Note: Kirk is "the Affordable Full time Professional Wedding Photographer Winsdor, Ontario". Here is the Link to KW Masters Photography.
Welcome to our first post of 2013 Enjoy!
Introduction:
One of the first things you need to learn, even before you buy your DSLR camera is the term Camera Syc Speed. Basically, this is the fastest shutter speed of your camera where the shutter is Fully Open. At this speed, the effects of your on camera Flash Gun will not be blocked by the shutter. Problems occur when we want to exposure the image in bright conditions with a low F-Stop to blur the background. We then need to have a powerful flash. That is one of the reasons that in addition to the Canon 580 or 600 flash guns we use the Quantum 5 D that has 3 times the power. We also have a manually operated flash that has 6 times the power of the Canon flashes.
Discussion of the Camera Shutter Operation:
Your shutter does not simply open and close at all speed in the same manor. Let us look at a simple diagram to show the different methods that are used.
The camera shutter simply can not physically open and close as fast as we would like it to. In order to achieve high shutter speeds, a partial opening or slit of light travels across your shutter. This introduces the terms 1st Curtain and 2nd Curtain. Another problem occurs with the flash gun itself. When operating up to the maximum camera syc speed the flash can Fully discharge its energy if required to do so. Many times it can not re-charge fast enough within the short time constraints of the high shutter speed. Thus, high speed flash syc will dump less energy into the scene. Let's look at this a bit closer.
High-Speed Sync
If there is a reason to become an expert at Speedliting, it is High-Speed Sync (HSS). HSS is a Speedlite-only function. You can’t do HSS with mono lights and studio strobes. There are some 'workarounds' for these other types of flash, but I think they are as cumbersome to implement as these bigger lights are to lug around. The ultimate test is whether I can shoot at 1/8000sec; I can with Speedlites, but not with studio strobes.
HSS changes the way your Speedlite fires
In normal flash mode, your Speedlite fires as a single pulse of light. In HSS, the Speedlite turns into an ultra-fast strobe light that turns on and off up to 35,000 times per second. The staccato of light is so fast that the Speedlite effectively becomes a continuous light source for the brief duration of the exposure – this enables virtually any shutter speed to be utilised with flash. More traditional types of flash, such as studio strobes, are limited to the relatively slow native sync speed of the camera (typically 1/160sec to 1/250sec).
The normal sync speed for a camera is the fastest shutter speed at which the first curtain completely clears the sensor before the second curtain begins to close. At this and slower speeds, the Speedlite is able to fire when the sensor is completely exposed. When the camera’s sync speed is exceeded, the second curtain begins to close before the first curtain has opened completely. So, there is no point during which a Speedlite’s flash will cover the entire sensor. HSS pulses the Speedlite rapidly so that it emits light during the entire exposure.
Summary:
Knowing your camera's syc speed is very important. The Canon 5D Mark II & III is 1/200 sec (FF) and the 50 D is 1/250 sec. So you can see that we have a small advantage with the 50 D due to its smaller C sensor. The question that many people might ask is what happens when I shoot faster than 1/200 sec, say 1/320 sec? In many cases Nothing. In others, the lower 1/3 of the image might go darker. If you are shooting outside in a bright sunny day, cheating the syc just might be a great thing to do so that you can get the maximum Fill light onto your subject. Here is a trick.
Masters-Tip: Shoot your camera in the horizontal position but Up Side Down when shooting with a bright sunny sky and set the shutter speed to 1/320 sec. Manual mode and manual flash.
I can assure you that your flash will have ZERO effect on the sky! The open shutter will let in the ambient light just fine. Sometimes shooting with out flipping will just darken the lower 1/3 a little to add a nice effect to the shot. You do all of this when triggering your flash in manual mode and normally off camera also.
Take time to practice and understand using your Flash gun. It will pay big time during the show time.
Kirk is a Professional Wedding Photographer in Windsor Ontario Canada. In appreciation if you would be so kind as to give a G+ and a Facebook Like KW Masters Photography on his Facebook page.
If great results are important to you, hiring a seasoned wedding photographer should be a priority. Professional wedding photography is not a service that comes cheap.
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Thanks for the very infomative post.
ReplyDeleteDoes high speed sync kill your flash batteries?
It could be helpful to get some creative outdoor shots.
But doing a full day shoot with high speed sync, worried of battery drain and overheating flash.