Flash pack technology

Hi all,

Can someone explain why the newer flash packs are trying for faster flash exposures. The actual flash times are getting shorter. I can understand a shorter recycling time but for studio work, why would it make such a difference to have a 1/1500th of a second vs 1/5000th of a second? The digital aficionados supposedly want the shorter flash durations??

How does that affect me a LF / 35mm photog running film? I want to buy a pack or two secondhand so I'm trying to understand where the technology is going and how it might change my buying decisions.

Rgds,

Steve

The diference between a flash-time of 1/1500 and 1/5000 is that the existing light in the studio or outside plays a lesser role in your exposure, at 1/5000 you will see the flash only and hardly or non existing light, if the shutterspeed of your camera/lens has 1/5000...........

Having a flash with a 1/5000 flash is nice for freezing movement though.....
For "pack-shots" it is useless though....

As far as sync-speeds is concerned: DSLR's have a sync speed between 1/180 and 1/250, LF has upto 1/500 with leaf shutters (when they are in perfect working order).

That's the technical side of it.......

Peter

Thanks for the reply!

It's all about freezing movement then ...

So its quite irrelevant for 'traditional' portraiture. Especially given the fact that I'm shooting f22, f32 to get a depth of field large enough ...

Fashion photography ain't on my radar.

Cheers,

Sports is what mega powerful flashes of super short duration are good for. Ever watch a basketball game on TV and see the whole place light up with flash when a good photographic moment is happening?

I just had a look at a Broncolor Scoro A4S brochure ...

I'm not sure whether bees have knees but I'd reckon that stuff is the bees knees!!

Blimey.

The newer Broncolor equipment is fantastic, but my old 304 packs are energizer bunnies, they just keep going and going (and they're available for next to nothing as well)

erie

Its not that its Irrelevant for portraiture its that the camera shutter speed of 1/30, 1/200 or 1/5000 means very little because most flashes fire between 1/10,000 and 1/12,000 of a second. Aperture tends to become more important because you cant do that much with the shutter due to the flash "beating" the speed of the shutter.