Combining Multiple Flashes For More Light Output Works ????

plainman007 · Jan 29, 2012

Yeah, Thats cool. Before i went for multiple speedlights i checked a few videos like this one here....

plainman007 · Jan 29, 2012

And heres another one...for anyone who might have missed them.

Seeing the first video on here....thats 8 flashes alright but did you see the reach ? From the bridge right down to the surfers maybe about 20-30 feet or even further away im guessing.

So with my 4 flashes with GN 53 (i admit they arent SB900's) they cant even reach 10 feet ? Ive seen 1000s of shots on flickr and its quite apparent from thier own descriptions and set up explanations that the flashes were 8 feet, 7 feet and so on away from the subject. Ok but these were one canon 430 ex or 580 ex. Fine i agree. But i refuse to understand how 4 x 53 GN speedlights cannot reach 10 feet (when one SB800 can do the same). I cant grip the concept. I do understand the physics behind it all and about light falloff. Inverse square law and all that.

UNLESS....maybe only 2 of them are firing simultaneously ? and then the other 2 etc. Because i had each flash on its own independent trigger. But flash durations being 1/2000th of a sec and maybe even faster. To the naked eye it might look like all fired simultaneously. But maybe 2 of them fired not within the shutter speed range ? Im just thinking aloud here.

480sparky · Jan 29, 2012

plainman007 said:
Seeing the first video on here....thats 8 flashes alright but did you see the reach ? From the bridge right down to the surfers maybe about 20-30 feet or even further away im guessing..............

Yeah. But he's not competing with the sun, either.

Buckster · Jan 29, 2012

Maybe you should try cranking them up, rather than firing them at a quarter power, and see what happens.

480sparky · Jan 29, 2012

Buckster said:
Maybe you should try cranking them up, rather than firing them at a quarter power, and see what happens.

He did.

plainman007 said:
...... I had to blow them all to full power to get any useful output....

plainman007 · Jan 29, 2012

Sparky > Yes hes shooting in a kind of twilight ambient. But to honestly tell you i was shooting in a spot that was kind of well shaded. The sun was outside. Imagine standing inside a restaurant canopy. While the sun is that too orangish and at 4-5 pm. So its already setting with long shadows and we are nowhere in the suns path. Like standing under a well shaded tree. So its only bounced ambient light and if you cant fight even that with 4 flashes firing together,, its sad...I mean im sad.

480sparky · Jan 29, 2012

Yes, the laws of physics are quite sad.

Rephargotohp · Jan 29, 2012

plainman007 said:
Sparky > Yes hes shooting in a kind of twilight ambient. But to honestly tell you i was shooting in a spot that was kind of well shaded. The sun was outside. Imagine standing inside a restaurant canopy. While the sun is that too orangish and at 4-5 pm. So its already setting with long shadows and we are nowhere in the suns path. Like standing under a well shaded tree. So its only bounced ambient light and if you cant fight even that with 4 flashes firing together,, its sad...I mean im sad.

Are you sure you are actualy getting all the flashes to fire correctly.

I had a problem once when I tried using two differnt Recievers froim the same company but different models, It looked like all flash were friring at the same time to the eye, But only one was. The rest were firings a split second later that wasn't visible to the eye

With the conditiosn you shot at, You should have been able to do it with one flash. The Probelms people run into are when They have a sun higher in the sky behind the subject, or conditions like you saw in that JM desert shot. What you shot if it is as described should not have been hard to light

2WheelPhoto · Jan 29, 2012

GN 53?

May want to check into some Vivitar 285's. I bought a few from ebay for pennies and they rock.

plainman007 · Jan 30, 2012

I was going to say the same ting rephargo said. God knows wether they fired in sync. Flash bursts being 1/800 > 1/2000th sec if im right depending on the power setting. Ofcourse higher power settings are slower and low powered bursts are shorter. The reason why i picked up 4 flashes (and im planning to buy 4 more) was that when i wanted short bursts but wanted more light volume depending on what im shooting, then 4 together would do the trick.

But in certain shots where the background was close to the subject, i could count 4 shadows layered

, proof that all 4 fired ?

Another thing i noticed was if i put on the diffuser bag, as seen on ebay, with the elastic mouth, then the light drops by several stops i guess. What kind of diffusers do most of you use, that doesnt look too large and obtrusive (softboxes, umbrellas), but stuff like the inbuilt slideout diffusion panel and the plastic cap stofen like thing that you just cap onto the flash head ? Whats ur favourite for portable unobtrusive looking diffusers.

Buckster · Jan 30, 2012

Shutter speed cited is 1/100. What camera are you using?

KmH · Jan 30, 2012

The Canon 580 EX II is rated at 190 (at ISO 100, feet) / 58 (meters); flash head at 105mm zoom setting.

The YN-460 II is rated 38/53 (ISO 100/200)

A GN of 58 at ISO 100 and a zoomed flash head (a more focused concentrated beam of light), is not nearly the same power as a GN of 53 at ISO 200. At ISO 100 the YN-460 II will produce 1 full stop less light, or an GN of about 26.

plainman007 · Jan 30, 2012

Kmh > yes i definitely understand that my economy YN-460 IIs cannot be on par with a 580 EX II. But im sure 2 of the YNs paired next to each other should be able to match up from pure simple math. Unless the YNs are lesser than 50% the brightness of the Canons.

Also i have a related question. Once the trigger is on top of my camera i cant set the flash to IInd curtain sync is it ?