Canon S-100 with Sea & Sea YS-O2 strobe. Advice requested

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Once you get back to the world, investigate CHDK which will let you shoot your S100 in manual mode with TTL flash exposure.

I generally use manual with 1/125, ISO 100-200, and adjust aperture as needed for the amount of ambient light I want to show up.
 
I think I get what you are saying. The flash doesn't really care where the aperture is set since it doesn't change background/ambient exposure. So set up iso and frame rate and adjust aperture to fill out the background?

I started shooting film 25 years ago and it was all outdoors (and above water). so both flash and underwater are new to me. Conceptually once I get it I'll have it.

Tomorrow should be good as I'm getting more of it.

CHDK: noted. thank you.
 
I think I get what you are saying. The flash doesn't really care where the aperture is set since it doesn't change background/ambient exposure. So set up iso and frame rate and adjust aperture to fill out the background?

I am a bit confused, I would think aperture will affect the flash illumination as the guide number (GN) will change with the aperture (and ISO). I would assume that the shutter speed will not impact flash performance but the ambient exposure will be function of all three - iso, shutter and aperture. I usually select shutter speed considering the focal length of the lens to control motion blur and set the aperture for the desired depth of field or exposure level. Then adjust the flash power to get the desired foreground exposure.
 
if my statement is confusing you don't let it. I started this thread because I clearly didn't/don't know wtf I was/am doing.

Though shutter speed will impact flash performance at a certain point, right? 1/2000th of a second is too short for the flash to matter (just an example). Which begs the question for me - what's the duration of the/a flash? What I'm wondering/thinking is... if a flash lasts 1/400th of a second and you time your shutter (at the same speed) to open close perfectly then any longer shutter won't make a considerable difference on the exposure for the close objects.

which if true(?) leads back to my confusing statement - longer exposure / wider aperture captures really only background/ambient light. Which if true would mean you set your shutter to capture all of the flash output (adjusting intensity based on proximity, etc.) and use aperture to control the rest of the scene (out of flash range parts).
 
Indeed each camera will have the flash sync speed, at least this is true for those that have the mechanical shutter and if you set the speed higher than that, the flash partially will be obstructed by the second curtain traveling before first curtain got fully open while flash firing. Some of the flash units have so called high sync flash which is essentially constant illumination throughout the opening of the shutter, I am not sure which underwater strobes have this function. I do have S&S YS-01 but haven't seen this function in its manual. Said that normally i would not setup such a high speed (1/2000) underwater as I won't have sufficient exposure even with wide open aperture (unless being very shallow on a bright sunny day and cranking iso to something like 3200) so assuming you are using something like 1/125 or less, you should be within the sync speed and at this point it will be only the aperture that will control flash illumination. It looks like you are on the right track using shutter speed of 1/80 - 1/125 with not too high iso (200 seems like a good starting point for COZ during the day). You are also correct in your statement that as long as your shutter is lower than the flash sync speed, it's value will not affect the flash illumination only the b/g exposure in combination with aperture and iso. Aperture value will impact the flash output, the higher the value the less flash range. I would suggest to play with the aperture (for proper ambient exposure) and flash power (for foreground illumination) keeping iso and shutter at constant values. By limiting yourself to only these two variables it will be easier to see how they impact your images. Have fun!
 
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