YS-02 - Curious about your thoughts and experiences with it.

[Scuba_Noob]

I'm looking to get a couple of strobes. The Sea&Sea YS-02 is not too expensive, and it seems very high quality.

From what I've read, it has the same specs as the YS-01, except without TTL. I heard that's not necessary, but it might make things easier.

Has anyone owned and/or operated the YS-02, and would you recommend it?

 

[Scuba_Noob]

Also, I have a Canon S95 with an Ikelite housing.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

I could tell your TTL is much needed, especially when you constantly change composition to subject along with constant movement of the strobe to different positions.

I don't know if you ever shot topside with an external strobe, but if it was in manual mode, you will be either calculating f-stop and/or power level, or constantly shooting by trial and error. Try to go out and take all your above water with the flash shooting only in slave mode, and adjust the strobe's intensity for every shot, then you will know if you are up to taking pictures like that.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

So what do you think about these two arm types? Backscatter Sea & Sea YS-01 Strobe & Flex arm package or Underwater Strobe | Dual Sea and Sea YS-01 & Fantasea Blueray Tray Flex Package

Or should I just shell out a few hundred more dollars on the Sea Arm VII set?

And everything should be compatible with my current camera setup?

 

[BluewaterPhoto]

I've used the flex-arm, sea arm VII, and an ultralight setup - the ultralight arm & clamp setup is much easier to use underwater, will allow your strobe to be placed in a wider variety of positions, and can be modified in the future as your photography grows. Here's a YS-01 package.

The Ys-02 is a very good strobe, very small and powerful with the same specs as the YS-01. The Ys-01 has TTL which can be nice when shooting macro in Av mode, but is certainly not necessary.

Be sure to buy a strobe from someone who will personally spend sometime with you teaching you the different settings on the strobe and camera, like Jack or myself.

Good luck!

Scott

 

[Wisnu]

I use YS-01 but practicaly never use the TTL mode since not necessary, even for macro will always use manual where YOU control the camera, not the camera dictate you. With Av you can choose F8 as example, then camera will choose 1/60 or 1/40 which is may not sufficient. You also may like to control your BG, and still have sufficient DOF. or would like your strobe partly light the subject, ect.
Manual seem daunting but once you familiar, you will appreciate how you can control the camera much better than the camera programme.
Actually, UW you don't really have much setting variation - so adjusting strobe power base on the distance and angle should not be a problem.
Below my signature you'll see link to my daughters (12 years and 16 years old) blogs, - they always use manual setting smartly.

 

[rlaiche]

Great information on this. I currently have the Canon S95, Canon Housing, and YS-02 Strobe (only). I am new to all of this so forgive me in advance if my questions seems elementry. I recieved the YS-02 Strobe only as a Christmas present and am having a hard time finding just the tray and flex arms. Also does this require
a fiber cable? I know there are different arms and am not sure which is best and wondering if I should get the 2 arm trays in case I want to expand to 2 strobes in the future. Do most of you use two strobes or one? Thanks in advance for your help, and if you know of a photography class near Fort Lauderdale for
underwater photography please let me know. Thanks in advance for your help.

I've used the flex-arm, sea arm VII, and an ultralight setup - the ultralight arm & clamp setup is much easier to use underwater, will allow your strobe to be placed in a wider variety of positions, and can be modified in the future as your photography grows. Here's a YS-01 package.

The Ys-02 is a very good strobe, very small and powerful with the same specs as the YS-01. The Ys-01 has TTL which can be nice when shooting macro in Av mode, but is certainly not necessary.

Be sure to buy a strobe from someone who will personally spend sometime with you teaching you the different settings on the strobe and camera, like Jack or myself.

Good luck!

Scott

 

[papanano]

scubanoob, great choice in strobe and don't worry about ttl, manual is best. I have a ys-02 with fiber optic cable for sale in the photography classifieds for sale for a really good deal.

rlaiche, go to reefphotovideo.com for your tray and arms. They are in florida and great guys to deal with. You can take a U/W photography specialty course at any PADI training facility.

 

[vimaldude]

I recently bought YS-01 strobe, primarily for the TTL function. My reasoning was as follows: TTL is important. You may not use it in all situations but it does make life easier. I don't like to fiddle with manual controls on the camera and I generally keep it on auto. In such cases, the TTL makes the images come out with just the right exposure. It takes a lot of guess work out of taking UW photos. As you become more proficient, you can start experimenting with manual controls.

Ask yourself this: How long will you keep this strobe? If this is a long term investment, then spend extra $100 and get the strobe with TTL. You won't regret it.

BTW: I got mine from Divervision.com. Great prices and service.

 

[Wisnu]

I'm on the opposite side.
All my strobes (Inon D2000 and YS-01) are capable (s)TTL - Initially, I had similar thought, manual is difficult and only for serious UWP. I used STTL for quite some time (and happy) until I learned from Jeff Mullin (he's proffesional UWP live in Bali) how to use the full manual both camera and strobe effectively - surprisingly quite easy - not guessing trial and error, instead you not the camera shall measure and control.
Now, none of us (me + 2 daughters) use TTL for UWP.
Of course we like TTL for topside.