New 40D user needs flash help

apersson850 wrote in post #6081623
No, you are dead on, number six. But your avatar looks more like Super Seven.

Hmmm. Well, it's a promo shot for "The Prisoner", which aired in - ummm- 1967 or '68. At that time I think it was the original Lotus Seven - wasn't the Super Seven later than that?

-js

It appears you are indeed correct and I have made an Equus asinus of myself.

The battery draining part is still true.

number six wrote in post #6081434
Ummm, somehow that doesn't sound right. An arc discharge in gas (which is what we have in a flash unit) has its characteristic intensity for a given flash tube size and can't be brighter or dimmer. The voltage needs to be high enough to ionize the gas, and once it's ionized the voltage can't rise above that point. The current (and, by derivation, power) in the flash is determined by the discharge voltage of the gas and its characteristic impedance. The source impedance of the flash power supply is very, very low - the current comes from a large capacitor.

So-called higher power flash is really longer duration. HSS flash fires multiple times, as I understand it - obviously many flashes will drain the battery faster than a single one of the same duration.

Is there something I'm missing here?

-js

number six wrote in post #6082174
- 1967 or '68. At that time I think it was the original Lotus Seven - wasn't the Super Seven later than that?

Yes, that's right. Caterham added the "Super" when they took over to manufacture the Lotus Seven in 1973. From the introduction in 1957, it was called "Lotus Seven" until the last version in 1973, the "Lotus Seven S4".

But they look the same, so it's not easy to tell from that picture.

Are we off topic now?

photobitz wrote in post #6080099
Correct... no HSS in inbuilt flash.

I'm not a big fan of it myself. It drains batteries like there's no tomorrow and I hate to think what it is doing to the flash tube since it fires it at much higher power than in usual operation (granted it is for a much shorter period of time... but still :confused

With duracells 2650 I get about 700+ flashes. I have yet to use the external battery pack, but I heard is a MUST for event photographers.

apersson850 wrote in post #6092935
Yes, that's right. Caterham added the "Super" when they took over to manufacture the Lotus Seven in 1973. From the introduction in 1957, it was called "Lotus Seven" until the last version in 1973, the "Lotus Seven S4".

But they look the same, so it's not easy to tell from that picture.

Are we off topic now?

When I was a lad I would leave nose smudges on the plate glass window of the British Motors dealership as I stared at the Lotus 7 in the window. In those days it was available ready-to-drive or as a kit, with no engine.

Alas, it was just as far out of reach for a 15 year old as Tuesday Weld.

-js