Flash duration

[itsdavedotnet]

I'm going to be buying some bowens heads, and am undecided between the 500R (1/900th to t=0.5) or the 500pro (1/2900th) heads. Otherwise, they're basically the same.

Aside from the obvious shutter speed limitation if using them to nuke someone out in the sun, what are the other problems caused by a slower duration? Is 1/900th fast enough to happily freeze everything? The price difference between the two sets, once I've accommodated for discounts etc, is £170...

 

[Garry Edwards]

I'm going to be buying some bowens heads, Is 1/900th fast enough to happily freeze everything?

No.
That's a t.5 time, translate that into a t.1 time and the actual effective flash duration is likely to be somewhere like 1/300th - that will freeze many subjects but not all, it all depends of course on both magnification and direction of travel as well as actual speed).

So you're thinking of paying a lot extra for a shorter t.5 flash duration when you could get a 1/2000th t.5 flash duration from Lencarta for a lot less money...

 

[itsdavedotnet]

Cheers for that Garry, yeah, I can see how 1/300th could prove pretty unacceptable. I couldn't see the specs for the lencarta strobes anywhere on the site =/ (might want to list them under the tech specs?)

I was looking at the bowens series for quite a few reasons, namely travel pak compatibility and the remote power adjustment, but I know that lencarta are very, very well spoken about too - I can get some good discounts on bowens kit which lowers the prices a decent amount, but I'll definitely bear lencarta in mind