Looking for entry level (but decent) strobe. Suggestions please.

I have been taking UW pictures for about 2 years with my Olympus Sp-350 with the Oly housing PT-030. I have a lot of good pictures in natural light, but mostly crap ones using the flash.

I have a trip planned in January to Mexico and would really like to start bring a strobe along.

My goal is to enhance lighting during day pictures and also be able to take pics on night dives.

So, I would really appreciate your suggestions for an entry level strobe for my camera.

Thanks so much

You can get some great deals on used strobes. I have seen some Inon Z220's for sale on Ebay go for great prices. Same goes for the DS125, now that a DS160 is available. Either of these is compatible w/ your compact camera. Both are powerful enough for all types of photos.

Cheers

James

James beat me to it!

I was writing up the same suggestion.

Late again.

Paul C

What do you guys think of an YS90-auto-dual for $180?

Thanks

I recommend a strobe where you can adjust the manual power settings. Can you do taht w/ the 90 Auto? I know you can w/ the DX.

Cheers

James

I stumbled on Sea & Sea's page of closeouts, where they have the discontinued YS-110's as refurbished demos for $250. Scroll to the very bottom of this page:

http://www.seaandsea.com/closeout.html

YS-110 STROBE - REFURBISHED DEMO UNITS. - NO WARRANTY OR PACKAGING. COMPLETE AND IN PROPER WORKING ORDER.

I have used YS-90s, and liked them. I just bought a pair of YS-110s (bought a new pair for a very good price before I saw the closeouts), haven't gotten them wet yet, but they have 12 settings and built-in modeling light. I like that they use AA batteries rather than proprietary, and are reasonably sized, not too heavy. $250 seems a good price to me.

ow, thanks for the tip.

I guess with the YS90 if I connect TTL the strobe will know how much power to use, right?

But, I guess the benefit of the YS110 is that even if I don't use TTL, I can still change the power setting manually, right?

Thanks

So how does it work? Any strobe that is non olympus, I will need an adaptor that will cost me another $100 to $200 to do TTL?

In that case, for entry level should I get the Olympus UFL-1? I imagined that this one will integrate TTL with the Oly SP-350/PT-030 right?

Thanks

The YS-90DX I've only used in MANUAL with a fiber-optic cord to the OEM housing of a Canon P&S, and in MANUAL (sync-cord trigger to one, the second in slave) with an Ikelite-housed DSLR. Don't be afraid of manual -- you can quickly learn to get fairly reliable shots. Both the 90 and 110 allow you to fine-tune the power setting with 12 positions.

BUT the 110 (both the discontinued version and the new Alpha version) is supposed to give you DS-TTL with a fiber optic link to the flash in your P&S camera. Results vary, I have no experience.

Having used nothing but manual settings, and being kinda cheap, I was planning to continue to use two strobes in full manual with a DSLR. I found it not difficult at all with macro, and generally left the power settings alone and just adjusted the aperture from 11 or 16 to 32 (mostly a function of distance to subject, and mostly at the f/32 end). I would expect wide angle photography, with much more variation in distance to subject, to gain more from TTL. I look forward to my next trip to learn first-hand!

BUT the 110 (both the discontinued version and the new Alpha version) is supposed to give you DS-TTL with a fiber optic link to the flash in your P&S camera. Results vary, I have no experience.

Thanks. But does it mean that my flash needs to flash so the strobe flashes too?

Thanks

Hi;

You can get TTl with the UFL-1 and the various adapters. It's not worth it, the strobe is underpowered. The UFL-2 is a very nice strobe, but overkill for your uses, no TTL possible, etc.

The YS110 is a good choice at that price, but TTL may not be possible and it had some sync problems. May work fine, but I'd sure see what the return policy is.

That's why they upgraded it to the 110a. The YS27DX might also be a possibility.

Everybody talks about TTL, but when you see how many really use it, the vast majority shoot on manual.

Jack

Thanks for clarifying. What I still don't understand, and it's more the concept of shooting "manual". If by manual you mean optical/optical my strobe is always going to have to wait my flash to recycle so it can shoot right?

Since I am getting a strobe so I can lighten things better and don't suffer from backstering, why would I want my built-in flash shooting together with the strobe?

Does it make sense?

Thanks

Thanks for clarifying. What I still don't understand, and it's more the concept of shooting "manual". If by manual you mean optical/optical my strobe is always going to have to wait my flash to recycle so it can shoot right?

Since I am getting a strobe so I can lighten things better and don't suffer from backstering, why would I want my built-in flash shooting together with the strobe?

Does it make sense?

 

Thanks

You're only going to use the camera's flash to trigger the external one. Best idea is to black off the interior of your housing with some black electrical tape, except for a small area over the flash. Then attach the sync cord over it on the outside with velcro. You can turn the power down on it to save batteries.

You might want to read Choosing an Underwater Strobe on my blog, it's a little out of date on the latest strobes however.

Jack

What I still don't understand, and it's more the concept of shooting "manual".

Manual meaning you choose the "power" that the strobe will use rather than the camera choosing. Note that the "power" is simply the duration of the strobe is on. On "full power" it might be on for 1/1000s, but at the lowest setting it might only light for 1/10,000s.

