Using studio lights outdoors - Help

lindsayperezphotography

lindsayperezphotography

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Hi all

I have a studio lught (godox de300), and I am wanting to use it outdoors on a shoot and experiment with HSS however, how could I power it as there is no battery and it is mains powered?

Any suggestions

Thanks!
 
You'd need to buy a power pack.

The bad news (or is it) is that you can buy a cheaper light with more power than your current light that's battery powered (Godox AD360 or similar rebranded).

For further info though, that might not be enough power depending on what / when you're planning to shoot.

If you're looking to overpower a bright sun, you should be looking for 600Ws or more.
 
You can either plug it into the mains via an extension cable, or plug it into a power supply designed for the purpose (basically a battery fitted with a pure sine wave inverter) - but don't plug it into a generator.

Your flash head doesn't do HSS though.
 
Just to add to Garry's response.

Your flash isn't HSS compatible, but with HSS enabled triggers you can use high shutter speeds using a feature sometimes referred to as hypersync or long tail sync. I have to admit to not knowing how suitable that flash is for the purpose though, Garry or Hoppy might have details.

A few links
Power pack

AD360II

AD600B

Both the above are capable of proper HSS and TTL too.

It's possible to use flash outside without HSS, but it requires care over the time of day / light levels, you can also overpower the sun without HSS by using ND filters, it's a lot of learning but can be fun.
 
depending if you drive and you can get the car close could you not use a power inverter
 
I just bought the AD360 version I with the xtr16 receiver. It will do HSS with the X1 trigger but you need to set the function on the flash. Fooled me a couple of times
 
soeren said:
I just bought the AD360 version I with the xtr16 receiver. It will do HSS with the X1 trigger but you need to set the function on the flash. Fooled me a couple of times
Click to expand...
The OP is a "Junior member" with a budget flash, who would like to experiment with HSS. Maybe he can't afford the cost of the equipment that you have, just so that he can try out HSS (for which, incidentally, you need the power doubler with your flash).
 
Garry Edwards said:
The OP is a "Junior member" with a budget flash, who would like to experiment with HSS. Maybe he can't afford the cost of the equipment that you have, just so that he can try out HSS (for which, incidentally, you need the power doubler with your flash).
Click to expand...

Power doubler? Do you mean the battery pack?
Well I chimed in because the AD360II was mentioned and the first version is somewhat cheaper though still pricey as you say.
A cheaper option for HSS is the godox speedlights, TT685 etc but for outdoors in the sun they won't make it.
 
Phil V said:
You'd need to buy a power pack.

The bad news (or is it) is that you can buy a cheaper light with more power than your current light that's battery powered (Godox AD360 or similar rebranded).

For further info though, that might not be enough power depending on what / when you're planning to shoot.

If you're looking to overpower a bright sun, you should be looking for 600Ws or more.
Click to expand...
Oh right yeah that's a bit annoying. Yeah it'd not thr most powerful light but goof for a start I figured
 
Garry Edwards said:
You can either plug it into the mains via an extension cable, or plug it into a power supply designed for the purpose (basically a battery fitted with a pure sine wave inverter) - but don't plug it into a generator.

Your flash head doesn't do HSS though.
Click to expand...
Thank you! Could you explain how come It has to be a specific power source and also how do you know if a light does HSS
 
lindsayperezphotography said:
Thank you! Could you explain how come It has to be a specific power source and also how do you know if a light does HSS
Click to expand...
It's just a 220v power source, which is arrived at by using what is basically a car battery that's connected to an inverter, which increases the voltage to 220v and changes the current from DC to AC. The only thing that's "special" about these things (except for the price) is that it needs to be clean power, because flash heads (and other electronic items) need clean power.

Your flash head uses conventional technology, basically if you set the flash power to half then it charges up the capacitors half way,and when you fire the flash all of the power stored in the capacitor is discharged through the flash tube.
For HSS to work, there needs to be a large number of low powered flashes so close to each other that they are touching, making what is in effect a continuous light that stays on long enough for your camera shutter to complete its cycle. To do that, the flash head needs to use an entirely different technology, IGBT. With IGBT, when to set the flash power to say half, the capacitors fill up completely and the flash fires at full power, but only for half as long, leaving the other half in the capacitors for the next shot. This allows a large number of low powered flashes to be fired in very quick succession so, no IG BT = no HSS.
See this link on the Lencarta website for an explanation of these terms.
soeren said:
Power doubler? Do you mean the battery pack?
Well I chimed in because the AD360II was mentioned and the first version is somewhat cheaper though still pricey as you say.
A cheaper option for HSS is the godox speedlights, TT685 etc but for outdoors in the sun they won't make it.
Click to expand...
No, I did mean the power doubler. This is basically a Y connector, it fits into each terminal on the power pack and terminates in a single terminal that goes to the flashgun, halving the recharge rate. Without it, HSS isn't possible on the 360 model. Here it is on the Lencarta website
 
lindsayperezphotography said:
Hi all

I have a studio lught (godox de300), and I am wanting to use it outdoors on a shoot and experiment with HSS however, how could I power it as there is no battery and it is mains powered?

Any suggestions

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Working outdoors with flash can get both complicated and expensive, but judging from your excellent website (y) it looks like you'll need to know all about this sooner rather than later. There are various options, depending on what you want to do, subject/location, budget etc, so I'd suggest you invest some time in research first. There's a lot of help and expertise here, so ask away :) First off, what exactly do you want to do? Budget?

