Sea&Sea ys300 vs ys90dx

Hi all

I need some help regarding what flash to buy. My setup is the olympus 4040 in the pt-010 housing. Soon I plan to buy both the olympus lenses, the macro and the wide angle. As for flash, I was thinking of the ys90dx, but recently I saw an ad for a used ys300 at about half the price for a new ys90dx. I haven't been able to find too much info on the flash as it is discontinued, but from what I understand it is much more powerful than the 90dx. Then again, there might be disadvantages with the ys300. Surely it would be nice to have a powerful flash sometimes, maybe while doing wide angle photography. And at the price it's mighty tempting, but I want to make sure first I don't miss out on some great feature on the ys90dx that would be very useful to me.

So, do any of you have experience with these things, or have some knowledge that might help me. I'd be very grateful.

Paul

Hi,

First of all, I don't think there's a Sea and Sea YS300. It's either the YS350 or the YS30.

Granted it's the YS350 strobe you're talking about. MHO, I don't think the YS350 or YS30 will work with the Olympus C4040Z because of the pre-flash issues. Even if you managed to make the strobe fire, timing is still going to be OFF.

Here are your strobe choices.

Inon D-180

Sea and Sea YS90DX

Sea and Sea YS25DX

Ikelite DS50

Ikelite DS125

B)

Allen is right that the flash won't work with your Olympus 4040.

However, the YellowSub 300 DOES exist - it's just an older Sea and Sea strobe. This strobe is one of the ones that does NOT have a sealed battery compartment - so it can explode like the sb103. The YS300 also comes in "Nikonos" and "Sea and Sea" compatible versions so check that.

If you are going to use a strobe as a slave with the Olympus then this one won't work. The preflash will set it off. If you had a tetra housing, then you could use it with a sync cord.

So my advice is to buy a YS90DX or if you want to shoot wideangle, then an Ike DS125

Cheers

James

Thanks very much guys. The beauty and value of internet forums like these. I'll just go with the ys90dx then. Hopefully my brother can get one for me in Japan, because they´re so expensive in Sweden. But you reckon this flash is too weak for wide angle?

Paul

I bought a pair of 90 s to use with a 35 mm film SLR, hoping to use them for macro and wide angle. Though good strobes they are clearly inferior to Ike 200 or 125 strobes for wide angle. The Ike DS 125 realy is good enough for wide angle and small enough for macro. I getting rid of all my other strobes in favor of 3 DS 125s for everything. B)

I have a YS 300 that I have never used with a digital setup, but it appears that if I use it in slave mode, it will flash with both the preflash at 1/4 power, and I think at 1/2 power.

If the slave is set at full power, it flashes at the preflash, but can't recharge fast enough for the real flash.

I have only done these tests above water.

So, I think the 300 would work at 1/4 power slave, maybe 1/2 power slave, but not at full power unless your were connected with a cord.

The 300 is probably the same strobe as the 350, except the 350 is sealed. So far, I haven't exploded !

I like my 300 for film photography.

I have a C4040 in a Tetra & a Inon 100 degree lnon WA lens and use DX90's. I have read in these forums that others have had problems with these strobes falling off when shooting WA but I havent had that experience. I even have some well lite full frame images I shot with only one strobe.

I have a pair of 90dx's with my A5000 also and like my wideangle results. I did a quick check of the angle of the strobes listed on the websites and they appear to be similiar to the ds125's. So I am not sure on the falling off.

I have not had the chance to directly compare the two head to head but have seen great results with the ds125's also.

Hi all,

I got the same set up as Paul, 4040 in a Pt010. besides the 4 strobes mentioned by Allan. Does anyone know whether Epoque ES 150 Strobes are capable of handling the pre-flash dilemma? thanks!

warren

Warren,

Yes, the Epoque ES150DS will also work with pre-flash.

Thks a lot Allan! Appreciate the help.

warren

Additionally, does anyone know whether the Epoque 150 are worth getting? I have an Oly 3040 and was considering a ds125 Ikelite, but the Epoque is certainly a lot cheaper. Does is perform for macro and "regular" shots (I don't have a wide angle lens)?

Just to add to that question, i just checked with a distributor here (in Singapore). The Epoque costs abt 300 SGD and has a recharge time of 6-7 secs. How does that compare to the rest of the list of Ikelites and Sea & Sea pls? Can anyone help?

warren

recharges on the ds125 is 1 second and 4 seconds on the 90dx if I recall correctly.

How about the sea&sea 120? Will that work with the 4040/pt-010? Or is it only the ys-90dx that will?

the recharge time shouldn't make a massive difference for you as the 3040 itself takes around 6 seconds to recharge anyway.

Paste,

The Sea and Sea YS120 will not work with the C4040z. Here's the lsit of the strobes that will work with your setup.

Sea and Sea YS90DX

Sea and Sea YS25DX

Ikelite DS50 and 125

Inon D-180 and Z220

Epoque ES150DS

recharges on the ds125 is 1 second and 4 seconds on the 90dx if I recall correctly.

the thing is -- depending on what you are shooting, you probably won't be firing at full power. the DS125 recharges in much less than 1 second at quarter and half power, I believe.

I've also seen people shooting away much faster than once every four seconds with 90dx strobes.

Here is a reply I recieved from a very knowledgeable rep I know.

"The YS-90DX has a 105 x 90 degree beam angle, a 12-step manual power switch,

will shoot TTL (with a film camera), TTL slave, and manual. So it's the most

versatile strobe manufactured since it will work with any system and give

the user full TTL or manual control.

It has an underwater Guide Number of 36 with 100 ISO sensitivity. That means

that it's a true f11 strobe at 3.3 feet. That's a lot of power especially

with a wide beam angle for such a small strobe.

It works with 4 alkaline or ni-cad AA batteries which are easily found

almost anywhere and has a respectable 4 sec. recycle time with the ni-cads.

It gives 200 flashes on a set of alkalines and 120 for ni-cads. It is very

efficient."

:ph34r:

This Inon d-180, does anyone know anything about that, how does it differ from the ys-90dx?