How to get the perfect shot at speed?

[BobA]

terry@softreq.com wrote:

Keep in mind you can't use flashfaster than 1/250th with a Canon.

Sometimes its cool to use some fill flash, and pick 1/250th.

Hi Terry,

Wouldn't high speed sync work for fill when the shutter speed is over 1/250s, or will it give some sort of strange effect?



Bob

[timmyB]

High speed synch allows you to use flash over 1/250 second shutter speed.

As the flash is required to fire multiple times to light the subject as the shutter curtains travel across the sensor you can not shoot at maximum flash output.

This is the only negative i know of for using high speed synch.

cheers, Tim

[eric s]

While this is the same "downside" it has multiple effects.
Using high-speed sync uses more batter power for the same flash. This can lead to:
Less range of the flash.
Longer recharge time between shots.
Faster draining of the batteries.

But using the flash to fill in, when the light is dark enough can be a good way to stop action in its self. If the flash is the primary light source, it is very short... and that can inherently stop action.

Eric

[barthold]

eric s wrote:

But using the flash to fill in, when the light is dark enough can be a good way to stop action in its self. If the flash is the primary light source, it is very short... and that can inherently stop action.

Eric

Yes, true when you're not using the flash in high-speed shutter sync. In normal flash mode the flash pulse lasts 1/10,000 to 1/20,000 or so. As soon as you set the flash to high-speed shutter sync, the flash duration is now the same as the shutter speed the camera is set to.

Barthold