I'm having an issue with side vignetting when I shoot with strobes at 1/200. 1/160 it goes away. Has anyone else experienced this problem? here is a link to what I'm talking about.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremymcknight/3082040132/

thanks,
Jeremy

what focal length?

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 43 mm
ISO Speed: 100

No true sync at 1/200

What does the manual/specs say about flash sync speed?

It will be interesting to see how other 5D2's fare regarding sync speed...

is this with studio strobes? as far as i know, the manual says that sync with strobes is about 1/60 but i had success all the way up to 1/160.

edit: just saw the images and read the image data so just ignore my above post.

This was with 580 EX II triggered by elinchrom skyports

blonde wrote:
is this with studio strobes? as far as i know, the manual says that sync with strobes is about 1/60 but i had success all the way up to 1/160.
That would be my guess too - I've had issues with my 5D needing to be sync'd at 1/160 using studio lights. Gotta be a trigger delay issue. I don't have teh problem with my Elinchrom Ranger and Skyport - the only time was with my other lights and those Chinese radio remotes. So to the OP - what was being fired and how did you fire them?

The 5d I/II has a disabled shutter/sync. The mark 1 will only sync to 1/160th with pocket wizards. It's just a limitation that Canon built into the 5 series. You can step down or up to the 1D2/3 to get 1/250th. This is Canon being Canon, and it sucks.

I just checked it with the flash on the camera and it is perfect at 1/200... this is probably a user error or skyports issue then?

jeremymcknight wrote:
I just checked it with the flash on the camera and it is perfect at 1/200... this is probably a user error or skyports issue then?


again, it is an issue with syncing via pocket wizards/skyports etc.. i never had that issue with my 1D bodies, only with the 5D... your only option is to sync at 1/160 or at 1/250 and just crop that side of the frame.

Whups - fast post above. So it may be the Skyports... try it without a radio trigger... eg a sync cord.

I'm totally ignorant on flash issues, really, but I thought I'd point out that with the 5D2 I noticed that, when using my 580EX, I can now see the flash firing through the viewfinder. On the original 5D, I always had viewfinder blackout during the flash.
Maybe the viewfinder blackout time is reduced for the 5D2 vs the 5D1? Or maybe there is something else at work.
Sorry to distract with what has probably nothing to do with your issue.

blonde wrote:
is this with studio strobes? as far as i know, the manual says that sync with strobes is about 1/60 but i had success all the way up to 1/160.

edit: just saw the images and read the image data so just ignore my above post.

i believe the manual has a typo...1/60 should be 1/160, which is in line with the original 5d as it relates to the use of studio strobes...the speed for syncing with a speedlight is 1/200

My guess would be a delay in the trigger system (slave) as well... try shooting one flash on the hot shoe and see how fast you can go before it darkens the frame.

CMOS wrote:
I'm totally ignorant on flash issues, really, but I thought I'd point out that with the 5D2 I noticed that, when using my 580EX, I can now see the flash firing through the viewfinder. On the original 5D, I always had viewfinder blackout during the flash.
Maybe the viewfinder blackout time is reduced for the 5D2 vs the 5D1? Or maybe there is something else at work.
Sorry to distract with what has probably nothing to do with your issue.

did you check the "viewfiner on during exposure" custom function to make see if it is on or off? actually, the 5D might not have this option (i am thinking of my 1D for some reason).

from the 5DmarkII manual:

"with studio flash units, since the flash duration is longer, set the sync speed within 1/60 sec to 1/30 sec."

blonde wrote:
from the 5DmarkII manual:

"with studio flash units, since the flash duration is longer, set the sync speed within 1/60 sec to 1/30 sec."

It depends on the studio strobe (flash duration etc) and the (wireless) trigger system how fast you can sync with studio strobes. But a max of 1/60 is not good IMO. But anyway, the OP is experiencing troubles with TTL flash. He should get 1/200 according to the manual, but only gets 1/160... So it is probably a delay in the Skyports what is causing this

Also take into consideration that different wireless units have slightly different timing. I use PWs that work great BUT actually have slightly more shutter cutoff than a set of Cybersyncs that I use as well. And this is with speedlights, WLs, Comet packs, Dynalite that I own.

