An ophthalmic system for visualization of interactions between ocular matter and a probe tip of a probe within or in contact with an ocular space of an eye includes: a visualization tool having a field of view that includes at least a portion of the ocular space of the eye where the probe tip interfaces with the ocular matter; and a stroboscopic illumination source configured to stroboscopically illuminate at least the portion of the field of view at an illumination frequency. A method of operating a stroboscopic illumination source during an ophthalmic surgical procedure includes: identifying an illumination source type of the stroboscopic illumination source; identifying a probe type; identifying a first procedure trigger; and operating the stroboscopic illumination source based on the probe type, the illumination source type, and the first procedure trigger.