Not enough power with my flash gun

[rob_malkin]

Hello there, I am having a small problem with my Nikon flash guns.

 

So you know, I am using;

Nikon F100+MB-15, Nikon SB-80DX (I have two, but use one), SC-17, SC-

19, all with a Sigma 15mm f2.8 full frame fish-eye, or 17mm non-

fisheye.

 

Last night I was shooting some BMX sports in a skatepark inside. The

light reading I got from my handheld meter was 1/2 sec @ f8 with

800ISO film.

 

I had my SB-80DX off camera with my SC-17. The flash was set on TTL

and the metering mode on my F100 was on matrix. All 10 batteries were

new Duracell 1.5V. The flash worked fine most of the time but when I

wanted to do a sequence, about 10shots, the flash gave up half way

thru.

 

note: when I was doing the sequence I had my camera on 1/60 @f4.

 

The flash had enough juice to give be about 6 shots and then gave up.

 

So my question is......

 

Should I...

a)

Use my other SB-80DX by having the first one on camera and having the

second one hooked up to the first via the SC-19. I would assume that

this would reduce the needed output from the flashes to about half of

the first one.

 

b)

Buy a Nikon SD-8A power pack and see how that goes. Only problem is

that @ 150 British punds its not cheap.

 

c)

Buy a Metz hammerhead flash with a greater guide number and see how

that goes.

 

d)

Buy a third party flash power pack, Quantum? And see if this is

better.

 

 

So, as you can see I would like to spend as little as I can. But

would like to sort this out.

 

Hope somebody has some good ideas. Thanks for reading.

 

rob

 

ps. on the flash I did have I had the supplied deffuser on the flash.

I know that this cuts the output and drains more power but is it

something I should not worry about?

[vivek iyer]

It is the battery that ran out of juice.

 

You can improve by using:

 

1. Lithium batteries

 

or cheaper

 

2. NiMH (2100 mAh or higher) rechargeable batteries.

 

Vivek.

[kelvinphoto - arlington, t]

get METZ 70MZ-5 :)

[gary_woodard]

You need more juice, Quantum Turbo or Quantum Turbo Compact, recycle time about 1.5 seconds for full power flash. Verses forever with Alkaline,and the other stuff. Get the real deal.

[erik_loza]

Second that reccomendation for a Quantum. TurboZ was some of the best money I ever spent.

[spencer_hahn]

I'd try setting up the second flash right next to the first one, connected by SC-19. Each flash would output half as much as they would on their own, so if one flash gets six bursts, two flashes should get at least 12, maybe 13 with the slightly longer recycle time. The only problem is, depending on what you're shooting you may get a weird double shadow, and that effect will be minimized by placing the flash heads close to each other and shooting a subject further away.

[scott_carlsson]

Forget the SD-8A, go with Energizer Lithiums.

 

In the long term, the Quantum Turbo is a very worthwhile investment.

[Ed_Ingold]

You should get at least 80 full-power pops from a set of batteries. A battery pack like a Quantum Turbo not only gives you a lot more flashes (400 full-power pops for a Turbo Z), but much faster recycling time than internal batteries: about 1.5 seconds after a full-power pop. The Turbo and Nikon SD-8 are high-voltage packs that charge the flash capacitors directly.

 

That's still not going to give you a 10-shot burst at 3-5 fps (the F100) an any realistic power level. The flash may fire several times in succession, but the capacitors will not be charged fast enough to keep up and are rapidly depleted.

 

Using a 15mm lens, you probably need the SB-80 diffuser to give you an adequate angle of coverage. If you need more power per flash, a Quantum T or Metz would help, but only a stop or two (3-4x the power of an SB-80)

 

I suggest the following: Open up the lens to f/2.8. You should have good DOF with a 15mm, and you have 1/30 sec. Bump up the ISO to 1600, and you'd have a respectible 1/125 sec with room light alone. Unless you use a "slow" flash setting, the shutter speed will not go below 1/60 second.

 

Rather than slopping around in continuous mode, learn to shoot at a decisive moment. If you need a flash, continuous mode is not really an option. You might experiment with "slow/rear" mode, to use more room light, yet freeze action with the strobe. You could use a gel on the flash to match the ambient color temperature.

[rob_malkin]

Thanks for the idea so far. sounds like the Quantum might be on its way to my house.

 

the only reason that I shoot in C mode is if I am doing a sequence of stuff. In bmx a lot happens in a very very small space of time. So its possable to shoot a single frame but you only get part of the story.

 

thanks again

 

rob