Sony P 9 sea and sea ys25dx strobe

For the past 7 years I have been using an MX 10 with great results. I purchased a sony p9 last year and have been using a red filter with satisfactory results. I purchased a sea and sea ys 25DX and used it for the firsy time last week. With awful results! The first problem was there really were no instructions so I had to wing it. The camera was set on auto, iso 100 flash was on low and I was shooting macro and close up. the setting was at 2.8 on the strobe. The battery on the camera took in excess of 14 seconds to recycle and I ended up with 14 washed out shots (unfortunately we had a pod of hump backs that were swimming with us and I had no battery left ) I know the sony has a pre flash and it seemed that the camera discharged a full flash every time the strobe went off. Can any one give me some pointers

if this is going to work with my camera I also have a sony marine pack video light for the camea will that work any better

Thank you for any help I really apprciate it

The battery on the camera took in excess of 14 seconds to recycle and I ended up with 14 washed out shots (unfortunately we had a pod of hump backs that were swimming with us and I had no battery left ) I know the sony has a pre flash and it seemed that the camera discharged a full flash every time the strobe went off.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. The camera uses pre-flash to calculate the flash duration (read brightness) for the correct exposure. If you have the YS-25DX set to pre-flash ignore (and assuming you have the camera's flash blocked) it means there's no pre-flash for the camera to measure the exposure. This makes the camera think 'hmmm, it's awfully dark here...', making the flash perform a full dump. I tried the same with my C5050 in P mode and DS-125 set to pre-flash ignore. It took the camera's flash twice as long to recycle as normal, though not 14s (6-7s). To start with I think you've done the correct thing by setting the camera's flash output to low. The only other thing that I can think of that you can try is don't set the YS-25DX to pre-flash ignore and select a low output setting (anything less than half of a full dump) and see if it'll fire twice - once for the pre-flash and once for the main. You may not be able to use the entire output range of the YS-25DX with this method but it'll be better than draining your camera's battery and having to wait 14s.

I ended up with 14 washed out shots

You have the YS-25DX right? And not the YS-25 Auto? And the camera's flash is blocked, right? The full-auto P9 will probably try and shoot everyting at f2.8 so you'll need to dial the YS-25DX down.

I also have a sony marine pack video light for the camea will that work any better

The HVLML20M will work but it isn't a very bright light so you'll need to get as close as possible with your macro.