Stoping action w/ eos 1d mark II

[j_c36]

I recently made the switch from nikon to canon by buying an eos 1d mark II. it

is an amazing camera to say the least, but i am having one problem. I shoot

skateboarding among other things, and i can't seem to stop action during the

day when using flash. I usually use 2 or 3 sunpak 555s on 1/4-1/32 power

with pocket wizards, and either my 15mm fisheye, 70-200 L 2.8 or 50mm1.4

and i have the same results with all of them. at night i can use the same setup

and take the sharpest pics i have ever taken. also, i have used the supaks

with my nikon f5 and it stops the action pretty good. what am i doing wrong, it

doesn't make sense to me why this is happeneing?

[les]

Do not use Av mode (where the camera selects the shutter speed for ambient light exposure) - use manual mode to control both shutter and aperture. I guess your shutter speed is too low, and the flash really works as a fill flash. Are you using TTL mode (I do not think sunpak will support E-TTL).

[marknagel]

What kind of shutter speeds are you getting?

 

m

[andrew robertson]

With the max sync speeds you'd be getting with flash, you'll never stop the action.

 

You need to turn the flash off and use those fast lenses with faster film to get a shutter

speed above 1/1000th or even preferably 1/2000th to fully stop all action.

[steve_dunn2]

<p>I believe Canon and Nikon have different basic operational philosophies for various modes with flash. Have a look at <a href="http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/" target="_blank">the bible</a> for info on how various modes work with flash.</p>

 

<p>As others have suggested, you'll need to provide more info, such as what modes you're using and what shutter speeds and apertures you're getting. Without that sort of information, it's awfully hard to figure out for sure what's going on.</p>

[brad_w]

JC - Ignore what everyone has said so far. You are not using TTL flash metering, so the

limits and logic of E-TTL II have no bearing on your problem.

 

When you shot film, the flash exposure was the main light on your subject and the flash

duration, which is very short (1/1000 or less) acted like a fast shutter speed and froze the

action. DSLRs pick up a LOT more ambient light than film at the same settings. I have no

idea why, but they do- they ALL do, Nikon and Canon. (I use one brand at work and the

other for my personal stuff.) I think the probelm is that you're picking up ambient on the

subject and the ss is too low to freeze the action.

 

You need to adjust your camera settings (ss, f-stop and/or ISO) to underexpose the

ambient by at least 2 or 2-1/2 stops, maybe more. That way, your subject will once again

be lit only by the flash and it's fast "shutter speed". Obviously if you stop down the

aperture or lower the ISO, you'll need to pump up the power on the strobes. If you're not

doing so yet, I recommend setting the ss at highest sync speed, 1/250. That'll help but

probably won't solve the problem by itself.

 

Good luck!

 

-b

[awindsor]

I don't understand why this is the case. What film are you using in the Nikon F5 ? Is it particularly slow. What settings are you using ?

 

You should be shooting at maximum flash sync speed 1/250 sec and stop down to minimize ambient light blurring. Does second curtain sync work with the pocket wizard set up? If so that will at least keep the blur natural looking.

 

You have quite a bit of power in the flashes so you can stop down to reduce the ambient light and let the flashes do their work. If you stop down to f16 and shoot at 1/250 then ambient exposure under direct sunlight is more than 1 stop underexposed. Stopping down further or switching to ISO 50 will get you further ambient exposure reduction.

 

Incidentally you would probably get better results with a Nikon D70 which does have an electronic shutter which allows flash sync at much higher speeds (Nikon claims 1/500 but my friend got much higher flash sync with his D70 and manual flash). The camera is obviously much less capable but it does have this one very nice feature (1/500 sync also appears on the old Canon 1D but not in the new Nikon D200 or 1Dx).

[j_c36]

my problem is definatly the ambiant light overpowering the sunpaks. i always

shoot on manual mode on both the camera and the flash and during the day

always at maximum sync speed (250th) and usually at 400 iso. my problem is

only during the day, in low light or night time there are no problems. i want to

use flash because i like to under expose the backgraound and fill the rest with

flash to bring the subject out more. i have tried shooting at 2 stops or more

under and i still have the problem. it is very problematic, and i need to figure

this out. also, someone said i should just forget the flash and shoot strait and i

do for sequences usually at 8000th of a second but for stills i really need to

bring out the subject(skater). someone else asked what kind of film i used with

my f5 and i always used fuji velvia 100 and I would never have this problem

with that. I think the problem is the flash duration, i need to freeze the subject

and make the ambiant light secondary. i am sure someone out there has the

exact info i need. thank you all so far.

[mark u]

Shoot at 100 ISO rather than 400. Don't change the aperture or shutter speed you are using at 400. You may have to increase the flash power.

[digitmstr]

Very simple:

 

the MAX sync speed on your camera is 1/250 sec. (I think). Not fast enough for very fast action. When the MAIN light comes from a strobe the flash duration would be short enough to stop the action but, when the ambient light is stronger than the flash, you can get motion blur. Sometimes this can actually be a cool effect, synced to either curatin but, you should know how to avoid it when needed.

 

It doesn't really matter what you do the ISO (to some extent) because the problem is the relative output of two light sources: flash and ambient light and the ONLY real way of changing that ratio is with the shutter setting. That is why people love cameras with HIGH speed sync. and why cameras with shutter built into the lens were/are great for those type mixed lighting shoots. You could sync at any speed with any strobe!

 

If you change the ISO you will have to change the flash settings as well to obtain proper exposure thus, you could reach a point in which the flash might NOT be powerful enough for a given f/stop. Then, if you open the f/stop you'll let more ambient light in and so on...

 

To look at it simply:

 

1) flash doesn't care about the shutter speed setting (except for sync reasons). It only cares about f/stop settings.

 

2) ambient light cares about both shutter and f/stop.

 

3) ISO affects both flash and ambient equally.

[awindsor]

Why if Velvia 100 works for you did you decide to shoot the digital at 400 ? ISO 100 gives better quality anyway. Switching from 400 to 100 reduces the ambient exposure 2 stops.