Olympus OMD EM1 Mark II Strobe Issues

[aquaticexplorer15]

I just got back from Grand Cayman. I used my OMD EM1 Mark II with my Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes.
I tried using TTL slave mode and DS-TTL and the strobe didn't fire correctly. My OMD EM5 would light up the world but with this camera it was intermittent. I would take five picture of the same coral head and I would get different results. I then went to full manual on the strobes and used the 1/64th setting and still had bad results. I finally used full flash on the camera and manual mode on the strobes but still not happy on the way the strobes reacted. I tried all three metering setting on the camera but still couldn't get the strobes to fire like my EM5. I could set my EM5 to 1/250 and F22 and the picture still would come out great. both on day dive and night dives. I then reset the camera and went through all the settings over again. I used a sheet sheet I got from Cathy Church for the EM5 Mark II. It seems like the camera is changing something when taking the picture even though the flash is in full manual.. Is there a setting that I am missing or do I need to buy the YS-D2 strobes??

 

[vsc]

I sold my YS-D1 in favor of a second YS-D2, where the YS-D2 does not appear to have issues with the Mark II.

 

[bvanant]

That is surprising; my EM-1 ii works fine with my YS-d1 strobes. Will post some pics in a few minutes
Bill

 

[vsc]

Perhaps 1 in 5 shots failed to expose properly with TTL. Otherwise I was able to sync with the strobe. The Sea&Sea PDF covers the E-M5 MkII, which states TTL is impossible with the D1. My assumption is that the newer MkII bodies are similar.

My focus on testing was with the newer YS-D2 with respect to LED trigger development, given the D1 is no longer in production. In the end I sold off the D1 given I didn't want to bother debugging the issue.

 

[bvanant]

I was more concerned about the OP's comment that in manual mode they didn't work either. that seems bizarre.
Bill

 

[gstrek]

I was more concerned about the OP's comment that in manual mode they didn't work either. that seems bizarre.
Bill

I shoot an older Oly with YS01 with no problems (other than those I create myself) but wonder if the OP may have had auto ISO set. This might explain why, even with manual for everything else, results might not be what was expected.

 

[aquaticexplorer15]

I had ISO set for 200 the whole trip.

 

[bvanant]

OK, I just shot a bunch of shots in my studio, EM-1 mark ii, Nauticam Housing, Leica 45 mm lens, single YS-D1 strobe.
These two are shot in TTL mode (fill on the camera, TTL on the Strobe.
TTL seems to work fine (I shot it from f/5 to f/22.
These three are at three different power setting on the strobe, all at f/22 and with the built in strobe firing at 1/64 power. More or less does exactly what I think it should do.
thanks
Bill

 

[aquaticexplorer15]

I just ordered the YS-D2 strobes from backscatter. I should have them tonight. I was reading the manual and it says you have to put the strobe in customized mode B. by doing this procedure. Do I need every time I shut the strobe off and change the batteries or does it stay in memory.

 

[aquaticexplorer15]

I got my YS-D2 strobes last night. I set the strobe up for B mode and everything worked great. I went through DS-TTL, Slave TTL and set the camera up for 1/64th and changed the EV from 1 to 32. At 1 there was very little light and at 32 it was a white out. Everything is good now. The YS-D1 strobe can only do the factory default which is A mode.