YS-D1 or Inon 240?

[dangerzone 1]

Just got word back from Scubacam that Sea & Sea is going to replace both of my defective strobes. Just have to bring the defective ones back to Scubacam and make the swap.

[jlyle 8]

Sea and Sea replaced my strobe. I took my rig in the water yesterday and the strobes are both working the way they should. I shot in manual mode as I was doing WA. I haven't had the time to play with the ttl settings.

 

My only complaint with Sea and Sea, it took three weeks to get the strobe replaced. I dive nearly every weekend and had to improvise with an old Ike DS-125 with an EV controller.

 

I like the strobes. More later.

Edited September 17, 2012 by jlyle

[jplaurel 46]

Just spent 15 days diving the YS-D1s with my Olympus OMD and Nauticam housing. The D1s were an excellent match and worked flawlessly in TTL mode with the EM-5. Coverage is better than the Inon Z240s, which my wife was using. Power is supposed to be close, but subjectively the D1s seem to have a little more. They had just barely enough power for sunballs with large fans. The next step is the YS-250, which is just too big to carry around for me.

 

Only downside with optical TTL is the slight shutter trigger delay, but the perfect exposures more than made up for it in most cases. The D1s were also easy to use in manual mode with the OMD set to 1/64th flash power mode. Virtually instant recycling and no shutter delay.

[JohnnyQuest 8]

I purchased two YS-D1s in July 2012 and took them to the Sea of Cortez in September. Both became inoperative (flashed the red-green "code") within 1 or 2 dives. Upon returning home, they were replaced with two new units (they were shipped in early October). The original two had SNs within the recall range. I was told, "There have been no problems with any of the units that were sold after the recall and outside that serial number range." I was on the Sundancer II in Belize last week where I got to try the replacement strobes for the first time UW. On the first dive, both of my replacement units malfunctioned exactly as the first trwo did and were completely inoperative! I did subsequent dives with three other brands of fully charged batteries; however, the problem always occurred. So this makes four strobes and two consecutive dive trips with a lot of really expensive UW camera gear and no photos!

 

I'd really like to hear if other YS-D1 owners are still having issues. Since my "luck" with them is 0 for 4, this has to be a widespread issue, or I really need to buy lottery tickets. Thanks.

[ajblanckley 3]

I had exactly the same issue, but only when trying to use TTL. After someone suggested shooting in manual at all times the red/green flashing went away and the strobes would last for a few dives (they were generally fine for 3 or 4 dives per day). It didn't solve the defect, but at least I could continue shooting. I was told that the strobes needed a firmware update and am currently waiting for them to come back from S&S.

[JohnnyQuest 8]

I had exactly the same issue, but only when trying to use TTL. After someone suggested shooting in manual at all times the red/green flashing went away and the strobes would last for a few dives (they were generally fine for 3 or 4 dives per day). It didn't solve the defect, but at least I could continue shooting. I was told that the strobes needed a firmware update and am currently waiting for them to come back from S&S.

 

Thanks. Can you tell me if yours were outside the SN range of the recall? Mine were outside the range by 200. Has anyone else had the reg/green flash issue with strobes outside the recall range?

[ajblanckley 3]

Unfortunately I didn't write down the serial numbers before sending them off. I assumed they were part of the dodgy lot because they didn't work.

Edited January 15, 2013 by ajblanckley

[adamhanlon 0]

Hi all,

 

Reliability apart, I have both YS-D1s and Z-240s here and plan to do a back to back review very soon.

 

I'll post it on the front page, so please stay tuned.

 

All the best

 

Adam

[dangerzone 1]

I was about to reply yesterday to say that my replacement D1's have had no issues, until one of them blew a flash tube on my first dive this morning. 3 failures in 6 months is not acceptable Alex Mustard was kind enough to loan me a pair of 240's for the next dive, and honestly, 75 minutes was enough to convince me to switch.

[Scuba_SI 39]

Christian, have you considered that Alex's strobes might have magic fairy dust in them?

 

I have YS 250's, D1's, and YS110A's.

 

However in a few weeks i will also be getting some Inons. I have had the flashing red / green light only once with new batteries, but once i changed to a different set it was ok.

