Alternative way to triger flash

delko wrote in post #14397367
Ok so im not using Hss but it is still used for fill in light, on the hotshoe... Is that te right way though ? Shooting together with ambient light in the outdoors?

There's no "right way" to do it, but shooting ambient with a flash to fill in the shadows is certainly one "valid" way to do it. Another is to drop the ambient right down with a high shutter speed, then light the subject yourself with (potentially multiple) off camera flashes.

All depends on what you want, there's no one "correct" exposure with flash.

^^^ Agree with SJRobbins. The one other comment is that fill flash does not have to be in the hot shoe. You can also use off-camera wireless flash for fill triggered by your 60D, and that often produces a more pleasing photo.

SJRobbins wrote in post #14397393
There's no "right way" to do it, but shooting ambient with a flash to fill in the shadows is certainly one "valid" way to do it. Another is to drop the ambient right down with a high shutter speed, then light the subject yourself with (potentially multiple) off camera flashes.

All depends on what you want, there's no one "correct" exposure with flash.

Generally, it's a better idea to kill the ambient with smaller apertures or an ND filter. Using fast shutter speeds to kill ambient light outdoors will quickly run you into synch speed problems. With off camera strobes, you may only be able to raise your shutter speed to 1/160-1/200 before sync issues start to show up (depending on the strobes).

However, if your flash has the ability to use HSS, then using faster shutter speeds is a better way to kill the ambient. Yes, switching to HSS will rob you of a stop, and each time you increase your shutter speed by a stop you'll be losing a stop of flash power, but bear in mind that you're also opening your aperture by a stop each time, so you get that flash power back.

And, if you're not monetarily challenged, you can 'gang' speedlites to make up for the power loss with HSS. Also, you won't lose your subject and focus in a dark viewfinder as you would with a neutral density filter when you want to shoot with a large aperture.

Ah. The "Tree of Woe."

jra wrote in post #14400951
Generally, it's a better idea to kill the ambient with smaller apertures or an ND filter. Using fast shutter speeds to kill ambient light outdoors will quickly run you into synch speed problems. With off camera strobes, you may only be able to raise your shutter speed to 1/160-1/200 before sync issues start to show up (depending on the strobes).

Sorry, disagree with this. I'd set the faster shutter speed you can sync to, then if you need to kill even more light you can either use an ND filter, HSS/HyperSync, or use smaller apertures and increase flash power to the point you have no power left, or can't handle the long recycle times.

SJRobbins wrote in post #14403230
Sorry, disagree with this. I'd set the faster shutter speed you can sync to, then if you need to kill even more light you can either use an ND filter, HSS/HyperSync, or use smaller apertures and increase flash power to the point you have no power left, or can't handle the long recycle times.

The trouble with using ND filters is this. Let's say you set your SS to flash synch (1/250). Your aperture is 5.6, and you want an extra four stops wider, to 1.4. You put four stops of ND filters on your lens, and all of a sudden, your flash is four stops weaker.

BUT...

If you switch to HSS, then you set your aperture to f1.4. You then use your shutter speed to kill the ambient instead of the ND filters. This requires you to set 1/4000 SS. Your flash loses a stop or two by pulsing the light instead of a single burst, and for each stop you increase your shutter speed, the flash loses an additional stop. But your aperture is opened up by four stops, which mitigates your loss of flash power. The overall loss of flash power is offset by the wider apertures, so you'll only ever lose a stop or two.

So, with ND filters, you can lose quite a few stops of flash power. With HSS, that loss is minimal.

Tiberius47 wrote in post #14422214
The trouble with using ND filters is this. Let's say you set your SS to flash synch (1/250). Your aperture is 5.6, and you want an extra four stops wider, to 1.4. You put four stops of ND filters on your lens, and all of a sudden, your flash is four stops weaker.

BUT...

If you switch to HSS, then you set your aperture to f1.4. You then use your shutter speed to kill the ambient instead of the ND filters. This requires you to set 1/4000 SS. Your flash loses a stop or two by pulsing the light instead of a single burst, and for each stop you increase your shutter speed, the flash loses an additional stop. But your aperture is opened up by four stops, which mitigates your loss of flash power. The overall loss of flash power is offset by the wider apertures, so you'll only ever lose a stop or two.

So, with ND filters, you can lose quite a few stops of flash power. With HSS, that loss is minimal.

You're forgetting that you open the aperture with the ND filter as well. So the ND is always 1 to 2 stops ahead of HSS.

The easiest way to think of ND's is nothing changes but the depth of field.

(it can be like shooting through a full coke bottle though).

Tiberius47 wrote in post #14422214
So, with ND filters, you can lose quite a few stops of flash power. With HSS, that loss is minimal.

With ND filters you can open up the aperture too, but you're making the huge assumption that a) people have lenses that fast, b) the subject can be shot with such a tiny DoF and c) people have HSS

HSS, Hypersync, ND filters and balancing exposure with shutter speed, aperture and flash power - they're all tools in your toolbox to learn and use as appropriate. Photography would be very boring if there was one setup to use every time