ai3x wrote:
See above. You won't be able to get any current design studio strobe to HSS because of intrinsic design differences which mean it has to recycle between strobes. Effectively it means even the fastest studio strobe can't keep up with HSS.
actually it will work with Alienbees. They're taking advantage of the LONGER DURATION of a burst from an Alienbee. Anyway... search for it... RP posted samples.
TheHoff wrote:
580 EX2 master or nothing it seems if you want manual control.
Exactly. I used it this morning, and I must say it is cool as hell. Get this. My remote flash is a 430ex1, which only has full stop manual control. Well, from the 580mk2 I'm able to control the 430 in 1/3 stop increments, so finer control that the flash comes with!
I'm not the biggest fan of the 580mk2 for burying the Master/Slave control, but I do love this feature.
clarence3 wrote:
I agree that's it's a party trick, but then again, so is real HSS (pulsing from a speedlite)... light is wasted, power is consumed, range is reduced.
AB1600 has a T.1 of 1/600"
So if the party trick allows me to use half of the AlienBee's light output curve to get a shot with SS=1/1200", that's better than not having the option at all.
HSS is less but consistent light due to the pulsing.
AB/RP HSS is less light and inconsistent light, granted you can find a range in the curve that may work better, but it's just more variables.
lisy78 wrote:
actually it will work with Alienbees. They're taking advantage of the LONGER DURATION of a burst from an Alienbee. Anyway... search for it... RP posted samples.
Correct. And at lower power levels (1/16), the AB's are even slower, so RP reduces the power to where the t.5 time is expected to well exceed the SS and sync delays.
So you get a tiny sliver of HSS fill light (with a power output that's sliding down the power ramp as the shutter curtain moves) decreasing with loooow light output.
I suspect my Elinchroms will be even less effective for party trick HSS because their t.1 and t.5 flash durations are much faster than the ABs.
Anyway, enough of the sidetrack... Tony, I appreciate your review, I was just curious why your RP/AB HSS attempt failed.
Lance Lee wrote:
Exactly. I used it this morning, and I must say it is cool as hell. Get this. My remote flash is a 430ex1, which only has full stop manual control. Well, from the 580mk2 I'm able to control the 430 in 1/3 stop increments, so finer control that the flash comes with!
I'm not the biggest fan of the 580mk2 for burying the Master/Slave control, but I do love this feature.
And it is capable of taking it down to 1/128th power.
Lance Lee wrote:
My remote flash is a 430ex1, which only has full stop manual control. Well, from the 580mk2 I'm able to control the 430 in 1/3 stop increments, so finer control that the flash comes with!
Thank you! I had ignored 430s as possible slaves because it only had full stop adjustments. Very useful info there. Too bad it will cost another $400 to put the master on the camera now.
another thing you didn't mention (or I missed?) is how you're attaching them to your flashes. I'm pretty sure they made caddies now (used to be velcro and stuff)... is that what you're using?
lisy78 wrote:
another thing you didn't mention (or I missed?) is how you're attaching them to your flashes. I'm pretty sure they made caddies now (used to be velcro and stuff)... is that what you're using?
Yeah, it's mentioned briefly under 'Stability of Slaves'. I tried not to spend too much time on things that are pretty easily available on the Radio Popper site.
Are you going to try a reciever antenna on your transmitter? Works wonders mate, bouncing with the regular antenna you poke your eye out half the time or knock the thing off (unless you're doing my double velcro and elastic band trick).
Do the radio poppers send the "wake up" signal to your remote speedlites if it has been more than a minute?
That is my biggest gripe about using the cybersyncs... if for whatever reason I need a speedlite on a stand and it sits for more than a minute I have to walk over and hit the ready light, or cycle the power to turn it back on.
MTBtrials wrote:
Great writeup Tony. One other question...
Do the radio poppers send the "wake up" signal to your remote speedlites if it has been more than a minute?
That is my biggest gripe about using the cybersyncs... if for whatever reason I need a speedlite on a stand and it sits for more than a minute I have to walk over and hit the ready light, or cycle the power to turn it back on.
There are custom functions within the flash that disable the "auto-sleep" function. Definitely worth looking into this. I used to have this same issue and it is maddening. Now my flashes will stay on indefinitely.
Thanks Deep Blue... time to break out the manual..
(and FWIW, the last time I had trouble with my flashes I thought that the AF assist beam was broken... turns out that it only fires in one shot or AI sport mode... not AI servo.. I called canon and they helped me troubleshoot that one... I just wanted to share that)
Great write up Tony. Food for thought for me. I am sold on the RP PX system, the only problem is that there is no RP that complies with Australian frequency standards as yet. However PW flex and mini are available for Australia, however i'd have to use the RF sock for the PW's, which is slightly annoying.
