OM-D E-M1 mk II & YS-D1 / YS-D2

[vsc]

With respect to the YS-D2, Sea&Sea has not published an update to the camera compatibility chart on their web site after 2015.

With respect to the YS-D2 and the E-M1 mk II, I sent a query to Sea&Sea US where their reply was, "You may use the SEA&SEA YS-D2 strobe in either TTL, TTL II, or Manual mode. Customize Mode may be set to A."

In testing of the YS-D2 with the M1 mk II I found that the in mode A the strobe does not illuminate the status light green (e.g. TTL automatic light control completed) after the strobe fires. On the other hand if the strobe is set to mode B, the status light illuminates green. All other possible strobe modes does not illuminate the status light green after a shot in TTL mode.

With respect to resulting exposure I found that mode A yielded the most consistent exposure across aperture settings in TTL, though not completely consistent. At no time did I have blown out or dark images. Note testing the same strobe in mode A with an older E-M5 mk I, yields extremely consistent light output at every aperture setting using the same lens as used for the M1 testing, as shown in a histogram.

With the M1 mk II and the YS-D2 set to any other mode than A, including mode B (e.g. TTL light comes on in this mode), light output is very inconsistent including shots with whole frames blown out or dark.

Overall while mode A appears to yield the best results with respect to the image, it is disturbing that exposure control remains somewhat inconsistent and the green TTL automatic light control LED doesn't come on after the strobe fires. I’m concerned that the YS-D2, even when operating in the suggested customize mode “A” has differing exposures with varying aperture settings.

Has anyone else had time to test the YS-D2 with the M1 mk II? What are your results?

[Update]

I retested and found a flaw in what I was doing. In short I have concluded mode B on the YS-D2 is the correct mode for the E-M1 mk II (e.g. just like the recommendation from Sea&Sea for the E-M5 mk II).

The YS-D2 is sensitive to stray light at the fiber such that it can see it's own emission and miss the quench termination from the camera's strobe, thus causing a full dump. Some might call this a race condition. By shielding the fiber from the YS-D2's output I was able to capture multiple frames per aperture setting (constant shutter speed for the sake of testing) with consistent histograms and apparent scene illumination across all frames captured. As cited only in mode B does the strobe's status indicator show TTL regulated output after a shot.

For reference using the YS-D1 in a similar test, I was able to also obtain consistent histograms / images. While the YS-D1 appears to be less sensitive to stray light getting into its fiber pickup, it is possible for it to miss the termination of the camera's strobe, thus causing a full dump. As cited above shielding the fiber eliminated the stray full dumps and other inconsistent frames.

 

[girellator]

This is a major question that the possibilitie to use or not TTL with YSD2 or 1 and the EM2
With my EM1 M1 I always use the mode fill in for TTL, which I assume is your mode A , as it's the first on the list starting from the left to the right.
The problem with mode B (for me red eye+ fill in) , is that it is very slow to trigger on my EM1 M 1 , meaning that it can be of no use underwater if it's the same on the EM2 ..
If I well understand what you mean , ( I'm french and my understanding could be wrong ..) TTL works so so with mode A ( Fill in ) which is more or less what I doubted about .The strobe deliver with the EM1 M2 is not the same than the one deliver with the M1 , may be this is an explanation ..??
And it appear that on the contrary I have an excellent TTL with my EM1 and my YDS 1 or 2 , that I use with great benefit in macro and even sometimes in wide angle .. even when I put the synchro speed at 1/320 ieme , no black on the picture everything is OK ....
I have been for a long time an user of manual mode , but since I have taste to the delights of TTL I don't intend to much to do without it ..
Did I understood you well ?? Thank

Ps Have a look to my gallery on Flickr ( adress below ) , all the macro have been made with TTL and YS ( before 2015 I owned two Z 240 which did not gave any TTL with the EM1 M1 )

 

[girellator]

Also , all the optic fiber are not good at TLL , the best are Sean and Sea or Nauticam as far as I know

 

[vsc]

This is a major question that the possibilitie to use or not TTL with YSD2 or 1 and the EM2
With my EM1 M1 I always use the mode fill in for TTL, which I assume is your mode A , as it's the first on the list starting from the left to the right.
The problem with mode B (for me red eye+ fill in) , is that it is very slow to trigger on my EM1 M 1 , meaning that it can be of no use underwater if it's the same on the EM2 ..
If I well understand what you mean , ( I'm french and my understanding could be wrong ..) TTL works so so with mode A ( Fill in ) which is more or less what I doubted about .The strobe deliver with the EM1 M2 is not the same than the one deliver with the M1 , may be this is an explanation ..??
And it appear that on the contrary I have an excellent TTL with my EM1 and my YDS 1 or 2 , that I use with great benefit in macro and even sometimes in wide angle .. even when I put the synchro speed at 1/320 ieme , no black on the picture everything is OK ....
I have been for a long time an user of manual mode , but since I have taste to the delights of TTL I don't intend to much to do without it ..
Did I understood you well ?? Thank

I think we have a disconnect. The mode I refer to is a configuration within the YS-D2 strobe, where the YS-D1 has no such option to change its configuration short of the manufacturing altering the software internal to the store. In all cases I had the camera set to "fill-in flash".

My assumption is that the YS-D2 mode / configuration is altering how to strobe ignores pre-flashes prior to the high power strobe emission which is used to capture an image. Notable is that Sea&Sea's compatibility tables for the YS-D2 shows mode A for the E-M1 mk I (and most other cameras), but for the E-M5 mk II which uses the same on camera strobe, Sea&Sea recommends using the strobe's mode B.

On the other hand when I asked Sea&Sea US what is the correct strobe mode for the YS-D2 and the E-M1 mk II they said mode A. I believe the US representative is mistaken and most likely they will change their recommendation. It would also be nice if they update their compatibility table which is now more than a year old....

While I'm not shooting this rig right now underwater I'm for the lack of better words supporting ongoing use of this gear in the Caribbean sorting out issues as they come up, where this was an annoyance more than something that shutdown shooting.