Can I Make HSS Work With A Monolight With My Gear

I was wondering if it was possible to trigger a monolights using any combination of the following gear:
Nissin Di866 mkII
YN-560
Cactus v5
ST-E2
optical slaves

If not, what other options are there besides using TTL triggers(radio poppers, tt5,etc)?

All except the ST-E2 will trigger a monolight by using the monolights in-built optical slave or by adding a receiver in the case of the Cactus v5. For HSS the monolight needs to have a longish flash duration and this is normally only achieved at full power. It does depend on what monolight you chose to use.

PhotographersWorldWide wrote in post #14397545
All except the ST-E2 will trigger a monolight by using the monolights in-built optical slave or by adding a receiver in the case of the Cactus v5. For HSS the monolight needs to have a longish flash duration and this is normally only achieved at full power. It does depend on what monolight you chose to use.

Wrong. HSS and Hypersync (Pocket Wizard technology) essentially accomplish the same thing but in different ways. It is important not to get them mixed up. HSS is a speedlight-only technology. Moonlights are not capable of HSS. However, studio monolights and heads can achieve above x-sync speeds via PW's Hypersync technology.

To learn more:

http://wiki.pocketwiza​rd.com …rSync_and_High_​Speed_Sync

ChadAndreo wrote in post #14397073
I was wondering if it was possible to trigger a monolights using any combination of the following gear:
Nissin Di866 mkII
YN-560
Cactus v5
ST-E2
optical slaves

If not, what other options are there besides using TTL triggers(radio poppers, tt5,etc)?

Precisely what are you asking about? Your thread title specifically asks about "HSS" which is Canon's "High Speed Sync" mode for their Speedlites. That mode is different from what any monolight can do.

When functioning in HSS, a Speedlite actually emits a very rapid string of very short flash pulses. In effect, it is producing "continuous" light for the illumination during the entire shutter travel time.

There are some experimental tricks that have been discussed here to get certain monolights, triggered with certain hardware, to allow very high shutter speeds to be used. The problem that is common to all of these solutions (typically called "hypersync") is that there is no flash meter in the world that can provide information for the exposure settings in the camera. Using "hypersync" is purely a trial-and-error thing.

SkipD wrote in post #14397978
Precisely what are you asking about? Your thread title specifically asks about "HSS" which is Canon's "High Speed Sync" mode for their Speedlites. That mode is different from what any monolight can do.

When functioning in HSS, a Speedlite actually emits a very rapid string of very short flash pulses. In effect, it is producing "continuous" light for the illumination during the entire shutter travel time.

There are some experimental tricks that have been discussed here to get certain monolights, triggered with certain hardware, to allow very high shutter speeds to be used. The problem that is common to all of these solutions (typically called "hypersync") is that there is no flash meter in the world that can provide information for the exposure settings in the camera. Using "hypersync" is purely a trial-and-error thing.

Well said!

SO...there is no way at all to trigger a monolight above 1/250th? execpt using pocket wizards?

chrisandaivi wrote in post #14399290
SO...there is no way at all to trigger a monolight above 1/250th? execpt using pocket wizards?

Do you understand how a focal plane shutter works? This is critically important to understanding how to synchronize a flash source with our Canon SLRs.

Yes... I was just wondering

chrisandaivi wrote in post #14399591
Yes... I was just wondering

The "max sync speed" for a focal plane shutter is the fastest shutter speed that will have the entire film/sensor area uncovered by the shutter at the same time. At shutter speeds faster than the "max sync speed", the trailing shutter is already closing off the first part of the film/sensor area before the leading shutter has fully uncovered the last of the film/sensor area.

For any light source (flash or otherwise) to illuminate the whole film/sensor area at shutter speeds faster than the "max sync speed", the light source must be on (and at a constant light level) during the whole travel time of the shutter curtains/blades. For conventional flash sources, this is an extremely difficult thing to do.

All except the ST-E2 will trigger a monolight by using the monolights in-built optical slave or by adding a receiver in the case of the Cactus v5. For HSS the monolight needs to have a longish flash duration and this is normally only achieved at full power. It does depend on what monolight you chose to use.

Aressem wrote in post #14397946
Wrong. HSS and Hypersync (Pocket Wizard technology) essentially accomplish the same thing but in different ways. It is important not to get them mixed up. HSS is a speedlight-only technology. Moonlights are not capable of HSS. However, studio monolights and heads can achieve above x-sync speeds via PW's Hypersync technology.

Where did I mention Hypersync? I didn't.

I don't have PW's and I can sync at up to 1/8000s, - so because I don't have PW's I'm not using Hypersync, and I'm not using HSS or FP mode at all, I prefer to retain my flash output. I can do it with optical slaves, I can do it with radios, I can do it with sync cables. Its all down to the shutter timing in the camera and using the correct light source. Hell, I can even do it with flashbulbs!

