Why Is My YS-D1 Less Powerful Than My UFL-1?

[Randallr]

I need some expert help. I purchased the Sea & Sea YS-D1 because I wanted a more powerful strobe to go with my Olympus XZ-1 compact. The YS-D1 has a GN of 32. The strobe it's replacing, the Olympus UFL-1, has a GN of 14. Yet in doing comparison tests on land, shooting each in TTL, the YS-D1 puts out significantly less light - at least a full stop, maybe even a stop-and-a-half. Can anyone help me figure out why, and whether there's something I'm doing wrong?

The YS-D1 only works in Slave-TTL mode with the XZ-1; the DS-TTL mode is not compatible. When I put the strobe on manual, it puts out considerably more power, so the issue isn't the strobe's power, but it's utility. I bought it for the simplicity of TTL.

I also am trying to figure out whether I can use my UFL-1 as a slave in a two-strobe setup. I can daisy chain it to the YS-D1 with a fiber optic cable, and it fires, but it doesn't sync. Does anyone know a setting that will get it to sync in this setup, or is it a lost cause?

Ive been disappointed in the YS-D1. It doesn't appear to be the right strobe for the XZ-1. As I said, the strobe's DS-TTL mode is not compatible with the camera, and in S-TTL, it just doesn't seem to put out a lot of light. Also, shooting the strobe at 1/2 power or more crashes it - it appears to overheat the battery compartment, and shuts down. The only way I can get the strobe running again is to open the battery compartment (which is not really useful at 40 feet!).

I'm hoping some of you can help me solve this. Or should I get another strobe (and if so which one?)?

 

[Interceptor121]

The overheating issue is worrying. For what concerns TTL you need to see if the exposure of the image is correct or not and in any case that is not the way to check the power of the strobe, most likely the olympus strobe is aware of the camera tll issues and compensates for it
The strobe will only fire at full power in manual
If you can return this item I would recommend you buy an Inon Z240 that is a proven combination with your camera and works in STTL with dimming and external auto as well

 

[KeithG]

I would agree that you seem to have the wrong strobe combo for ttl operation. If it does not (is not) supposed to work in dsttl then the only reason you would use that particular strobe is because you intend to go full manual (and it was cheap...)

Some more questions to consider: if you are using it in ttl mode why do you think you need a strobe stronger than the ufl1? What type of situations left you with not enough power? Should you be using the strobe in manual mode for these situations?

 

[Randallr]

Very good, and helpful. I've been sitting here for several hours doing more testing, and taking notes on each shot, and I've come up with some solutions - and more questions.

Before I go into them, a few responses. Basically, my shots with the YS-D1 seemed consistently underexposed underwater, and I found that disconcerting, since I'd bought it to give me some more potential at slightly longer W/A distance situations - say, at 5 feet (the UFl-1 seemed useless after 3 feet). In testing above water over the past two days, and especially today, it's very clear that the UFL-1 in TTL is consistently 1 to 2 stops brighter than the YS-D1, in exactly the same shooting situations. This seems a fairly extreme difference for TTL - although I'm no expert, and I'd love if some TTL experts can provide guidance on whether such TTL differences are common with different makes of strobe.

As to why TTL vs. manual? Well, once less set of calculations I have to do underwater,when what I really want to spend my time doing is framing the shot, experimenting with aperture and shutter, etc. Isn't this what TTL is for - to enable more creative shooting?

Some other findings:

1. The YS-D1 definitely shuts down at full power. I did a series of stepped shots in manual mode, from lowest power to highest. The strobe recycled on all of them, until I got to full power; at that point, after the shot, the LEDs started blinking red and green. When I shut off the strobe, it would not turn back on until I opened the battery compartment, took the batteries out, and put them back in again.

2. With the camera set on fill flash and the strobe in manual, the camera syncs on every strobe setting up to half power; after that, the camera does not sync with the strobe. It WILL sync, however, if I change the flash setting to Force at 1/64th power. Something about the pre-flash is at play here, but I'm not sure what. The good news is, if you set the camera to force flash, it will sync with the strobe at very high shutter speeds - at least 1/500th of a second. This has real potential for macro shots, it strikes me.

3. More good news: the UFL-1 will successfully daisy chain into this setup as an optically connected slave. If I put everything in manual and set the camera to force flash at 1/64th, the two strobes sync fine.

4. Oddly, it even started working when I set the YS-D1 to Slave TTL mode - the same setup that would not work yesterday. Just to be sure, I tried this with the camera set to both fill flash and force flash; the two flashes synced in both situations. However, the UFL-1 would not sync as a slave in full power, when the YS-D1 was set to Slave TTL and the camera was set to fill flash. With those settings, the UFL-1 would only work I'm half power.

The bottom lime appears to be that, aside from the shutdown at full power, the setup works, but it definitely provides more options and controls in manual settings than in TTL - which means more work for me. I guess I'll have to sit down and do one of those waterproof distance/f-stop/GN cards I see some of you carrying underwater. I'm going to Bonaire in a few weeks and intend to test the hell out of it.

 

[KeithG]

Thanks for the information. We are all here to learn about (well most of us?)

I would be concerned about the strobe shutting down at full power. There are lots of wives tales about not using strobes above water because they will over heat, but not after 1 shot! So I would not worry about heat.

So try some new batteries before you toss the strobe. The red green flash means "there is no battery power remaining". Removal & re-insertion of the batteries hints at a power problem.

I once had a wonky strobe (ys110) that randomly acted strange. I tried all sorts of things. Finally bought a new set of batteries and all symptoms disappeared. The batteries I was using worked fine in everything else I tried them in so I did not suspect them. Turns out they were the culprit. I still use the "bad" batteries to power lots of other things. Just not my strobes.

---------- Post added March 23rd, 2014 at 04:43 PM ----------

I guess I'll have to sit down and do one of those waterproof distance/f-stop/GN cards I see some of you carrying underwater.

Back to the Future! I have an old ys50 strobe (still works just fine....) that has the chart right on it straight from the factory. Maybe you would like to trade your ysD1 for it?

 

[Interceptor121]

Your strobe shutting down may be symptom of a defective unit. There have been reports with the YS-D1. If you shoot in TTL you will have no dimming control you need to work with the flash exposure compensation. If you shoot in manual you need to set the unit in no preflash. If you want to use two strobes you generally set them both as master instead of connecting them unless you have specific restrictions as that gives you the most flexibility. I still believe you should look into returning this unit as it looks defective and not compatible

 

[bvanant]

I think your strobe is fine, but it is one of the series that has trouble shooting in TTL. If you remember the early D1 strobes had a problem with the firmware that would signal that the strobe had low batteries even if they were brand new/freshly charged. The symptoms are that after a few shots you get the red/green flashing LED suggesting batteries are out. This is a well known problem with the strobe and S&S will fix it for free. Once that is fixed, I suspect the rest will work out fine.

Bill

 

[Randallr]

Thanks thanks again, folks. The shutdown happens on every battery - eneloop rechargeables, Duracells, you name it. I bought it last November - after the power problems were allegedly fixed - but this one appears to have slipped through. I'm going to send it back to Backscatter and have them take a look at it.

I think your strobe is fine, but it is one of the series that has trouble shooting in TTL. If you remember the early D1 strobes had a problem with the firmware that would signal that the strobe had low batteries even if they were brand new/freshly charged. The symptoms are that after a few shots you get the red/green flashing LED suggesting batteries are out. This is a well known problem with the strobe and S&S will fix it for free. Once that is fixed, I suspect the rest will work out fine.

Bill