Battery Packs...

[tracknut]

I rarely am allowed to use flash indoors (at dog performance events), but once in a while I can, and would like to. I only have a 580, and frankly use flash rarely enough that I'm not particularly proficient with it. In any event, fundamental to how I shoot is being in Servo mode, taking 3-4 shots in rapid sequence with my MKIIN.

Is there an external battery pack that I can wear on my belt that would provide the capability of these 3-4 shots within a second?

Dave

[RSB]

Short answer, no. Canon makes a pack which holds 8-AA's to go with the 4 in your flash, and Quantum makes a Turbo which is a solid rechargeable. But neither of these will come close to 3-4 flashes per second, no matter how low the power setting. Using the canon pack, and high speed sync, which is a fraction of the output of regular flash, I get maybe 1 flash per second.

[tracknut]

Dang. Thanks for the input Randy.

Dave

[DDCSD]

Short answer, no. Canon makes a pack which holds 8-AA's to go with the 4 in your flash, and Quantum makes a Turbo which is a solid rechargeable. But neither of these will come close to 3-4 flashes per second, no matter how low the power setting. Using the canon pack, and high speed sync, which is a fraction of the output of regular flash, I get maybe 1 flash per second.


This isn't entirely true.

You can easily get 4 shots a second with the flash on 1/4 power. I use the CP-#4 knockoff that I got from Flash Zebra and I just tested it. 4 consecutive flashes with my 20D on 1/4 power and at least 6 straight shots with 1/8 power (filled my buffer). For full power shots, you'll only get about 1 per second though. Using HSS reduces your flash's output, but also uses a lot more power than a regular pop.

The good news is that you really don't need (or want to use) full power. It will heat up your flash head badly and you actually get a much longer flash duration at full power (which is bad for moving subjects, like dogs). 1/4 power will get you quite a bit of light when shot directly.

I bought two of these packs from Lon at Flash Zebra:
http://flashzebra.com/products/0155/index.shtml

[DDCSD]

Here's the results of my tests:
http://www.derekcecilphotography.com/Sharing/Tutorial/Battery-Pack-Test/10638191_bG76W/1/739958413_4zUwA


The first four shots are with the flash set on 1/4 power. The last six are 1/8 power.

[tracknut]

Cool, thanks much Derek, this sounds like a decent answer for me and makes sense! Now I need to spend some serious time learning how to best use the flash...

Dave

[wyofizz]

Take a look at a Better Beamer also. It will get you more distance at lower power settings.

[JDCPA]

I agree that you can get a few shots in a second with the Canon battery pack. It does help to use lesser power, but you probably won't need full power anyway.

[MT Stringer]

Dave, when I switched to strobes for basketball and volleyball, and a speedlight for football, I had to learn all over again how to time a play. I have a lot of volleyball and basketball pics with action, face, but no ball! :-( I was either too slow or too fast on the trigger. Same for football. I missed a few passes being caught and so forth.

With a speedlight, you can shoot in one shot mode/ai servo and follow the action. You should be able to squeeze off 4-6 shots fairly quickly one at a time. That might not be what you are after, but it is an option to consider.

Mike

[hooookup]

Short answer, no. Canon makes a pack which holds 8-AA's to go with the 4 in your flash, and Quantum makes a Turbo which is a solid rechargeable. But neither of these will come close to 3-4 flashes per second, no matter how low the power setting. Using the canon pack, and high speed sync, which is a fraction of the output of regular flash, I get maybe 1 flash per second.

Wrong.
Lumedyne VHUF Ultracycler

http://www.adorama.com/images/Product/LYVHUF.jpg

As a red carpet photographer in Hollywood, sometimes I don't have but a few seconds to capture the celebrities attention and the Lumedyne VHUF provides my 580 with enough juice to power through 10fps without a dark frame.
Im not a fan of the Quantum Turbo series, they aren't as powerful as the VHUF.

[tracknut]

Dave, when I switched to strobes for basketball and volleyball, and a speedlight for football, I had to learn all over again how to time a play. I have a lot of volleyball and basketball pics with action, face, but no ball! :-( I was either too slow or too fast on the trigger. Same for football. I missed a few passes being caught and so forth.

Mike, I appreciate the position, but I shoot dogs exclusively. I have not found any photographers (okay, this may make one pop out of the woodwork) able to do what you're saying, with dog sports. Perhaps I'm just not good enough, but in many cases what's going on with the dogs is not as predictable as you might think. I've been shooting for years, and participating longer than that, and the money shot is often not something that can be seen in advance and timed.

Dave

[dmwierz]

Be aware that firing off too many blasts of any flash will fry your flash tube. Trust me, it doesn't even take THAT many, especially at full power.

Plus, HSS is not the answer if you are using your flash properly. The power is too low and you'll burn your batteries much faster and you'll never overpower the ambient sufficiently to adequate use the flash duration to get 1/800s or faster action stopping capability. HSS also will do nothing to overcome the funky light color cycling and it can often lead to ghosting.

Learn to shoot the right way with artificial light and you'll get MUCH better results, whether you have an external battery pack or not.

From this excellent article: http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1888

This motion stopping ability makes flash duration one of the two most important elements when shooting a moving subject using strobes since most digital cameras will only sync up to 1/250th. It makes no difference if you are in a studio, a sports arena, or shooting outdoors.

The other element that we need to consider is the amount of ambient light that is present. To be able to freeze a fast moving subject you will need the power of the strobes to be great enough to exceed the ambient light by almost 5 stops and still maintain a short flash duration of at least 1/1000th. If you are installing strobes in an arena with good ambient light, 1/800th f2.8 @ 1250 ISO, your strobes will need to meter at least 1/250th f5.6 @ 100 ISO. Depending on the strobe type that you are using you might need to have your strobes turned up to full power which in turn will lengthen the flash duration in order to obtain the 1/250th F5.6 @ 100 ISO meter reading.

FWIW, I have the Quantum Turbo 2x2 and fried my 580 EX flash tube by stupidly firing off around 12 shots in a burst one night (the action got the better of me) - one way around this is to take your camera out of high speed burst mode when shooting with flash, something a learned too late.

[tracknut]

Lumedyne VHUF Ultracycler


Thanks for the pointer - that may be just the unit for me!

Dave