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Better high ISO perfromance sensors and the future of str...

Diavolo
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p.1 #1 · Better high ISO perfromance sensors and the future of strobes?

With new cameras getting better and better ISO performance, does anyone envision a slow move towards more continuous light set-ups like Kino Flo and moving away from strobes? I think that with better high ISO performance my preference may move more towards wanting to use continuous light. I like the WYSIWYG. Sure, there are modeling lamps but nothing beats seeing it as it is. Heat is obviously an issue and that's why I listed Kino Flo.

Sep 27, 2012 at 01:50 PM

jzucker
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p.1 #2 · Better high ISO perfromance sensors and the future of strobes?

not only heat but pupil size.

Sep 27, 2012 at 04:16 PM

rico
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p.1 #3 · Better high ISO perfromance sensors and the future of strobes?

The benchmark continuous light source is our sun, but it will be a long, long time before artificial light can compare. One obstacle is broadband spectrum: only blackbody radiation @ 5000K gets a proper color response from the subject. Other "daylight" sources have spikes to comprise their spectrum. Another obstacle is the size of light source: xenon flash is very close to a point source which allows flexible modification. The panel designs of fluorescent tubes and LEDs do not support hard light.

The sheer power of flash and its motion-stopping capability is matched by direct sunlight, but we often avoid such sunlight for the attendant discomforts (heat, glare in the eyes). An artificial sun in the studio doesn't sound much better.

Sep 28, 2012 at 05:01 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #4 · Better high ISO perfromance sensors and the future of strobes?

rico wrote:

The sheer power of flash and its motion-stopping capability is matched by direct sunlight, but we often avoid such sunlight for the attendant discomforts (heat, glare in the eyes). An artificial sun in the studio doesn't sound much better.

Except for winter in cleveland.

Sep 28, 2012 at 11:11 AM

RDKirk
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p.1 #5 · Better high ISO perfromance sensors and the future of strobes?

Diavolo wrote:
With new cameras getting better and better ISO performance, does anyone envision a slow move towards more continuous light set-ups like Kino Flo and moving away from strobes? I think that with better high ISO performance my preference may move more towards wanting to use continuous light. I like the WYSIWYG. Sure, there are modeling lamps but nothing beats seeing it as it is. Heat is obviously an issue and that's why I listed Kino Flo.

Well, back in the early 70s I was shooting in a tungsten-powered studio with medium format cameras. I had 3000 watts of tungsten light (1000 watts in the main light). That light gave me f5.6 at 1/60 on ASA (!) 400 film.

Today, I'm getting the same image quality in a 24x36mm DSLR at ISO 100, but with electronic flash I can shoot at f/11 and an effective shutter speed of 1/1000.

We're still a long way from getting cold light into a package as small and powerful as a 1000 watt tungsten bulb, but let's say we did. I'd be shooting at f/5.6 and 1/250 at ISO 1600...and we're probably a long way from having ISO 1600 quality that is as good as ISO 100 today.

But to get to where I already am with electronic flash--f/11 at 1/1000-- with the lumen equivalent of that tungsten 1000 watt bulb, I'd actually have to have ISO 6400 that is the equivalent of today's ISO 100.

Sep 28, 2012 at 09:17 PM

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