Conception with know how
Over 20 years of experience in underwater technology have gone into Hartenberger underwater strobes. Our concept for underwater strobes has led the industry for years.
A combination of proven traditional, and modern digital High Tech electronics have gone into our product development making them milestones in the industry for underwater strobe technology.
All the important components of our strobes such as the reflector, pilot light, cell packs and synchronisation cables have been developed as “plug-in” modular units. This allows numerous possibilities for technical details, functionalism and esthetical appearance.

Relying on our years of experience in manufacturing underwater strobes, enables us to give a 5 year guarantee against manufacturers defects on all the Aluminium, Plastic and Stainless Steel components. There is a 2 year guarantee on the electronics of the strobes.

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Housing
A centre piece of our strobes is the specially constructed Housing, with tried and tested applications over the years. The individual parts are turned on CNC lathes using marine aluminium alloy.
To provide the best surface treatment, the entire housing is coated with AHC (Aluminium Hard Coating). This results in a surface with much more chemical and abrasion resistance than a standard anodised finish. The chemical resistance of the AHC coating is even better than stainless steel and can be found in various industrial and military applications.
Despite the fact that the front and rear housing covers can be opened without tools, the sealing is provided by special compression and axial O Rings. We only use high quality Viton O Rings.

The mounting point on the lower side of the strobe allows a multitude of mounts to be used (M6, M8 and M10 Threads).

The switches have double O Ring seals and provide years of reliable, trouble free use.

Ergonomics
Due to the ergonomically positioned switches on the side of the strobe, the settings can be easily monitored and/or adjusted without any difficulties and your camera and strobe position underwater remains undisturbed when reaching for the switches in setting up your shots.

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Elektronics
Choosing modern and over-dimensional components in combination with tested micro-processor electronics results in one of the most powerful and fastest recycling underwater strobes in the world.

The core of the Hartenberger strobes is the powerful and robust transformer. This allows a power rating of 625 watt/seconds and a recycle time at full power setting of 0,8 seconds !! (see technical specifications). The recycle time using lower power settings allows more than 10 frames per second (vital for fast motor drive use).

After recharging the condensers, the transformer switches off automatically. This reduces cell use and also avoids the prolonged radiation caused by the charging which disturbs some underwater life, causing them to flee.

The strobe ready signal appears on the switch panel of the strobe and in the viewfinder of the camera and easily visible. At the same time, a short acoustical signal (beep) can be heard.
The camera shutter speed is automatically set according to the synchronisation.

A special technical feature of our strobes is the extremely short flash duration hereditary in ring formed strobe tubes.
This is necessary because some Nikon cameras (i.e. F5, F100, F90...) require the entire light for a correctly exposed picture within 1/500th of a second.
Should the strobe require longer than this to achieve the correct exposure, then the camera will not send out the TTL cut off signal to the strobe!!!
In this case, the remaining energy is released as light and results in an uncontrolled, overexposed picture.

Mode-Settings
The right switch sets the following modes

• OFF
• ON without pilot light
• ON with 100 % pilot light
• ON with 50 % pilot light
• ON with 25 % pilot light
• Slave sensor with 100% pilot light
• Slave sensor without Pilot light
• Automatic Signal (for attention)
  In this positions, the following signals are possible and generated automatically:
  1. Pilot light with International SOS signal (3 x short, 3 x long, 3 x short)
  2. Strobe light with SOS signal (3 x short, 3 x long, 3 x short)
  3. Continuous Strobe every 15/30/60 Seconds at Full, -1 and -2 power settings
  

  The strobe can be used as a slave unit (strobe will be activated by a primary strobe) either with or without the pilot light.
  The slave sensor is not sensitive to natural daylight, but reacts very sensitively to the sharp light impulses from strobes. This allows the strobe to be used underwater at long distances from the primary strobe.
  The 6 manual power settings are available for the slave mode.
  
  A special feature is the TTL slave mode. In this mode, the amount of light which the slave produces is remotely controlled by and matched to the primary strobe!
  

Power-Settings
Tue following modes can be set with the left switch:

• TTL-Mode (automatic exposure control from the camera).
  
• 6 Manual Power settings each of 1 f-stop.

