Smaller HSS capable flashes

Hi,

Despite having a Nissin Di866 II I don't find I use it all that much and I'm thinking it may be down to the physical size.

When I'm out that I often use the 70-200 2.8 but for whatever reason seem to end up doing a lot of post production work to light the face, to me the obvious choice here is to use flash fill, especially as my kids move about ALOT!! That would be the reason for wanting HSS too.

Sadly a simple reflector is out of the question unless someone can figure out a way to tether it to the kids and keep it out of shot while they rush about like nutters

Can you suggestion a good flash for this and also with the studio setup as a slave (to be mounted on YN 622C's)

Thanks.

You lose so much power using HSS that its almost impractical on a full sized full power flash, using a smaller less powerful flash in HSS mode would be nearly useless. You must have some amazingly fast kids that 1/200 sync speed plus flash duration wont stop.

lol, you'd be amazed... or more likely I don't know how to use my flash properly

I've heard it said that flash will freeze action, but under non-flash circumstances 200 and below will result in unwanted blur.

Heres an example of the sort of thing I would want to do:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/magsnorton/7996​508076/

With no exif its difficult to say. That shot might be a candidate for HSS flash, but it would require a full sized full power one to do the trick. HSS costs you at least a stop of power, and then more so as shutter speed goes up. You have to be close and you need all the power you can get. Time to man up and use your larger flash.

id say... 580ex, 580exII, 430ex, 430exII, YN568ex

Sorry, I only recently disabled the exif having added the bit at the bottom of the image.

Maybe you;re right - time to man up, but its still a pain to log about.

I was shooting a wedding outside Saturday.
600EX-RT in HSS was showing a usable range out to about 40ft at ISO 100, Av F5.6 and the shutter speed was floating around 1/320. I was using 24-105 and 700-200.

580EXII should accomplish the same thing.

HSS is one idea, another idea is to turn the kids into a white walled/ceiling room and use the bounce of the flash - it does make for some great light, and you don't have to tether the kids or anything else down.. just lock the door. If you can find a nice light wall next to a play area in the shade, this also may work, with some trial and error (and a white balance setting)

Just to clarify for al the people PMing me - yes the above image is mine.

gonzogolf wrote in post #15036565
You lose so much power using HSS that its almost impractical on a full sized full power flash, using a smaller less powerful flash in HSS mode would be nearly useless. You must have some amazingly fast kids that 1/200 sync speed plus flash duration wont stop.

Well I tried using flash at a slower speed to freeze the action and this was the result

John_N wrote in post #15053713
Well I tried using flash at a slower speed to freeze the action and this was the result

The settings were:

Focal length: 165.0mm
Exposure time: 0.0080 s (1/125)
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO equiv.: 100
Flash used: Yes (manual)
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: pattern
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual

Yes, when I said that I was assuming flash as the primary light. Flash duration only helps when its about 2 stops brighter than the ambient. For fill it doesnt work.

I think I'm beginning to see why there are so few good pictures of kids running!