Softbox vs. diffuser for YS-D1's

Hello hello!

I checked to see if this topic was already on the forum, but to no avail....

SO I have recently won a trip to Palau and need to up my strobe game quite a bit. I liked the sea&sea YS-110's, they had good coverage and I never seemed to have issues with washed-out fish, etc. I now have the YS-D1 strobes and they have been a bi*** to control for wide-angle. They are either too powerful one minute, or the light doesn't travel far enough the next. So to the meat of the topic here, do I:

1) Sell my barely used, beautiful YS-D1's for an older model, (since I cannot afford the mac-daddy 250's)

OR 2) I've switched between the 100 and 120 diffuser, and am having issues with both. Would a softbox solve my problems and what the heck does a softbox do underwater that the diffusers don't do anyway? I really appreciate any help with this, I really don't want to sell these strobes, my ISO, f-stop, etc. have stayed pretty consistent with both strobes so no issue there.

-KDG

How are you shooting with the new strobes? Using TTL or manual? It would help more if you gave more details on how you got your inconsistent results. It's often technique/settings.

I just love my YS-D1'2. There was a learning curve though, I wasn't use to that much power compared to my YS-110's.

Have you tried without the diffusers? Are you shooting large subjects or CFWA? I have a YS-110 and a YS-D1. I have struggled with the YS-D1 to get rid of flare, even in relatively clear water. The YS-110 seems to have a softer edge and doesn't give me trouble. I've gone so far as to put the YS-110 half as far from the housing, but even with both of my 12" arms extended and the strobe pointed outward a bit, I'll still get flare at full power on the D1 unless the water is crystal clear. If you're shooting sharks or rays, try moving them all the way out and leaving off the diffusers. If you're shooting CFWA, turn them down and make sure they're pointed out.

Hey Guys, thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it. This has been bugging me since I got them!

Drew: I only shoot manual, and my somewhat standard set up in let's say, 25 ft. of water in a clear spring, shooting wide angle depending on location of the sun, (this is probaly waaaay more info than you needed....), one strobe half power, one 3/4 power- full, 100 diffuser, strobes pulled back and out, ISO 200, -f-8...actually, I'll just grab some examples tonight and show you!

Paul: I know exactly what you mean, I loved the nice even lighting of the 110's thats why I thought a softbox might do the trick. They also don't seem to be lighting subjects from as far away.

Larry: I have not actually tried without the diffusers, I thought the light might be too harsh that way, but I'll give it a go and see what happens. CFWA is usually no problem, it's wide angle schools of fish from 15 ft. away where the problems start. I'll try your suggestions and see how that works.

I just reread your initial post. You haven't compensated for the extra power of the DS1. The DS1 is just under 1.5 stops more powerful than the YS110. That would be your reason for overexposure.

my ISO, f-stop, etc. have stayed pretty consistent with both strobes so no issue there.

 

-KDG

As for the anemic power, I suspect one strobe is cycling slower than the other, because of the higher setting. I'll have to see your images to confirm that.

Hey Drew,

Thanks for your help, will try to post photos tonight. My issue is mostly with the harsh edges that the diffusers don't seem to counter-act, and the short distance the light seems to travel. Have you used a softbox on these before? Wondering if that might soften the effect?

Hi,

I think it may be worth seeing some examples. Harsh edges sounds to me like the whole scene is underexposed-showing the strobe edges?

I have used CM diffusers: http://wetpixel.com/articles/review-cm-custom-strobe-diffusers

They do provide an even light, at the expense of power. A softbox underwater would diffuse the light so much that it would not travel through the water at all. The inverse square law means that it doesn't travel far anyway..

Adam.

Ok, sorry took me awhile (this is my first photo upload). These are pretty crap, but you can see what I'm talking about. 1/250 I know is a tad high, but it should still have a semi-decent result, no? ALSO, love the clark miller strobe attachments, sucks about it cutting your light, but with these it might work since they're more powerful than this old gal is used to.

Katy;

Your shutter speed is set really high, unless you're shooting sunballs, I set it more like 125th/180. I'd try to get it a little closer and position your strobes a bit closer, you simply aren't getting light on your subject (at least in #1).

I experimented with the 100 vs 120 diffusers and found the 120s are simply too wide, I was getting backscatter on the outside edges of my shots no matter how far away I positioned them. The 100's are fine and with power set to 2/3rds you should be able to light up the world.

We have a free handbook on Strobe Positioning that should help as well.

Jack

Hi Katy,

I agree that the shutter speed is high. I would also point out that your aperture seems pretty stopped down too. What were your ISO settings?

Overall, the images are a little overexposed. By reducing the overall exposure, you would get better color rendition

The blues are very washed out. What are your white balance settings? I would suggest trying to balance out camera settings with the strobes' color temp. The YS-D1's are 5250°K.

I think the issue here is more to do with the camera settings than the strobe's output?

I have played with them second image in Photoshop quickly. Mostly just white balance, exposure and color saturation:

I do think that the model does need some more light on her, and increasing the strobe output may be one way of doing so.

All the best

Adam

Have you tried testing the output of the strobes topside at various levels to see if they are faulty? The DS1s did have some issues with recalls and such.

Looking at your pics and if you say you had the strobes at ½ and ¾ power, then they can't be working right, assuming you used the correct lighting technique. The pic of the lady seems to indicate your strobes were pointed up.

As an aside, the 5D3 flash sync speed is really 1 / 200. In manual, you can go above but you will get a slight band at the bottom of the pic and also catch less light.

Hey guys, thank you all a million times over, I really appreciate all the feedback. I def agree it's prob a bit of user error, the water quality, (this was shot in the keys), was really crap though, and I had my shutter speed up so high to counteract how washed out the water was, (hope that makes some sense....). I will play with them in the pool at different settings, did not know about the recalls. To answer your question, white balance was on auto, I usually just fix it in post, and ISO was at 125 I think...these photos are not the best examples of my normal shooting style, but I usually go for natural light, and the YS-110's were so good at producing just the right amount of subtle artificial light, it's going to take some finagling to figure these ones out, me thinks!