Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Digital Cameras & Shooting Techniques => Topic started by: janisr on May 11, 2009, 01:48:23 pm
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Has anyone noticed, that Canon never reaches its specified flash speed?
I have had this problem with any canon i have had - 20d, 5d, 1ds MkII, and now with the 1 Ds Mk III !
The maximum usable sync speed when shooting with flash is 1/125, not the 1/250 as stated in camera specs!!!
See the sample below - shot outside with flash and maximum allowed sync. speed of 1/250 - notice the darkening on the lower part of the frame?
Have you ever had problems like this? is it my shutter, or Canon?
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I haven't had any issue. But then I don't do a ton of flash.
I would suggest asking the strobist group on flickr. They're mostly off camera small strobes but there should be someone there who can answer.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/ (http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/)
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Has anyone noticed, that Canon never reaches its specified flash speed?
I have had this problem with any canon i have had - 20d, 5d, 1ds MkII, and now with the 1 Ds Mk III !
The maximum usable sync speed when shooting with flash is 1/125, not the 1/250 as stated in camera specs!!!
See the sample below - shot outside with flash and maximum allowed sync. speed of 1/250 - notice the darkening on the lower part of the frame?
Have you ever had problems like this? is it my shutter, or Canon?
I've never seen that unless you are really in someone's face with a wide angle lens and the flash can't cover the area of the frame.
Was that shot with a Canon speedlite or something else? Canon doesn't guarantee the top sync speed when using studio strobes. Check the manual. It's in there.
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I have noticed exactly the same with all my canons... but only when using studio strobes.
Has anyone noticed, that Canon never reaches its specified flash speed?
I have had this problem with any canon i have had - 20d, 5d, 1ds MkII, and now with the 1 Ds Mk III !
The maximum usable sync speed when shooting with flash is 1/125, not the 1/250 as stated in camera specs!!!
See the sample below - shot outside with flash and maximum allowed sync. speed of 1/250 - notice the darkening on the lower part of the frame?
Have you ever had problems like this? is it my shutter, or Canon?
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I'll bet you're shooting wireless, right? If so, the problem is that the wireless unit you're using can't synch faster. This is why I never wanted to go with the older pocket wizards--they only syched at 1/160th.
I had that problem with a cheapo wireless. It wouldn't sych any faster than 1/200 on a 20D I had. In the beginning it would, but for some reason, with use, it got slower.
I can confirm that both my 5D and 1DSMKIII do synch at their specified speeds using the new Alien Bees wireless flash units.
If wireless is your problem, try using a PC cord to confirm that, since the cord will have not have problems that a wireless might have.
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Have you ever had problems like this? is it my shutter, or Canon?
Canon only guarantees the 1/250sync speed with their own Speedlites. According to the 1Ds and 1D-II manuals, the fastest guaranteed sync speed for strobes is 1/160, not 1/250, and if you are using cheap wireless flash triggers, maximum sync speed is reduced even further.
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Oh I don't know, my cheap chinese triggers will give me a comfortable 1/160 on my 5D's but the Elinchrom Skyport is said to only hit 1/125 on the same camera.
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Oh I don't know, my cheap chinese triggers will give me a comfortable 1/160 on my 5D's but the Elinchrom Skyport is said to only hit 1/125 on the same camera.
My cheap Chinese triggers are (mis)triggered by my flashes after about 5 minutes of use. Can I assume you are not using small canon strobes with them?
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There's probably a huge range of different cheap chinese radio sets! I have mine plugged into strobes. Never tried them with my 580's to date.
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My own Canon 20D, Cactus V2s cheap wireless triggers, Nikon SB-24 -->> 1/160 limit
My own Canon G9, Cactus V2s cheap wireless triggers, Nikon SB-24 --> 1/640 limit
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My own Canon 20D, Cactus V2s cheap wireless triggers, Nikon SB-24 -->> 1/160 limit
My own Canon G9, Cactus V2s cheap wireless triggers, Nikon SB-24 --> 1/640 limit
My Canon 20D, Cactus V4 cheap wireless triggers, Alien Bees B800 ->> 1/250 limit
My Canon 20D, pc sync cable, Alien Bees B800 ->> 1/320 limit
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My cheap triggers work at full sync on my 5D or 1Ds3 when they are feeling in a good mood - i.e. the 580 or 430 ex batteries are fresh (this is the most critical item). When the strobe batteries start to flatten they can't sync above about 1/125 or even 1/60. The strobes are always fine at max speed if mounted on camera or using the canon ir system.
