Strobe Advice

Hi~

I am a professional (land) photographer and am going to be a photographer on an underwater shipwreck excavation. I recently got certified in U/W photo and in the process of ordering up a Sea & Sea housing and all the accoutrements for my Canon 40d. I'm guessing that I'm going to mostly photographing wide-angle shots and am on the fence about what strobes to get.

Can someone please advise on the YS-110 vs the YS-250PRO? And, are two strobes used mostly for macro work or would I need two strobes for full coverage of a large wreck area? Also, I am looking to do some macro work while I am there. I understand the 250 can sometimes be too strong for the creatures in macro photo, but it looks like it can be dialed down?

If it helps, I will be shooting at approx 150' in clear water (Turkey). Any and all help would be most appreciated! Thank you!

Hi,

I would recommend two of the YS-250's for a lot of reasons. I'm not sure where you got the impression they are too powerful. They have a wide range of control with 12 steps on the dial, 7 of which are below 1/4 power. There is a nice description of the 250's on the Backscatter site here. Good luck! Sounds like fun.

Steve

And, are two strobes used mostly for macro work or would I need two strobes for full coverage of a large wreck area?

I would definitely suggest 2 strobes for covering a large wreck area

good luck!

If you are going to shoot wide-angle, then most of the wreck will be lit by the ambient light. Your strobes will light objects up to 2m away, at most. Powerful strobes don't help, as you often have to reduce the power to balance the strobe light with the sunlight. The angle of the strobe's beam is more important than the power (I think that the wider, the better). One strobe will often work as well as two. At 35-40m you will be lucky to get f8 shooting at ISO100 and 1/60 sec, even in Turkey. On most historical wrecks the relief is low, and good shade contrast (a relatively long exposure or a wide aperture) is necessary to see the structure of the wreck. Modern wrecks stand proud of the seabed, and can be shot as silhouettes against the surface, allowing a faster shutter speed or higher f-stop.

1/125 f10 ISO200

Two Inon wide-angle strobes at 1/2 power

Shot at 40m in the tropical Pacific (Bikini atoll)

Only the binnacle is clearly illuminated. The remainder of the wreck is a silhouette.

For macro, two strobes avoid the problem of harsh shadows. As you're close, the strobes don't need to be that powerful. You will be shooting at f22, though, to get depth of field on artefacts.

If you are shooting around wreckage or working divers, smaller strobes may be easier to position.

If you are shooting around wreckage or working divers, backscatter can be very difficult to avoid. Pull the strobes back well behind the dome, and angle them outwards by about 20-30 degrees. You can use relatively short strobe arms (25-35cm), as long as the strobes' hotspots (the centre of the beams) don't overlap.

If you also shoot on a site that's shallow, have you thought about using ambient light, and a reddish filter, instead of strobes for wide-angle shots? Should work down to 12-15m in Turkey.

I would say that most photographers working seriously don't use Sea & Sea strobes...

... and watch out for corrosion at the bulkheads: Sea & Sea have often used different alloys in the construction of their equipment, setting up electro-chemical corrosion, causing the cables and bulkheads to seize if not washed thoroughly and lubricated every few days.

Tim

Thanks, Tim. This is excellent information on the use of strobes. I don't generally shoot wrecks, with the exception of a few images shot in the Red Sea in my Nikonos days, but I'll keep this information in mind for the future.

Ellen

I would say that most photographers working seriously don't use Sea & Sea strobes...

What strobes do photographers working seriously use Tim?

Steve

I would say that most photographers working seriously don't use Sea & Sea strobes...

Gasp.

Wait. Let me guess... Inon? I think Sea&sea strobes are not bad. Unless you have a different experience, I think they are well designed, robust and yet quite compact.

Gasp.

Wait. Let me guess... Inon? I think Sea&sea strobes are not bad. Unless you have a different experience, I think they are well designed, robust and yet quite compact.

Ikelite

I would like to know why sea&sea isn´t used by serious photographers before I invest in them. Maybe it was a joke?

Cheers

Gassa

I wouldn't put too much stock into one person's opinion about strobes Gassa. Most people have a favorite and most people also have some "bad" experiences with a strobe or cord at one time or another.

I currently own strobes by Ikelite and Inon. They each serve their purpose and I'm happy with their performance.

With that said, for shipwrecks, I'd select a strobe with a wide warm beam.

Cheers

James

Hi guys,

I just got off the Shearwater after a week long dolphin and shark trip with Jim. 6 of the 9 serious photo types were shooting the YS250's. Berkley White the owner of Backscatter was using the new Aquatica 5D MkII (shot some amazing video) and a pair of YS 250's with his D3. Berkley demonstrated the super recycling time of these black beauties by shooting night dolphin shots at 9 frames a sec and the strobes kept up at half power. That ranks as serious in my book. Don't worry Gassa, some folks have opinions based on their experience with older equipment and the tech curve is moving faster than some of us can keep up with.

Cheers,

Steve