1/200 max speed when flash on? (300D)

[timmyquest]

This is bothering me, will i be able to use faster shutter speeds when i get a 550EX?

It just seems like being limited to such a slow speed would make it hard to do certain things...

[robertwgross]

For the 550EX in normal flash mode, you are limited to the normal maximum sync speed, like 1/200.

However, if you select the 550EX into high speed sync mode, you can go much faster. In high speed mode, it puts out a series of less powerful flash pulses, so intensity is diminished and range is diminished.

---Bob Gross---

[Jim Larson]

Is the 300D capable of high speed sync?

I know that high speed sync can be *set* on the flash, but the body must also be able to support the function.

[dtrayers]

Is the 300D capable of high speed sync?


Yes, the body supports it if the flash does.

[GenEOS]

Hmm, this post has my interest. Are all of you telling me that with a 550EX on a Drebel or 10DD that the flash will sync at above 1/200th? If so, why would the list the effective sync at a max of 1/200th when the 550 EX flash is a standard flash unit that would be used with it. Seems to me that would be listed in the manual for the cameras. I was under the impression that the 1D and 1Ds where the only digitals syning at up to 1/500th ?? Am I wrong.

[dtrayers]

This explains it better than I can... Go to the FP section:

http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/#fp

[MHaberman]

Hi Guys,

I just received my 420EX today and just tried the high speed sync with my 10D...

Set the camera to <Tv> ISO100 and shutter speed=1/4000, room was almost totally dark except for small desk lamp behind me. Camera captured the photo at 1/4000, Exposure wasn't real great and now I am seeing spots, but hey it worked right... :shock:

If the High speed sync is turned off, the camera drops down to 1/200s when the shutter button is depressed.

Hope this helps clarify things...
-Matt

[Scottes]

Interesting article on high-speed sync flash: http://webs.lanset.com/rcochran/flash/hss.html

Guy ran a test and showed how HSS is slower than regular flash.... Depends on the situation I'd say.

[robertwgross]

This seems counter-intuitive to many users. Normally, the normal maximum sync speed on a camera is 1/200 or something. If you use a flash unit in normal flash mode, then that is the fastest shutter that you can use and still get the light on the exposed frame. The actual period of the light from the flash is typically much faster, like 1/10,000, and it hits sometime during the 1/200 shutter.

Now, you can push the shutter speed faster than that, up to the maximum speed of the camera, like 1/2000 or 1/4000, but you must go to high speed sync mode on the flash unit. This causes multiple bursts of light. They collectively splatter into the frame during the shutter time.

If you were trying to "freeze the wings on a hummingbird", then (without flash) you can go to 1/2000 or 1/4000 shutter, and that would be fine if there were plenty of light. However, if light were dim and you need some flash, you could go to high speed flash mode to use those fast shutter speeds. However, the multiple light blasts are going to be splattered all over the frame. You end up getting anything from solidly blurred wings to a multiple-exposure effect (neither intended).

If you are still working on the hummingbird, then try to shoot with the normal max sync speed on the camera, like 1/200, and set up for a single normal flash pulse, which is still something like 1/10,000. It seems to do the best job of stopping the wing motion, at least for the little hummers that fly around here.

I've seen other results where the photographer rigged up a strobe that was not synched to anything. He simply fired away repeatedly with enough fast shutter frames that eventually he got one hummingbird perfectly frozen in mid-air. You can do that with digital, but it would be expensive to do it with film.

---Bob Gross---

[timmyquest]

I'm not so concerned with humming birds as i am with say, a football player diving into the endzone at night.

An f/2.8 lens is pretty much out of the question so i figured a 550EX would help with the amount of light, but if 1/200 is the fastest i can go with a flash then i have to wonder about the crispness of my shots.

When i get my flash i'll look a little deeper into it.

[robertwgross]

In a lot of sports, photographers are prohibited from shooting flash pictures. There is too much chance that the flash will startle the competitor at a critical momen, and the competitor will stumble.

I would hate to see you dragged out of a football stadium because you did not check with the officials and coaches in advance.

For this reason, the real professional photographers covering a night football game will try to go as far as they can with bright stadium lighting and a very fast lens. Note that the concept of a very fast lens goes counter to the concept of a very long lens.

---Bob Gross---

[Jim_T]

FWIW... Here's a good page explaining high speed flash sync..

http://webs.lanset.com/rcochran/flash/hss.html

[robertwgross]

FWIW... Here's a good page explaining high speed flash sync..

http://webs.lanset.com/rcochran/flash/hss.html

That is what Scottes told us just a few posts ago.

---Bob Gross---

[timmyquest]

In a lot of sports, photographers are prohibited from shooting flash pictures. There is too much chance that the flash will startle the competitor at a critical momen, and the competitor will stumble.

I would hate to see you dragged out of a football stadium because you did not check with the officials and coaches in advance.

For this reason, the real professional photographers covering a night football game will try to go as far as they can with bright stadium lighting and a very fast lens. Note that the concept of a very fast lens goes counter to the concept of a very long lens.

---Bob Gross---

Yeah i know, i've seen plenty of photographers take flash photography at my football games. None the less i'd still talk with the refs.