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9

Control Panel

1

  Power Switch / 

 

Mode selector

2

   Rotary Switch – 

 

multi purpose

3

   Push Button / Pilot Light / 

 

Input control 

4

   OLED Display

5

   Multicolor Ready Light 

 

Indicator LED

6

  Safety Lock Button

7

   Battery Compartment / Cap

Front

8

  Front Slave Sensor

9

   Flash Bulb / Refl ector

10

   LED Pilot Light  

Controls and Parts

7

1

5

3

2

4

6

10

8

9

Summary of Contents for SEAFLASH 160DIGITAL

Page 1: ...silver USER MANUAL SEAFLASH 160DIGITAL SEAFLASH 160OFFSHORE CANON TTL NIKON TTL SLAVE TTL ...

Page 2: ...lity products Read these instructions thoroughly before use and keep it at hand when having questions Take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the functions and handling If you read the manual carefully nothing shall keep you from taking excellent underwater pictures This manual provides the complete operating instructions for your SEAFLASH 160digital and SEAFLASH 160offshore The document c...

Page 3: ...aintenance and Refreshing Pilot Light 17 Shooting Mode Cable 19 1 E TTL I TTL film TTL 2 Manual Mode 3 HSS High Speed Syncronisation 4 2nd Curtain Flash Operation 5 Stroboscopic Mode 6 Dual Multiple Flash Operation Shooting Mode Optical Slave 25 1 Optical TTL 2 Optical Manual Mode 3 Optical Stroboscopic Mode 4 Optical Dual Multiple Flash Mode 5 Front Slave Sensor S O S Safety Mode 30 Contents ...

Page 4: ...ash 5 Other Settings Data Firmware Upgrade 34 1 Procedure 2 Upgrade Error Codes General Error Codes 38 Maintenance 39 Accessories 40 1 Standard Accessories 2 System Accessories 3 Flash Arm System Technical Details 49 Environmental Information 50 Warranty 51 General 51 Contents ...

Page 5: ...vered with the flash Use only the battery pack specified and especially made for this unit Always follow the warnings and instructions printed on the battery pack Do not short circuit or disassemble the battery pack because this could cause the batteries to leak corrosive liquids generate heat or explode Do not throw or apply strong physical shocks to the batteries as this could cause batteries to...

Page 6: ...er shoot the flash directly into the lens of a digital camera This can damage the camera picture sensor Always prevent water or moisture from entering into the battery container to the batteries sockets and plugs Close the battery carefully container before using the flash underwater Never exceed the maximum depth rate This will cause a structural damage of the unit Make sure that the thread of th...

Page 7: ... Thanks to the special electronics the SEAFLASH 160digital is equipped with many special features These features can be programmed individually and adapted to your needs In order to make it easier for you to operate the strobe right from the start the device is delivered with proven basic settings default An additional advantage is the ability to rotate a graphical digital display 4 which is the p...

Page 8: ... controlled by ΔU power off a charging level display and a total recharge time of 180 min This user manual contains important information By reading it carefully you will learn about the many advantageous features of the SEAFLASH 160digital that will help you taking great pictures CANON or NIKON FIRMWARE RELEASE SERIAL NUMBER When switching ON the unit you first see a 3 part battery symbol indicat...

Page 9: ...multi purpose 3 Push Button Pilot Light Input control 4 OLED Display 5 Multicolor Ready Light Indicator LED 6 Safety Lock Button 7 Battery Compartment Cap Front 8 Front Slave Sensor 9 Flash Bulb Reflector 10 LED Pilot Light Controls and Parts 7 1 5 3 2 4 6 10 8 9 ...

Page 10: ...Connection Thread 14 Macro Protection Ring removable Battery Pack 15 Power Adapter Socket 16 Recharger LED Indicator 17 Minus Battery Pin 18 Plus Battery Pin 19 Battery Pull Ring Controls and Parts M8 Connection Thread Macro Protection Ring 11 12 13 14 16 15 18 17 19 ...

Page 11: ...manual mode Cameras supporting optical triggering can be used with the SEAFLASH 160digital in manual and TTL mode by using a fiber optic cable Optical TTL is available only if the setup of the camera and housing allow it With the power switch 1 you have 6 different shooting modes to choose from All these modes require different kind of connections The SEAFLASH 160digital offers 3 different inputs ...