If by manual you mean optical/optical my strobe is always going to have to wait my flash to recycle so it can shoot right?

That would only be if you use the strobe on full power. That's why James asked if the strobe you were thinking about had multiple manual settings. The shorter the duration of the flash, the faster it recycles and in some cases it is so fast you can shoot again immediately.

Since I am getting a strobe so I can lighten things better and don't suffer from backstering, why would I want my built-in flash shooting together with the strobe?

If you can't have an electrical connection between the camera and the external strobe, you need some way to tell the external strobe when to fire. You use the internal strobe on the camera to do that. It tells the external one to fire via an optical cable.

I'd steer clear of the YS110's with the SP350. Unless you want to spend another $200 for a Matthew Heinrichs adapter. They don't sync properly with the strobe. I owned a YS27DX that worked well. I also used FL20 Olympus Land Strobe with a housing for awhile. In the beginning it worked great for fish pix and macro. The strobe and housing are less than $200 on ebay. The TTL was great but the downside was the flat port strobe housing and trying to add a 2nd strobe down the road. The diffuser on the housing was a real pain as well. In any case, you should ask yourself the question how serious you are with this hobby. If you plan on growing down the road, buy a strobe that will grow with any system you buy (DS125, Inon Z240). You'll invest more now but you'll be glad you did. I went the route your taking and spent twice as much money over 2.5 years than I would if I'd have just dug a little deeper on day 1. Lighting is everything.

'd steer clear of the YS110's with the SP350. Unless you want to spend another $200 for a Matthew Heinrichs adapter. They don't sync properly with the strobe

I guess what you are saying that the without TTL, I would use the optical/optical sync, right? But apparently there have been some synching issues with this YS110 model?

I was offered a YS-90-dual-auto for $180. What do you think? Does it suffer from sync problems too?

With those better strobes like you mentioned DS125 and Inon Z240, I would still use optical sync right? Unless I get an adapter?

Thanks so much

I guess what you are saying that the without TTL, I would use the optical/optical sync, right? But apparently there have been some synching issues with this YS110 model?

 

I was offered a YS-90-dual-auto for $180. What do you think? Does it suffer from sync problems too?

 

With those better strobes like you mentioned DS125 and Inon Z240, I would still use optical sync right? Unless I get an adapter?

 

Thanks so much

yes. You can talk to LarryC on here or Scubaboard. He had issues with the 110's syncing optically with his SP350 and moved to a Matthew Heinrichs bulkhead adapter to hardwire the strobes (electrical cable). The YS90 was a good strobe in its day. The SP350 came after the YS90 Auto. The answer is I don't know if it syncs correctly via fiber optic cable. The YS27DX is a good, cheap manual strobe that only works in manual but fired just fine with the SP350. The only issue is you have to have a fiber optic cable because the sensor is recessed inside the housing of the strobe. The Z240 or D2000 either one would sync just fine via optical cable with the SP350. Both also offer a built-in TTL so you get auto exposure. As a matter of fact, I find it so good that for fish pix and macro I leave it on the ttl setting and only switch to manual for WA. You'd need the strobe and the Inon optical D Cable. BTW, Don't forget to factor in the price of your tray and arm to hold the strobe. Those aren't that cheap. Here's a great place that I purchased my strobes at http://www.fun-in.com.tw/catalog/index.php?cPath=95_34 You can also visit this site to compare different strobes. http://www.digitaldiver.net/strobes.php enjoy!

I used the SP350 with a YS-90DX on a trip, and the combination worked fine. I sold the camera and housing to my nephew, who used it with another YS-90, and not only did it work for him, he took some remarkably good photos with it. Better than mine, but all I have are mine, so here are some I took with that combination. Nothing spectacular, but IMO pretty good for a strobe you can get now for under $200. These were shot only in manual with a fiber optic cord. Sure, you can get a better strobe, but you can also have fun without spending a lot.

These are pretty good pictures!!!

Yes, a guy is selling his YS90 for $180, so I am really thinking about getting it and getting a fiber optic cable.

Any suggestion on how to save with arms and brackets? Are there ways to make it from stuff we find at Home depot or not?

Thanks

These are pretty good pictures!!!

Yes, a guy is selling his YS90 for $180, so I am really thinking about getting it and getting a fiber optic cable.

 

Any suggestion on how to save with arms and brackets? Are there ways to make it from stuff we find at Home depot or not?

Thanks! I thought it might help to show what you can do with your same camera and a YS-90... And you can upgrade with the same strobe too. Even when I bought a housing for my DSLR, I kept using my YS-90, and just added a second one. I bought my second YS-90DX on ebay for right around $200, and that seems typical. I guess I would suggest keep it cheap (used YS-90), or spend enough to get something significantly better, as others have suggested. (Eventually I'll get some big Ikelite strobes for TTL with my Ike housing, but the limitations I have with the Sea & Sea strobes are pretty much mine, not the equipment's.) Strobes don't become obsolete as quickly as cameras do.

Check the DIY section for tips on making your own arms etc. I'm sure it can be done and done well, but I know I'm going to keep taking photos, so I ponied up and bought ULCS arms and clamps. They work fine and they will last me forever. If you're patient you can get them secondhand.