The automatic TTL control is available for almost all types of camera and is built in as standard for the following makes of camera: Pentax, Canon EOS, NIKON F5/F4/F100/F, NIKONOS V, NIKONOS RS and Sea&Sea MMII.
The electronics automatically recognises the type of TTL control from the connected camera.
Should there be an underexposure in TTL mode, an acoustical alarm will sound. A warning will also appear optically in the following forms: blinking ready light in the viewfinder, blinking pilot light and blinking red light on the switch panel on the side of the strobe.

Pilot-light
The dimmable pilot light allows the user to adapt the strength of the pilot light to the ambient conditions. At reduced settings, energy is saved and the burn time is proportionally increased.

Spezial version without surcharge:
The pilot light can be controlled from the camera housing. This feature simply requires the appropriate switch on the camera housing.
The same switch can be used to trigger the strobe test mode. When this is activated, the strobe releases approx. 40 weak flashes within 2 seconds. This allows the photographer to judge the flood of light and establish any areas of shadow.

The beam of the pilot light is spot formed with a strong concentration in the middle point and a soft illumination of the surrounding areas. (This reduces the tunnel vision effect during night dives).
The pilot light is a plug in unit and is user replaceable.
The standard 6 V high temperature halogen Bulb is available rated at either 10 or 20 watts.
Reflectors
The plug in reflector unit with 95° beam as standard can be replaced within seconds (250/625 TTL).

A different colour temperature can be achieved by replacing the reflector. Reflectors are available with the following (approx.) colours.. 5500, 5000, 4500 and 4000 Kelvin.

The crystal clear dome port can be replaced with a matt dome port. The matt port diffuses the light and generates a softer light from the strobe. The effect on the power output of the strobe is hardly noticeable.

Alarms
If by mistake you try and take a picture without first switching on the strobe, an optical and acoustical warning will get your attention.

A discharge protection prevents the cells from an uncontrolled discharge. This is indicated by an optical and acoustical alarm.
The transformer is deactivated when the cells are nearly empty, it can however be activated manually for 3-5 more additional frames.
For safety reasons (ascent), the pilot light remains functional for a few minutes.
Should water enter the housing there is a sensor which immediately detects the smallest amount of moisture. For safety reasons, the condenser is immediately discharged (automatically generating a flash). After this discharge, the pilot light and all red LED lights will blink permanently and an acoustical alarm will sound.

Cell-packs
To remove the standard cell pack (Nickel-Cadmium) for charging, first unscrew the rear cover. The complete plug-in cell pack can then be removed or replaced with a charged pack within seconds.

The electronics are separated from the cell pack housing by O-Ring seals, this prevents moisture that has entered the cell pack housing from entering the strobe’s electronics.

Synchronisation-Cable
The supplied standard synchronisation cable with the NIKONOS plug can be removed from the strobe allowing the slave mode without a cable dangling from the housing. This also means that a defective cable (expendable component) can be user replaced without sending the strobe to an authorised repair workshop.

A special feature first developed by us is the double seal NIKONOS Plug. The innovative positioning of the second O Ring provides 100% more safety and security in sealing. The plug’s thread is also kept dry whereas the original plug’s thread is surrounded by water. This prevents the vacuum which is generated when removing the plug, thus sucking water into the socket. Corrosion of the threads is also avoided.

Strobe arm off-shore
In Underwater Photography, the choice between a suitable or unsuitable strobe arm can mean the difference between pain and pleasure! The arm must be compatible with the size and the weight of the strobe being used. This match will provide the balance between ease of adjustment and a secure attachment.
Our off-shore strobe arm meets and optimises this criteria.
A special feature are the “O-Ring braked” joints that provide a unique level of comfort when using the arm. After loosening the lever, the joint still has enough friction to prevent it collapsing, the arm can however be positioned as desired. The arms are then locked by screwing the joints back tight.
This will hold the strobe in the desired position, even in the strongest currents and a raw boat trip.

The Strobe arm is made with neutral buoyancy

The printed curcuits boards, conductors in the electronic controls and all the mechanical components made of glass, aluminium and plastic have been precision manufactured in Germany using computer controlled CNC machining. The glass fibre reinforced plastic components are precision manufactured using 9 different moulds.

The most modern technology and high quality wokmanship of all the components combined in a quality controlled assembly and testing procedure make the Hartenberger flash-light the most precious and prestigous High-Tech under-water strobe available in the world today.

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