High speed flash to keep up with 5 frame per second rate

[mike_willis1]

Shooting indoor high school basketball, I'll shoot at 5 frames per second,

which is necessary to get the action, but some of the high school gyms are not

that bright so I use flash. I am already using a 300mm f2.8 lens. So I find

that the first frame or second is the right exposure, but there after nothing.

I have three SB28 speedlights available but they can't obviously keep up, but

do you guys have suggestions as to how to either configure a SB28, or what to

keep up with that speed. Do you guys know of something that can work with

multiple flashes to do this? Maybe sequentially fire the flashes to give them

recovery time, but what piece of equipment can do this?

[craig_shearman1]

5 fps is not at all necessary to get the action. The key to sports photography is anticipating the action and its peak. I was a newspaper photographer in a previously life, shooting basketball, baseball and football for a living and -- while it would have been a nice luxury -- never had need of a motor drive. Also, a 300 is way to long for basketball for all but a handful of shots. You shoot basketball from under the net with anything from a 35 to a 105 and wait for the action to come to you. At least that's what I did, what my colleagues did and what I still see people shooting today.

[erik_loza]

The SB28 actually is fine, you just need a Quantum battery pack. I could use mine at 5 fps (fill flash only, of course), no problem, with the Turbo-Z. As was also pointed out, a prime 300m wouldn't be my choice for this work. An 80-200mm would. Good luck.

[kurt l]

i would say you must be far from the person with a 300mm

and that would use a lot of flash power to go the distance.

i would try up close on sidelines etc,with a lens in the 50mm range with no flash and i think you will like it better.i think if you start blasten at the players with 2or 3 lights they might come at

ya with a stick lol. try the 50mm

[leicaglow]

Erik, I truly wonder whether any Nikon speedlight could shoot 5 FPS at any distance. Really?

[daviddbfotoart]

I think my metz is capable of 7 per second, and at 2.8, the power within a 60ct4 and battery pack easily gives me a lot of ground to work with.

[juan_parm_nides]

Add an energy pack. The flow rate from batteries is the problem. Quantum or similar is a good option. Regards.

[elliot1]

I shoot karate events several times a year and face the same problems.

 

I use my Sb-800 with the 5th battery and Nikon external battery pack and can take 3-4 continuous shots with a 2.8 lens at about 20-30 feet. A lot depends on the distance the subject is from the camera. Obviously there is a difference in recycle time from taking 5 shots of a subject 10 feet away to 5 shots 60 feet away.

 

Assuming you do not want to spend any money on new equipment, I suggest you get the highest capacity batteries available, likely lithium ion (expensive), possibly NIMH rechargabe batteries. Check your owner's manual or contact Nikon to be sure. I know both of these battery types recycle faster than regular alkalines, and last longer too. I am not positive which will recycle your flash the fastest.

 

Next, I would shoot at the highest ISO possible that your camera can handle well and that you are comfortable with. I have a d200 and can shoot at high ISO with little noise. My wife recently used my camera indoors and did not know how to turn the flash on. The pictures came out on the dark side, even at ISO 1600. I have good post processing software and was able to salvage the picture with virtually no noise. My software can take an ISO 1600 image and give it noise reduction to the equivalent of ISO 400 with virtually no I also have noise reduction software loss of sharpness.

 

I don't believe you can rotate the flashes the way you are suggesting. If more powerful batteries and higher ISO do not resolve your issue, I would sell one, two or all of your flashes and invest in an sb-800.

 

If you have a few dollars to spend, a faster lens will help a little bit as well. If you can get closer to the court, an inexpensive 'fix' would be to invest in the 50mm 1.8 (about $100). That combined with the above mentioned 'fixes' will likely solve your problem. If you have a little more money and can't get quite as close, the 85mm 1.8 will give you similar results. You may have to crop your images a little compared to the 300mm.

 

Good luck.

[mark u]

You should really use a much shorter, faster lens and get down courtside - 50mm f/1,8 or f/1.4, 85mm ditto, maybe even 30mm f/1.4 (Sigma) and no flash. However, it is possible if you invest in a whole raft of Pocketwizards (one for the camera, one for each flash) that can be set to cycle between the flashes - and you'd probably still want external battery packs for the flashes too. More expensive than the lenses, I suspect, and less satisfying results. If you really wanted better results, you'd need banks of ceiling mounted Speedotrons wirelessly controlled as used at pro ice rinks, at a cost well into the (?tens of) thousands of dollars.

[paul_sokal___dallas__tx]

I've read several stories in wedding forums of people burning up their sb800's shooting wedding receptions which are relatively slow moving events compared to a sporting event. Personally I've never had a problem but I would imagine you'd risk that trying to shoot 5fps, regardless of the power source without substantial cool down time between series.

[erik_loza]

"Erik, I truly wonder whether any Nikon speedlight could shoot 5 FPS at any distance. Really?"

 

Sure. I used Fuji 400F with the SB28 and my Quantum on the (then) F90x at max frame rate (4-5 fps) and my 80-200mm. No problems at distances out to 10'-15' on action subjects.

 

For sure, we're not talking about 5 fps, non-stop, through a whole roll of film or CF card. The action happens in bursts and with the camera on continuous servo, I had no problems with the speedlight keeping up for 7-8 shots at a time. The external battery is the trick.

[ShunCheung]

As Paul points out, if you push a flash that way with an external battery pack for an extended period of time, such as the duration of a basketball game, you could potentially damage your flash. It simply won't have sufficient time to cool off after bursts. Additionally, this practice can be very annoying for the players and spectators. I wouldn't be surprised that you'll receive a lot of complaints and be asked to stop.

[Ed_Ingold]

You might be able to extract 5 fps from an conventional flash at very low power, using an high-voltage power supply like a Quantum Turbo. This would probably overheat the flash unit in short order, with interesting results (you could be on the news yourself). Even so, I doubt you could put a useful amount of light on the subject.

 

I question the need for this capability. The key to capturing sports action is to anticipate the action (and take a lot of shots), not "rock and roll" shooting. If there's enough light to play, there's enough light to shoot, using ISO 1600 if needed. Furthermore, in my experience, a 300mm lens would be of little use at a basketball game if you are there in any official capacity. Unlike football (particularly in Chicago), everything interesting happens close to the goal, which is where you need to be.

[erik_loza]

So that my comments aren't taken out of context, I shoot primarily wildlife, not sports. All my flash work is done off the rear shutter curtain, in mixed daylight situations, not inside a gymnasium or arena.

 

I would imagine it's the same with sports, but for my work, there may be long periods of nothing happening, then sudden spurts of action. That's when the speedlight is going to have to keep up with the camera.

 

In a sports arena, sure, it would be silly to think that you could blast away at some gymnasts or basketball players. That's not my gig, though, so perhaps my experiences have no context there.

 

What I am saying is that there have been times when I have hammered the piss out of my SB28's and have yet to have one shut down on me. In fact, the original one that was purchased almost ten years ago is still my preferred field unit over the SB-800. That's what I'm saying.<div></div>

[juan_parm_nides]

If the SB800 detects overheat, simply stops working until refresh again. It has happened to me. It is a security item for this flash.

Cheers.

[bob fowler]

Craig Shearman hit the nail squarely on the head, blasting away with a motor drive is NOT the way to capture sports. Unless you're using a Hulcher at 65 frames per second, shooting at 5fps is a sure fire way to miss "peak of the action". BTW - for those not familiar with the Hulcher and/or those who doubt 65 fps, look here: http://www.hulchercamera.com/page13.htm