Inon D180 V. Sea & Sea Ys-01

[TakeItToTheSea]

Hello all,

This is my first post and presumably the beginning of many questions!

I have been wanting to add some diversity to my photography and decided, why not take it to the sea. I can't afford the equipment for my Nikon D90 so I decided to go with a Canon G10, Canon housing and Inon UCL-165M67 wet lens. Now all I need is the strobe. I started by looking at the Inon s2000 and then shifted to the Ys-01 to save some cash. After buying the macro wet lens on Ebay I have been communicating with the seller who has offered me a set of two Inon D180's with ULCS arms and clamps for $450. This isn't a significant increase in price of the setups I was considering before, and I would have two strobes instead of one. Maybe it's because the D180 has been discontinued, but Im having trouble finding many specs on it. From what I can see it has a guide number of 18, recycle time of 1.7, and beam angle of 100 degrees. This seems very similar to the Ys-01. I am a big noob when it comes to dive photography so I need the perspective of more experienced members to help shed some light on the subject.

And I have a lot more research to do, but from what I understand so far is that you can activate your strobe by either connecting it to the camera with a cable or sending it a signal via internal camera flash? It features internal and external auto modes, which from what I understand will enable the strobe to adjust for correct exposure?

Any and all opinions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[buton]

I am a noob also shooting I have a oly xz 1 with arms and two ys01.

what I have learned is that two strobes make a hell of a difference.

focus light will help a lot when you go on places without lot of light

pull out the flash from the oly before closing the enclosure.

make test shots to manually adjust the Ys 01



dive and have fun

 

[KeithG]

And I have a lot more research to do, but from what I understand so far is that you can activate your strobe by either connecting it to the camera with a cable or sending it a signal via internal camera flash? It features internal and external auto modes, which from what I understand will enable the strobe to adjust for correct exposure?

Any and all opinions would be greatly appreciated!

You are correct about strobe activation, but there are some subtle details you can research further...
- Wired connections require a camera hotshoe and a bulkhead connector that goes through the camera housing. BUT: Some hot shoes are not capable of ttl operation as that requires multiple connector signals (and appropriate wires & appropriate strobe & sometimes even a ttl converter blob). So you may be forced to shoot in manual mode on the strobes.
- fibre optic connectors are simpler as they just "plug in" (somehow) to the outside of the camera housing. BUT: some (many, all?) Point & shoot cameras use a "preflash" to help determine proper ttl exposure. Older strobes may not support the preflash. Different strobes appear to give different ttl results with different cameras.

- strobe "adjusting" for correct exposure. Not all strobes offer this. In general the strobe does not adjust, the camera does. When the camera has enough light it turns the internal flash off which should cause the external flash to also turn off. A ttl compatible wired sync cord offers the same operation: 1 wire tells the strobe to fire, another wire tells it to stop firing - both controlled by the camera. Some strobes have a built in light sensor and appropriate operating mode where the strobe attempts to perform ttl all by itself and ignores what the camera wants.

 

[bvanant]

Unless you are experienced in getting this kind of stuff together, I would avoid the D180 strobes since it is not clear that the G10 will be able to sync with it or not (it depends on the pre-flash type). I would bite the bullet and get a D1 (or the 01) since you will be using the D1 on your next 5 cameras. Yes it is expensive but worth it.
Bill

 

[TakeItToTheSea]

I am starting to get a slight grasp on how this works. If I don't go with the two D180's I believe I'll be getting the Ys-01 because I want to keep the cost under $500. If I were to do that I could get the strobe and arm, and then connect it via fiber optic cable and this Sea & Sea mask to attach it on my housing:

Sea & Sea Strobe Mask Set SS-50109 B&H Photo Video

As far as the D180s, could I not go for a similar setup? What if I made something to attach the cable like the person did at the following link:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/272579-inon-fiber-optic-adapter-canon-g10-wpdc28.html

And now for my biggest question of the day. I know it has been stated that the D180 strobes might not even be able to sync with the strobes, but it turns out the G10 doesn't even have a preflash on manual. That being said, what would the process be whether I took the risk with D180s or got the Ys-01? If I wanted to shoot in manual would I have to use the strobe in manual as well? And if this is the case, what is the point of the cable if not to read preflash?

Any and all help in clarifying this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[TakeItToTheSea]

You can disregard that previous post, I had some clarification on the workings of TTL and preflashes and decided I will most likely be going with the Ys-02. Thanks for the replies guys!

 

[Wiggsy]

Might be too late for you but I can confirm that the Inon D180 firstly is a brilliant strobe - by far the most reliable and durable bit of gear I have ever owned...and it will synch with either pre flash or no pre-flash cameras. I've had it synch with an Olympus C5000z (which had a pre-flash) and also the Canon S95, which on manual has no pre-flash (on one trip I ended up using Aperture priority setting until I figured that out). The D180 has a little magnet switch - you insert the magnet (supplied) for no pre-flash or remove it for pre-flash. To check synch I throttle down the aperure of the camera to f22 (or whatever) and throttle the power of the flash to minimum and then take a photo of the flash going off! If the sensor doesnt get blinded by the light then synch is out. It can be complex with newer cameras. Then take some photos in a darkish room at minimum and maximum flash power, and check that the exposure level changes. Just that sometimes you will think you have synch, when all you get is a pre-flash and no main flash. You will discover this half way through the dive when you notice your subjects don't appear to be lit and the flash recycles in an instant, with only a small 'puff' of light.