flash sync speed

i have a canon xt with a sync speed of 1/200. if i try to use a flash with a better beamer with a shutter speed over 1/200 will that not work? i was hopeing to be able to shoot at around 1/400 due to handheld. what are my options?

Nope. it's not about flash power. it's about the shutter itself and how it mechanically works at faster speeds. At faster speeds part of the shutter is still in front of the sensor for the duration of the flash itself.

...so if you had something that would extend the duration of the flash, that would help you shoot at faster shutter sppeds.

Another option would be to use high speed sync which essentially fires of a burst of lower power flashes to endure the whole travel time of the shutter... but it's lower power flash.

Why do you need a faster shutter speed? When using flash, you use it to freeze action, not shutter speed.

mrbass111 wrote in post #5935115
i have a canon xt with a sync speed of 1/200. if i try to use a flash with a better beamer with a shutter speed over 1/200 will that not work? i was hopeing to be able to shoot at around 1/400 due to handheld. what are my options?

What kind of flash do you have? Does it support High Speed Sync? If so, there's no reason you can't shoot at 1/200, 1/400 or whatever shutter speed you want to use as long as HSS is turned on if the shutter speed is faster than 1/200.

Gatorboy wrote in post #5935149
Why do you need a faster shutter speed? When using flash, you use it to freeze action, not shutter speed.

Usually that doesn't apply when using the flash in broad daylight or when the ambient light is contributing significantly to the exposure.

Gatorboy wrote in post #5935149
Why do you need a faster shutter speed? When using flash, you use it to freeze action, not shutter speed.

i shoot handheld. and need the higher shutter speed to eliminate hand shake.

mrbass111 wrote in post #5935472
i shoot handheld. and need the higher shutter speed to eliminate hand shake.

IF your flash is the main light source contributing to the exposure then the duration of the flash becomes the effective shutter speed...which is extremely fast so no worries about hand-held steadyness at lower shutters. Think about this extreme example. You are in a cave, no ambient light. You set the shutter for 30 seconds. You use a flash. You take a picture. The flash goes off. The shutter is open. You take the camera by the strap and swing it around in circles while the shutter is open. The shutter closes. You look at the image and it looks fine, no motion blur. This is because the flash provided all the light and the rest of the time the shutter was open there was no light to expose the sensor. This same thing is true in a much less dramatic sense when you take any image with a dependance on flash for the main exposing light source.

If, however, you are using flash more as a fill and depending on the ambient for most of the exposure then you should be able to use high speed sync mode if your flash has that mode.

hey ron, thanks alot. that made sense to me. i guess ill just have to get out in the field and see what happens.

PacAce wrote in post #5935295
What kind of flash do you have? Does it support High Speed Sync? If so, there's no reason you can't shoot at 1/200, 1/400 or whatever shutter speed you want to use as long as HSS is turned on if the shutter speed is faster than 1/200.

Combining HSS with a better beamer is kind of going two directions at once. The beamer modestly increases flash range while the HSS drastically reduces it.

I second trying to eliminate ambient light from the image first to see if you can freeze everything with the flash.

JeffreyG wrote in post #5935959
Combining HSS with a better beamer is kind of going two directions at once. The beamer modestly increases flash range while the HSS drastically reduces it.

I second trying to eliminate ambient light from the image first to see if you can freeze everything with the flash.

I use the better beamer with the camera set to HSS mode all the time when shooting birds. I don't see where there's a conflict with using the BB with the flash set to HSS mode. The purpose of the BB in my case is to concentrate the light to better match the focal lengths of the telephoto lenses I'm using.

PacAce wrote in post #5936284
I use the better beamer with the camera set to HSS mode all the time when shooting birds. I don't see where there's a conflict with using the BB with the flash set to HSS mode. The purpose of the BB in my case is to concentrate the light to better match the focal lengths of the telephoto lenses I'm using.

I agree that BB will help when used in conjunction with HSS, but I think the help will be slight.

Dermit wrote in post #5936301
I agree that BB will help when used in conjunction with HSS, but I think the help will be slight.

I think you're missing the point about the BB and HSS. Sometimes, you have no choice but to use fast shutter speeds. Have you ever tried shooting at f/2.8 or f/4 in broad daylight in Av mode?

PacAce wrote in post #5936355
I think you're missing the point about the BB and HSS. Sometimes, you have no choice but to use fast shutter speeds. Have you ever tried shooting at f/2.8 or f/4 in broad daylight in Av mode?

No, actually I totally understand about it. About 75% of my paid shoots are outdoor on location and I ALWAYS use flash. And if you note where I shoot (Arizona) the sun is always extreme. So I absolutely know about and constantly use HSS. My flashes are set to HSS most of the time. My shutter speeds are almost always faster than the sync.

The point I was making was more about using the BB than it was about using HSS at faster shutters. And that is where I do not have any experience, but I am guessing that shooting through a BB vs not shooting through one at HSS is not going to be a night and day difference when it comes to how much light gets to the subject. I guess it would depend a lot on the circumstance, but i am guessing that the effect would be slight. The OP was more or less asking if he could double his shutter speed from 1/200 to 1/400 if he used a BB. I doubt that would be the case in HSS mode, but then again, I have not used a BB so i don't know for sure. Just seems like not. But it definitely will not work if not in HSS mode at 1/400. And since shutter does not really effect flash it's kind of a silly argument anyway. So the BB on or not is not going to make or brake the use of HSS and a faster or slower shutter. It's just going to get more light to the subject, maybe, from the flash.

PacAce wrote in post #5936284
I use the better beamer with the camera set to HSS mode all the time when shooting birds. I don't see where there's a conflict with using the BB with the flash set to HSS mode. The purpose of the BB in my case is to concentrate the light to better match the focal lengths of the telephoto lenses I'm using.

heres what i found on my flash that i think is the same as hss.

FP flash, which is capable of synchronizing the flash illumination with high shutter speeds; and the rear curtain synchro flash mechanism, which makes delayed synchro photography possible. A wireless slave function is also available for use with compatible cameras.

its sounds greek to me but this flashes FP flash. does this sound like the HSS function?

mrbass111 wrote in post #5936520
heres what i found on my flash that i think is the same as hss.

its sounds greek to me but this flashes FP flash. does this sound like the HSS function?

It sounds like it could be. Just try it. Set the camera in manual mode to 1/400 at f/8 indoors/dim light, flip the flash on set to this FP and take a shot of something, oh, 10 feet away. If it does not work you will see a portion of the image black, like the bottom 1/4 of the image. if it does work the image should be OK.