Why Would I need a FP mode (High Speed Sync)

[iseeihear]

I think exposing a scene in slow sync gives a good balance of the subject and ambient light of background. For example, night portriate. Of course I may need a tripod.

But what would HP mode give me? Ability to shoot without a tripod?

[In2Photos]

How about the ability to use flash in bright daylight but still use a large aperture to blur the background? Need a fast shutter speed to freeze action but still want to use fill flash?

[AginKajun]

I think exposing a scene in slow sync gives a good balance of the subject and ambient light of background. For example, night portriate. Of course I may need a tripod.

But what would HP mode give me? Ability to shoot without a tripod?

You would need it in daylight situations for fill flash if you were wanting to keep your aperature full open or almost full open for blurred background or to stop action with higher shutter speeds.

[iseeihear]

Sorry I still don't understand.

In bright dayligh I use large aperture to get a narrow DOF, but would a normal flash do the fill flash job?

[bieber]

A large aperture in daylight will give you a really fast shutter speed, well beyond your normal flash-sync limit.

[In2Photos]

Sorry I still don't understand.

In bright dayligh I use large aperture to get a narrow DOF, but would a normal flash do the fill flash job?
Like bieber said the shutter will be too high for normal sync speed.

Using the sunny 16 rule:

f/16, ISO 100, 1/100 -> f/4 (which is not very large), ISO 100, 1/1600

Normal sync speed is 1/200 for the Rebel series, 1/250 for almost everything else except the 1D which was 1/500, and the new MKIII which is 1/300.

[shutterfiend]

I haven't actually tried this but I think you can use brust mode with flash in FP mode. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

[iseeihear]

Oh I see now.

I did not notice all my previous fill flash photos in daylight have not filled.

[e r y k]

mmm i was about to start a thread, i have an xti, if im shooting ettl, do i still need to enable HSS? or will it do it itself?

it doesnt seem to be limiting me to any shutter speed. i can go well beyond 1/200 on my camera and the flash still works. am i doing soemthing wrong?

[Curtis N]

Eryk,

If you're using the camera's built-in flash, high speed sync is not an option. If you set a shutter speed too fast, the camera will change the shutter speed to 1/200 when you take the shot. Check the EXIF on your flashed images.

If you have an attached flash unit with high speed sync capability, you need to enable it on the flash unit. The flash will use HSS only if the shutter speed requires it.

[e r y k]

thanks curtis :) my 430ex just came in. im trying to read up on it as the manual doesnt seem to be sufficient.

lots of good links in your sig btw! thanks.

[bieber]

I haven't actually tried this but I think you can use brust mode with flash in FP mode. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

You can use burst mode if the flash is putting out a small enough amount of light, always, regardless of mode.

[shutterfiend]

You can use burst mode if the flash is putting out a small enough amount of light, always, regardless of mode.

Thanks. I was trying to shoot people jumping off the diving board last weekend at a pool party. I didn't have my flash/bracket with me so I tried to fill with the on-camera flash. Burst mode didn't work. I should try it with the 580.

[In2Photos]

Thanks. I was trying to shoot people jumping off the diving board last weekend at a pool party. I didn't have my flash/bracket with me so I tried to fill with the on-camera flash. Burst mode didn't work. I should try it with the 580.
There is no burst mode with the on-board. I believe the problem you experienced there was that the flash did not recycle fast enough to keep up with the burst of the shutter. The 580 will work in this situation if there is enough power left to fire the additional shots (stroboscopic mode is the correct term I believe for this).

[shutterfiend]

That explains it, Thanks!

[Curtis N]

The 580 will work in this situation if there is enough power left to fire the additional shots (stroboscopic mode is the correct term I believe for this).Stroboscopic flash is a feature of some flash units that fires the flash several times during a single exposure, at a predetermined frequency.

This is different from using normal or FP flash while shooting in burst mode.

[In2Photos]

Stroboscopic flash is a feature of some flash units that fires the flash several times during a single exposure, at a predetermined frequency.

This is different from using normal or FP flash while shooting in burst mode.
Yes I know. I was respondng to this post which mentioned a "burst". Perhaps I did not explain it very well.
Thanks. I was trying to shoot people jumping off the diving board last weekend at a pool party. I didn't have my flash/bracket with me so I tried to fill with the on-camera flash. Burst mode didn't work. I should try it with the 580.

[shutterfiend]

Yes, I did try stroboscopic once. Had the camera on a tripod with a remote trying out my new round-house kick! (Fortunately, I was alone in the house at that time). I set my camera to f/8 and 2 second. The stroboscopic was 5/sec. I managed to get a few ghost images before my batteries died. But nowhere as nice as some I've seen in magazines and on-line.