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ScubaLawyer
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70's UW Photography

Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:47 pm

Wife made me clean the garage today. Lookee what I unburried. Anyone remember these tank-like strobes. I used this one on an old Oceanic Hydro-Eye 35 housing back in the day.
SubSea MK 150.jpg
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"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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luis
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Re: 70's UW Photography

Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:15 pm

A friend of mine had a couple of those.

Did those use like 8 D size batteries, or am I thinking of a different unit?
Luis

Buceador con escafandra autónoma clásica.

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ScubaLawyer
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Re: 70's UW Photography

Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:42 pm

luis wrote:
Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:15 pm
A friend of mine had a couple of those.

Did those use like 8 D size batteries, or am I thinking of a different unit?
Different unit. My MK150 used one big rectangular strobe battery with the two recessed circular + and - terminals on one end. Forget the name now.
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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antique diver
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Re: 70's UW Photography

Sun Jan 14, 2018 9:33 pm

I think I still have one of those over-sized, over-priced Subsea 150s in one of my big Boxes-O-Junk. Wasn't that a 315 volt battery? Scary price on those, and they were not rechargeable at that time. Also wondered what would it do to me and the fish if the strobe flooded. :shock: Giddings made a cast aluminum strobe using the same battery, and Subsea rep used scare tactics to sell their plastic housed one as being safer.
The older I get the better I was.

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ScubaLawyer
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Re: 70's UW Photography

Mon Jan 15, 2018 1:40 pm

antique diver wrote:
Sun Jan 14, 2018 9:33 pm
Wasn't that a 315 volt battery?
Don't recall the number designation. I do recall doing a shoot in Cozumel for a Western Airlines brochure in about 1979. They would reimburse the cost of film and processing but when I sent a cost bill for several of those batteries they threw a hissy fit.
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

dhaas
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Re: 70's UW Photography

Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:58 am

The SubSea 150 strobes used a throw away 510 V battery. The smaller slightly less expensive Subsea 100 (I had two) used a throw away 300V battery.

The batteries were quite expensive and you had no way to tell when it would die. Many of my fellow UW photographers used them hand held aiming with Nikonos cameras. I started in 1970 right after getting trained (pre-national certification days) and buying these batteries for a trip was always a financial stretch for us poor working stiffs.

David Doubilet of National Geographic and other emerging UW photographers chose these because of their wonderful warm soft powerful light output.

After many stumbles with reliability the Ikelite 150 / 300 and eventually 400 watt second strobes with a warm 4800K color temperature and circular flashtube became what many UW photographers migrated to.

Today strobe color temp isn't as important due to digital and post processing capability on your computer, tablet and even phone :)

Just one old geezer's opinion LOL......

David Haas
www.haasimages.com

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Re: 70's UW Photography

Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:28 pm

David, I recall choosing the MK150 precisely because of its color temperature. I remember researching strobes and found an article (may have been in SDM) comparing different color temps with Kodachrome 25 and 64, Ektachrome 64, etc... Shot a lot of Pan-X and Tri-X too and spent many happy hours in the darkroom. The memories almost make me want to go back and shoot a roll of film; "almost" being the operative phrase. :D
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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