i fear my 2 x solis ys01 are ok for macro but a bit weedy for wide angle

what’s the logical upgrade - looking like sea and sea DS3 to me- is this reasonable?

perhaps I could put this another way

sea and sea ysd3 or backscatter hf1 hybrid?

6 hours ago, Mike Saunders said:

perhaps I could put this another way

sea and sea ysd3 or backscatter hf1 hybrid?

What system do you have? The Backscatter strobes do not have universal TTL and only work with their proprietary trigger or OM cameras. There is a big power and size jump between the YSD3 and the HF-1, maybe the new Atom is closer to your needs, assuming you have an OM camera.

The price Delta between the HF-1 plus float collar is not that great compared to the Retra Maxi which does have universal TTL and some other features, like a huge power range and neutral buoyancy and a for real warranty I hope not to need ;).

YS strobes have not been noted for their reliability now for several generations, not sure if the D3 is any better or their newer D130.

I'm using Sony alpha 6000 series in a housing using the pop up flash to trigger using fiberoptic cables - (made using the excellent article on this forum)

I did indeed mention the wrong backscatter strobe - I meant the atom! 🤦‍♂️

I can see that the sea and sea ys d3 is available for around £500 in the uk and the atom is about £600

I was planning on using manual settings but are either of these units capable of delivering reliable TTL using my existing pop up flash triggered system?

I'm keen to start doing wideangle as well as macro

Edited Tuesday at 05:46 PM2 days by Mike Saunders
wrong original information

Sea & Sea strobes are a topic of debate around here, especially after the widespread D2 issues. I've been shooting S&S since the YS-25auto, had a pair of YS-110a's for many years, and now D3's.

I've shot Ys-D3's for ~4 years now on my Sony A6100 system and think they're great. Using the popup flash with TTL, both Fisheye EA (with dome diffusers), as well as macro (with the snoot), and they're great strobes. Easy to use, great battery life, and well priced.

On 6/2/2026 at 12:18 PM, Mike Saunders said:

I'm using Sony alpha 6000 series in a housing using the pop up flash to trigger using fiberoptic cables - (made using the excellent article on this forum)

I did indeed mention the wrong backscatter strobe - I meant the atom! 🤦‍♂️

I can see that the sea and sea ys d3 is available for around £500 in the uk and the atom is about £600

I was planning on using manual settings but are either of these units capable of delivering reliable TTL using my existing pop up flash triggered system?

I'm keen to start doing wideangle as well as macro

The Atom strobe will NOT work TTL using your Sony flash. Nor with the UW Technics trigger board. I have both in my NA-6400. And use either as strikes my fancy, when I need 100% reliability I go pop up. No, the Atom flash will not run TTL with either, it will do manual but only manual. Thus my new strobes are Retra Maxi. Which will run TTL with either my UWT board or the pop up flash equally well. And with my Canon NA-R50 also using the pop up very nicely, both TTL and manual.

The YS-D3 should also be capable of supporting standard TTL via the pop up. I did not consider the YS strobes because of their poor reliability track record and because they are a marginal step up in power vs my excellent S220 strobes which also work standard TTL from a pop up or UWT trigger board.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by Nemrod

backscatter say their control module (another 400 quid) would let the atom work with their fancy ttl system but that makes the package quite a lot more than two ts-d3 duos

25 minutes ago, Mike Saunders said:

backscatter say their control module (another 400 quid) would let the atom work with their fancy ttl system but that makes the package quite a lot more than two ts-d3 duos

And the trigger module has to fit in the housing and I doubt it will go into the NA-6XXX series housings. It certainly will not in mine.