Some more Info on the Sea&Sea YSD1

[ozzydamo]

Not to be a contrarian but a couple of thoughts. IMHO focus lights on strobes can be useful for Macro and getting you back to the boat on a night dive if all else fails, lol. But for medium to wide angle work they are counter productive. In general they force you to point the strobe directly at the subject which will result in backscatter. So a focus light of some kind is preferred in many cases.

The Oly UFL-2 is an ok strobe, but as a Oly dealer we do not stock it. The Zoom feature is cool but it is outweighed by other issues. Slow recycle time, limited life due to just two double AAs, size and frankly the Guide Number is overstated, more like 20-22. S&S and Inon have better options, humble opinion.

Your facts about the focus light being in the strobe are fair enough, I already mentioned they would affect the battery duration- still it would do 1 dive- I still change batteries out every dive out of habit.

Contrarian? more like tangenital- as the guy is only after one strobe, best guess would be he's not serious about wide angle

I would definitely get the ys-d1(which I did) over the Inon z240, its $100 bucks cheaper and it's brighter, but if my budget was tight... the Oly is a great alternative to a guy with a 3/4 camera, definitely better theN the inon 2000s!!!!

If moneys no limit get the seacam 150/ 130* Under water GN 19 or the S&S 250PRO.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Flooded out my ys-01, using the olympus uf1 for now. These two strobes are night and day. If the the strobe cannot be repaired then I will be buying the ysd1 I think. I have an Olympus system and now am wondering about the uf2

 

[Steve P]

Your facts about the focus light being in the strobe are fair enough, I already mentioned they would affect the battery duration- still it would do 1 dive- I still change batteries out every dive out of habit.

Contrarian? more like tangenital- as the guy is only after one strobe, best guess would be he's not serious about wide angle

I would definitely get the ys-d1(which I did) over the Inon z240, its $100 bucks cheaper and it's brighter, but if my budget was tight... the Oly is a great alternative to a guy with a 3/4 camera, definitely better theN the inon 2000s!!!!

If moneys no limit get the seacam 150/ 130* Under water GN 19 or the S&S 250PRO.

Good feedback mjh & Damo. I started a similar thread asking for advice about the D1 and also for comparisons with Oly UFL-2. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on a D1 & a Sola 800 focus light. As far as wide angle - yes, I'd love to have dual strobes, the wide angle lens & dome port, but the cost for these puts it way out of my budget at the time. Hopefully will be able to add in the future.

 

[ozzydamo]

Good feedback mjh & Damo. I started a similar thread asking for advice about the D1 and also for comparisons with Oly UFL-2. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on a D1 & a Sola 800 focus light. As far as wide angle - yes, I'd love to have dual strobes, the wide angle lens & dome port, but the cost for these puts it way out of my budget at the time. Hopefully will be able to add in the future.

I am in totally the same boat- $5000 out, one lens nikkor 60mm micro, d7000 camera housing port - saved up another thousand and threw it at a strobe/arm and focus light.(remember I flood one last year?)
Do I want a dome port 10-17 tokina and another strobe and arm set- damn straight!
but need probably 6 months of saving time- this recession is a balance breaker....been work about 60% capacity and I am a lucky person!

I reckon the solar focus light is overpriced! and hasn't got a battery you can change out........big coin for something that's peripheral!

 

[BluewaterPhoto]

I just used the YS-D1 in Anilao for 2 weeks - it was fantastic, fantastic! Highly recommended - Scott

Here's a sample shot and a review

 

[Jak Crow]

One of my -D1s developed an internal short and I took it back to the shop I got it from, but Sea and Sea is telling the shop the -D1 is back ordered till the end of the month so I wont get a replacement till then.

 

[mth1993]

Wow, sorry to hear about your issue. I hope you did not have a trip or anything planned. Not to rub it in but your old YS-01s worked great for me last weekend. They are packed and leaving for Galapagos tomorrow.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Some more views of the YS-D1 and two with the Inon Z-240 for size.

Phil Rudin

 

[Jak Crow]

I'm actually going down to the Channel Islands next weekend for a 3 day live aboard, but the owner of the shop was nice enough to lend me his -110a for the time being.

Wow, sorry to hear about your issue. I hope you did not have a trip or anything planned. Not to rub it in but your old YS-01s worked great for me last weekend. They are packed and leaving for Galapagos tomorrow.

 

[bvanant]

I don't understand then why you need such fast shutter speed for macro work. My view is that you get the brightest strobe you can so that you can control DOF the best and the brighter the strobe the more DOF you can get (at least on big sensors). Why do you think you need 1/320 for macro work? If it is for black backgrounds, try the strobe pointing in approach, much simpler.
Bill