Not cagey Ray, just read what you have been presented. It was explained earlier in the thread.
"Sync speed is a big deal when controlling the balance of flash to ambient. For those of us that shoot with flash and for example shoot restaurant interiors full control using high flash sync speeds is important and the higher sync speeds you get using on camera dedicated DSLR flash systems are not very helpful. Usually we will have various flash heads with various shapers hidden/placed around the set."
Flash heads, as in not Nikon Speedlights which you won't find on a professional set of any genre in photography.
Symbolphoto gave you an example as well shot with an MF camera. Whether you like or dislike the effect is upto you, but it is necessary for a lot of photographers to achieve what they want in an image.
David,
You'll have to pardon my ignorance. I'm just an amateur.
I'm now getting the impression that these flash advantages of the MFDB system, with regard to higher flash intensity at greater shutter speeds, are only applicable to external flash units. Is this correct?
I'm also getting the impression that, for more modest flash requirements, at lower intensity and slower shutter speeds, the 35mm DSLR may still have an advantage because it accepts TTL flash devices like the SB-900 which attach to the camera hot-shoe.
For example, let's say I'm visiting Angkor Wat again, photographing the ruins in bright sunlight. The shadows are very dark, but sometimes there's interesting detail in those shadows; perhaps a little figurine nestled against the root of a tree overgrowing the ruins; or perhaps I just want to bring out the texture of the stone and any moss that might be growing there, in complete shade.
With my D700 and attached SB-900 Speedlight, there'd be no problem. It's true the Speedlight adds another 500gms to the weight of the camera, but that's manageable.
What may not be manageable is setting up a couple of external flash units with reflectors in a crowded area with tourists passing 'to and fro' all the time.
"Sorry folks! Stand back everyone! Professional photographer at work!"
This thread was inspired by the rebuttal in James Martin's article, "You can't do That with Medium Format", which I thought was a bit misleading.
Have I highlighted yet another thing you can't do with Medium Format; walk around with a reasonably good flash unit attached to the camera?