Hey there! Just got myself a Epoque ES-230DS Auto strobe for my Canon WP-DC40 case. Im wondering if someone has advice on a smart way to connect the fiber optic cable to the housing. The cable is one of these “velcro-types”. (link to strobe and cable: http://www.unterwasserkamera.at/shop/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/67/products_id/1781)

My first idea was to cut a piece of dark plastic (and leave a tiny hole for the build in flash to trigger the slave via the optic cable) and replace the diffuser plate in the housing with this. It seems though, that the flash is still able to illuminate the picture somewhat. Have only tried this out on land, so I don´t know if this will result in backscatter under the surface??
Second idea (have not tried this one out yet) is just to cover part of the housing with dark duck-tape and leave a tiny hole where the velcro is supposed to be attached.

So if anyone has better ideas and suggestions on how to attach the cable and prevent the build in flash to illuminate the picture, I would be really happy...!!

Thanks, Jonathan Filskov

Dear Jonathan,

When attaching a fiber optic cable to the camera housing, it’s best to attach the Velcro Strip to the housing first, and then cover the whole flash area on the housing with black tape, over the Velcro Strip. This way the fiber optic cable is capable of detecting the camera’s internal flash, but the built-in flash’s output is invisible, since it’s all covered with black tape.
Usually there’s no problem attaching the Velcro Strip over the built-in flash diffuser, since a sufficient amount of light still reaches the fiber optic cable’s end.
It’s also best to cut off the fiber optic cable’s end once in a while, in a very straight angled cut, since the cables’ ends ware out due to intensive use.

Best Regards,

Sharon Rainis

Hi Sharon! Thanks a lot for the tip. I followed your advice: first attaching the velcro for the optic cable and afterwards covering off with dark tape. So as soon as the weather gets better up here, I´ll go and try i out :-D
Best regards Jonathan

You may also want to consider designing a device that will allow you to easily use either the external strobe or the cameras strobe.

I have the Inon D-180 strobe which was designed to work with a dark film strip over the cameras strobe so as to smother it but still allow the light to travel the fiber optic cable and fire the strobe. This system prevents one from using the cameras strobe. I found myself needing only the cameras strobe on several instances where the subject was down in the coral or in a crevice where the external strobe would not fit.

I devised a device shown HERE.