Monolights (I don't know what moonlights are) with longer flash durations are easily capable of this, particularly with longer flash durations as I pointed out - and no special equipment with fancy names attached to them.. after all this technique has been around a LONG time before PW thought of giving it a name , slapping it in a box and selling it.

So where exactly am I wrong?

PhotographersWorldWide wrote in post #14400197
All except the ST-E2 will trigger a monolight by using the monolights in-built optical slave or by adding a receiver in the case of the Cactus v5. For HSS the monolight needs to have a longish flash duration and this is normally only achieved at full power. It does depend on what monolight you chose to use.

Where did I mention Hypersync? I didn't.

I don't have PW's and I can sync at up to 1/8000s, - so because I don't have PW's I'm not using Hypersync, and I'm not using HSS or FP mode at all, I prefer to retain my flash output. I can do it with optical slaves, I can do it with radios, I can do it with sync cables. Its all down to the shutter timing in the camera and using the correct light source. Hell, I can even do it with flashbulbs!

Monolights (I don't know what moonlights are) with longer flash durations are easily capable of this, particularly with longer flash durations as I pointed out - and no special equipment with fancy names attached to them.. after all this technique has been around a LONG time before PW thought of giving it a name , slapping it in a box and selling it.

So where exactly am I wrong?

You said...

PhotographersWorldWide wrote in post #14397545
For HSS the monolight needs to have a longish flash duration and this is normally only achieved at full power. It does depend on what monolight you chose to use.

I never said that you said anything about Hypersync. You did, however, mention monolight and HSS in the same sentence. Monolights are not capable of HSS unless I am mistaken.

That aside, I'll be the first to admit that I certainly don't know it all. I'd like to know more about how you manage 1/8000 with a studio strobe and no Hypersync. Please elaborate

Aressem wrote in post #14401358
That aside, I'll be the first to admit that I certainly don't know it all. I'd like to know more about how you manage 1/8000 with a studio strobe and no Hypersync. Please elaborate

So, not wrong then... and there's me thinking you were some self appointed expert, eager to point out I was wrong and pointing me to where I could learn more about Hypersync - which I never mentioned.. but you did..(?)

The question was: 'Can I Make HSS Work With A Monolight With My Gear'. No mention of using the monolight in any HSS pulsing mode was ever mentioned, only the two working together. This is easily done, doesn't need any PW Hypersync and is easy to achieve.

This is possible as I stated, if an appropriate monolight or flash is used with a suitably long flash duration. By suitably long, something in the region of 4-8ms; 4ms being near optimal for 1/8000s sync and 8ms being near optimal for 1/320s sync. This translates to a duration of 1/250-1/125s (approx). Other shorter duration flash units can work and results vary.

All thats needed is a catalyst to switch the camera so that it sends a sync signal just as/before the first curtain begins to open rather than the two most common points when either the shutter is first fully open (front curtain sync), or before the rear curtain starts to close (rear curtain sync).

On older cameras (way before PW introduced the term 'Hypersync') there was a sync switch which would do this, it was marked FP or B. Unlike with older cameras, modern cameras don't have that switch so you need to manipulate the camera to this sync position. You do that by various methods depending on your camera, the simplest form is by fitting a HSS or FP capable device to the hotshoe with your camera and flash set to use higher x-sync speeds and with your on camera flash set to low Manual output (unless its contribution is required) - then you use the resulting sync from either the flash or a sync socket to trigger your remote monolight. If you're fortunate enough to have a TTL radio trigger (other than PW), then these can work too.

To trigger this, as I said, optical slaves work, radio devices work, sync cables work, and this even works with Speedlites / Speedlights not set to any HSS or FP mode setting using full output.

ChadAndreo wrote in post #14397073
I was wondering if it was possible to trigger a monolights using any combination of the following gear:
Nissin Di866 mkII
YN-560
Cactus v5
ST-E2
optical slaves

If not, what other options are there besides using TTL triggers(radio poppers, tt5,etc)?

You can try tail method "hypersync" by putting the Di866 on the camera hotshoe set manual power and HSS, and have that trigger the monolights optic slave.

But outside thats often not practical so you could try with the V5 transmitter attached to an optic slave (to the Di866 on camera, set to HSS)

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/15168416@N00/4​884983486/

I have tried that method with no luck. HSS only works in ETTL mode and the preflashes trigger the V5s prematurely even with the canon specific optical trigger from flash zebra.
Hopefully there is a way to make that setup work like it has for others with the 580.

Your Nissin Di866 mkII has an x-sync socket. Can't your V5's just plug into that to obtain a sync signal?

What monolight are you using?