[dangerzone 1]

Christian, have you considered that Alex's strobes might have magic fairy dust in them?

 

I have YS 250's, D1's, and YS110A's.

 

However in a few weeks i will also be getting some Inons. I have had the flashing red / green light only once with new batteries, but once i changed to a different set it was ok.

 

Simon - I wouldn't be surprised if they do, after seeing his shots from the past few days. Mind blowing!

[nortoda1 13]

I purchased 2 x Z240s and a sea and sea sync type N today from Japan. I have a sea and sea MDX300. However, now I have doubts after seeing on a UK distributor website that Z240s should not be used with a dual sync cord as it will cause nonrepairable damage to the strobes. Should I get YS D1s???

[nortoda1 13]

do any of you shoot Z240s on a dual sync?

[downunder 1]

I have never heard of this problem, while I shoot single sync cords, I have had friends shoot with the dual and do no recall they had any issues with their inons

 

 

[nortoda1 13]

Thanks Downunder. I've stuck with ordering the inon's. I contacted 2 v. big US retailers (one is the service centre for Inon) and also contacted Sea and sea, none of them heard of this issue or belive it to be one. Looks like this well know UK retailer have their wires crossed :-).

Edited January 17, 2013 by nortoda1

[Phil Rudin 459]

Regarding the Nikonos V type single and dual sync cords, I have two Inon Z-220 strobes that have been in the field for well over twenty years and Z-240 strobes that have been in use for over six years now. I have moved over to using fiber optic cords in the past few years but prior to that I used dual Sea & Sea sync cords for many years with excellent results. When I did have a failure in the system if was always as a result of the cord and/or bulkhead connector, not the strobe.

 

I don't beleave that Inon has ever even sold a hard wired cord for the strobes and have always relied on Sea & Sea for cords.

 

Regarding the Sea & Sea YS-D1 I did a review on the strobe for Under Water Photography magazine (uwpmag.com issue #69) and I did not have the battery problem. I did use the strobes in manual quite a bit because that is my shooting style. While I thought the strobes did a good job I will continue to stay with the Inon strobes based on my past success in 1000's of dives with zero service issues. I would also highly recommend the color temp filters for wide angle use with the current Inon Z-240 D-2000 and S-2000 strobes. I have the 4900K -0.5 stop filters and I am sure that the 4600K filters work just as well.

 

Phil Rudin

Edited January 17, 2013 by Phil Rudin

[nortoda1 13]

really useful info Phil

 

cheers

 

Darragh

[nortoda1 13]

Went to order the 4600K colour temp filters and Yuzo in Japan informed me that both the 4600K and 4900K are included with the strobes at no extra cost as part of an inon promotion. Thanks Inon :-)

[Timmoranuk 10]

Went to order the 4600K colour temp filters and Yuzo in Japan informed me that both the 4600K and 4900K are included with the strobes at no extra cost as part of an inon promotion. Thanks Inon :-)

 

With the Yen starting to weaken, this is a doubly interesting promotion...

[aandk 0]

made a new post sorry

Edited January 19, 2013 by aandk

[Alex_Mustard 0]

I have two Inon Z-220 strobes that have been in the field for well over twenty years

 

Might be a typo here. I don't remember when the Z220 was released, but I think it is only about 10 years old?

 

Alex

[Phil Rudin 459]

You are of course correct, I got the Z-220's in 2002.

 

Phil Rudin

[DocTock 6]

Went to order the 4600K colour temp filters and Yuzo in Japan informed me that both the 4600K and 4900K are included with the strobes at no extra cost as part of an inon promotion. Thanks Inon :-)

It sounds like that deal is only with purchase of new strobes - is Inon offering anything if you just want the filters for Inon strobes you already own?

[John Bantin 101]

I only ever shoot in manual mode but I've just bought a second YS-D1 (total 2) to go with my three Z-240 because I was so impressed with the output of the YS-D1. However, I note that the modelling light of my first YS-D1 sometimes comes on at depth and there's nothing I can do to turn it off.

Edited February 3, 2013 by John Bantin

[Alex_Tattersall 90]

You can take the batteries out John.