Film and flash

[Mahoneyd187]

Hi all

I've been told that flash with a longer duration is better when using film. I.e T5 of 1/60s vs 1/1000

Is this correct? If so, why so?

I'm currently selling off lots of expensive flash gear which I intend to replace with a mixture of strobe and ARRI continuous gear. I was pointed towards the Elinchrom 202/404 packs as they have a slower flash duration, that's where this query came from.

Thanks all

Dan

 

[excalibur2]

***I've been told that flash with a longer duration is better when using film. I.e T5 of 1/60s vs 1/1000**

New one on me and I never noticed any difference from the change over from bulb to electronic flash other than no more burnt fingers.

 

[AJQS]

I can't see how it would make a blind bit of difference personally but would love to know otherwise. Only thing I can think of is most film flash sync is really slow so it's un-necessary to have short durtation :shrug:

 

[Marvin d martian]

Cant see the logic behind the slower flash duration, especially when you shoot with a RZ which will happily sinc at 1/500th.
Give it a go and see if you need a slower duration.

Mart

 

[EdBray]

I think someone's been pulling your leg.

How do you think film coped with the very short flash times from thyristor controlled flash where the flash duration was 10s of thousands of a second?

 

[EdMoss]

Only thing you might experience is reciprocity failure at faster shutter speeds.
Haven't any data to hand but there might be an odd film which needs more exposure.

 

[Mahoneyd187]

I think someone's been pulling your leg.

How do you think film coped with the very short flash times from thyristor controlled flash where the flash duration was 10s of thousands of a second?

Ed I don't even know what thyristor controlled flash is lol

Ok all is good it appears, I'll do some testing

 

[joxby]

I'm currently selling off lots of expensive flash gear which I intend to replace with a mixture of strobe and ARRI continuous gear.

Dan

Umm, at the risk of appearing to be teaching Grandma to suck eggs, and the fact that it doesn't have much to do with flash duration which is your original question, you can't really mix Arri with flash.
Arri is tungsten WB, so you are gonna get balance issues using them together on colour film.
Unless you are using b/w film exclusively, if you want to use flash there are Arri alternatives for your hot lighting that are a similar colour temperature to flash, 5500K hf cf lamps are not miles off.
Its something to consider if costs are comparable with Arri, before you push the buy button..

 

[Mahoneyd187]

Umm, at the risk of appearing to be teaching Grandma to suck eggs, and the fact that it doesn't have much to do with flash duration which is your original question, you can't really mix Arri with flash.
Arri is tungsten WB, so you are gonna get balance issues using them together on colour film.
Unless you are using b/w film exclusively, if you want to use flash there are Arri alternatives for your hot lighting that are a similar colour temperature to flash, 5500K hf cf lamps are not miles off.
Its something to consider if costs are comparable with Arri, before you push the buy button..

Well advised, but I'm aware, all good

I'll be shooting 100% b&w initially. I'm working exclusively b&w at the moment to fully get to grips with it, I've standardised all the film and chems I'll be using also. If working with continuous goes well, which I'm pretty sure it will, I fully intend to go to HMIs and led panels solely, rather than mixing flash and continuous as I will be in the short term. I am a man with a plan

In the short term I'm buying a couple of ARRI fresnels, or De Sisti Magis, I'm not sure yet, and probably a fresnel attachment from Lencarta to see how it compares with flash vs cont. It has a fresnel lens it seems, but looks like it has a honeycomb behind it, which makes me a little dubious.

 

[s162216]

You could always gel the lights so their daylight balanced or use a filter such as an 80A on the camera (although there will be about a 1 and 2/3rd stop or so light loss). It depends if their balanced the traditional 3200K of ordinary tungsten light or to 3400k 'photoflood', if their photoflood then you'll need a different filter which I can't remember at the moment (EDIT: its an 80B filter)

Failing that, theres always the 'modern' way, just correct it after scanning (not that you couldn't in the traditional enlarger way, it would just take time to find the right correction filter that you would have to use to make it look 'best')

 

[Mahoneyd187]

You could always gel the lights so their daylight balanced or use a filter such as an 80A on the camera (although there will be about a 1 and 2/3rd stop or so light loss). It depends if their balanced the traditional 3200K or ordinary tungsten light or to 3400k 'photoflood', if their photoflood then you'll need a different filter which I can't remember at the moment (EDIT: its an 80B filter)

Failing that, theres always the 'modern' way, just correct it after scanning (not that you couldn't in the traditional enlarger way, it would just take time to find the right correction filter that you would have to use to make it look 'best')

certainly would be a good solution on the tungsten if for some reason there's a delay in getting the HMI gear. I've been offered some ARRISUN 12 plus par lamps with lens kits for immense prices but don't have the space for them at the moment

All good food for thought!