Sea and Sea YS-D3 strobe review

Mike Bartick · Issue 121, Jul/Aug 2021 · pp. 29

Products mentioned: Sea and Sea YS-D3 Lightning strobe, Nikon D850, Sigma 15mm, Sea and Sea Optical Dome

DEMA 2019 BC, Sea and Sea unveiled their new professional grade YS-D3 Lightning strobe. With great anticipation, I was able to get a set underwater and begin using them to see if they lived up to their namesake of ”Lightning” strobe. At first glance there is a resemblance between the slightly smaller D2 series of strobes and the D3 but make no mistake, this newly engineered strobe is anything but an old strobe in a new cover. What I look for when considering a new strobe isn’t anything different than the average shooter where decisions are based on simple categories around what or how i like to shoot the most. Of course wide angle is the real test but other key features include color temp, recycle times, beam angle and spread, an easy to understand user interface and of course, budget. The YS-D3 Lightning strobe is freshly designed from the ground up as the new flagship strobe from the e…