ubiquitous226

Thanks this is helpful context for the lack of pre-flash cancel on the earlier Apollo strobes. I would have preferred a strobe with Li-ion batteries, although there was some benefit of reusing my strobe batteries in this case. I did look at beam angle, but was satisfied enough with the D3s for what I wanted. Today I got to test them in the water for the first time, but thus far only with the Sony 10-18mm so not yet a proper wide FOV. I did use the diffusers but my initial estimates were I wouldn't need the dome diffusers even for my Tokina 10-17mm, and therefore on the flip side the wider angle of the Apollos wouldn't be that helpful to me - but perhaps there's some enlightenment on my behalf to be had. Dumb question time though - how do you narrow the beam of a strobe outside of something like a snoot?

Yeah it is definitely complicated with different TTL protocols even for cameras from the same manufacturer as far as I understand. I must confess I've never tried TTL, I only use my strobes on manual which I've enjoyed, but then I haven't generally been shooting in rapidly changing conditions. I do largely blame Sony for not offering the control to cancel the pre-flash, but ultimately I have to make the most of what I have - which for now is more than enough for me.

It would be great to get clarity on that for future or other potential buyers for Marelux strobes. Given the Apollo Y's specifically have a pre-flash cancel option, either Marelux have picked up on it or decided it was more important for that market segment (they quote it as making it compatible with "compacts"). On the Backscatter side they would work, but I believe @Nemrod was referring to the lack of normal TTL mode being the frustration as opposed to not being able to deal with pre-flashes. In the end the price I could get the D3s was too good to ignore otherwise I would have put more effort into confirming.

Of course, the Apollo S's were an appealing option to me. The biggest factor was the statement they didn't offer the option for a pre-flash cancel so I'd have to purchase an additional trigger for them, which I'll likely eventually get if I upgrade but right now I'd prefer not to rely on, and I wasn't sure how it would fit in my housing as I also have a third party vacuum setup. The Apollo Y's from what I understand do offer the pre-flash cancel option, the specs show them at a similar GN to my previous strobes and therefore a fair bit lower than the D3s or Ss - as they're new there wasn't a lot of info on how they compare in real life.

Yes it's one of the reasons I posted here to hopefully get some real experiences. I came in leaning towards the Apollo S's, but discovered some limitations I wasn't aware of, and the availability of the YS-D3s at a lower price than I was aware of, and a very simple upgrade from my YS-110a's. I ended up ordering the YS-D3s after spending some time considering the YS-D130Rs and a few secondhand options, but decided I'd keep to the slightly more compact option with only a small premium for new ones as I still think I'm unlikely to go full frame anywhere in the near to medium future. They landed today, just over a week after ordering, and without additional customs which I expected to pay so extra bonus.

Thanks! I had noticed some of your posts around the place. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions on the A6400 Salted Line setup as that's what I've been using for a little while now. I own the Tokina 10-17mm but haven't yet shot a bunch with it as I've been enjoying the Sony 10-18mm a lot, when I have taken it underwater I use the Metabones adapter and have 3d printed the zoom gear but managed to break it when I chucked it straight into my camera bag, and have had a friend re-print it, although I wasn't in a rush as I found myself using it most at 10mm anyways. I'm sure you've come across @Barmaglot across many different sites if you've been doing some research, they have some really useful info available too.

Sorry missed this! I went from the Sony A6000 to the A6400, as I had the Salted Line housing I could just change some shims to make it work and I've been very happy with that upgrade. Eventually I'll have to consider if I upgrade the body when I go for a new housing, which will likely depend what I can find secondhand.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, I have seen a lot of issues with the Sea&Sea strobes, particularly the D1 and D2. The lack of service support is the key theme though that I am wary of. The AOI UIS P1 specifically were too heavy to appeal to me, if I was going up to that level I'd look at the Backscatter HF-1 and Marelux Apollo IIIs. I also wasn't clear on their equivalent power, when converted to a GN it was usually quoted as 22, sometimes 28. With Backscatter I considered the Atom which was definitely in the range of what I was looking for.l, albeit a bit less power.

