YS 110a Underexposed

[peediddy]

Hi

I have a new YS-110a and shooting with a panasonic lumix dmc tz-2. This is my first experience with a strobe. I am having real trouble getting the exposure right and when using the TTL mode on the strobe it is always way under exposed to the point of being black. I don't understand? Can anyone help?

 

[Warmwater Wank]

How are you triggering the 110A flash? On most setups you need to be hard-wired in w/ a multiple pin synch cord connection to have true TTL, so the camera and flash trade exposure information & control. Setting the flash to TTL starts the process but the right connection needs to be in place to make it work consistently for exposure. If you are using just a fiber optic triggering to the slave socket on the 110A it won't work in TTL unless there is another flash (usually the on-board flash) firing in TTL. (They refer to this mode as DS-TTL, which will shut the 110A down when the TTL controlled flash shuts down.) Typically though you don't use the camera flash for UW work due to backscatter etc.

I don't know your camera, so you may have to play w/ using M1 or M2 if you have a pre-flash camera system you can't shut off. (M1 is for pre-flash systems, M2 for no pre-flash.) Shooting this way you control exposure through f/stops and flash output adjustment. This is my experience w/ a Canon G-10 anyway, I'd be surprized if the Lumix is vastly different. A few test shots above water would confirm. Hope this helps. If by chance you are hard-wired in w/ a multi-pin connection ignore me (like my wife does)...that would be a whole different issue. Hope this helps some. // ww

 

[peediddy]

Hi there

Yeah, don't have a connection for a hard wire so am firing as a slave from the internal flash on the camera. I did get a fairly reliable connection with Fibre Optic it would seem and on the TTL setting I am getting mixed results. But on M2 (Have turned off the pre-flash) I seem to be way underexposed. Its almost like the strobe is firing late after the exposure is completed.

 

[jgheaton]

I just received my YS110a tonight and have been playing my camera and strobe. I have a Canon A620 with a WP-DC90 housing. Have a fiber synch cord. Here are my results

Strobe set to slave mode ON
TTL - overexposed.
Manual Mode 2 - underexposed and the strobe increment does not the brightness of the strobe.
Manual Mode 1 - fires the strobe and using the manual setting I can influence the brightness of the strobe.

Thus for my camera on underwater scene setting the Manual Mode 1 is the correct setting.

My little experience will playing with the strobe for 30 minutes.

Hope this helps.

cheers John

 

[Warmwater Wank]

Pdiddy--Hmmm. Maybe ck on the main menu under "Flash Control" and see if you are set for "Shutter Sync/First Curtain". Also, what exposure mode are you using? Not that that should be a problem but it might be a way to pin down what could help. I typically shoot on Manual, between 1/1000-1/2000th sec at f/5.6 or f/8 using ISO100. Shooting uw w/in 4-5 feet or less I am almost always dialing down the flash output.

No chance you have the ND filter cranked in is there? (Func/Set>NDx should be set). I know I'm reaching here but I'm thinking it's something along the lines of a camera setting being set wrong. If you were shooting w/ just the onboard flash, outside the housing, can you get good exposures? If so, maybe work your way through the housing setup, making sure nothing gets changed from when you were getting good exposures. Eyeball the 110A and double check it is still getting triggered. Try another post if you still have dark results, let us know what you tried. Good luck. // ww

 

[peediddy]

Thought I should update my thread in case anyone else may learn from it also. Have done another dozen or so dives with this set up and getting better results all the time. Got the sync right, M1 on the strobe for my camera (no pre-flash) is correct and the fibre optic is very consistent.

Seems that for Macro work, ie, less than 18" from the subject, the TTL setting on the strobe exposes fairly reliably, just leave the power setting to full. For any greater distnace, M1 syncs correctly and manually dialling in the strobe intensity. After a bunch of test shots you start to get the hang of where to start with the manual control for intensity and then review the shot and adjust and re-shoot as required.

The Lumix has a downside in that there is no manual adjustment on shutter speed or apature. Bit of a bummer as in low light it tends to release the shutter for 1/30" which is way to slow for anything that is moving much. I can see a camera upgrade happening soon (maybe the Sea & Sea DX2, Cannon G10 or all the way into an SLR).

In any case, getting reasonable results even though the TTL is really not working for anything but macro. I'm guessing here, but assuming that anything more than a macro shot causes the internal flash to give its maximum output for maximum time given its only a little flash so the strobe just mimics that and goes all out, except that the 110 is no "little flash" so it just booms away on TTL and floods the subject (and anything suspended in the water column for the next 50m) with light giving huge backscatter and overexposure.

Looking forward to more fun and great shots
Pete

 

[jgheaton]

Pete

Thanks for the update. I recently took my strobe and camera to North Carolina and even though the conditions were not great the photos came out good considering. I agree it takes a while to get used to the strobe. One thing I noticed whilst diving in NC was another lady using a similar strobe. She had taken the distance chart from her manual and laminated it to take underwater. She was saying that it helped her a lot and the pictures seem to back that up.

With regards to your camera upgrade I went through the same, started with the Canon A620 and then jumped to a Nikon D60 with Sea & Sea RDX 60 housing. For me the best move I made as I much prefer a DSLR to my point and shoot.

Happy shooting. Here is a sample of the shots from my YS110a with Nikon setup.

Photos click here

Cheers John