Best option for high sync speeds OCF

[Tyler138]

Hey guys,

Basically i have recently got the hang of OCF and love using the flashes now. I shoot a lot of mountain biking so it helps a ton in the woods and forests.

So basically i want to be able to use sync speeds higher then 1/250th. Sometimes when i am out in the open shooting MTB i can't get the shutter down low enough to use the flashes with out using f/8 or f/11 ish which i dont really want to do, and also means the flashes have to be pretty much full power.

So what would be the best way to do this, use HSS with some triggers that surport this..?

Any ideas..?

Cheers,

Tyler

 

[HoppyUK]

HSS is favourite, but it wastes a lot of power so you run out of range quite quickly. Fine if you're close.

If not, it gets tricky and expensive. Pocket Wizard Mini/Flexes will help.

 

[Tyler138]

Mmmm i thought someone would say PW's but dont really want to put down £500 atm for those, plus another receiver as i always use two flashes.

What are the main advantages of PW's as well, why are the so much compared to others..?

Any other trigger do HSS..?

 

[markrichardson]

If you want off-camera HSS then you need to use either PocketWizard Mini/Flex or RadioPoppers (which I don't think have released a european model yet). These are all in the same price range.

As well as HSS, you get the ability to remotely set the power (either manually or using multiple eTTL groups) - basically everything you can do using TTL but using radio signals to fire.

 

[Garry Edwards]

PW will give you a slight advantage but as you say they're expensive..

There's a much cheaper way of doing it, but the trade off is a loss of quality. Just set the shutter speed to a faster setting, take a shot of something like a blank wall and see which part of the image was exposed with the flash (which part of the shutter was open when the flash fired) Take your shots, zoomed out to a wide setting, an make sure that the flash fired with the important subject matter lit by the flash, then crop as required.

It's a bit Heath Robinson but it works.

 

[HoppyUK]

Mmmm i thought someone would say PW's but dont really want to put down £500 atm for those, plus another receiver as i always use two flashes.

What are the main advantages of PW's as well, why are the so much compared to others..?

Any other trigger do HSS..?

You can get off-camera HSS in lots of ways. With the on-board Canon IR system for a start. A cheap way of doing that is with the Yongnuo ST-E2 master clone which is under £100 (gets good reviews, though I've not used one) or a cord is even better if that's viable.

Or PW Mini/Flex, or Radio Poppers (Euro version is available) but that's even more expensive because you need to donate a 580EXII to provide the original control data and it doesn't do anything that the Canon system doesn't.

Big advantage of the PWs is HyperSync which would allow a 7D to run at 1/400sec with no loss of power, plus their optimised high speed sync feature which minimises power wastage and provides more light compared to standard. At the Focus show they were doing a twin-set of PWs for £500 I think and in all honesty if this kind of thing is a big part of your work, that's probably where you'll end up. Brilliant system, especially for action flash.

Then there's always the ND filter method, which is basically the same principle as you are using with higher f/numbers, but at lower f/numbers if you see what I mean!

There are two other hopeless methods IMHO like the tail-sync hack or that terrible gash of an idea which I think Garry is suggesting which involves massive cropping of the image. You'd be better off using a CCD equipped compact like a Canon G12, or a similar workaround on an old Nikon D70/D40, Canon 1D etc.

Last but perhaps not least, I've done radio remote HSS using basic RF-602 triggers hooked up to an optical slave fired by a little 270EX gun. It works with my 580EX guns but I'm not sure every other HSS enabled gun would cooperate so obligingly (probably would, but I've not tried it).

 

[Calzor Suzay]

Calumet do the Canon MiniTT1 x 1 & FlexTT5 x 2 for £500 which would cover both flashes, Add on the AC3 and you can set remote manual, turn it off, ETTL etc but yes it all adds up quickly, trouble is do you buy cheap then work your way around to PW stuff anyway.