There is an issue with the 430ex getting false triggers on some chinese sets. There are loads of alleged fixes, but I found that changing channels reduceed it to a very low (and acceotable given the cost) level
Mike
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On my 5D with pocket wizards i got 1/200 with White lightnings fine.
Just got my Mark II today so am yet to test.
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Using Pocket Wizards and Alien Bees I can get 1/250 with my 1Ds and 1D-II.
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Has anyone noticed, that Canon never reaches its specified flash speed?
I have had this problem with any canon i have had - 20d, 5d, 1ds MkII, and now with the 1 Ds Mk III !
The maximum usable sync speed when shooting with flash is 1/125, not the 1/250 as stated in camera specs!!!
See the sample below - shot outside with flash and maximum allowed sync. speed of 1/250 - notice the darkening on the lower part of the frame?
Have you ever had problems like this? is it my shutter, or Canon?
With respect, this looks more like flash falloff, rather than a synch problem. Synch problems are normally evidenced by a much sharper cutoff at the bottom of the frame as in the attachment. This was with a non-Canon flash on my 20D at 1/500. My 380EX synchs fine up to 1/250 with no falloff.
I think that your flash falloff is due to the flash not being aimed at the subject. It looks like an off-camera flash. Do a test by shooting at a wall, like I did.
Cheers
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This is no flash falloff,
here is a test shot with a broncolor ringflash - no falloff here - if I do a test shot, it looks even worse:
shot at 1/250 - which is supposed to be the top sync speed, the first usable with studio strobes is 1/125
with canon speedlites there are no problems - works fine with the high speed sync mode enabled.
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tried the cable - now I can use 1/160 or in some cases 1/200
thanks
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tried the cable - now I can use 1/160 or in some cases 1/200
thanks
Watch out as it has been know that the shooting with the cable can fry your sensor.. Not sure if they changed that on the 5DII or 1DsMIII but I have heard stories.
You need the pocket Wizards MultiMaxes....
Snook
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Not the sensor, but the switch inside the camera that triggers the flash. Some cameras have a 6-volt limit before things go bad.
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Watch out as it has been know that the shooting with the cable can fry your sensor.. Not sure if they changed that on the 5DII or 1DsMIII but I have heard stories.
You need the pocket Wizards MultiMaxes....
Snook
I use the original transmitter, that came with the system -Broncolor RFS
but I still feel screwed - because outdoors there really is difference when shooting with 1/125 or 1/250
Any Nikons have the same issue?
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It's doubtful changing to Nikon would help; the problem is most likely your wireless trigger. I've shot with strobes outside at 1/250 on several occasions, and never had any problems syncing. Here's some samples; check the metadata for particulars, but all involve strobes outside at 1/250.
[attachment=13675:2005_06_12_0070w.jpg] [attachment=13676:2005_07_02_0052w.jpg]
The band portrait was shot with the 1Ds, the car show with the 1D-II.
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noo, not switching to anything - other than this, I ejoy canon, just wanted to know - is it really the transmitter, because, even using the cable, the problem still is there
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This is no flash falloff,
here is a test shot with a broncolor ringflash - no falloff here - if I do a test shot, it looks even worse:
shot at 1/250 - which is supposed to be the top sync speed, the first usable with studio strobes is 1/125
with canon speedlites there are no problems - works fine with the high speed sync mode enabled.
I use Bron with Pocket Wizards and can sync to 1/200th with a 1Ds.
Looking at your samples, the vignette/light fall off looks very gentle; not what I'd expect where a high shutter speed means the flash is catching the second shutter curtain partly covering the sensor. Your test images look more like the syncing is too late or too early. In this case I think it's triggering too late. I think the shutter in a Canon 1D travels down the camera; that is up the image. In your test we are seeing what looks like the rapid rise in brightness of a flash that is being triggered too late. I even guess that it's being triggered about 1/500th (0.002 sec) of a second too late. Does the RFS system/pack you are using have some facility (like the Graphits) to delay triggering? Have you got that turned on?
Just a thought.
Wollom