YS-250's for macro

Hi

I'm still looking to upgrade my YS-90's to YS-250's (or ike DS-125's), primarily for better WA coverage/power. However I shoot a lot of macro so the new strobes would need to be good for that too.

Are the YS-250's too big for macro - i.e. is their bulk a hindrance when trying to get into some tight spots for macro?

Appreciate any feedback from people that have tried and tested the YS-250's for macro...

Cheers

Col.

I have been using YS 120's for years for macro and have not found them to be a hinderance for

macro subjects. I plan to upgrade to YS 250's soon

Terry

Are the YS-250's too big for macro - i.e. is their bulk a hindrance when trying to get into some tight spots for macro?Col.

Shooting manual f22, ISO 100, 100mm the smaller strobes required full power while the 250's could easily give the same exposure at half power. We traded rigs for one dive and I came up with a bunch of black frames using the smaller strobes. My son loved shooting the 250's after using the 110 strobes and told me I wasn't getting my 250's back. Luckily for me he won a YS 250 in the shootout raffle.

Both units worked great for us all week and if your going to be in places where you can't recharge the big 250's batteries and have to run on AA's I wouldn't be afraid of recommending the 110's. The 250's are clearly heavier and you'll have the haul the extra weight but we found once you use the 250's it's very hard to go back.

Steve

Haven't tried specifically the 250's, but other similar sized strobes, and I can't imagine their size being an issue under water. Perhaps it will be on land if you travel a lot? But it seems to be a very nice and powerful strobe.

Don't think the Ikelite 125:s will give you a lot more power than what you already have in your YS 90:s. Better recycle speed though. Perhaps you should look into the Inon Z240:s. Small, sturdy, powerful, fast... Same colour temperature as you're Sea&Seas...

good luck

I really like the YS-250 strobes for macro, for many reasons, including the same one that Steve W. cited above. The recycle time is amazing. The specifications say 1 second for a full power dump, but I have found I can do short bursts of several shots. At Seraya a few weeks ago, I was approached after a night dive by a couple (both shooters) oohing and aah-ing after watching my strobes light up the reef in rapid-fire mode while they were eating dinner. I had a feeling that major purchases might be in the offing. Much the same a few weeks later at Lembeh. The fast recycle time is great for fast-moving subjects like boxer crabs.

Many people prefer smaller strobes for macro, but I also like the additional aperture range for situations when I want to maximize depth of field. And there's no law saying that you always have to use the strobes on full power, when you want to blur the background.

I am concerned that strobes as powerful as these used close up at 3/4 or full power might be more damaging to marine wildlife, even if it is only a matter of temporarily disrupting vision or disorienting the animal. At the very least, I think it's worthwhile hanging around for a while after shooting to make sure that a temporarily blinded and vulnerable subject isn't picked off by a trevally or some other opportunistic predator.

Frogfish

No.

But are they good enough for wide angle?

I know one Wetpixel member who only uses his YS250s for macro, favouring Subtronics for Wide Angle.

Alex

All - thanks for your input so far...

But are they good enough for wide angle?

Alex - think you may have started something big here...I always assumed there was no question about their capability for WA. I would be very interested in hearing any thoughts that may question this...

I was only joking, hence the wink!

The Sea and Sea YS250 is a very nice all round strobe. I was referring to Wetpixel member davichin who uses the YS250s for macro, but switches to Subtronics for wide angle. However, David's speciality is Fotosub competitions, in which you are not allowed to crop or adjust images at all in RAW converter or Photoshop. So small differences in performance mean big differences in prizes. Fotosubs are very lucrative if you are talented, in a good year a Photographer can win over 30,000 Euros in prize money.

The YS250s are very good wide angle strobes. Just not the best, money no object. They are also good for macro. I have only tried them for macro, myself.

Alex

Ahhh any recommendation for shooting manual, wide angle with YS 250

Hi Col, we spent last week in Bonaire shooting a pair of YS 250's on my 40D and a pair of 110's on my son's 400 XTi. I had expected the 250's to be an issue shooting macro but found just the opposite. The recycle time on the 250's make them a real joy to shoot. There were a lot of situations where my son was missing shots with the 1.5 sec recycle time of the 110's. The 250's were ready as fast as I could hit the shutter all week. A real advantage when you have small fast moving subjects.

 

Shooting manual f22, ISO 100, 100mm the smaller strobes required full power while the 250's could easily give the same exposure at half power. We traded rigs for one dive and I came up with a bunch of black frames using the smaller strobes. My son loved shooting the 250's after using the 110 strobes and told me I wasn't getting my 250's back. Luckily for me he won a YS 250 in the shootout raffle.

 

Both units worked great for us all week and if your going to be in places where you can't recharge the big 250's batteries and have to run on AA's I wouldn't be afraid of recommending the 110's. The 250's are clearly heavier and you'll have the haul the extra weight but we found once you use the 250's it's very hard to go back.

 

Steve