Underwater flash kit: Fantasea Double Nano

[Cruiser809e8r09]

Hello. I took my Canon SD1000 + waterproof case with me diving in the Caribbean on our first cruise and was amazed at the quality of shots and video I got out of it. I was already a budding photographer, now I was hooked on underwater photography!

 

Some of the guys we were diving with had external flashes, and one of them showed me some of his shots a few nights later. They were fantastic (!!) and despite being shot in 65 feet of water they had a wonderful colour spectrum.

 

The next step up for me then is of course to go to an external slave strobe to get better colour and reduce backscatter (the snow effect). I'm not a super-serious photographer, so I didn't want to lay down the sheckels for pro gear. I swear I went around the 'net about three times looking for an inexpensive slave strobe kit to go with my existing camera.

 

Then I came across the Fantasea "Double Nano" kit. I've seen it on sale for $249 with shipping included in several online stores like Amazon.com and Adorama.com. It looks to me (admittedly an amateur) like a pretty comprehensive kit for someone wanting to take the next step up from just an underwater housing. I'll be taking it with us on our next cruise to try it out!

 

While I was looking around on the 'net, I couldn't really find a lot of info or detailed description about the kit so I thought I help others in search of something similar by posting some pictures and a description about what you get. Whether you get this kit or a different one, at least you'll have some idea of what to look for.

 

On to the pictures!

 

This is the carry case the kit comes in. It's quite small, about 2/3 the size of a briefcase.

 

It's a fairly deep case, about 4-5" or so. You'll see why later.

 

The front has a velcroed flap that you can lift up and underneath is a zippered pocket that has two elastic mesh pockets and more room in front.

 

Opening it up, all the pieces of kit fit neatly into configurable "pockets". The dividers are all velcro and can be completely rearranged any way you want. You can see I have room for my Canon underwater case as well as the SD1000 camera in a belt pouch. Lots of room for "save a dive" spare parts and tools.

 

This is the base frame and the flexible arms. Each arm is a little over a foot long. The arms have docks that you slide onto the recepticles on either end of the base and they fasten down with a thumbscrew. The segments allow you to bend and reposition each arm in a lot of different configurations. The segments are tight and you have to apply a moderate amount of force to bend them, but they won't accidentally get knocked out of position.

 

The strobe (or flash) itself has it's own waterproof housing, sealed with an O-ring. It comes with three diffusers and a fiber-optic cable that is used to reliably transfer light from your camera's flash to the sensor on the front of the strobe, rather than relying on bouncing the light off of the target object.

[Cruiser809e8r09]

The strobe has a cover that you slide the diffuser into from above. Each diffuser has a little ridge on it that makes it easy to grasp, even with numb hands or gloves. The cover just clips onto the front of the flash, and is on there quite firmly - it won't get knocked off accidentally. The fiber optic cable plugs into the socket on the middle right of the cover (you'll see how later).

 

The strobe has three synchronization settings that allow it to adapt to the various flash patterns used by many cameras, eg. small pre-flash, no preflash, etc. This is important for compatibility. The same dial also turns off the flash, and the off switch can be used to fire a "test flash" as the unit is powered down. There are three intensity settings controlled via the dial on the back. There is a green LED "flash ready" indicator above the dial. The unit seals with a large black O-ring and unseals by a latching dial on the side opposite the picture. It would be nearly impossible to "accidentally" unlatch the case underwater.

 

The unit inside the housing is tiny, about the size and shape of a large fig newton. It runs on AAA batteries. You can see the latch dial in this photo and some of the internals of the case.

 

This is the focus light. A focus light is basically a special flashlight that is an aid to your camera's autofocus to get setup in low light conditions. It uses 8 VERY bright bluish LEDs (to carry as far as possible in water) and has a sensor in the center that turns the light off for a few seconds when it detects the flash firing to prevent coloring the light from the flash blue. It can obviously be a very helpful dive light as well. It has a rubber scuff cover on the outside. You twist the housing to turn on and off the light.

 

These are the "extra bits" that come with the kit. A spare O-ring, some silicone lube to aid sealing the flash up, a spare fiber optic coupler and a few other miscellaneous bits. Not shown are two jewellers screwdrivers you use to assemble the fiber cable and coupler.

 

This is the whole rig assembled. I've spent a few days now experimenting in a pitch black room with the flash trigger settings and my camera's manual settings. I finally have it dialed in to take very good pictures, but you should definitely experiment for a while before your dive like I did to get it all down pat. The rig does weigh a couple of pounds, so to use something like this you definitely want to have your buoyancy control down pat and not have it be a distraction to you while you dive safely.

 

Hope this helps you in your search for your own underwater photography gear!

[HelenOster]

A really comprehensive tour of this great piece of gear; thanks so much for sharing your feedback and your pictures.