Page 12: ...you are using balls from other manufacturers on the flash unit make sure that the thread of the ball is no longer than 7 mm Longer threads can cause massive damage to the housing Single flash operation 1 Fit a fully charged battery in the battery compartment and close it with the cap 2 Connect the flash to the camera by wire or optical cable at the S6 synchro 11 or fiber optic socket 12 3 Set the ...

Page 13: ...rotary switch 2 and confirm it with push button 3 The unit will then reboot in SLAVE mode When in SLAVE mode an s appears on the display after the CB label CBs it identifies the SLAVE units Feature All flash settings are stored in the internal memory and have to be set only once If a cable connection is used to synchronize the strobe with NIKON or CANON cameras the system is fully ready to start n...

Page 14: ...t is completely sealed In case water enters due to an incorrect battery compartment cap positioning or an O ring failure the electronic will not be floated Only the battery pack and battery contacts can be damaged Tip When floating occurred remove the battery pack immediately rinse with fresh water and dry the battery compartment completely By using a spare battery you can continue shooting Send t...

Page 15: ...he battery must be fully charged before disconnecting it from the power supply The battery can be recharged also if it has not been fully discharged For charging the battery pack has to be removed from the battery compartment 7 and connected to the power supply After connecting the power supply or 12V cable power adapter to the power adapter socket 15 the charge process starts and the control LED ...

Page 16: ... left inactive for a period of time it should be charged and discharged as regularly as described above A few full charge discharge cycles 3 4 are necessary to refresh the batteries for perfect conditions if they have been stored for some time Tip We recommend to repeat this procedure every month when the unit is not in use IMPORTANT Never try to recharge a fully charged battery pack in order to a...

Page 17: ...ht feature is available The pilot light turns on automatically when the camera auto focus system needs more light to work In all shooting modes the pilot light is automatically switched off while the camera takes the picture in order to avoid interference with the flash The pilot light turns on again as the camera shutter stops Automatic turn on is limited to 2 For a shutter speed slower than 2 th...

Page 18: ...can be switched off automatically when the connected camera enters into standby mode and will turn on again as camera is reactivated IMPORTANT The connected camera will only activate the Autofocus Light if set properly On CANON cameras set the AF selector to S and select single shooting mode On NIKON cameras set the AF selector to S or M There is no automatic function in C select center area for a...

Page 19: ... Mode The ready LED 5 shows RED when in TTL mode and GREEN in MAN manual mode The power levels are adjustable with the rotary switch 2 1 i TTL e TTL film TTL Mode Set the power switch 1 to TTL and the ready light LED 5 will be RED The power required from the flash is calculated by the camera to obtain the correct exposure An additional manual correction from 3 0 in 0 3 aperture steps is available ...

Page 20: ...for half steps less 1 2 for half power 1 2 5 for a half step less down to 1 64 5 Feature The rotary switch 2 with accurately defined steps combined with a clear reading on the display allows for a fast and accurate power setup 3 HSS High Speed Synchronization HSS is available in TTL and in MAN mode and will operate at up to 1 8000 camera shutter speed You are able to set this mode only if the came...

Page 21: ...ws to capture movements in pictures with multi exposure flashes Set the power switch 1 to MOD and the ready light LED 5 will be GREEN This mode only operates in manual mode there is no TTL HSS or 2nd curtain available The manual power level is selected with the rotary switch 2 from a minimum level of 1 8 to full power 1 1 NOTE The selected power level refers to the total sum of all emitted strobos...

Page 22: ...be set up from 2 to 15 Strobo Time Auto 0 1 3 0s This setting defines the duration of the stroboscopic lamps sequence If set to AUTO the flash will read and use the shutter speed time set on camera and will automatically divide this time by the number of stroboscopic lamps to achieve an equal time space between them If manual time is set the flash will divide the set time by the number of strobosc...

Page 23: ... a precaution to avoid damage on the communication port of camera and strobes ATTENTION DO NOT CONNECT DIFFERENT STROBE BRANDS OR MODELS Always contact SEACAM for additional information on handling strobe combinations To set the SEAFLASH 160digital to MASTER or SLAVE enter SET with the power switch 1 select MASTER or SLAVE with the rotary switch 2 and activate the mode needed with the push button ...

Page 24: ... in TTL mode different adjustment can be set on each different strobe Also the master strobe can be set in TTL while the slaves can be set in in MAN manual mode Master set to manual and Slave in TTL is not possible IMPORTANT FOR NIKON USERS The new SEAFLASH 160digital is also compatible with the SEACAM NIKON digital dual strobe connector S N DDSC installed prior in SEACAM housings to be used with ...

