High-Speed Flash Synch

What current models (if any) of the Canon and Nikon film SLRs allow

for high-speed flash synch using only the built-in flash? Also, do

you have any recommendations for a small, shoe-mounted accessory

flash which offers high-speed synch on Canon (and Nikon, if that's

even possible) film SLRs? I'm thinking of something about the size

of the Nikon SB-30.

 

Thank you.

It is called fp sync mode on the SB 28 and later (and possibly earlier models as well) models. Do a search here!

built in flash? I don't know.

 

But...

 

With Nikon N90, F5, and D1 &D2 series cameras (I don't know about the

D100 or D70) and SB-25, 26, 28, 28dx, 80dx & 800 speedlights you can have

hgh speed sync at virtually shutter speed abov the standard top sync speed.

Put the camera into Manual, Aperture priority or Shutter priority modes. Put

the speedlight into manual mode and reduce power all rthe way down past

the lowest fractional setting. there is a cost for this however, and the two

prices you pay are very low output and no TTL control ofthe flash. These are

strictly manual power settings. the amount of light is tied to the shutter speed

chosen the lengthier the shutter speed the greater the output of the

speedlight. It hasto work this way because in this FP mode the Speedlight s

sending a stream of low power flashes synchronized with thee movement of

the gap between the firont and rear shutter curtains.

Well, I did a search, but my question relates to built-in flashes, not accessory flashes. Again, what current models (if any) of the Canon and Nikon film SLRs allow for high-speed flash synch using only the built-in flash? I would like to use a built-in flash for fill flash with wide apertures in daylight without having to use neutral density filters. Alternatively, I would like to carry a pocketable accessory flash which allows for high-speed synch. The brand does not matter as long as it works.

Chris,

 

I am not 100% sure but I would bet that there is not such camera that you are looking for. When it comes to high-speed flash sync on the Nikons line, only the F90/F90X, F100 and F5 have it if I recall correctly. None of these have a built-in flash.

 

When it comes to Canon, I cannot help, but my guess would be that their cameras closely match Nikons, that is high-speed sync is probably only available on the pro-models which lack built-in flash while the consumer/pro-sumer models have flash but not high-speed sync.

 

Even if there is one I doubt that it would be very useful. For example, my Nikon SB-28 with a GN of 42 (ISO100, meter, 50 mm zoom, full power) suddenly drops to a GN of 23 when synchronizing at 1/250 second at the same settings and a really weak GN of 5 when at 1/4000 second. You loose a lot of power since the flash have to output a burst of flashes. Now consider that my Nikon F80's built-in flash has a GN of 12. There wouldn't be much power left if it could do high-speed sync.

 

Now, if anyone can prove me wrong, please do...

 

As for your second question I cannot help, I would try to search the manufacturers site for some kind of feature comparison chart. Not many flashes except the top of the line models seem to support high-speed flash sync and often these models are quite large. You could probably narrow this down very quickly.

I should add that the solution would not be in high-speed flash sync (where the flash output several flashes) but rather faster curtains so that even at very fast shutter speeds the whole frame is visible when the flash burns off. With focal plane shutters this is a problem. Minoltas high end SLR models have very fast shutters IIRC. This allows them to achieve "normal" synching at higher shutter speeds.

What current models (if any) of the Canon and Nikon film SLRs allow for high-speed flash synch using only the built-in flash?

 

NONE.

No Canon SLR to my knowledge supports FP flash using the built-in flash unit. The

smallest external flash unit that'll work with a Canon is the 220EX.

<P>

The thing about this problem is that a) FP flash works by pulsing the tube, resulting in

reduced output and b) small flash units like those built into camera bodies don't put out a

lot of light. So FP flash isn't really all that useful in such cases since you get such limited

range. I guess it's okay for close-quarters daytime fill flash.

<P>

<A HREF="http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/">http://photonotes.org/articles/

eos-flash/</A>

This is the closest that you can come to the old "FP" flash bulbs where the peak is drawn out to cover the transit time of the focal plane shutter. It may be that only about 10% of the repeating flashes occur during any individual portion of the exposure, yielding a very low guide #. The calculation of exposure and the special circuitry for the flash is beyond the capability of any camera's low power built-in flash that I know of.