Upgrade for ys-25?

I have a Sea & Sea DX5000 with a ys-25 strobe which gives me quite a lot of flexibility and is as far as I want to go without going to u/w digital SLR (too heavy when flying!). However I am looking to upgrade the strobe to either a pair of ys110s whereby the missus can use the ys25 on her little nikon or a single ys250 that I can pair with the ys-25 when I do close up work. I'd just like other peoples opinions on the 2 options. I want to keep the ys-25 for when I do travelling type hols as it fits into a rucksack neatly! I assume 2x22 guide number doesn't equal 44!

FYI been using SLR above water for many many years and used to setting camera manually, hence although fiddly I quite like the DX5000 as it offers me the manual settings to play around, however I do also like setting it to auto and clicking away!

I have been having the same struggle. I have been using various Canon A series in OEM housings for several yrs with a YS-25 with some good pics (for an am. photo taker) but feel that 2 strobes would do better. I just ordered an Inon Z-240 to add to the YS-25. If I did not already own a YS-25, I would have bought two Inon D-2000's or two YS-110's or maybe two Inon Z-240's.

If the choice was between 2 YS-110's or one 250 plus the YS-25, I would go for the 2 YS-110's. Its just too easy to miss align the one strobe and have 'almost good enough light' for the photo you wanted. I find that situation with my own photos more often than I like. Having one strobe completely illuminate the subject while at the same time NOT illuminating the water between the subject and the camera (to reduce backscatter) is not easily accomplished... especially if you only get to practice it on a limited basis.

I suspect balancing the YS-25 with the YS-250 will not be easy since you have no manual mode on the YS-25. I am suspecting I will have similar issues when pairing my YS-25 with the Z-240. I expect to set the YS-25 at f2.8 (causing the least light output) while running the camera closer to f5.6 so that the YS-25 will provide some fill light while the Z-240 is the main light. Whether this is sufficient has yet to be seen.

I will not have ocean testing of this until Feb 2009 however. Pool testing will be sooner, perhaps in July.

I suspect I will end up selling my YS-25 and the YS arm system with it.. and getting a second Z-240 after I struggle for a while.

Hope this is some assistance.

I also use a DSLR above water and do not care to deal with the housing issues/cost/size for diving photo's.

I would go with two YS-110's rather than trying to balance a YS-25 with a YS-250. Trying to balance to power output of a YS-25 to that of a YS-250 could be very difficult. Be aware that you may have a color balance issue using the two strobes together as well as I'm not sure their color temperatures will match.

Equally import to consider is that with a compact camera, you probably won't be able to take advantage of the YS-250's power. Generally you need big power to fill in shadows with small apertures, but most compact camera's won't go smaller than F8.

2xGN22 is 31. If you double up the power then you multiply the GN by root 2 (1.41). GN's are analogous to f-stops.

Cheers,

Mike

PS, you can test strobes and practice balancing the light output in the comfort of you living room as well. That's what I do when I first get a new piece of kit.