Backscatter Mini Flash 2 with Sea and Sea Housing

[MrChen]

I have a Nikon D850 with Sea and Sea MDX850 housing and YS-N converter. I've posted about my recent problems with my YS-01 strobes, so I purchased a MF2 since I'm without srobes and wanted a snoot strobe.

The MF2 doesn't fire if I put my converter in manual mode. In TTL mode it fires about 75% of the time in testing out of the water. I have the converter set to 01 since I usually use it with my ys01 strobes.

Does anyone have any setting advice?

 

[MrChen]

So I took the strobe on a dive. Underwater it only fired 1 out of every 7 times. I swapped between TTL and manual on the YS optical converter. It did fire a few times on manual, but less often than when I had it in TTL mode. This makes using the snoot extremely challenging. It's already hard enough to aim the light on a slightly moving target, in a current, controlling buoyancy, and now I have to fire the camera in rapid succession until it works.

 

[MrChen]

I'm posting additional details in the hopes that it helps someone else one day.

I ran a few tests. I left the strobe in manual and tried all settings on the YS-N converter. I tried each setting with the YS-N in TTL mode and then in manual. This made no difference.

I reached out to a buddy who suggested there was a sync that needed to happen and suggested I RTFM (thanks bro ). As I was reading it again, I realized there are two TTL modes supported by the strobe, one for Olympus cameras and one for other cameras called HSS. I switched the YS-N to TTL and the strobe to HSS and the strobe fired every time with a but... But every picture was black, no matter how slow I put the shutter speed or how large I opened the aperture. I tried each setting on the YS-N for strobe compatibility, and it made no difference. Frustrated, I switched the YS-N to manual mode, to my surprise, the strobe continued to fire every time and pictures were lit up. I repeat, it works (out of the water) with the strobe in HSS mode and the YS-N in manual mode.

I still need to test it in the water. I'm concerned with my ability to adjust strobe power. Per the manual, only power levels 7, 6, and 5 are available in HSS mode.

I'll report back after I get a dive in.

 

[MrChen]

Well... I was reading another thread about the MF2 and added my 2 cents of problems. I now have this working with the YS-N on manual and the strobe on manual. The trick is the auto sync, but you have to realize how it works and behaves.

Turn it all on, set to manual on converter and strobe. Take a picture, the strobe will NOT produce a flash. This is what was throwing me off. I'd look at the camera and the strobe, waiting maybe 2 seconds, and try again. Instead, understand that it won't flash, wait 3+ seconds, and the dang thing works every time I trigger to take a picture.

 

[maviyedogru]

Hello, I am also facing the same situation. I noticed that it works more consistently in HSS mode. However, it still does not work suddenly on some dives. I could not understand how such different results are obtained technically. Is there a different solution for this?

 

[maviyedogru]

Hello again, it was a subject I realized as a result of my experiments. After selecting the YS-D1 option on the Sea&Sea ttl convertor, the synchronization worked correctly in the manual setting, when I set the adjustment knob on the flash to HSS mode. I have doubts about stability but I will continue to try this way for a while. If there is a different solution, I would like to listen to all kinds of solutions.

 

[Searcaigh]

@MrChen and @maviyedogru

Does the MiniFlash work consistently on manual mode?

I don't think that TTL is the best way to go with this type of strobe and the best option is to use it with the optical snoot and shoot manual.

 

[MrChen]

@MrChen and @maviyedogru

Does the MiniFlash work consistently on manual mode?

I don't think that TTL is the best way to go with this type of strobe and the best option is to use it with the optical snoot and shoot manual.

I haven't been doing photography much this year, but what I do recall is that the syncing process was key to it working consistently and it required a few seconds of patience. It's been almost a year since an MF2 strobe, I remember triggering a single picture and having to wait 3-5 seconds before using it. If I fired another shot too soon, it worked inconsistently until I recalibrated it (turn off and back on?? I can't recall).

Reading my post above, it sounds like I landed on using manual. You still have to fire a single shot and WAIT. I know I wrote above that it did not flash during this test shot, but I'm not 100% sure that's true. Regardless, shoot once, wait like 5 seconds, and then you should be good.

You can also use the light sensor with other strobes and go wireless.