If you are able to plan things so you're in reach of mains power via an extension cable, then using your Godox DE300 with say a 2-stops ND filter to keep the shutter speed under the x-sync ceiling would work well. The other options - proper pulsed HSS, or tail-hypersync (also known as SuperSync, OverDrive-Sync, Hi-Sync etc) have their pros and cons and require either a suitable trigger, or both a trigger and flash unit.

Any product with HSS capability will be clearly marketed as such. There are a few options, but the brand attracting a lot of attention ATM is Godox, specifically the AD200, AD360 and AD600, for performance/spec and value.
 
Garry Edwards said:
It's just a 220v power source, which is arrived at by using what is basically a car battery that's connected to an inverter, which increases the voltage to 220v and changes the current from DC to AC. The only thing that's "special" about these things (except for the price) is that it needs to be clean power, because flash heads (and other electronic items) need clean power.

Your flash head uses conventional technology, basically if you set the flash power to half then it charges up the capacitors half way,and when you fire the flash all of the power stored in the capacitor is discharged through the flash tube.
For HSS to work, there needs to be a large number of low powered flashes so close to each other that they are touching, making what is in effect a continuous light that stays on long enough for your camera shutter to complete its cycle. To do that, the flash head needs to use an entirely different technology, IGBT. With IGBT, when to set the flash power to say half, the capacitors fill up completely and the flash fires at full power, but only for half as long, leaving the other half in the capacitors for the next shot. This allows a large number of low powered flashes to be fired in very quick succession so, no IG BT = no HSS.
See this link on the Lencarta website for an explanation of these terms.

No, I did mean the power doubler. This is basically a Y connector, it fits into each terminal on the power pack and terminates in a single terminal that goes to the flashgun, halving the recharge rate. Without it, HSS isn't possible on the 360 model. Here it is on the Lencarta website
Click to expand...
Oh off ounce the Y connector, yes I have that. Just didn't know that word
 
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lindsayperezphotography said:
Thank you! Could you explain how come It has to be a specific power source and also how do you know if a light does HSS
Click to expand...

If you've a spare couple of days, or just the occasional hour, I'd highly recommend Marc Levoy's lectures on Digital Photography - He's a ex Stanford Professor who's put up his course material online, along with a video of the lectures he gave (well - gave again at Google, where he's now a researcher).

The whole course can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoylectures/home, and the '18th May' lecture deals specifically with lighting and, as far as I can remember at least, goes into how HSS works.

The course is more about understanding the technicalities of photography than anything else, but as they say, once you understand why things happen they way they do, you can apply that knowledge to suit.
 
What number is that lecture? I have seen some of them on youtube but tired.of them since the first handful was very technical.
 
soeren said:
What number is that lecture? I have seen some of them on youtube but tired.of them since the first handful was very technical.
Click to expand...

Lecture 16 I think and yes, they are reasonably technical - aimed and Computer Science undergrads I think, but it's only a first year course (CS 178). You can take or leave the maths element though - you don't have to understand 'why' to know the 'what', but that said, there are doubtless other courses out there that approach from a different perspective.
 
Garry Edwards said:
No, I did mean the power doubler. This is basically a Y connector, it fits into each terminal on the power pack and terminates in a single terminal that goes to the flashgun, halving the recharge rate. Without it, HSS isn't possible on the 360 model. Here it is on the Lencarta website
Click to expand...

Mine worked fine and nothing in the user manual about it as far as I remember

Mike
 
mike weeks said:
Mine worked fine and nothing in the user manual about it as far as I remember

Mike
Click to expand...
I'm not sure about the Godox user manual, but it was certainly in the Lencarta one and I think it was in the Godox one too, although it may have suffered a bit in translation.
It WILL work without the power doubler, but only for a small number of flashes at low power, that's why I say that the power doubler is needed. However, although the performance of the 180 model is much better with the power doubler, the HSS will work without it.
 
Deleted. Never mind. Was explained in previous post.
 
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BTW another option is ND filters. They'll take less juice out of the flash than HSS. I saw a sample in a YouTube video and the value of 2 stops more light was mentioned.
 
Garry Edwards said:
It's just a 220v power source, which is arrived at by using what is basically a car battery that's connected to an inverter, which increases the voltage to 220v and changes the current from DC to AC. The only thing that's "special" about these things (except for the price) is that it needs to be clean power, because flash heads (and other electronic items) need clean power.

Your flash head uses conventional technology, basically if you set the flash power to half then it charges up the capacitors half way,and when you fire the flash all of the power stored in the capacitor is discharged through the flash tube.
For HSS to work, there needs to be a large number of low powered flashes so close to each other that they are touching, making what is in effect a continuous light that stays on long enough for your camera shutter to complete its cycle. To do that, the flash head needs to use an entirely different technology, IGBT. With IGBT, when to set the flash power to say half, the capacitors fill up completely and the flash fires at full power, but only for half as long, leaving the other half in the capacitors for the next shot. This allows a large number of low powered flashes to be fired in very quick succession so, no IG BT = no HSS.
See this link on the Lencarta website for an explanation of these terms.

No, I did mean the power doubler. This is basically a Y connector, it fits into each terminal on the power pack and terminates in a single terminal that goes to the flashgun, halving the recharge rate. Without it, HSS isn't possible on the 360 model. Here it is on the Lencarta website
Click to expand...
Thank you beautifully explained!
 
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