ReadyDiverOne
Contributor
Ok, so having owned and used an RX100 with two YS-D2s for a couple of years, let me add a few points:
First, as with any camera, in still mode (shooting RAW of course) auto white balance is the way to go. This is because the strobes are very powerful and provide all the light you need; you only adjust WB when you are lacking light/red colors and, again, the strobes provide more than enough light.
Second, it is very interesting to read the comment about adjusting white balance to match the strobe output. I don't know how this would work given that the YS-D2s don't give you a Kelvin reading, only stops/steps on power output. So I don't know how you would match the custom white balance to the strobe output. I stress that I have discussed this at length with folks at both backscatter and bluewaterphoto, all of whom maintain that AWB is the way to go when shooting stills. Most think the Guide Numbers are quite unhelpful (bordering on useless) in terms of understanding the ultimate output of the strobes, given the number of variables one encounters in underwater shooting.
Third, all of the RX100s have a pre-flash. This means that, in manual mode, you need to use the first manual setting, that is the double lighting bolt setting, NOT the single lightning bolt, if you are using a fiber optic cable and firing off the RX100's flash (the manual says that the two manual modes work identically if you have a sync cable but I've never tried that). Although the single lightning bolt setting will work sometimes, that's mostly luck and many times the flash won't sync properly and your shot will (usually) be underexposed.
Fourth, in manual mode, and again given what photographers who are much more experienced than I am say, the GN setting 1-32 (bottom half of dial) are, at best, rough rough estimates of the strobe's output. Everyone I have spoken with says, and my experience certainly bears this out, that one must manually set the camera's exposure as one sees fit (generally at least one stop underexposed, as mentioned above by npole), and then fire the strobes and see how the shot looks, using the histogram display. One then adjusts the power output up or down. At depth, I usually start with 100/F8/100ISO with the strobes in mid-output and go from there. Remember, if your shots are still too dark, increase the strobe output first before anything else, then try slower shutter or larger aperture. Do not increase ISO (at least by very much) because the strobes are much more sensitive to increasing the ISO/sensitivity of the camera's chip and increasing ISO even a little bit will usually make the strobes blow out the photo much more than lowering shutter speed or opening the aperture.
Finally, in DS-TTL mode, the strobes fire off what the camera perceives as the correct exposure and automatically account for the pre-flash. In my experience, DS-TTL only works ok with the RX100. What I mean by this is that, in theory, if the camera think's it's properly exposed with the camera's flash up (obviously the flash must be in Force mode for the strobes to work), the strobes should adjust their output so that the shot is properly exposed. But I have found that shots taken in DS-TTL mode with the RX100 in auto or program mode (shooting in manual with DS-TTL basically defeats the purpose of the DS-TTL mode) are usually quite overexposed, requiring me to lower the output of the strobes. Now, some of this may be operator error on my part, as others have said that DS-TTL works really well with the RX100s, but again in my experience, not so much. And, since I'd rather shoot in manual and control speed and f-stop anyway, if I have to adjust the strobes, may as well be in manual.
I hope this helps a little bit. As you probably know, the YS-D2 manual is pretty obtuse. One final note, the manual talks about using strobes' custom mode to properly mate the strobes to one's camera. I tried this as an experiment and it's not necessary with the RX100 because the strobes are set to Custom setting A out of the box, and that is the default for the RX100.
So my final final advice is to get a big card, extra batteries and take a lot of shots and see what works! Do use the histo display as it's hard to see on the screen and at depth whether the exposure is really right.
I would love to get others' views on all this too.
Thanks and happy shooting!
First, as with any camera, in still mode (shooting RAW of course) auto white balance is the way to go. This is because the strobes are very powerful and provide all the light you need; you only adjust WB when you are lacking light/red colors and, again, the strobes provide more than enough light.
Second, it is very interesting to read the comment about adjusting white balance to match the strobe output. I don't know how this would work given that the YS-D2s don't give you a Kelvin reading, only stops/steps on power output. So I don't know how you would match the custom white balance to the strobe output. I stress that I have discussed this at length with folks at both backscatter and bluewaterphoto, all of whom maintain that AWB is the way to go when shooting stills. Most think the Guide Numbers are quite unhelpful (bordering on useless) in terms of understanding the ultimate output of the strobes, given the number of variables one encounters in underwater shooting.
Third, all of the RX100s have a pre-flash. This means that, in manual mode, you need to use the first manual setting, that is the double lighting bolt setting, NOT the single lightning bolt, if you are using a fiber optic cable and firing off the RX100's flash (the manual says that the two manual modes work identically if you have a sync cable but I've never tried that). Although the single lightning bolt setting will work sometimes, that's mostly luck and many times the flash won't sync properly and your shot will (usually) be underexposed.
Fourth, in manual mode, and again given what photographers who are much more experienced than I am say, the GN setting 1-32 (bottom half of dial) are, at best, rough rough estimates of the strobe's output. Everyone I have spoken with says, and my experience certainly bears this out, that one must manually set the camera's exposure as one sees fit (generally at least one stop underexposed, as mentioned above by npole), and then fire the strobes and see how the shot looks, using the histogram display. One then adjusts the power output up or down. At depth, I usually start with 100/F8/100ISO with the strobes in mid-output and go from there. Remember, if your shots are still too dark, increase the strobe output first before anything else, then try slower shutter or larger aperture. Do not increase ISO (at least by very much) because the strobes are much more sensitive to increasing the ISO/sensitivity of the camera's chip and increasing ISO even a little bit will usually make the strobes blow out the photo much more than lowering shutter speed or opening the aperture.
Finally, in DS-TTL mode, the strobes fire off what the camera perceives as the correct exposure and automatically account for the pre-flash. In my experience, DS-TTL only works ok with the RX100. What I mean by this is that, in theory, if the camera think's it's properly exposed with the camera's flash up (obviously the flash must be in Force mode for the strobes to work), the strobes should adjust their output so that the shot is properly exposed. But I have found that shots taken in DS-TTL mode with the RX100 in auto or program mode (shooting in manual with DS-TTL basically defeats the purpose of the DS-TTL mode) are usually quite overexposed, requiring me to lower the output of the strobes. Now, some of this may be operator error on my part, as others have said that DS-TTL works really well with the RX100s, but again in my experience, not so much. And, since I'd rather shoot in manual and control speed and f-stop anyway, if I have to adjust the strobes, may as well be in manual.
I hope this helps a little bit. As you probably know, the YS-D2 manual is pretty obtuse. One final note, the manual talks about using strobes' custom mode to properly mate the strobes to one's camera. I tried this as an experiment and it's not necessary with the RX100 because the strobes are set to Custom setting A out of the box, and that is the default for the RX100.
So my final final advice is to get a big card, extra batteries and take a lot of shots and see what works! Do use the histo display as it's hard to see on the screen and at depth whether the exposure is really right.
I would love to get others' views on all this too.
Thanks and happy shooting!
