high speed photography flash

[oakmeadows]

i am new to photography in general but i will eventually get into high speed photography and what i need to know is will the canon 580 ex speedlite do for what i want in the way of a flash.And my last question is i am dabbling with time lapse and instead of timing myself and running upstairs and pressing the shutter is there an electronic version which i can use.I am using a conon eos 350d
Many thanks for any input.:oops:

[Michaelmjc]

The 580 EX is one of the best if not the best flash out on the market... It's extremely fast and I'm sure it will be able to withstand anything you throw at it.

[Osmium]

Depends what you mean by "high speed photography". If you want to take photos of bullets going through various objects, then, let's work it out:

Bullet velocity (say) 500m/sec. Allowable blur in our photo of a bullet (say) 0.1mm.

Therefore the flash duration needs to be about 0.2 microseconds or better. Canon 580EX minimum flash duration (at 1/128 th power) = approx 1/40000 second = 25 microseconds. So, no, the 580EX probably wouldn't suit this application since the bullet would have travelled 12.5mm during the flash exposure.

And, yes, there are gadgets around (intervalometers) which will allow you to take time lapse photos.

[malcolmx]

the high speed flashyou need is not on camera flash it used with dark rooms and bulb settings it uses a sound or infrer-red trigger you can find a kit on www.warehouseexpress .co.uk i cannot tell if the equivalant is availiable elseware

[Titus213]

...And my last question is i am dabbling with time lapse and instead of timing myself and running upstairs and pressing the shutter is there an electronic version which i can use.I am using a conon eos 350d
Many thanks for any input.:oops:

There should be software with the camera that will let you do time lapse from a computer if that helps. I've used it on my 300D with a laptop.

[blinking8s]

or like a flash that fires back to back to back like fast shutter speed...no recycle time?

[Rigrider]

Depends what you mean by "high speed photography". If you want to take photos of bullets going through various objects, then, let's work it out:

Bullet velocity (say) 500m/sec. Allowable blur in our photo of a bullet (say) 0.1mm.

Therefore the flash duration needs to be about 0.2 microseconds or better. Canon 580EX minimum flash duration (at 1/128 th power) = approx 1/40000 second = 25 microseconds. So, no, the 580EX probably wouldn't suit this application since the bullet would have travelled 12.5mm during the flash exposure.

And, yes, there are gadgets around (intervalometers) which will allow you to take time lapse photos.

People like you are the reason I beat up the science dorks in highschool!!!
(j/k....I was a Drama geek, so the science dorks used to beat me up! :p)

Great info but now I have a headache! lol.

L8r,

[Osmium]

Sorry about the headache... http://bestsmileys.com/movingeyes/5.gif

I really am a nerd - I think that NewScientist is the best magazine around and I read it for FUN! ;)