I have no issues at all with secondhand, and I'm not in a rush so I'll keep an eye on what comes up. Being on the west coast of Australia there isn't that much. I wouldn't actually mind if a A6400 housing came up for some additional flexibility on ports, extensions and zoom gears, but at the same time it wouldn't change that much for my photos. Longer term I am not stuck on Sony, Nauticam or full frame, but there are some advantages to availability for all so I'll just wait and see. The info on strobes was very helpful for me, I'll be keeping an eye on the general equipment threads too for some ideas on future upgrades.

I had an Olympus OMD EM10 original before I changed to Sony A6000 as I lost it while overseas, and the Sony was the next best option. Loved that camera! The mkIV and the AOI housing would probably be my pick for an entry level system if starting from scratch, got to see one in action at the Rowley Shoals and it was a good little system.

I'd like to be able to have the option of TTL but it's not a deal breaker for me, but shooting in manual without a trigger is important to me. I don't have a ton of space inside with my housing with a third party vacuum pump, and it would be an additional cost to add to the strobes. I think my decision will be pretty clear then, thanks for the great help.

I had a look at the Apollo Y's, but I was more interested in the extra power of the S's and from memory they were basically the same weight. The Apollo Y's are a similar power to the YS-110a's I have right now (at least on paper), which a lot of the time is enough, but particularly in the clearer water trips I've taken it would have been handy to have a bit more. The Apollo S's looked like a great option, I just don't personally know anyone that shoots Marelux in my part of the world, although there's a distributor on the east coast of Australia which is helpful.

I just missed the chance to get some well priced secondhand Retras locally which would have been great to try, although with the the boosters they lose some of that compactness, and not willing to pile that much cash into strobes for the new versions. And yes very familiar with the high prices here! The reduction rings is interesting, maybe something to experiment with on a shore dive here which can range from 10m visibility to 0.5m 😅 I'm not sure what route I'll take next, if I want to upgrade to a Nauticam system I'd want a newer body like an A6700, but then I'd need a trigger too. Upgrading to a full frame A7RV or one of the older variants would be the other alternative, but I suspect the trade offs in size and escalating cost may not be worth it to me when I can't currently dive that much.

Sea&Sea seems to have quite a bit of chatter around reliability/durability but unclear to me how much is because they've sold so many of them. That is a very attractive price, I was pretty tempted by the specs of the Marelux S's but I don't know anyone who uses them, but that could change the equation a fair bit.

I'd be interested in some experiences and thoughts on mid-range strobes. Right now I am shooting with a Sony A6400 in a Seafrogs / Salted Line housing which I will eventually upgrade, I'd rather upgrade the strobes first, but am uncertain if I would stick to a mirrorless/APC or look to upgrade to FF, as I do prefer a smaller rig overall. Most commonly I shoot with the Sony 10-18mm rectilinear lens behind a 6" dome or a converted Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, so focused on wide angle without any great interest in macro, at least not yet. Most of my diving is local, however I'd still like to be able to travel reasonably easy given I do take the occasional trip and liveaboard. I have only used old secondhand Sea & Sea strobes (YS-110a and YS-27) in manual so almost anything will be an upgrade. In general my preference is for smaller/lower weight, <=$1000 USD per strobe and reasonable power to support wide angle shots in the context of my current system. I would prefer 18650s or other Li-ion batteries, but I do already have plenty of NiMHs from my existing strobes so it isn't a major consideration. With that in mind the three strobes that have got my attention are the following, but also open to others; Sea&Sea YS-D3 Marelux Apollo S Backscatter Atom Outside of the obvious spec differences, any particular other items to share on light quality, ease of use, etc.? Given the long timeframe so far I'm going to assume Inon 'Z335' still isn't going to be available any time soon.