First strobe - Sea & Sea YS-01 vs YS-D2?

Hi all, I'm hoping to pick your collective brains for suggestions for my first ever strobe. I have an Olympus mju Tough with an Olympus housing and so far I've just been using the built in flash and would now like to get a strobe to improve the lighting of my pictures. Never having had a strobe before, I'm not really sure what to go for.

I am looking at the Sea & Sea YS-01 and the YS-D2, but I see some comments online that the D2 is probably too strong for simple point and shoot cameras. I would be using it for photography both in the UK and places like the Red Sea, and I'm also considering changing the camera itself maybe to a micro four thirds camera at some point in the future.

I was thinking that it might be worth investing in something more powerful in the long term if I do upgrade, but I suppose in the meantime I wouldn't want to ruin my current photography with a strobe that's way too strong. Also there's obviously quite a price difference - CamerasUnderwater currently do a strobe/tray/arm package for the YS-D2 at GBP730.00 and for the YS-01 at GBP499.99.

Would people have any thoughts on whether it's worth investing in the more powerful strobe at this stage? Is there really that much difference between these two strobes? Should I be considering something else? Any views would be much appreciated.

Many thanks!

Having extra power will not ruin your photos. The strobe only supplies as much as is required (in ttl mode). You may find yourself in situations where you need all of the power (and more...). Worst case you get faster flash recycle time since it may never need to perform a full dump.

The primary issue is cost. Do you want to spend more now, or much more later when you have to buy another strobe when you upgrade?

Power is not the only issue. You pay for other features like wired strobe connection. Will you ever use the extra features?

I was using inon s2000 back in Raja Ampat. Love it very much. Maybe you might want to consider that as well

I have 300 dives on my pair of D1s, I trigger them via fiber optic and have not had a problem. As far as having too much power I really don't think there is such a thing. I shoot all manual and know very little about TTL so it's possible. At some point you may want to add a second strobe and it would be nice if you had a matched pair. I am pretty sure the D1's when stock runs out will not be available much longer. They are close to being the same strobe, the buttons and knobs work a little differently which would drive me crazy if I had one of each.

Hi all, I'm hoping to pick your collective brains for suggestions for my first ever strobe. I have an Olympus mju Tough with an Olympus housing and so far I've just been using the built in flash and would now like to get a strobe to improve the lighting of my pictures. Never having had a strobe before, I'm not really sure what to go for.

 

I am looking at the Sea & Sea YS-01 and the YS-D2, but I see some comments online that the D2 is probably too strong for simple point and shoot cameras. I would be using it for photography both in the UK and places like the Red Sea, and I'm also considering changing the camera itself maybe to a micro four thirds camera at some point in the future.

 

I was thinking that it might be worth investing in something more powerful in the long term if I do upgrade, but I suppose in the meantime I wouldn't want to ruin my current photography with a strobe that's way too strong. Also there's obviously quite a price difference - CamerasUnderwater currently do a strobe/tray/arm package for the YS-D2 at GBP730.00 and for the YS-01 at GBP499.99.

 

Would people have any thoughts on whether it's worth investing in the more powerful strobe at this stage? Is there really that much difference between these two strobes? Should I be considering something else? Any views would be much appreciated.

 

Many thanks!

The YS-01 will be weak for wide angle (human-size subjects). At that price point you quote the inon z240 is a more reliable piece, check fotografit.eu, they have the D1 and the z240 on sale in the EU.

For doing snapshots, a YS-01 or even YS-03 would probably do. But if want to take more serious photographs, like lighting up something the size of a person, it would be much better if you get a wet lens and maybe a wet dome lens. Since with a regular camera's 28mm lens, you would have to be pretty far away for the subject the size of a person to fit within the frame, and you would need a couple of very powerful strobe to provide enough light to overcome ambient light. But if you had a wet lens or wet dome lens, you would probably only have to be a 2-4 feet from the subject, allowing you to use a strobe like the YS-01 to provide enough light.

I was doing shots of my buddy swimming past a coral head with a dome lens and I had to keep telling my buddy to keep swimming closer in order for her to become part of the subject. I was looking at the viewfinder so I did not know where she was in relation to my camera but she was wondering why I wanted her to swim within a few feet of the camera.