underwater Photo Course :: (2) Equipment Guide :: Underwater Camera Housings :: Underwater Strobes :: underwater Strobe Construction

Small is beautiful for any diving equipment if you travel extensively, as airline baggage weight allowances were not designed for divers or diving photographers!

Fortunately, most flash manufacturers have compact units and lightweight designs are now the norm. However, chargers often weigh as much as the strobe so this is also a consideration.

You can cut down on your hand luggage by carrying a universal charger that can charge your dive lite, camera batteries, and your strobe.

Strobe Construction Materials

The sea is the harshest environment in the world and u/w strobes must be made of resistive materials.

These include...

• ABSacrylonitrilebutadienestyrene copolymer a cross between plastic and rubber with excellent engineering properties used to make underwater housings cabinets for electronic equipment solventweld plumbing fittings etc.
• AcrylicPoly methyl methacrylate. A clear plastic with good optical properties. Used for many dome ports. Trade names Perspex Plexiglass.
• DelrinAcetal Homopolymer. Engineering plastic with sufficient hardness and dimensional stability for the manufacture of precision components (e.g. screw threads).
• LexanAn extremely tough polycarbonate plastic usually transparent used to make underwater housings. Lexan is a trademark of the General Electric corp.
• Stainless SteelAn alloy of Iron Chromium Manganese Silicon and Carbon (May also contain Nickel and Molybdenum). A4 stainless (AKA type 316) is completely resistant to seawater corrosion and is the preferred grade for marine applications.