What are your studio lights?

[Village Idiot]

Hi again VI...
Just did some homework for you
(You owe me a chocolate bar now...)
Have a look at this:
http://dptnt.com/2007/10/flash-sync-speed/
which is a very good explanation of flash sync
Pay attention to the first section, emphasising "that a single flash pulse cannot completely light the whole frame when the shutter speed is too high."
The bit to get your head around is the explanation of how the shutter curtains operate... At fast shutter speeds, the slit/curtains are simply moving too fast for the flash to be exposed on the whole frame...
Conversely - using slow shutter speeds, the whole pulse of the flash is recorded (and the ambient light is -sorta- cancelled out unless you are shooting in daylight and using the flash as fill - as shown...)
It says in this article 1/250 shutter speed max - and you could try that and see what you get... But then you have to 'fiddle' with aperture and DOF constraints...
Hope that helps..
Jedo

EDIT: Re: the wireless transmitter: it has bugger-all to do with sync - it merely sends a signal to a receiver that tells it to FIRE... The sync setting is done IN CAMERA... keep your shutter speed below 1/125 (or 1/250 if you want to sacrifice some DOF)...

That's wrong. Apparently the transmitter has everything to do with it, because all the d-lite users on the POTN board can fire their lights a 1/250 without the shutter curtain cutting into the frame, but once they toss a radio trigger on there, PW, Elinchrom, or Cactus, they can't sync above 1/160.

Also, certain cheaper brands will not allow you to sync at the max sync speed of the camera or will have lower sync speeds when the batteries start to die.

That transmitter is telling the receiver to fire, but it doesn't happen instantaneously. It looks like it does, but if you're counting time with speeds of 1/250, 1/800, and 1/3300, then it does matter. Some have a slower reaction and some even have a slight delay built into the circuitry to fire fine.

It's just strange that the d-lites will not match the camera's x sync, even when using Elinchrom triggers.

 

[DeadEye]

Flash Blur can be a bummer in action shots.
If you are looking for high sync speed you could get unlimited sync by modifying a strobe with a constant current regulator. If you increase the Ark (flash) duration to over 1/200 second long then the light is on during the entire event same as with continuous (hot) lighting. The way a xenon flash works is a capacitor is charged with a high voltage that is connected directly to the cathode and anode of the flash tube but it will not ark over as the gas in the tube is at high resistance until it is ionized by a Very high trigger pulse usually in the Kv range. Anyhow once ionized the resistance goes very low ( about .8 ohm depending on the tube) and the capacitor arks over thru the tube giving you the wanted flash. The amperage during this rapid discharge is EXTREMELY high , sometimes a thousand amps. To slow the rapid discharge you could put a physically very large resistor in line with the cathode to current regulate thus increasing the flash duration.
This also decreases the effective use of the flash as the shutter is closed during part of the event. A few other side effects are color shift as the color temp of a xenon tube is effected by the firing voltage which was affected by the current limiting resistor.
Bottom line is it can be done but A. can the tube handle it. B. can the capacitor handle it C. Is there room for the BIG resistor that has to handle a ton of current. D. Will you deal with the color shift by tweaking the charge voltage?
I think there are a few studio strobes out there already set up were you can adjust the color temp and duration at the power pack.

Could be wrong ( often am) so please correct if I am.

 

[Nimitz]

I have a set of 3 AB800s and associated softboxs, umbrellas, grids & barndoors. My home studio is 15x15 and I've shot in client's home's with spaces as large as 20x20 with no issue.

ABs are simple to operate with all the necessary features: complete variable power, modeling lamps up to 150W that vary in output with flash power, slave trigger, easy light modifyer system, etc.

Not sure what you plan to do with them but I use them for professional, on-location pet portraits and the results are great. I wouldn't trade them for anything and the price is right as well. I got my entire 3 strobe setup with accessories for $1100 because of their discount system - nobody else even came close. Many people talk about 'pro' systems and the fact that ABs are for amateurs only and if you have money to burn or are setting up a large commercial studio then knock youself out -- otherwise I'd just go out and buy a couple of ABs and start shooting ...

