Best Strobe

[Terryb]

My buddy and I are both looking for a reasonable priced strobe setup. Tray and arm included. We both have a Panasonic digital with housing. See pic of housing below it does have a hotshoe.
I've looked at 3 strobe setups Ikelite AF35, S&S YS17 and the Fantasea Nano. Does anyone have any comments on these strobe sets or a better suggestion.
Trying not to break the bank here, as we are spending our money on a month long dive excursion to Thailand and Malaysia.


Cheers,

 

[glewbel]

My buddy and I are both looking for a reasonable priced strobe setup. Tray and arm included. We both have a Panasonic digital with housing. See pic of housing below it does have a hotshoe.
I've looked at 3 strobe setups Ikelite AF35, S&S YS17 and the Fantasea Nano. Does anyone have any comments on these strobe sets or a better suggestion.
Trying not to break the bank here, as we are spending our money on a month long dive excursion to Thailand and Malaysia.


Cheers,

Hi, Terryb. Here's a bit of feedback. I've been shooting a YS-17 connected by a fiberoptic cable to a Canon G7 in one of those cheap plastic Canon housings for the past year, and it's been a good experience. I've used it on about 40 dives, and it's worked perfectly. The YS-17 doesn't have a lot of power, but you wouldn't expect that from a little inexpensive strobe. I get good lighting out to about 3' (1 m) in clear water. It will kick in a little color out to about 6' (2 m) on shots that are balanced to match natural lighting .

The YS-17's TTL is pretty accurate; most of my shots except those very close to the housing are well-exposed, and the strobe always fires when it's supposed to. It tends to overexpose macro shots, but my G7 won't stop down beyond f8, so I'm not surprised at that. Hope this is helpful. Best -- George

 

[Terryb]

Hi George,

Thanks for the info that is definitely helpful. I was thinking about going up a notch to the YS-01. Everyone seems to like those a lot.
One question how did you figure out what your stop limit was on the G7?

Cheers,

 

[bvanant]

Hi George,

Thanks for the info that is definitely helpful. I was thinking about going up a notch to the YS-01. Everyone seems to like those a lot.
One question how did you figure out what your stop limit was on the G7?

Cheers,

You might also look at the Inon s2000. Great little strobe, about the same price. Your G7 has a minimum aperture of f8 as well.
Bill

 

[muzikbiz22]

Spend the extra money and get the YS-01. It's a great strobe.

 

[Terryb]

Thanks muzikbiz

I have been researching a number of these for a few days now. I like the YS-01 but I cannot find out if the packages come with the fibre optic cable pickup, I've only seen the 'L' connectors for the S&S cameras.

I've been checking out the Fantasea Remora as well, though the the beam angle is only 60 degrees. Does anyone know what the recycle time is? I can only find specs that say it is "quick".

Tends to make me think it's slow.

 

[muzikbiz22]

Thanks muzikbiz

I have been researching a number of these for a few days now. I like the YS-01 but I cannot find out if the packages come with the fibre optic cable pickup, I've only seen the 'L' connectors for the S&S cameras.

I've been checking out the Fantasea Remora as well, though the the beam angle is only 60 degrees. Does anyone know what the recycle time is? I can only find specs that say it is "quick".

Tends to make me think it's slow.

Not sure if this helps here, but, I'm using the Ikelite/S90, with the Sea & Sea YS-01, and Sea & Sea L connector firing optically all day long with 100 % success. And here is how; drill a tiny hole in the included Ikelite deflector (not diffuser) to mount one end of your Sea & Sea L-Type Optical cable facing right in front of the flash. Again, it works perfectly ! Reef Photo actually did this for me when I purchased my housing, strobe, etc.

As far as the Remora, I've heard "it's decent". I've never used it. Recycle time on YS-01 is very quick, not to mention it kicks butt !

Wherever you are looking at "packages", I guess you would have to call to see if optical cable is included.

My personal opinion is by-pass the 3 models you called out at the top of this thread, spend the extra money, and get the YS-01 or comparable Inon, (lot's of fans here for these, too). A good strobe goes a long way. Again, just my 2 cents

 

[Terryb]

Thanks again Muzikbiz,

I think you are right. I'm going to go for the YS-01, now to convince the "real boss".

 

[asha]

Having recently upgraded from a Remora to the YS-01, I'll vouch for the YS-01 as a far superior strobe. Well worth the difference in price.

 

[Nemrod]

YS is a good brand, but, the Inon D2000 is hard to beat in terms of flexibility and capability and function. It just works. Since I am not a pro, I have no idea how one brand holds out over time vs another, I just know that my two D2000 strobes have been one of those things that actually worked as advertised with no fuss or bother. The multiple modes and various adjustments confuse some people, actually, they are super easy to use in any mode you choose once you understand the differences between the three basic modes:

Manual (uses camera flash for trigger only, manual strobe exposure)
Auto (so called External Auto, uses camera flash for trigger only, auto strobe exposure)
sTTL (simulated TTL where the strobe mimics the camera flash, auto strobe exposure)

N