With my 5D I have always been limited to 1/160 with wireless triggers for a clean frame. With my 1Ds, it was 1/200, with my Mamiya AFD it's 1/90, 1/100 on AFDII. All of these are about a 1/3 stop less than rated x-sync. Just the way it is.

Now if you have a PW Multimax you can manually set the delay to the ten thousandths of a second which can offset some shutter cutoff partially or completely. I was able to get a 1DII to sync at 1/320, but that may have been attributed to the 1.3x frame, no way of knowing.

Leaf shutters are still the way to go if high sync is needed, aside from TTL methods.

Folks, it's a 5d shutter design issue. I've spoken to Canon CPS about this issue with the 5d and PW's and it's a limitation of the 5d. They literally said "Go to the 1d if you want 1/250th flash sync with strobes." Canon will always do this dumbing down to protect the 1D, and the 5d2 is no different, so we're stuck with 1/160th.

cineski wrote:
Folks, it's a 5d shutter design issue. I've spoken to Canon CPS about this issue with the 5d and PW's and it's a limitation of the 5d. They literally said "Go to the 1d if you want 1/250th flash sync with strobes." Canon will always do this dumbing down to protect the 1D, and the 5d2 is no different, so we're stuck with 1/160th.

I don't own a 5D2 nor have I read its manual... but IIRC someone stated in this thread that according to the 5D2 manual the flash sync speed is 1/200... Furthermore, the OP gets 1/200 with one flash on the hot shoe... So what is going on here? My bet is still on a delay in the trigger system

Daan B wrote:
cineski wrote:
Folks, it's a 5d shutter design issue. I've spoken to Canon CPS about this issue with the 5d and PW's and it's a limitation of the 5d. They literally said "Go to the 1d if you want 1/250th flash sync with strobes." Canon will always do this dumbing down to protect the 1D, and the 5d2 is no different, so we're stuck with 1/160th.

I don't own a 5D2 nor have I read its manual... but IIRC someone stated in this thread that according to the 5D2 manual the flash sync speed is 1/200... Furthermore, the OP gets 1/200 with one flash on the hot shoe... So what is going on here? My bet is still on a delay in the trigger system


we are confusing sync speed with speedlights and sync speed with strobes. the 5D can sync just fine with a speedlight at 1/200. with strobes, it is much lower.

blonde wrote:
Daan B wrote:
cineski wrote:
Folks, it's a 5d shutter design issue. I've spoken to Canon CPS about this issue with the 5d and PW's and it's a limitation of the 5d. They literally said "Go to the 1d if you want 1/250th flash sync with strobes." Canon will always do this dumbing down to protect the 1D, and the 5d2 is no different, so we're stuck with 1/160th.

I don't own a 5D2 nor have I read its manual... but IIRC someone stated in this thread that according to the 5D2 manual the flash sync speed is 1/200... Furthermore, the OP gets 1/200 with one flash on the hot shoe... So what is going on here? My bet is still on a delay in the trigger system


we are confusing sync speed with speedlights and sync speed with strobes. the 5D can sync just fine with a speedlight at 1/200. with strobes, it is much lower.


Indeed we are

Strobe sync speed: 1/30-1/60
Flash sync speed: 1/200
Flash sync speed with Skyports/PW's: 1/160

How about that for a summary?

This is the same for all cameras. The specified best sync time is for Speedlites only. Anything else including triggers and strobes is slower - usually just 1/3 stop with a fast Elinchrom system.

Daan B wrote:


Indeed we are

Strobe sync speed: 1/30-1/60
Flash sync speed: 1/200
Flash sync speed with Skyports/PW's: 1/160

How about that for a summary?


Not quite right. The 5D, and based on what I know, the 5DII, will sync at 1/200 with on-camera Canon speedlights. Off camera, both strobes and speedlights will sync at up to 1/160 using sync cords or Skyports/PWs.

No way, i used 5D with PW to triger ELs @ 1/200 sec all the time, never had a problem...