Cold water accessories

Adam Hanlon · Issue 52, Jan/Feb 2010 · pp. 28–29

Products mentioned: Subal ND2, Inon Z220, Inon cold water extender, XIT404 zoom/focus knob extender, Tokina 10-17

For us divers in the North Northern Hemisphere, water temperatures are dropping, air temperatures plummeting, and visibility is improving! This conundrum has forced me to make some modifications to my Subal ND2, using some excellent products that have become available. The key issue is that cold water demands thick gloves and the majority of housing and strobe manufacturers use control knobs that you simply can’t get hold of whilst wearing them! I tend to use dry gloves over the winter months, and whilst these are (arguably) more dextrous than wet mitts, the stock housing and strobe controls become very difficult or impossible to operate. I bought a pair of excellent Inon Z220 strobes in the summer of 2008, and as the water cooled, pretty rapidly discovered that, as TTL is not possible with my set up, I couldn’t control my strobes output with my gloves on! I put a post onto the wetpixel …