Page 25: ...e with the rotary switch 2 NOTE Digital features HSS 2nd curtain and automatic pilot light are not available with Optical Cable or Front Slave Sensor In stroboscopic mode only manual energy set up is available with a manual time setup 1 Optical TTL Mode Set the power switch 1 to TTL and select the shooting mode for optical cable by pressing the push button 3 for more than 2 sec until OC shows up i...

Page 26: ... open or close the aperture NOTE The built in optical cable TTL circuit is designed to work with camera systems equipped with an optical TTL converter or a pop up flash The duration of the light pulses and accurate TTL depends not only on the camera and flash but also on all the components in between such as a pop up flash TTL converter optical cable and the optical port on housing For this reason...

Page 27: ... 100 000 Incorporating such a wide optical input range was not doable For this reason the light transmitted to the strobe s optical port can be too strong and will saturate the input stage When this happens the strobe still works fine in manual mode but the ability to follow input light signals is lost the TTL becomes inaccurate Tip To solve this issue the light from the popup flash to the optical...

Page 28: ...The rotary switch 2 with accurately defined steps combined with a clear reading on the display allows for a fast and accurate power setup For this mode two customizable prelamp copy options were added in the SET menu in order for the strobe to work together with different available cameras Prelamp Copy ON OFF default ON PrelampTime 15 250μs default 120μs Best Camera Setup When working in manual mo...

Page 29: ...21 4 Optical Dual Multiple Flash Operation More than one unit can be connected to a single camera in fiber optic mode OC Each unit has to be set up in order to meet the individual requirements For more info please refer back to page 25 26 5 Front Slave Sensor When front slave input SL is selected the flash is triggered by the slave sensor 8 placed inside the reflector This sensor is very sensitive...

Page 30: ... SOS position an S O S Morse light signal is generated This feature can also be used to test the flash The display will show S O S ATTENTION Use the S O S signal only when really needed and never use it to discharge the battery S O S Safety Mode ATTENTION Use the S O S signal only when really needed and never use it to discharge the battery ...

Page 31: ...N PL High PL Low value 11 25 default 20 PL Low PL High value 01 24 default 10 PL Stb ON OFF default OFF Here you are able to select the individual pilot light functions Please refer to page 17 for more information about the Pilot Light function 2 Display Display Up Down Mode AUTO DOWN UP default Auto With this menu you can set the display orientation This strobe features a built in accelerometer t...

Page 32: ...efer to back to page 27 for more information 4 Camera Types Multiple flash use Camera Brand NIKON CANON default Nikon Master Slave default Master MASTER SLAVE default Master In this menu you are able to set the camera brand compatibility and set up the strobe as a Master or Slave Please refer to back to page 24 for Master Slave Setup Setup Menu ...

Page 33: ...the Firmware Upgrade procedure Restore Factory Default NO YES If set to YES all setup values are restored to default factory settings Custom set functions will be lost Strobo Mode No Mark Mark First Mark Last Mark F L default No Mark Strobo Lamp Nr 02 15 default 04 Strobo Time Auto 0 1 3 0s default Auto With this function you can individually set the Stroboscopic function Please refer to back to p...

Page 34: ...HE CONNECTION on the firmware upgrade interface To exit the upgrade procedure before the flash starts to overwrite switch the flash OFF with the power switch 1 1 How to start the procedure Download the proper firmware from the SEACAM server www seacam com and save the file SF160vxx bin proper file name xx is the indication of the firmware number Do not change the file name or open it with any kind...

Page 35: ...how the strobe as a USB mass storage The device is a FAT device 100kB 512 bytes no exFAT 4 If required by the computer s operating system format the drive as above If possible keep the flash drive empty with no file or directory inside to maximize free space for firmware upgrades 5 The strobe will now ask you to copy the file SF160vxx bin Copy here SF160vxx bin then remove USB cable Copy the file ...

Page 36: ...operation and restart the upgrade from the beginning If the problem persists please contact SEACAM Service 2 Upgrade Error Codes Low If battery voltage is too low the firmware upgrade cannot Battery finish Recharge or change battery File error In case of a wrong file wrong file name or missing file format disk try to copy the file again format the disk clean disk from or recopy file any other file...

Page 37: ...to recopy it Do not to modify the file file hash File error The downloaded file is not compatible with the strobe incompatible to be upgraded upgrade with the proper firmware release Flash error There is an internal flash memory error memory try to upgrade again fault Firmware Upgrade ...

