DX-1G and YS110 missfire?

Hi,

I have problems with my new set-up. Sometimes the Y110 does not trigger. Anyone have the same problem, or could i have got a faulty optical sync cord?

my Y110 setting is "Manual1" and "synch on"

Cheers

O

Hi oskar,

I've found mine does the same thing when the batteries are low. It fires, but sometimes is picky about it. If I put fresh batteries in the strobe it seems to work fine. Is that the case for yours as well?

cninsd

Hi oskar,

 

I've found mine does the same thing when the batteries are low. It fires, but sometimes is picky about it. If I put fresh batteries in the strobe it seems to work fine. Is that the case for yours as well?

 

cninsd

I'll check with new batteries.

I have been using freshly charged 2200mAh NiMH batteries, but they are not new. Maybe Alkalic batteries with higher voltage works better?

Speaking about flash, have you got a nice work flow? I have used M and A modes in dry runs on land, but I have not yet got it right under water. Although i have only been diving in very poor visibility yet, with quite tricky backscatter conditions.

Cheers

Hi Oskar,

I have found my YS-110 to be really picky about the brand of rechargeables it accepts. Some gave off a lot of gas, some would not hold a charge for long (even when new and fully charged up) and some would simply be finicky. My problems all went away with Sanyo Eneloop batts though.

My YS-110 behaves the exact same way as yours and there appears to be compatibility issue with the YS-110 and the 1g. This is the first time I heard anything about batteries effecting the operation. It appears that Sea&Sea may be in denial about this issue but with a little web surfing you can fin lots of complaints. I am calling the service center tomorrow and we will see what they say. I had e-mailed them a week ago about my issue but the have not had the courtesy to write back.

My YS-110 behaves the exact same way as yours and there appears to be compatibility issue with the YS-110 and the 1g. This is the first time I heard anything about batteries effecting the operation. It appears that Sea&Sea may be in denial about this issue but with a little web surfing you can fin lots of complaints. I am calling the service center tomorrow and we will see what they say. I had e-mailed them a week ago about my issue but the have not had the courtesy to write back.

Boy...don't like to hear this, seeing Im getting ready to buy a DX-1G with YS110

Boy...don't like to hear this, seeing Im getting ready to buy a DX-1G with YS110

Before you hand over your hard earned money, insist on seeing the items working together. Mine does not work in manual 1 and very inconsistent in TTL. This is a lot of money to spend on margin equipment.

I agree on testing if possible. Mine has worked everytime with the exception of battery issues causing misfire. I even went back to the service center but the problems magically disappeared.... I put it down to batts, but thats my experience....

also, dont expect TTL.....

Hi,

 

I have problems with my new set-up. Sometimes the Y110 does not trigger. Anyone have the same problem, or could i have got a faulty optical sync cord?

 

my Y110 setting is "Manual1" and "synch on"

 

Cheers

O

I think I have a better handle on the issue. Look at the front of the camera there are a left and right optic sync ports. If you look at the location of these ports from the inside of the housing they ports are set below the camera flash. With the flash deployed to its nominal operating position and the strobe connect to the left optical port, the strobe fires every other time. If you leave the housing open and depress to flash so it is ¾ of the way closed it better aligns with the optic port and the camera fires every time. I am still not sure if the TTL operating. In addition, the right port is better aligned than the left.

oskar would you also try this experiment and let me know your results.

I think this system has lots of variables that could explain the results for different users are experiencing. The camera housing is brown not clear causing strobe light attenuation, the optics cable also will attenuate the light, the strobe optics pickup is most like more complex because of the attempt to do TTL, each camera flash may have a different power output. Throw statistical variance on all of these items and some system work and other do not. A new sync cord may solve the problem until it loss increase with age. New batteries and the strobe senative increases

I think I have a better handle on the issue. Look at the front of the camera there are a left and right optic sync ports. If you look at the location of these ports from the inside of the housing they ports are set below the camera flash. With the flash deployed to its nominal operating position and the strobe connect to the left optical port, the strobe fires every other time. If you leave the housing open and depress to flash so it is ¾ of the way closed it better aligns with the optic port and the camera fires every time. I am still not sure if the TTL operating. In addition, the right port is better aligned than the left.

 

oskar would you also try this experiment and let me know your results.

Aha, I'll try this when I am home on Sunday. If this is the issue, some reflective material or a bit of optical fibre on the inside might help then.

I have some general issues with the lack of information in the manuals, but I'll start a new thread.

Cheers

Here the latest in my YS-110 saga.

I purchased the strobe from an on line an authorized dealer. They told me there is an issue with the YS-110 strobe, they have informed Sea&Sea but Sea&Sea insists the strobe works with the 1g. They said they would not knowingly sell the strobe for use with a 1g camera. The shop was willing to take the strobe back as long as it had not gotten wet but unfortunately I had taken it diving. They are willing to take it on consignment and suggest I purchase the YS-27.

Called Sea&Sea DX-1G Service/Warranty, they said they only deal with the distributors not the public and chased me away. I called the Service Center – East and they wanted me to send in my complete system, which seemed like a logical thing to do but I noticed they are not a warranty repair center. Service Center – West, which is the warranty repair center and they said to send them the strobe.

Presently the strobe is on route this service center.

Anyone want to make a prediction on the outcome?

