A6500 + Case + Strobe - What to upgrade
- Thread starter Pyndle
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Alright, I bought some new gear 
I found someone selling a YS-01 for a good price (450eur for the strobe with optical cable, quality arm tray , 4 arms, a lense holder, 5 ball clamps etc.). And on top of that I bought a dome port from Meikon for 150 usd. So I'll be shooting with 2*YS-01 and my A6500 with a 16-50 lense, alternating between the dome and my UCL-165 for close ups. I still haven't bought a solution to carry the dome/close up lense, I can't accept how overpriced those accessories are
Heading to Egypt next week with about 50 dives booked so we'll see how it works. I just have two questions before I go, I was not sure where to post them so I thought maybe you guys would know:
- Never used a wet dome before. Am I supposed to put it when I'm underwater otherwise it will get stuck underwater? I always need to have water between the lense and the dome right?
- The YS-01 I bought second hand has a focus light that is way less powerful than the other one I have (bought it new, used it for a year). Is it easily changeable? Is there a way to check that the strobes have the same power? Didn't see anything off when I took test shots above water but just wondered if there's a more scientific way to try
Thanks in adavance for your help!
I found someone selling a YS-01 for a good price (450eur for the strobe with optical cable, quality arm tray , 4 arms, a lense holder, 5 ball clamps etc.). And on top of that I bought a dome port from Meikon for 150 usd. So I'll be shooting with 2*YS-01 and my A6500 with a 16-50 lense, alternating between the dome and my UCL-165 for close ups. I still haven't bought a solution to carry the dome/close up lense, I can't accept how overpriced those accessories are
Heading to Egypt next week with about 50 dives booked so we'll see how it works. I just have two questions before I go, I was not sure where to post them so I thought maybe you guys would know:
- Never used a wet dome before. Am I supposed to put it when I'm underwater otherwise it will get stuck underwater? I always need to have water between the lense and the dome right?
- The YS-01 I bought second hand has a focus light that is way less powerful than the other one I have (bought it new, used it for a year). Is it easily changeable? Is there a way to check that the strobes have the same power? Didn't see anything off when I took test shots above water but just wondered if there's a more scientific way to try
Thanks in adavance for your help!
I generally got into water with the wet dome mounted on the camera and covered with neoprene, removed the neoprene cover and stuffed it into BCD pocket while on the surface, submerged, removed the dome to let out the air once at depth, re-mounted it and left it on for most of the dive. If I found a smaller subject that I wanted to shoot without the dome, I'd just take it off and let it float on its lanyard above the housing (it's buoyant). Neoprene cover went back on at safety stop. Magnetic adapter made taking it off and putting it on very simple.
- The YS-01 I bought second hand has a focus light that is way less powerful than the other one I have (bought it new, used it for a year). Is it easily changeable? Is there a way to check that the strobes have the same power? Didn't see anything off when I took test shots above water but just wondered if there's a more scientific way to try
You can put your camera into manual mode - ISO 100, f/16, 1/160s - set the strobes also to manual mode and maximum power, turn one on, shoot a test target, turn it off, turn on the other strobe, shoot again, then compare the two shots.
By the way, in case anyone read this and thinks of getting the same setup, I received the meikon wet dome and realized that the meikon A6500 case is poorly designed:
you cannot use the dome with the case's strobe diffuser: they both fit together but there's not enough space to plug your optical cables into the diffuser.
So you have to remove that diffuser, which is fine when shooting with the dome (the camera's internal flash is hidden by the dome anyways), but if like me you plan to take out the dome during the dive, you end up without diffuser (or you have to put it back on and unplug/replug your strobe optical cables, which is a hassle I'm not gonna go through...)
you cannot use the dome with the case's strobe diffuser: they both fit together but there's not enough space to plug your optical cables into the diffuser.
So you have to remove that diffuser, which is fine when shooting with the dome (the camera's internal flash is hidden by the dome anyways), but if like me you plan to take out the dome during the dive, you end up without diffuser (or you have to put it back on and unplug/replug your strobe optical cables, which is a hassle I'm not gonna go through...)
tarponchik
Contributor
Just to comment on the optics, the biggest problem I have with Sony's 16-50/PZ, whether I shoot on land or underwater (A6000 in SeaFrog housing) is vignetting and image softening plus severe fringing towards the edges at the short end of the zoom. Shooting Morish Idols or any other fish with high contrast color pattern will guarantee strong blue/orange fringing even on an overcast day. I am not surprised at all that 16-50/PZ has got a lousy DxO Mark rating of 13 when mounted on A6000, with chromatic aberrations rated at 10. Unfortunately, Sony's 4.0/10-18 won't be much of improvement for an extra $500. It has a bit higher rating of 15 because it is sharper than 16-50/PZ but vignetting and fringing gets even worse.
If you look at the list, one does not have a lot of choices for Sony E mount, unless you go for the overpriced Carl Zeiss glass. There is the good Sony 1.8/50 OSS (rated 25) which I own and use on land, but this lens does not fit into the housing. Based on the ratings, I would consider Sony 1.8/35 (rating 23, $450) and Sigma 1.8/30 DC DN (rating 29, $340) if they fit. Though fringing should be just as bad with the latter, at least it is pretty sharp. Everything else is either too pricey or the same kind of crap as the 16-50/PZ lens. On land, I prefer to use the cheap 7artisan 1.8/25 prime for landscaping rather than 16-50/PZ but this is a manual focus lens, so I can't use it underwater. So, bottom line is, with A6000 the limiting factor of your quality will most likely be your lens.
If you look at the list, one does not have a lot of choices for Sony E mount, unless you go for the overpriced Carl Zeiss glass. There is the good Sony 1.8/50 OSS (rated 25) which I own and use on land, but this lens does not fit into the housing. Based on the ratings, I would consider Sony 1.8/35 (rating 23, $450) and Sigma 1.8/30 DC DN (rating 29, $340) if they fit. Though fringing should be just as bad with the latter, at least it is pretty sharp. Everything else is either too pricey or the same kind of crap as the 16-50/PZ lens. On land, I prefer to use the cheap 7artisan 1.8/25 prime for landscaping rather than 16-50/PZ but this is a manual focus lens, so I can't use it underwater. So, bottom line is, with A6000 the limiting factor of your quality will most likely be your lens.
I doubt that the differences measured by DxO under ideal conditions in a studio account for much after you put several feet of murky water between the camera and the subject. The big improvement of 10-18 over 16-50 is that it lets you get closer and reduce the thickness of that image-degrading water layer - something that simply isn't a factor in land-based comparisons.
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