inquisivie ... hee,hee..

so if i set to TTL on the strobe, the flash on the camera is set to slave.

then in M mode, play around with the Shutter speed and Aperture right? ...
Do i start at Full Power first?

beivied · 8th February 2005

hmm. just nibbling on the shutter priority thingie that you said... what was the shutter speed when you tried it? i am not that sure, but i think you cannot go over a certain shutter speed for the ds50 to be able to "sync" with it... it is either that, or ... or... i dunno, hehehe.. no preflash?

waisj · 8th February 2005

Originally Posted by beivied

hmm. just nibbling on the shutter priority thingie that you said... what was the shutter speed when you tried it? i am not that sure, but i think you cannot go over a certain shutter speed for the ds50 to be able to "sync" with it... it is either that, or ... or... i dunno, hehehe.. no preflash?

Wah.. beivied becoming a pro deh neh... ~~~~~

Well with the manual controller, or/and most electronic shutter cams, the sync speed can go up to 1/1000 or more, but with a cost, attenuation of the strobe power.

Chubby man, set the switch to TTL , over at manual controller, remember to set the switch to DS50 settings, can't remember which C(?) or D(?) is it , do refer to the manual/ike pages.

Set base aperture to F4.0/F8.0 depending on what you want and S1/125 for *most* macros and shutter speed for background exposure for wide angle.

for Macro(flash Photography) then manual controller is the only thing you'll need to fidget with, WA will be different as background exposure will needed to be taken care off. !

Else shoot more.!!!

wah beivied.. soo goo dneh...

beivied · 8th February 2005

Originally Posted by waisj

Wah.. beivied becoming a pro deh neh... ~~~~~

wah beivied.. soo goo dneh...

i just blabbering only ...

today cny eve, dun flush you down the toilet bowl

kthan · 8th February 2005

beivied, u are good, no wonder have to stay on as moderator.

I would have guessed that u need to not switch to TTL since the strobe is on manual.

Eric

beivied · 8th February 2005

Originally Posted by kthan

beivied, u are good, no wonder have to stay on as moderator.

ooohhhh hohohohoho... though i dun think so, how come it feels so good to see this comment... kekekee..

Originally Posted by kthan

I would have guessed that u need to not switch to TTL since the strobe is on manual.

guess who told me? our hunk mod waisj lo, haha... and i touch touch fongwee's ds125 on the hantu trip, he showed to me, hehe

chubbyman · 8th February 2005

thank you beri much for the info

much better now ... at least getting a clearer picture .... thank you thank you

okay, so this is what i have gathered:
1. Set the strobe to TTL
2. Set the strobe to lower power settings first
3. for macro shots, set around 1/125 and f 4-8.0 (have to play around on this)

question:
Which mode to use? I guess "M" is the most flexible.

Any comments on the other modes "S" and "A"?

kthan · 8th February 2005

for macro, use manual f8, 1/125....then u adjust your strobe power accordingly. I would just stick to M mode and forget the rest

fongwee · 8th February 2005

From my limited experience with my setup on the last Hantu dive, I set the aperature to F8 and then shutter at 1/125 or 1/250 and adjust the strobe. Result not very good yet and need more practice. Don't really know how to estimate the exposure correctly in manual. Hmmm TTL would be good.

Read up Wetpixel, they were saying that the strobe power would affect the lighting of the foreground and that the shutter speed would affect the background. Depending on what you want, adjust accordingly.

correct me if i am wrong.

chubbyman · 9th February 2005

Thanks for the great responses... i am starting to understand the technicalities a bit more

Another question,

when setting the manual controller, it should be set to No Preflash mode right?

Oh ya ..one more thing, Happy New Year

Good luck to all in the year of the Rooster !!! ....

7th February 2005	#1
chubbyman Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 218	Using the Olympus 5050, PT-015 and Ikelite DS 50 with the manual controller Hi, I recently bought a new strobe (DS50) and i am wondering what is the best configuration to set. Being new to taking pics using a strobe, i had problems trying to fire the strobe and lighting up the subject properly. Would like to set the advice on the resident gurus here. I have set my strobe to Manual, and the camera inbuilt flash is set to Slave and have tried various modes. 1. Aperture priority "A" mode Sometimes the shots come out very bright; esp when it is bright. 2. Speed priority "S" mode Here the flash can't be set to slave and so the normal flash is used. Somehow when i fire the strobe, the camera doesn't register the strobe flash and the picture is very dark, regardless of how close i am. Is it because of the internal flash cancelling the strobe flash? and if so, do i really need to block out the flash 3. Manual mode I am still trying out this mode. Haven't really got the hang of it. hope to hear from you guys soon, many thanks for any advice given.

8th February 2005	#10
chubbyman Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 218	beivied .. thanks..just a few more questions.. i am a bit inquisivie ... hee,hee.. so if i set to TTL on the strobe, the flash on the camera is set to slave. then in M mode, play around with the Shutter speed and Aperture right? ... Do i start at Full Power first? Last edited by chubbyman; 8th February 2005 at 12:20 AM.

8th February 2005	#19
fongwee Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 264	From my limited experience with my setup on the last Hantu dive, I set the aperature to F8 and then shutter at 1/125 or 1/250 and adjust the strobe. Result not very good yet and need more practice. Don't really know how to estimate the exposure correctly in manual. Hmmm TTL would be good. Read up Wetpixel, they were saying that the strobe power would affect the lighting of the foreground and that the shutter speed would affect the background. Depending on what you want, adjust accordingly. correct me if i am wrong. Last edited by fongwee; 8th February 2005 at 04:46 PM.

9th February 2005	#20
chubbyman Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 218	Thanks for the great responses... i am starting to understand the technicalities a bit more Another question, when setting the manual controller, it should be set to No Preflash mode right? Oh ya ..one more thing, Happy New Year Good luck to all in the year of the Rooster !!! .... Last edited by chubbyman; 9th February 2005 at 12:13 PM.

7th February 2005	#2
lovells19 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Deep Deep in the sea Posts: 3,234	er don't think theres a perfect configuration lor. try to play around with the settings i shoot in M mode with Slave set to 1. just need a little light to trigger the flash. then depending on distance of the lens to the subject, adjust the setting accordingly. hey we're shooting digital, why worry just shoot and shoot until you get the result you want. and try to remember the setting

7th February 2005	#4
beivied Moderator Join Date: May 2003 Location: East, Singapore Posts: 4,213	ok.. i am not a guru, i have never ever used an external strobe before.. but just wondering, did you set the power on your manual controller? cos you didnt mention... someone mention to me before to set the strobe to TTL to use the manual controller wo ... IF i am not wrong la... fongwee?

8th February 2005	#15
kthan Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 2,318	beivied, u are good, no wonder have to stay on as moderator. I would have guessed that u need to not switch to TTL since the strobe is on manual. Eric

8th February 2005	#17
chubbyman Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 218	thank you beri much for the info much better now ... at least getting a clearer picture .... thank you thank you okay, so this is what i have gathered: 1. Set the strobe to TTL 2. Set the strobe to lower power settings first 3. for macro shots, set around 1/125 and f 4-8.0 (have to play around on this) question: Which mode to use? I guess "M" is the most flexible. Any comments on the other modes "S" and "A"?