Strobe advice for newbie please

[HBO MD]

Hi Guys,
I've been diving for years with a Nikonos V. Most recently I'm about to take the plunge into digital with a Nikon D 300, Sea and Sea MDX D300 housing.
Now the harder part. Can I get some advice re strobes please?
I've been thinking of going for the single YS 250, a large strobe with lots of range, vs 2 110 alpha strobes.
I'm attracted to using 1 because of ease of use etc rather than a potentially more cumbersome setup with 2.
This is completely different from the SB 102 and 105 pair I have been using in the past and I find to go for the 2 to be a bit daunting ; hence my question.
Any thoughts welcome and appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[dbh]

I, personally, would opt for the 2 YS 110's. When shooting macro, having 2 strobes helps eliminate shadows that shooting with 1 sometimes creates. Also, when shooting WA, you will light up more area and be able to angle them out more. Angling them help helps to reduce / eliminate backscatter.

This is MHO, YMMV

Dave

 

[Larry C]

If you're using the Sea & Sea housing, I would imagine you'll be using their ttl controller as well. This should control both strobes nicely. Only issue is, you need a different controller for the YS 250 than you would the YS-110's, so if you decided to use one stronger strobe for WA, they wouldn't mix. I use a pair of YS-110's.

 

[jcclink]

Ditto on the 110's. Forget about a converter. Its a lot easier in the long run (with fewer things to fail) to get used to manual shooting. With some practice you will be able to guess pretty close on settings. The 250 is much larger, heavier & more expensive. It really only buys you faster recycle time compared to 110.

 

[scottfiji]

Dave made some good points. I'd definitely get 2 strobes, not 1. The YS-110's will be fine for Wide-angle. I use 2 INON Z240's with my D300/Sea&Sea MDX housing.

good luck and congrats on your new digital system.

scott

 

[HBO MD]

Thanks to all !

Scott ; a colleague also recommended the Inon 240's.

May I ask what people's opinions are re 240's vs the YS 110 a?
Now that Inon has no direct office in the US, will servicing be a problem?
How are they for reliability? Specs seem almost identical.

Thanks again!

 

[scottfiji]

The Z240's are stronger than my YS-110 for sure. I believe the Ys-110 and ys-110a have the same power. I switched from the YS-110 to the Z240 before the YS-110a came out.

I put up a short review on the Inon Z240 earlier this year.

I'm not overly concerned about servicing, I would think you can always easily ship them to asia or a dive shop in the US that sells & services them. The build quality is very high compared to my Ys-110's, reliability seems to be excellent so far.

 

[Just another Cinderella]

With the money you have in the system, I would definitely go with two strobes. There is so much more versatility with two.
I have used Inon flashes for many years and have no complaints. They are certainly much easier to travel with. With the passing of Inon America, sales and service has become more problematic, but I have never needed their service. I presently have a pair of Z 220s and am considering the Z240s.


Anybody know the changes between the Type 3 and Type 4 ?

 

[Warren_L]

Hi Guys,
I've been diving for years with a Nikonos V. Most recently I'm about to take the plunge into digital with a Nikon D 300, Sea and Sea MDX D300 housing.
Now the harder part. Can I get some advice re strobes please?
I've been thinking of going for the single YS 250, a large strobe with lots of range, vs 2 110 alpha strobes.
I'm attracted to using 1 because of ease of use etc rather than a potentially more cumbersome setup with 2.
This is completely different from the SB 102 and 105 pair I have been using in the past and I find to go for the 2 to be a bit daunting ; hence my question.
Any thoughts welcome and appreciated.
Thanks!

I find the answer to these types of questions can rarely be answered without knowing a bit more about the type(s) of diving environments you'll be shooting in and the type of shooting you'll be doing. If you're into wide angle shooting, having a dual strobe setup with adequate angle of coverage is going to be a huge benefit versus a single strobe setup. If you're shooting in relatively clear water, a really strong strobe is probably not all that critical, and if your camera has decent ISO performance, even less so. For shooting macro, having two strobes is not all that critical, but having two gives you a bit more flexibility in creative lighting.

As far as the physical handling of the rig, I find having two strobes actually balances out my rig better in my hands. As long as you can weight the rig to your liking (which may involve the use of buoyancy arms or floats), having two strobes should really present little problem.

 

[AussieByron]

I agree with Warren L.

Another thing to consider is your budget and also what you want to shot in the future.

I find with larger more powerful strobes you can turn down when you need to get the same light as a smaller strobe, but you can't turn up a smaller strobe to make it shoot like a big strobe, if that makes sense.

Also with two strobes if you want the effect the same as a single strobe you can turn off/down one of your strobes. But you can make a single strobe setup shoot like a dual strobe setup.

Regards Mark