Hi oskar,

I'm still working on my strobe workflow I did really well with the camera & available light, but I've found adding the strobe in to be a pretty steep learning curve. Typically I'm using A 2.5 and -.7 AE, strobe in manual mode. Depending on the scene and level of reflection I'll play with mostly just the strobe power to get the right level for a shot. Occasionally I'll have to drop the AE to -2 if the scene is getting blown out by the strobe and I don't have the diffuser with me.

Here are some of my newest photos, taken during a night dive:

http://chrisnelson.ca/gallery/2008/06/21_v...int_night_dive/

As you can see I've got some issues with hot spots from my dive light. I need to get a vid light or a focus light + another strobe eventually.

Presently the strobe is on route this service center.

 

Anyone want to make a prediction on the outcome?

So any news? I though you got it to work when you moved the sync cable in front of the flash. But it sounds like ther's actually an issue with the flash itself, is it?

That's very disappointing in that case as my contact in Japan who bought the kit is no longer there to claim any warranty for me. Please let me know what their fix was and if it did help.

It sounds very strange if this is an issue with just this combination, is hould be the same for other setups with the Y110 then anyway.

Did you get fire every time when you moved the sync cable?

Cheers

Oskar

Sent the strobe to the US west coast warranty center and spoke with a very nice man named Jim. We spent some time working thought the issue and he concluded that the strobe is bad. He has warranted the strobe and Sea&Sea should be sending me a new one. The new strobe has not yet arrived but will post the results once it does.

Changing the strobe port reduced the failure frequency but did not solve it. Jim said switching to flash setting of red eye may allow the strobe to function correctly. The only issue with this is red eye does not always fire.

I am speculating that Sea&Sea had a production issue with this strobe and we are the unfortunate ones to receive the bad strobes. It sounds like other people are not having an issue.

This was posted on scuba board by the Sea&Sea rep.

HI-

Here is the latest information that is available:

SEA&SEA Japan has not informed worldwide distributors of any issue with the YS-110, hence the myriad of information and dis-information available and the lack of commentary on the subject.

There are 2 main issues that are now being recoginzed by consumers in the US:

1) The reliability of the DS-TTL with compact digital cameras/fiber optic cables

2) The reliability of the strobe in manual mode with Fiber-optic cables

These 2 items can be caused by a variety of factors - type of camera, user settings, strobe, strobe sensor issue or internal component conflicts and/or compatibility of all the above as new camera technology is introduced monthly.

Testing has shown that in DS-TTL with the DX-1G more reliable settings are as follows for the YS-110:

Power: TTL

Slave: On

Power Adjustment: 1/2 (1/2 way between Full and Min setting)

If you are experiencing an issue with a YS-110 and a compact digital camera, use the product return forms for our Service Center -West HERE and an expedited warranty evaluation will be conducted.

At this time, we have been informed that a new strobe will be released in August. No other information is available at this time and no information regarding the above is available.

As we receive info we hope to be able to offer that to everyone in a timely manner.

I received my new replacement strobe today. The new strove works in manual mode consistently were the old one did not. The new strobe does not provide consistent ttl operation.

Just thought I should add my experiences into the discussion. Mostly I have had no problems with my dx1g / ys110 combination. I am shooting on manual 1 using the port towards the edge of the camera housing for the cable. I had some problems to begin with as the slave select was getting knocked off, switch seems quite sensitive to a small amount of movement? Occasionally strobe will fail to fire towards the end of the day when I have failed to allow enough time to recharge, I am using 2800ma duracell NiMhs and get a good couple of dives off a set using the aiming light most of the time.

Haven't tried TTL as I have read it doesn't work, also don't think the strobe syncs at higher shutter speeds (Problems over 1/250th) so just turn the strobe right down for a lot of macro stuff.

Hope this is of help,

TDD

I have now tried my set-up on land.

Firstly

* I concluded that out of about 30 exposures I get no failure if I use the left port and don't use the internal diffuser.

* I get one misfire in 30 if i use the diffuser.

* If i use the right port w/o diffuser i get bout 45% failure, and with the diffuser 70% failures.

So the conclusion is to use the left port and no diffuser, i will use some tape t block of the internal flash. I also noted that pushing the flash down a bit seems to make the geometry a bit better. the second thing to do if needed would be to remove the "sea & sea" badge covering the flash on the camera, and put in a bit of plastic that stops the flash from opening completely.

Secondly. I used the Sync1 mode successfully. I can also use the TTL mode, and it seems to work very well on land at least. I can photograph directly into the flash, and it turns down to a minimum, if I take a photo in the opposite direction to the flash it will fire at maximum power.

Anyone to confirm my results?

/O

I have no experience with this flash........however I was wondering if anyone has used the Inon D-2000 flash in combination with the Sea and Sea D1G............I used to use an Oly 5060 but after flooding the camera I have been unable to replace it and have thought about the D1G........the only prob. I have is that I have 2 Inon flashes and was told by Inon that I probably could adapt them for use on the D1G..........has anyone tried this..................Jim

I have no experience with this flash........however I was wondering if anyone has used the Inon D-2000 flash in combination with the Sea and Sea D1G............I used to use an Oly 5060 but after flooding the camera I have been unable to replace it and have thought about the D1G........the only prob. I have is that I have 2 Inon flashes and was told by Inon that I probably could adapt them for use on the D1G..........has anyone tried this..................Jim

I'm using Dx1G with Z240 and my friend has the 1G works with D-2000. So far, no problem. Remember, Dx 1G has no TTL function and please use auto or manual mode.