S&S YS-D2J vs. Inon Z330

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BalekFekete

Contributor
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Location
Philadelphia, PA
# of dives
50 - 99
In the market to match a strobe up with a TG-6 that I just picked up and can’t decide which way to go. I’m still an incredibly novice diver and UW photographer (limited to a Hero4 so far). As such, I want to tap into the expertise here. I can see a mix of wide and macro shooting in about equal amounts. Budget, esp. given the minor difference between the two, is a non-issue.

So...which would you get? Ready set GO!
 
Inon 330 by a mile. More reliable, hard to beat. If you can get one ordered, very in demand. There is a long history of issues with with the YS-D2. Some people say the (J) fixed it, some not. You rarely find any complaints about the 330's. I've done about 150 dives with the 330's and think they are great. I used Ikelite strobes for 10 years, and now prefer the Inon's.
 
If you are sticking with compact cameras, the smaller S-2000 and YS-01 have more than enough power, wide angle is most demanding and at the wide end you are f2 or f2.8, you might want to use the f8 in very bright conditions to bring your shutter speed down but sync speed is not an issue with the TG-6. The smaller strobes will be more managable for positioning in close in microscope mode than the big ones and the rig will be better balanced.
 
The S-2000 and YS-01 are also smaller and lighter so will be easier to carry and manage topside and underwater, especially if you are a newer diver and have more task load to worry about. They’re also cheaper! :)

With that said, I have YS-D2’s with my Sony RX100IV and I’ve had 175 dives on them with no issues. It is very hit or miss but for reliability sake I would say the 330’s are probably better. I do like the Sea and Sea control dials and such much better, though.
 
I agree with Chris Ross's comments, if that is your intention. I have many friends using the Inon's and they love them. I have a YSD2 and a YSD2J and to date have not had an issue. I find the interface more intuitive for me, but you get used to anything. The issues that were prevalent with the Sea and Sea product certainly bothered me and I am not convinced I would purchase the Sea and Sea's again, however, maybe because of the limited load I put on them, they have been fine for me. If I'm purchasing soon, I'm shelling out for the Retra Pro or the U160x, but they are a lot of coin... looks like YSD2's for a while longer yet!!!
 
The power of the strobe is related to the type of photography you intend to make, not so much to the type of camera you are using: Small strobes are by far enough for macro (and also more handsome), while with WA you want as much power as you can effort. Some people have small strobes for Macro plus big strobes for WA. Many (like me) use just big ones also for Macro (as a compromise).

Regarding Sea&Sea YS-D2 I belong to the people with bad experience: bought three of them new in 2017. One already discarded (I was so silly to send it to the European repesentative in Netherlands - they wrote back it is a total loss and did not send anything back). One is currently in a repair workshop in England, that was recommended to me at Wetpixel. One is working so/so: sometimes it reacts to switching the power switch on, sometimes not. Certainly there are more people with positive experience than people with negative experience, but the number of people with negative experience is quite large, as you can see in this and other forums.

This year I purchased three Z330. Too early to say anything about reliability, but there are not many issues reported in the Internet. Workmanship looks of good quality (in contrast to the Sea&Sea).
What I really dislike, however, are the two small push-buttons (One is for switching on the (as I use the strobes, completely unnecessary, focus light), the other to switch to different preflash cancelling modes (if you release the button unintentioinally, manual operation does not work any more). Even without gloves it happens to me frequently that I push one unintentionally, while changing manual power. I recognize this, when I see on the screen that illumination from one side is not sufficient...

Wolfgang
 
My biggest issue with INON is their battery compartment o-ring design. They utilize a twist on cap, and this can lead to the oring pinching and causing a leak path. I had one of my D-2000's flood in this way, and unfortunately their battery compartment is not sealed from the rest of the strobe head, so I lost the entire strobe. I added an additional oring to my battery cap on my other D-2000, which pushed against the battery compartment for a secondary seal.

I recently switched to a pair of YS-110a's, and I much prefer the sea and sea oring design. It's a push in design, with a cam lock cap, and the oring never twists or turns. Additionally, S&S strobes have sealed battery compartments, so even if they flood, you can clean the battery compartment and replace the battery cap, and you're back in business.

That being said, I have not dove the the D2's, but have read about the issues some have with them, and they sound extremely frustrating.
 
I have old seaseas (not available anymore) and Z330. The Z330 have been reliable till 116.5m.
They are only really bulky.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I’m kinda in the camp of “buy once, cry once” so am leaning to stay on the more powerful side of the product lines. The Inon seems to be the crowd favorite, but I’ll keep tabs on the thread and others like it until I get the nod from the Mrs. to pull the trigger. :)
 
My biggest issue with INON is their battery compartment o-ring design. They utilize a twist on cap, and this can lead to the oring pinching and causing a leak path. I had one of my D-2000's flood in this way, and unfortunately their battery compartment is not sealed from the rest of the strobe head, so I lost the entire strobe. I added an additional oring to my battery cap on my other D-2000, which pushed against the battery compartment for a secondary seal.

I recently switched to a pair of YS-110a's, and I much prefer the sea and sea oring design. It's a push in design, with a cam lock cap, and the oring never twists or turns. Additionally, S&S strobes have sealed battery compartments, so even if they flood, you can clean the battery compartment and replace the battery cap, and you're back in business.

That being said, I have not dove the the D2's, but have read about the issues some have with them, and they sound extremely frustrating.

This seems to be an issue for some people and not others. I have found that the o-ring needs to be well lubed, not just shiny and taking a tiny amount on grease and wiping over the inside of the cap seems to make installing the cap much easier.

Regarding the sealing of the battery compartment it has been established that both battery compartments are sealed from the rest of the strobe, though it appears in some cases that the o-rings used deteriorate over time and can in some cases leak, there have been other reports of floods to the compartment where the strobe has survived. I found a link either here or on wetpixel a while back from Reefphoto where it was recommended that the strobe be serviced after surviving such a flood.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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