Page 38: ... VOLTAGE The capacitors are discharged with a full power lamp SWITCH OFF and the strobe is switched off Switch OFF and ON again to solve the issue FLASH ERROR This problem can have multiple or difficult reasons GENERIC Try to switch the unit OFF and ON again SWITCH OFF FLASH ERROR The temperature inside the strobe is too high TEMPERATURE Allow the unit to cool down After cooling down SWITCH OFF tr...

Page 39: ... care and attention Make sure to check the contacts regularly and ensure that the plugs are clean and O rings are slightly lubricated Check all connections regularly and keep sockets and plugs absolutely dry Tip Leave the cables and sockets open when unplugging them so that remaining moisture can dry Regularly apply our contact oil which reduces corrosion and increases the lifetime enormously Grea...

Page 40: ...trobe making your time under water a lot easier 1 Standard Accessories The SEAFLASH 160digital is supplied with following standard accessories Exchangeable NiMH battery pack 4 8V 3 05 Ah Power supply Input AC 100 240V 50 60Hz 450 mA Output DC 12V 1500 mA Cable adapter 12V Input ONLY DC 12V Macro protection ring removable S6 N5 Synchro Cable or Fiber Optic Cable Protection cap for S6 synchro socket...

Page 41: ... more homogeneous illumination SNOOT To shape the light of your strobe you can mount the 3 part extendable snoot enabling you to get different spots of light OFFSHORE SWITCH EXTENSION Extends the control switches for easy access especially in cold water NEOPRENE COVER Protecting your entire flash NEOPRENE DOME COVER Protects your front dome EXTERNAL SLAVE SENSOR For a special placement for the sen...

Page 42: ...42 Accessories Diffusor Snoot Neoprene cover Neoprene dome cover Macro filter Switch extension ...

Page 43: ...and the different arm lengths significantly improve the range of use for both wide angle and macro An infinite number of flash positions are possible with the SEAFLASH flash arm system Function The system is based on a brake disc technology Depending on the setting a brake surface on two fiberglass holders fixates the aluminum balls to a certain extent The patented KIPP levers offer the ability to...

Page 44: ...h arm system not included in delivery Clean the thread regularly and grease it slightly ATTENTION When using other brands please ensure that the thread of the M8 ball is no longer than 7 mm as a longer thread can cause massive damage to the housing ATTENTION When using other brands please ensure that the thread of the M8 ball is no longer than 7 mm as a longer thread can cause massive damage to th...

Page 45: ...o a securely fixed flash arm system when going in and out of the water so that your flash system our housing will not be damaged by bumping together In the water adjust the system to your desired retention force In strong currents we suggest you increase it by tightening the joints to avoid a wrong placement of your flash system Telescope Extension This extension enables you to smoothly lengthen t...

Page 46: ... with acetone alcohol or cellulose thinner Grease the screws and fixation levers You can dismount the levers with a screwdriver and also clean them inside Store the complete flash arm in the practical neoprene bag Tip To avoid sticking of the brake surface after use do not store wet joints tightened ATTENTION Grease on the brake surface reduces the retention force enormously ...

Page 47: ...47 Accessories Telescope Arm S6 Synchro Cable External Slave Sensor Flash Arm 50 150 300 Fiber Optical Cable Cleaning of Joints ...

Page 48: ...48 Makro Combination 1 Close Up Combination Makro Combination 2 Wide Angle Combination Standard Combination 2 Standard Combination 1 Accessories Flash Arm Combinations ...

Page 49: ...with individual adjustable power steps and automatic mode Highly intensive Slave Sensor for all manual settings True S O S Morse safety signal S6 Synchro socket Standard optical port Easy to change high performance NiMH battery pack 4 8V 3 05Ah integrated automatic charger controlled by ΔU temperature and time controlled charging time 180 min Dimensions Flash L x Ø 190 x 95 90 mm 1320 g with batte...

Page 50: ... you take these products to your municipal collection point for recycling and resource recovery where the devices can be returned at no cost Alternatively you can send them to SEACAM for proper disposal For more detailed information on your nearest collection point please contact your communal government Information for Business Clients For proper disposal of your electrical and electronic equipme...

Page 51: ...ng conditions and operating instructions as well as unauthorized repairs or changes by a third party TTL Synchro cables batteries flash bulb and consumables parts are not covered by warranty If the warranty seal is broken the warranty immediately expires SEACAM shall not be liable for direct or indirect damage to persons and devices or built in cameras and reserves the right to make technical chan...

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