Should I add a second strobe ?

Hi, I am very new to underwater photography. I current have a Fuji E-900 in ikelite housing, and a sea and sea YS-27DX strobe. I have done around 6 or 7 dives with my new toys, and am totally hooked !!

I am considering adding a second strobe, because I have the option of getting a YS-110a or another YS-27DX at a very attractive price.

I guess my question is, as a newbie, is it worth spending the time to master shooting with a single strobe before adding a second, or should I add the second now, and learn from the start with two strobes ?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

John

get the 2nd strobe

get the 2nd strobe

Thanks that seems to be the advise I am getting at the moment. Which strobe would you add, another ys-27dx ( so I have two the same ), or the more powerful ys-110a ?

If you're thinking about a possible future system upgrade you may want to consider a strobe with slave & sync cord capabilities. A housing (like many DSLR;s currently in use) may not have fiber optic ports. So the 110a (which has the same guide #) is a good option. Fiber optic is the way to go if you can continue to use it. I'm using 2 110's in slave mode since I have f/o ports, but had to use sync cords with previous housing. Using a 27 as a backup strobe.

Thanks for the reply, thats all good info. According to the sea and sea site the 110 has a slightly higher guide #, 22 compared to 20 on the ys-27dx. Also the color temperature is slightly different 5400 on the 110 compared to 5500 on the ys-27, would this be much of an issue ? I would like to use this setup for all both WA and macro

Cheers

John

From a practical standpoint I don't think you'll find a difference between the 2 models. In most shots the beam patterns will have overlap anyway. Close enough for government work as the saying goes. Final adjustments in PS. I've used a 110 with a 27 for WA & macro with good success. If you only have fiber going to 1 strobe from the housing (master) & the 2nd strobe slaves off that, you need to make sure that the slave senor on the 2nd unit can see the light output of the "master". This sensor is recessed on both models. With the angle of the strobes for macro there usually is not a problem. For WA where strobes are aimied more parallel to lens, the "slave" with not always see the output of the master. I overcame this by running a f/o cable between the 2 strobes. No matter how they're aimed both with always fire.

From a practical standpoint I don't think you'll find a difference between the 2 models. In most shots the beam patterns will have overlap anyway. Close enough for government work as the saying goes. Final adjustments in PS. I've used a 110 with a 27 for WA & macro with good success. If you only have fiber going to 1 strobe from the housing (master) & the 2nd strobe slaves off that, you need to make sure that the slave senor on the 2nd unit can see the light output of the "master". This sensor is recessed on both models. With the angle of the strobes for macro there usually is not a problem. For WA where strobes are aimied more parallel to lens, the "slave" with not always see the output of the master. I overcame this by running a f/o cable between the 2 strobes. No matter how they're aimed both with always fire.

Thanks, yes I take your point about the firing of the second strobe. I was planning on using the fibre optic cable option, as this is obviously more robust !

If you think there is no real differrence in the output of the two strobes, is there any real justification for spending the extra $$$ when using with my current camera/housing ? or would the main reason be for future proofiing incase of upgrading to DSLR ?

Cheers

John

At this point a 110 would be planning ahead for a future upgrade. As long as you can reliably fire the 2nd strobe, a 27 will be fine. More housings are providing f/o ports, so it might become a non-issue. With my new system I'd be perfectly happy with a pair of 27's. A few more shots on a set of batteries than the 110, smaller, lighter. The only downside is its strictly a slave strobe.

Don't forget about spares - batteries, charger, o-rings, f/o cables.

At this point a 110 would be planning ahead for a future upgrade. As long as you can reliably fire the 2nd strobe, a 27 will be fine. More housings are providing f/o ports, so it might become a non-issue. With my new system I'd be perfectly happy with a pair of 27's. A few more shots on a set of batteries than the 110, smaller, lighter. The only downside is its strictly a slave strobe.

Don't forget about spares - batteries, charger, o-rings, f/o cables.

Excellent .... I think for the price difference, I am leaning towards the 27 ....

Thanks for taking the time to reply, much appreciated !

John

Get a second strobe. I tones down the dark shadows and evens out the light.

I haven't used a Sea&Sea strobe for a few years, but the YS27 looks like a nice unit to me. Two should work nicely for macro-photography, and cover a wide-angle in reasonable visibility. I'm not sure what would be gained from a YS110: if you upgrade later you may move to a different manufacturer anyway, as they make more powerful and more flexibly controlled strobes.

Tim

I haven't used a Sea&Sea strobe for a few years, but the YS27 looks like a nice unit to me. Two should work nicely for macro-photography, and cover a wide-angle in reasonable visibility. I'm not sure what would be gained from a YS110: if you upgrade later you may move to a different manufacturer anyway, as they make more powerful and more flexibly controlled strobes.

 

Tim

 

I use a YS-110 and a YS-27dx together as a pair. The YS-110 is a bit more powerful, has a built in modeling light, more manual steps (13 vs 9), a bit wider coverage and has Optical TTL capability.

I trigger the YS-110 electrically and fire the YS-27 with an optical cord running from the YS-110 to the YS-27.

I found that the FO cord running between the two made for a much more reliable trigger on the YS-27.

They work great as a pair.

if you upgrade later you may move to a different manufacturer anyway, as they make more powerful and more flexibly controlled strobes.

Hey Tim,

The Sea & Sea YS 250 has more than enough power for my needs. With a guide number of 32 (land, ISO 100/m) and 12 steps of manual control I'm pretty impressed. There is a good article by Berkley White on the Backscatter site describing his review of the strobe with it's pluses and minuses.

How much more power and control does one need? Am I missing something?

Cheers,

Steve