studio flash kit

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tony09uk

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Do studio strobe lights have a maximum sync speed? if so what is that speed? e.g max sync of my canon speedlite is 250(or have i got that wrong/a way of improving the sync speed?).

My next question is what is the difference between them? what do you get for your money? I am looking at something like this, but why is that so cheap compared to something like this? I can see the obvious stuff like brandname, softbox and wattage, but am I missing something

Can you create good quality studio shots with cheap equipment (like you can in macro) or does it require the high end stuff?
 
tony09uk said:
Do studio strobe lights have a maximum sync speed? if so what is that speed? e.g max sync of my canon speedlite is 250(or have i got that wrong/a way of improving the sync speed?).

My next question is what is the difference between them? what do you get for your money? I am looking at something like this, but why is that so cheap compared to something like this? I can see the obvious stuff like brandname, softbox and wattage, but am I missing something

Can you create good quality studio shots with cheap equipment (like you can in macro) or does it require the high end stuff?
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The sync speed is dictated by the camera, and with a 7D, that's 1/250sec max.

There are quite a few threads debating the merits of cheaper e-bay heads.
 
tony09uk said:
in that case why would I buy a studio head? I am of the understanding they are more powerful, but that extra power would only serve to overexpose my shots if my camera can only sync to 1/250:thinking:
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Not quite... ;) Shutter speed has no effect on flash exposure. Read up on how focal plane shutters work and you'll see.

The advantage of studio heads it not so much sheer power these days, and you can always turn them down, but fast recycle times and a modelling light, plus a wide range of light modifiers.

Some of those e-bay specials are not too bad considering the price, but you never know exactly what you're getting, how reliable it will be and what to do if it goes pop, the specs are often complete fiction, they often lack good power control, have inconsistent power output, and use a modifier fitting with only a small range of attachments available.

If budget is tight, look at the Lencarta Smartflash for about £110.
 
tony09uk said:
in that case why would I buy a studio head? I am of the understanding they are more powerful, but that extra power would only serve to overexpose my shots if my camera can only sync to 1/250:thinking:
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I don't think you understand how this works...

The camera synch speed is all but irrelevant when shooting in the studio. The sole function of the shutter is to be fully open when the flash fires, and with your particular camera, the fastest shutter speed at which it can be fully open is 1/250th sec. But it may be unreliable at that speed, so normally, in the studio, we shoot at something like 1/125th sec. At that speed, the amount of ambient (continuous) light in the studio is so low that it doesn't normally affect the shot in any way.

As for overexposure, you control the exposure in two ways.
1. Adjusting the power of the flash head
2. Adjusting the lens aperture on your camera.
 
So I have been making some incorrect assumptions then. I may have my information completely wrong by sounds of this.

My understanding is that a studio flash is basically a bigger more powerful brother of a speedlite, is that bit correct? My understanding of the speedlite is the power of the flash does not change and is only made to seem stronger or weaker by firing the flash later or earlier in between curtain one opening and curtain two shutting, is that bit correct? But i thought the sync speed was what allowed the camera and flash to work together.

Basically Ive started down this avenue because I need to be able to light my subject which is moving super fast, ive worked out i need the shutter to be open for 1/500 or even 1/1000 to avoid any blur.

Can anyone guide me to a good link to understand this area better, rather than me asking a lot of silly question brought on from inaccurate assumptions.
 
My understanding is that a studio flash is basically a bigger more powerful brother of a speedlite, is that bit correct?
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It's more than that. Speedlites have the advantages of small size and portability, studio flashes have more power, they have modelling lamps, they run off the mains, they recycle much more quickly and, most importantly, they can accept a wide range of modifiers, these allow you to control the light.
My understanding of the speedlite is the power of the flash does not change and is only made to seem stronger or weaker by firing the flash later or earlier in between curtain one opening and curtain two shutting, is that bit correct?
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The power is fixed (at full power) but what actually happens has nothing to do with the shutter. What happens is that if you only want a quarter of the maximum power (for example) the the flash stops after a quarter of the time that it would be on if you were on maximum power. That way, you only get a quarter of the power and the flash is 4 times quicker (all approximate, just to illustrate how it works).
But i thought the sync speed was what allowed the camera and flash to work together.
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It is, but not in the way you assumed. As I pointed out earlier, the only function of the shutter is to be fully open when the flash fires.
This sticky thread explains the benefits/disadvantages of various systems pretty well, it's well worth reading.
 
When you understand a little more you will see that the shutter speed doesn'tr matter too much in the studio - what freezes the subject is the flash duration - that is your effective shutter speed. Amazingly small form flash (like a 580 or nikon equivalent) may be much faster than most consumer strobes - but as pointed out power and recycling is where the small flash falls down.

If you need very short flash duration look at the more expensive studio heads and you'll see that to get that it costs a lot of cash!

Garry understands the technical aspects much greater than me :)
 
If flash durations are critical, then you need to understand a bit more about how flash works and particularly the technical differences between hot-shoe guns and studio heads. There is quite a lot of debate on this, if you search against my user name and Garry's.

This can probably be shortcut though, if you say exactly what it is you want to do. 1/500-1/1000sec doesn't sound too testing either way, if you buy right. I can almost guarantee that those Ebay heads won't do it though, and I know for fact that the Lastolite heads will be quite a long way off (depite what the specs may say).
 
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If you really want that flash duration then I'd strongly recommend you check out IGBT based flashguns (actually I would anyway). But I doubt you actually need it.

What is it you are trying to do?
 
tony09uk said:
im trying to freeze very high speed activity
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What kind of action, and particularly, at what distance and at what kind of working aperture? Those are the critical questions.

The difference between say water droplets and a skateboarder makes a big difference.

Edit: just looked at your Flickr. If it's a striking snake, then a hot-shoe gun is prolly favourite. Perhaps with some kind of triggering device.
 
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tony09uk said:
im trying to freeze very high speed activity
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What do you mean by very high speed activity?

An ant, crawling across the frame at larger than life size is very high speed and needs a very fast shutter or flash speed to freeze it. So does a falling drop of water, again photographed close up. A formulae 1 car, a long way away from the camera and coming straight towards it, doesn't.
A dancer, caught at the top of a leap, doesn't - typically the hair will have some blur, but it usually looks better with a degree of blur anyway.

It's all about direction of travel, the amount of travel across the film/sensor and magnification, not actual speed.
 
Striking snake = IGBT with a proper trigger. No question.

Legacy tech flashguns would be very expensive if they could deal with that.
 
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