Strobe for Sony Cybershot

[cyclone3565]

I have a Sony Cybershot DSC-W7 in a Sony housing. Having just come back from Cozumel, where I got some really nice shots I am now looking for a strobe. A friend told me about the Sea and Sea YS-60. I looked at the site and read the manual, but could not find any info on being able to run it off the flash from the camera, slave function. Any help would be appreciated. Is this a good strobe for my point and shot or should I look at the YS-27. I have been shooting with a Nikonos V, 15mm and a YS-300, so digital is brand new to me.

 

[Larry C]

Have you tried your YS-300? I believe it has an optical slave function. I don't know if it will work with a preflash, or whether your Sony has one.

 

[gert7to3]

The DSC-W7 has the following strobe modes: Auto, Forced, Suppressed, and Slow-Sync. If your YS-300 has a slave mode or an accessorie slave trigger, it would work with this camera in the "Forced" mode.

An informative full review of the camera is at:

Digital Cameras - Sony CyberShot DSC-W7 Digital Camera Review, Information, Specifications

 

[ladbak1]

I have a Sony in a Sony housing and have tried it with a Nikonus 105 strobe. It looked like it would work, but I have some fine tuning to do. I only tried this set up on land, so I want to try it in the water...Michigan winter got in the way

I think the Sony is a DSC-100. 12 mp

 

[cyclone3565]

I have tried my YS-120 in Slave Mode, in all power modes. Camera is set on automatic mode. I figured I would just let the light from the camera flash fire the strobe. I got several beautiful white pictures, so I figured way too much power. I did not try the 300, since it is even more powerful than the 120. I do have a 105 I could try.

 

[cyclone3565]

By the way, moved from Ludington and Grand Rapids to Texas after 12 years.

 

[Larry C]

Your strobe problem is the automatic mode camera with the flash on forced slave. Without ttl or a strobe preflash, the camera doesn't know to adjust for the strobe. You need to use manual settings, and adjust the strobe appropriately until you get good exposure. I've found that in automatic mode, most cameras seem to overcompensate for the low light underwater with either slow shutter or wide open aperture. Either one will cause you overlit pictures if you add the strobe without compensating on either exposure time, aperture or both. Start with about f5.6@1/80 manual setting with your strobe set on 1/4 or 1/2 and go from there. A good way to check your strobe sync is to shoot a picture in the mirror. If the strobe is lit, your sync is correct. If you're not using a fiber optic cord between your built in flash and your strobe, you probably should. You'll avoid backscatter from the built in flash by covering it, so only the cord gets light, and you'll fire the strobe more reliably as well.

 

[cyclone3565]

Hi Larry,

thank you so much for the insight. I will try this as soon as I get home this afternoon. Right now I am very pleased with the pictures of the this little camera, but the Nikonos is easier, I am sure because I have used it for so long. Thank you again.

Martin