Dual Strobes

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jeffweiss

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Location
St. Thomas, US VI
I am considering going to a dual strobe set-up, and am looking for advise as to whether the 2nd strobe is really
worthwhile. I am also looking for advise on which strobe to
purchase as the 2nd unit. I currently use a Nikonos SB 105.
Are there any disadvantages to going with a dedicated slave unit like the Ikelite 50 S, as opposed to the Ikelite 100 with a dual sync cord.???

Jeff Weiss
 
Jeff...I use a Sea & Sea YS50 as a primary strobe and a S&S YS30 slave. I like the dedicated slave as a second strobe better than a second synced one for several reasons. First, I can control the lighting effects of my photos better. Depending on the composition I'm going for, I can fill-in the shadows, or not, of the primary strobe. Whereas with 2 large strobes, the photos can look sort of flat. This has taken a bit of practice! And second, with the slave I don't have to worry about sync cords.

 
Dee:

Thanks for your input. What type of bracket system are
you using? Do you find the dual strobes increase the power enough for shots out in the 8 to 12 foot range, or beyond?

Cool signature/logo....


Jeff
 
I just have the standard S&S double base tray. I've recently replaced the Sea Arm's with flexible arms from Light and Motion. They are made with ball sockets, sort of like interlocking beads, that are very stable in the water. I can move either or both strobes to any position very quickly.

It doesn't matter what strength strobes you have, you'll never be able to illuminate farther than 3-4 ft. For shots in the 8-12 ft range, use a wide angle lens and depending on your depth and ambient light available, an open f/stop with a shutter speed no faster than 60.

 
Jeff,

I generally use a YS60 as the master and a YS30 as the slave. I have found that I can use the photocell mode for the slave (as opposed to the hard wired mode) for lenses up to 15 mm on my Nikonos.

I use an Ultralite tray with twin grips and various extension lengths. Ultralite also has a quick release arm that allows one to release the arm to facilitate aiming a strobe by the hand-held method. Check out their website.

Oh yes, Sea and Sea, the mfg of the YS strobes does not recommend using the photocell mode for a 15mm lens, but several people I know have used that mode successfully with the 15mm--including yours truly.

I agree with Dee--the second strobe makes a real difference. Best way I have found to minimize backscatter.

Good hunting...

Joewr
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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