2 UFL-1 or single better strobe?

[mvrlik]

Hi,
I am trying to get UW camera setup. Although I am quite experienced land photographer I am total newbie underwater.
I bought Oly XZ-1 with Olympus wet wide lens (100' field of view) and need to get a strobes for it.
As the finances are bit limited I can either buy 2 Olympus UFL-1 (GN 14) strobes or 1 better/more powerful (probably S&S YS-01).
I have no doubt that Oly strobes will be better for macro (more creative control and probably enough power for short distance) but how about wide angle pictures? Is the Oly too underpowered or I can get something useful with 2 of them?
What is your recommendation?
Thanks,
Martin

 

[Doubler]

I had a Oly XZ-1 and had nothing but problems with it. I am convinced it had a short as the batteries would be so hot when removed they would burn your hand. I returned it for repair and the problem persisted. It would only charge half the time and only when set to full. It only fired half the time. Save yourself the head ache and get the S&S.

 

[jdfmail]

I haven't heard of that problem from any other people. I wonder if it is an isolated issue. I haven't had any problems although I've only had it for a short time.

But I'm wondering if you had problems with the Oly xz-1 why do you recommend the S&S? S&S what?

 

[Doubler]

Martin asked about the S&S. S&S is an underwater photography equipment manufacturer while Olympus makes a lot of everything, sort of a jack of all trades a master of none. I would recommend the Inon 2000S. Great little strobe.

 

[mvrlik]

jdfmail: I think Doubler means problems with Oly flash, not camera (please correct me if I am wrong).
Doubler: thanks for info. I know that Inon s2000 is supposed to be great but it is even more expensive than s&s...
Let me paraphrase original question then. Is it better to have 2 bit underpowered strobes or 1 stronger for WA? How often do you shoot on full power with your strobes?
Thanks,
Martin

 

[jdfmail]

I guess that's what he meant but he did say "I had a Oly XZ-1 and had nothing but problems with it.' So I was wondering what the problem was.

I don't own Oly strobes but the UFL-1 is made by Sea and Sea. It is the same as the YS-17. Very underpowered and doubtful 2 would be desirable for any kind of WA. If I were you, I'd buy the YS-01 or the s2000 and when you have more cash get a second down the road.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hi Martin,

This is one of those you get what you pay for kind of things. First the Olympus UFL-1/Sea & Sea YS-17 is a discontinued product although they can still be found with ease.
The UFL-1 has a 70 degree beam angle, takes two AA batteries rather than four which not only reduces power but makes for SLOW recycle times. Two strobes allow for greater lighting options but if you don't know how to use one strobe changes are you will have even greater frustration using two. The Sea & Sea YS-01 and Inon S-2000 strobes both have more power, much faster recycle times, wider (100 degree) beam angle and both will holdup a very long time. My Inon Z-220 strobes are now over twenty years old and still going strong without ever having been serviced.

I would recommend you start learning with one quality strobe strobe and move on to a senond when your interest in U/W photography grows.

Phil Rudin

 

[under water]

Hi Martin,
.. I would recommend you start learning with one quality strobe strobe and move on to a senond when your interest in U/W photography grows.

Phil Rudin

What Phil said! I agree. If you are jumping in with 2 less powerful/useful strobes, then you are likely to be upgrading them soon anyway.
Start off with a good strobe and get another later. I have gone down the road of starting out on the low end side and gradually working up the strobe ladder. Wish someone had convinced me to start higher. Very happy now with dual s-2000's

 

[Puffer Fish]

Interesting... well I have both Sea and Sea YS 110's, as well as a couple of UFL-1's.... the UFL-1 is sort of a YS-17....Oly has their own propriatory flash sync system...for example, the UFL-1 is only a TTL strobe with Oly and Panasonic... and as a manual strobe it only has two setting. With good batteries, they recycle really fast....and two batteries can last longer than the 4 in the YS110...I use them for macro shooting mostly....for which they work really well. (as you point out).

Wide angle... well it depends.. as far as angle of view goes, if the strobes are out to the side, that increases the angle of view (shooting on a angle) and if you are shooting wide open, the XZ-1 has an amazingly fast lens (some of which will be lost due to the glass.

But to add a bit of an issue, I understand that the YS series only works in manual...and I don't know if if the S2000 works in anything other than manual. In which case, it would be the cheaper YS-2 versus 2 UFL-1's...

I think it comes down to what type of wide angle and how clear the water is you are diving in. I don't dive in clear water, so the range on the Oly strobe is no more than 3 or so feet. But get some clear water and it is much better than one would think...

 

[Puffer Fish]

Here is a night shot using 2 oly strobes.. the basket star is aroound 2 meters across:

Vis was around 20 meters.... so they covered a lot farther.