You can spend your whole life researching the technical side of strobes with all sorts of quack, quack stuff but in the end I'm not sure what it gets you

 

[Jedo_03]

That's wrong. Apparently the transmitter has everything to do with it, because all the d-lite users on the POTN board can fire their lights a 1/250 without the shutter curtain cutting into the frame, but once they toss a radio trigger on there, PW, Elinchrom, or Cactus, they can't sync above 1/160.

Also, certain cheaper brands will not allow you to sync at the max sync speed of the camera or will have lower sync speeds when the batteries start to die.

That transmitter is telling the receiver to fire, but it doesn't happen instantaneously. It looks like it does, but if you're counting time with speeds of 1/250, 1/800, and 1/3300, then it does matter. Some have a slower reaction and some even have a slight delay built into the circuitry to fire fine.

It's just strange that the d-lites will not match the camera's x sync, even when using Elinchrom triggers.

NO - It's NOT wrong... and thanks for self-correcting that assertion in your reply...
The FACT is that the TRIGGER has bugger-all to do with SETTING the sync speed... which is what I said... The fact that some triggers have circuitry that may introduce some delay in the firing of your strobes is something you should take-up with the manufacturers... or the punters on the POTN board who appear to be far wiser than me... Next, you'll be telling us that the strobes fire even SLOWER as the distance between the trigger and the receiver increases (actually - that's true... LOL)
Jedo

 

[Village Idiot]

I have a set of 3 AB800s and associated softboxs, umbrellas, grids & barndoors. My home studio is 15x15 and I've shot in client's home's with spaces as large as 20x20 with no issue.

ABs are simple to operate with all the necessary features: complete variable power, modeling lamps up to 150W that vary in output with flash power, slave trigger, easy light modifyer system, etc.

Not sure what you plan to do with them but I use them for professional, on-location pet portraits and the results are great. I wouldn't trade them for anything and the price is right as well. I got my entire 3 strobe setup with accessories for $1100 because of their discount system - nobody else even came close. Many people talk about 'pro' systems and the fact that ABs are for amateurs only and if you have money to burn or are setting up a large commercial studio then knock youself out -- otherwise I'd just go out and buy a couple of ABs and start shooting ...

You can spend your whole life researching the technical side of strobes with all sorts of quack, quack stuff but in the end I'm not sure what it gets you

The AB's lack in certain things that might not be readily apparent and that are important whether you know about it or not. At full power and higher settings they're pretty good, but once you start stopping them down there's a magenta shift in the color. That's something that can be fixed with WB correction, but if you're shooting an event with 500+ photos, you're not going to want to go and check the WB on every single one. That's a matter of convenience.

That and at lower power, their output isn't consistant. It can vary to as much as 1/3 of a stop. That means your exposures might not be spot on as if you were using a higher power setting or a more reliable strobe. That's important.

More expensive isn't always better for somethings, but as far as strobes go, the more expensive units provide an even color across the range, reliably consistant power output at any power level, and flash durations that could make your head spin....but that's the difference in paying $1000 for a 400w/s strobe and $280 for a 320w/s strobe.

Thing is, I don't want to spend $1000 on one light at this point and there's certain things that I don't want to sacrifice in a strobe.

NO - It's NOT wrong... and thanks for self-correcting that assertion in your reply...
The FACT is that the TRIGGER has bugger-all to do with SETTING the sync speed... which is what I said... The fact that some triggers have circuitry that may introduce some delay in the firing of your strobes is something you should take-up with the manufacturers... or the punters on the POTN board who appear to be far wiser than me... Next, you'll be telling us that the strobes fire even SLOWER as the distance between the trigger and the receiver increases (actually - that's true... LOL)
Jedo

Quit speaking Engligh.

I thought "bugger-all" meant nothing.

I just think that there's a problem when a company's own radio triggering system is knocking down the max possible sync speed.