Profoto B1 HSS

treeman said:
Bit of a long shot but, I don't suppose any one has any experience of using the B1 with HSS and how much power loss there is?

Thanks
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Useful thread here https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/profoto-b1.565461/ Suggests a drop of a couple of stops, which is good, but it depends how you measure it and it's a bit of a moveable feast. HSS is really ambient light. I've got 20 speedlites with me now for a review, many of them with HSS and I need to work out a way of getting a helpful figure - it'll probably be an EV value.

Just on your equine work Mark (and very nice it is too :thumbs:) I had a little go at that recently at a local stables. I managed okay with three speedlites in an umbrella but that was afternoon winter sun so pretty low ambient! I'd like to do more of that work but thinking about what might be possible in bright daylight, I reckoned two Lencarta Safari-2 heads (600Ws x2) would be needed just for the main light. Huge amounts of power, and the most efficient way of getting that is to use normal x-sync and a lens ND filter if necessary. Assuming action-freezing shutter speeds are not needed.
 
I did some tests that Hoppy mentioned in the thread quoted above, and there is 2 stops loss at 1/500th, after that there is 1 stop loss for every doubling of the shutter speed.

I also did the tests with an SB900 speedlight to compare, at 1/500th there was 2 and 2/3rds stops loss
 
HoppyUK said:
Just on your equine work Mark (and very nice it is too (y)) I had a little go at that recently at a local stables. I managed okay with three speedlites in an umbrella but that was afternoon winter sun so pretty low ambient! I'd like to do more of that work but thinking about what might be possible in bright daylight, I reckoned two Lencarta Safari-2 heads (600Ws x2) would be needed just for the main light. Huge amounts of power, and the most efficient way of getting that is to use normal x-sync and a lens ND filter if necessary. Assuming action-freezing shutter speeds are not needed.
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Thanks Richard, Yes big power is useful especially during the summer when most people want the pictures done, (normally horses look their best in the summer) so I occasionally need the full 1200W/S of my packs but I am generally shooting on half power through a 5' Octabox, as this gives me a blisteringly fast recycle time!

However I do like the idea of the B1's as a totally self contained unit that cam be remotely controlled, which is handy when the horses keep moving, but also the TTL might prove useful for this too.

matty D said:
I did some tests that Hoppy mentioned in the thread quoted above, and there is 2 stops loss at 1/500th, after that there is 1 stop loss for every doubling of the shutter speed.

I also did the tests with an SB900 speedlight to compare, at 1/500th there was 2 and 2/3rds stops loss
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Thanks Matty, I'd found a blog where someone had come to the same conclusion, so effectively you loose a stop of exposure as you jump to 500th (gain 1 stop on shutter speed, loose 2 on flash = 1 stop loss, I think??) I was hoping to be able to shoot at 500th sec and not loose any flash power, so effectively turning it into a 1000W/S head.

I'm going to have to hire one and have a play i think ;-)
 
treeman said:
Thanks Matty, I'd found a blog where someone had come to the same conclusion, so effectively you loose a stop of exposure as you jump to 500th (gain 1 stop on shutter speed, loose 2 on flash = 1 stop loss, I think??) I was hoping to be able to shoot at 500th sec and not loose any flash power, so effectively turning it into a 1000W/S head.

I'm going to have to hire one and have a play i think ;-)
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Camera and trigger play a role, Pocket Wizards allowed me to go from 1/250 and still have full sync at 1/400 by tuning the peak, of course the king for this is MF with leaf shutter and then no loss of power.

Mike
 
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