Best way of freezing action

=ReBeL=

=ReBeL=

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Adrian
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Like water splash for example. Speedlites on low power, strobe powerpack, ultrafast studio strobe or something else?

Speedlites - low power, so higher ISO needed. Not ideal.

Powerpack lights - expensive.

What about fast strobes like Lencarta's for example?
 
When I have done drop lets I used a flash on low power
 
It really depends on the size of the subject.
If you don't need much light, for instance water droplets, then speedlights work perfectly, but speedlights on low power will struggle to light a car going through a puddle.

What you're looking for is IGBT technology, which is what speedlights are, and Lencarta Quickflashes, I'm sure other mfrs have similar.

The halfway house between would be the Lencarta Atom (Godox etc) but they're expensive for indoors where the quickflash would be cheaper (£ per Ws)
 
Thanks Phil and Wave.

Subject will be small to medium I'd say. I don't think it would be any bigger than a champagne bottle, but the quality will be critical so high-ish ISO would be a no-no. Also light modifiers (like strip softbox for example) will be required so I think a studio strobe will be a better option. I take that with those superfast strobes all other traditional uses (like still life, portraits, etc) are still achievable? If so maybe I'll sell my UltraPro's and invest in SuperFast's instead.

I'll be ordering 600EX-RT soon as well, so I'll test the speedlite option first before spending any more cash.
 
=ReBeL= said:
Thanks Phil and Wave.

Subject will be small to medium I'd say. I don't think it would be any bigger than a champagne bottle, but the quality will be critical so high-ish ISO would be a no-no. Also light modifiers (like strip softbox for example) will be required so I think a studio strobe will be a better option. I take that with those superfast strobes all other traditional uses (like still life, portraits, etc) are still achievable? If so maybe I'll sell my UltraPro's and invest in SuperFast's instead.

I'll be ordering 600EX-RT soon as well, so I'll test the speedlite option first before spending any more cash.
Click to expand...
Yes they behave just like normal strobes. And that's why I keep eyeing them up, because the extra money for occasional use might just be worth it
 
For small subjects, shot very close, a hotshoe flashgun can be the best bet because the flash durations at minimum power are even faster than the SuperFast.
Phil Harboard's test was carried out with an oscilloscope that can't measure such short flash durations and in fact was out by a factor of 4 - but hotshoe flashes are even faster.
The SuperFast though comes into its own when lightening fast recycling and/or more power/using studio modifiers are necessary. We're going to use the SuperFast on Tuesday's shoot
 
Too bad the SuperFast's weren't available when I was buying my UltraPro's as I'd definitely invest in those instead. Might still do at some point in future, but for now 2 speedlite setup should be enough for those small projects.

I was playing with a single flash tonight (430EX II) but my bad timing has caused me to spend way too much and to shoot many more frames than normally would be required.
 
One speedlite test shot (idea not mine)
 
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