Yongnuo like flash with SHORT flash duration (for action)

Hi guys,

I would just like to know if there is a flash out there that's cheap, reliable and sturdy with a SHORT flash duration. I've got a YN-560 at the moment and am happy with it, but the flash duration of 1/200 is way too long for action (night photography).
Any alternatives?

Regards

What are you shooting? Youre a bit confused on how the whole flash thing works. The 1/200th is just the shutter speed that the camera is operating at. The actual flash duration is probably closer to 1/8000th of a second (just a guess) and actually gets shorter as you lower the power on the flash itself. So... what are you shooting that is moving so fast?

The 1/200 number you are referring to is your cameras max flash sync speed which is a physical limitation of your camera governed by your first and second shutter curtains. The 5D II flash sync is around 1/160-1/200 whereas my 7D has a max flash sync speed of 1/320.

That aside, what you need to understand is that when working with flash, your ability to freeze moving objects is no longer dictated by your shutter speed but instead the flash duration. Flash durations vary from one flash to another (significantly) and some units produce the shortest (fastest) durations at full power while others achieve their shortest duration at the lowest power setting.

Watch this to get a better understanding of why your camera has a max flash sync

http://www.markwallace​photography.com …hp?id=13750145&​alb=262294

If you want to shoot faster than your camera's flash sync speed then you'll either need a flash that does HSS (High Speed Sync), or a trigger that supports some variant of Hypersync.

As far as I know there aren't any cheap 3rd party flashes that support HSS. There are cheap triggers that support Hypersync with cheap flashes, although it relies on firing them on full power all the time and it's not as simple as using HSS.

Shane's right. You need to learn the foundation of how flash works. Flash duration and shutter speed are not the same. If you need a faster shutter speed, you need to enable high speed sync. Check out this article.
http://cameradojo.com …lash-101-high-speed-sync/

JakAHearts wrote in post #14398013
What are you shooting? Youre a bit confused on how the whole flash thing works. The 1/200th is just the shutter speed that the camera is operating at. The actual flash duration is probably closer to 1/8000th of a second (just a guess) and actually gets shorter as you lower the power on the flash itself. So... what are you shooting that is moving so fast?

The YN-560 does, in fact, have a very slow duration at full power. I found a review in which this was confirmed by measurement.

SkipD wrote in post #14398091
The YN-560 does, in fact, have a very slow duration at full power. I found a review in which this was confirmed by measurement.

Well don't we feel stupid now! Haha - yup! Confirmed... I just googled it. What a surprise. Although really, I'm not that surprised considering its a $60 unit.

I cant find the article. How slow are we talking?

I found one that states 1/200th at full power. Thats crazy slow. Im still curious on what the OP is shooting at night that needs such a short flash duration.

This seems to suggest 1/640 is fine:

http://betterfamilypho​tos.blogspot.co.uk …-yn-560-flash-update.html

Bearing in mind that that's the full power exposure time - if you're constantly shooting a Yongnuo at full power you're a) going to nail recycle times and b) asking for it to shutdown on you

SkipD wrote in post #14398091
The YN-560 does, in fact, have a very slow duration at full power. I found a review in which this was confirmed by measurement.

This is why I'm asking. I understand how sync speed works, and that's why I was confused at first as well. The flash duration and sync speeds are almost the same, hence the misunderstanding.

I haven't really done any testing myself but I just find that sometimes the flash duration is too long. Should probably dig a little deeper into this.

SJRobbins wrote in post #14398201
This seems to suggest 1/640 is fine:

http://betterfamilypho​tos.blogspot.co.uk …-yn-560-flash-update.html

Bearing in mind that that's the full power exposure time - if you're constantly shooting a Yongnuo at full power you're a) going to nail recycle times and b) asking for it to shutdown on you

I've seen this article, but from what I see I wouldn't say it's 1/640. No data to back this up though.

Does anyone know how I could measure the flash duration?

And thanks everyone for the input!

Tijmen, what are you shooting?

JakAHearts wrote in post #14398720
Tijmen, what are you shooting?

I'm planning on shooting skateboarding at night, but when trying to freeze cars, that was impossible so...

The YN-560 indeed does have 1/200 flash duration at max power (GN58). Speedlights all seem to have slowest flash duration at max power...my Metz 54MZ, whose slowest duration is also at max power, is 1/200 as well. Canon is so secretive about the duration of the 580EXII, it does not bother to include information in the user manual or on the Canon USA web site.

Wilt wrote in post #14414067
The YN-560 indeed does have 1/200 flash duration at max power (GN58). Speedlights all seem to have slowest flash duration at max power...my Metz 54MZ, whose slowest duration is also at max power, is 1/200 as well. Canon is so secretive about the duration of the 580EXII, it does not bother to include information in the user manual or on the Canon USA web site.

It's true most flashes have shorter flash durations when not used at full power, but most speedlights have outputs of 1/800 and faster...

So speedlights and the PCB Einstein use an flash system called IGBT.
As far as flash duration is concerned, these flashes will get slower as you power up.

In contrast, a typical studio strobe (any other PCB strobe, elinchroms, even cheaper Calumet/Flashpoint strobes) gets a faster flash duration as you increase power.

If you want to continue using strobes, you may just have to lower the power as much as possible and bump up the ISO within reason. And get the lights in closer. Speedlights should get some pretty darn fast maximum flash durations, but that only happens at the lower 1/64 ~1/128 region