firing Alein Bees at high speed

[caleb_kienlen]

I am trying to get a setup that will allow me to shoot in low light gyms. I

would like to freeze the motion and shoot somewhere around 1/350 - 1/500. I

have two alein bees with their wireless system and cant get them to sync with

me camara Canon 10d or Canon Mark 2 N is there a setting in the camera that

will allow you to shoot or sync at a higher speed like when shooting with the

580ex. I know photographers are getting great shots in gyms that are not lite

well with strobes but how. Very frustrated at the moment any help would be

greatly apreciated.

 

Caleb

[justin_goeden]

Caleb, there's not another setting for high speed flash firing except just using the maximum flash sync. I have no clue what is it on your camera; maybe it's around 1/250 or so. Also read through your wireless system's book because i've heard of some wireless systems not being able to sync faster than about 1/125, don't know if that's the same as yours. I'm sure the flashes will put out the light fast enough to stop the action.

[warren_x]

You can't (and don't need to) sync any faster than your camera will allow (probably 1/200 or 1/250). Pick a shutter speed and aperture combination that suit your other criteria and then the short duration of the flash alone will freeze the action.

[dave_hoffmann]

It's not the shutter speed that is freezing the action -- it's the flash duration, which I believe is something along the lines of 1/3200 on an AB800.

[skipd]

Like the other responders said, the duration of the flash output is very short, and increasing the shutter speed beyond the "max sync speed" - EVEN IF IT WERE POSSIBLE - wouldn't have any effect whatsoever on the exposure from the flash source.

 

You may be running into a somewhat different problem. If you only have a wimpy flash source (a single B800, for example)and are trying to illuminate a subject a long distance from the flash you may be needing a wide-open aperture to get the proper exposure. At that aperture, ambient light (light other than from your flash source) may be having a significant effect on your photo. The only way around this is to have a lot more flash power to overcome the ambient lighting at the distances you want to use.

 

Professional photographers shooting professional sports often have strobes mounted high in the gym and trigger them with radio systems.

[brandon_mack1]

I've had trouble with this in a different setting. Trying to use wide apertures for portraits with my B800. I was trying to use an aperture of 1.8 for a portrait with the 800 set at its lowest setting. I needed a speed of 1/640s. When I tried it, you could see the shutter over a portion of the frame. I gradually decreased the shutter speed, but the problem did not disappear until I approached the syc speed. Why is this happening, and won't the same thing happen in a gym setting if Caleb uses a higher shutter speed?

[frank_kimble]

Flash sync speed is the fastest shutter speed that has the shutter completely open. Focal shutters are actually 2 curtains that travel a little bit apart. As the speed increases the time between the two curtains start time decreases. At some point(flash sync speed)the curtains are only completely open for a very short time. Any faster speed and the 2nd curtain starts to close before the first is completely open.

[brandon_mack1]

Frank,

Thank you for the simple explanation. That makes it all very clear to me.

[bill c.]

Caleb-- The 580 can sync faster than the published flash sync on the 10d and Mark II n because there is a special circuit that actually strobes the flash at extremely high speed to keep the light going as the slit of the shutter travels across the frame. Alien Bees (as well as any other monobloc or generator strobe that I am aware of) can not do that.

 

In fact, in the high-speed sync mode, the flash actually stays on for quite a while, sometimes even 1/50 of a second or more. The action-stopping capability is actually reduced.

 

This is why many sports shooters like the Nikon D70, as it syncs at 1/500 sec.

 

Happy shooting. -BC-