Strobe Recommendation

[GregT943]

I upgraded from my old compact, and just bought an Olympus EPM1 and factory housing. I need a strobe but I don't know a lot about them. I only have $350 to spend on the strobe itself. Can anyone recommend one that works well and is in that price range? So far the only one I can find in that price range that seems like a good option is the Sea&Sea YS-02. Is there a better choice than this? Eventually I plan on adding a second strobe, I just don't have much cash right now and I need something before my dive trip in the first week of July. Thanks for your help

 

[cardog]

If you only plan on shooting in manual that strobe will be fine. If you want to shoot in sTTL then you need to step up to the YS 01 or the Inon S 2000.......


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[gstrek]

I use a YS-01 with an Oly Pen e-pl1 in an Oly housing and ULCS tray and arms. This is a just slightly negative rig and is easy to handle in the water.

It may be worth stretching your budget for the YS-01 as you can shoot sTTL on the strobe (set camera to M, F-8 at 1/125, ISO 200 with forced flash for starters). You always have the option of putting the YS-01 in Manual if you wish.

 

[mjh]

As others have mentioned the deciding factor is how important is shooting in "Automatic/TTL" to you? We like to see people move away from TTL and eventually take control and shoot in Manual. At this juncture I only shoot in Manual never TTL. Also if you add a strobe you need all the connecting pcs; arms, clamps, sync cord, etc...the final product can look something like this, even though there are many ways to cobble it together.
System Packages :: Mirrorless Systems :: Optical Ocean Olympus/Sea & Sea PT-EP06 (E-PM1) Special Package -

 

[Safety Stop]

I dont understand people sometime, they refuse the advance of the techology. Dive computer is there so use it and yes, there is always dive table for somes who refuse the evlolution. Same thing with underwater photography, TTL is there so use it and for somes who refuse to follow the wave, use manual setting. A few years ago, TTL was not good as it is right now so stop telling people use MANUAL ONLY.

 

[bvanant]

Well of course TTL is there and I use it when appropriate but there are indeed valid reasons for shooting in manual. One consideration is the battery usage. If I shoot in TTL then my camera strobe needs to fire at full power (or whatever power is necessary) to make TTL work. If I shoot in manual I can set my strobe at 1/128 power and that means far less battery usage in my camera. Similarly if I am shooting fast moving subjects like sharks or big schools of fish, I would like to shoot as fast as possible and TTL takes a long time to recycle compared to manual configuration in the camera. That doesn't mean that I would recommend a buying a manual only strobe (I would recommend the YS-01/S2000) but saying that TTL is universally the answer is not right either.

Bill

 

[mjh]

I think TTL has a place and situations where is works great. But there are situations where it fails. Personally I like playing with settings, DOF, shutter speeds to get specific looks. With TTL you do get a nice even lighting but historically, to my eye, shots are lit the same. Of course many strobes now give the option of increasing/decreasing the power while in TTL and that is nice. One issue I see with TTL is some do not learn the basic priciples of photography, they don't quite comprehend how ISO, shutter speed, f/stop and strobe power relate. They see a photo they would like to emulate but since they are accustomed to putting the camera in Auto and the Strobe in TTL they are a little lost on how to get "that sun ball shot" or get their macro shots to be "sharp", etc...

A couple of shots I think TTL could not pull off
/]

 

[GregT943]

Thanks for the help guys, I ended up getting the YS-01. It was just a little out of my price range so I just bit the bullet and got it, that's what credit cards are for, right? I get to test it out on the wrecks of the outerbanks in just a few weeks. Thanks again for the help

 

[ano123]

Wish you have a good diving trip.