Yes or no on HSS?

[deeky]

I am looking at a new flash - specifically a Yongnuo.

I shoot a 20D and do primarily still life / abstracts with shallow dof, although will probably use it on my kids some too.

How important is HSS given the extra cost? Can the lack of it be compensated for by knowing how to use the flash in manual? Do I need to just buck up and spend the money on one with HSS?

Aside - Looking at their transceivers as well. Thoughts?

 

[Solarflare]

You cannot compensate for HSS with "manual". HSS allows you to flash with shutter speeds shorter than the flash sync speed. No manual settings will give you the same functionality, ever.

The only way to compensate for lack of HSS is by using neutral density filters to slow down the shutter speed at or below flash sync speed.

 

[Braineack]

I like it. It's especially useful for using fill in bright light and still using a smaller aperture for creative DOF. So I say yes.

 

[lambertpix]

I bought a Yongnuo 568EX specifically because it had ETTL & HSS. I use the ETTL all the time; the HSS only once in a while. When I need it, though, it's nice to have, and fortunately, the 568 really isn't that much more expensive than the next step down in their line. Get it.

Re: triggers -- I had a couple sets of 603's that I used with my LumoPro manual flash. They're kind of nice because they also work as remote shutter releases. I wound up with two sets, btw, because they're so small I "lost" one set, and of course, they turned up again a month after I replaced them. ;-)

I bought a set of 622C's to go with the 568EX, though, because they do ETTL and HSS. Now that I've got the whole collection, though, they all work nicely with one another -- I can mount a 603 on top of a 622 on my hotshoe and trigger both flashes with remote shutter actuation, too. If you wind up getting the 568, buy the 622C triggers to go with it, though, so you can do ETTL & HSS off-camera.

 

[o hey tyler]

I am looking at a new flash - specifically a Yongnuo. I shoot a 20D and do primarily still life / abstracts with shallow dof, although will probably use it on my kids some too. How important is HSS given the extra cost? Can the lack of it be compensated for by knowing how to use the flash in manual? Do I need to just buck up and spend the money on one with HSS? Aside - Looking at their transceivers as well. Thoughts?

Freezing motion can be controlled by having short durations and no ambient light. This is achieved with low manual flash power.

 

[Big Mike]

HSS (or AutoFP on a Nikon) is a handy feature, but it really depends what situations you're shooting in.

HSS pulses the flash multiple times during the exposure time (shutter speed). This is necessary because when you're faster than a certain shutter speed, the shutter is never fully open.

The problem with HSS, is that because it's pulsing the flash repeatedly, it can't fire at a high output setting. This means that your range is severely limited.
Basically, you will be limited to about 1/3 the distance that you would otherwise have in 'regular' mode.

This limitation is why many photographers don't use HSS and just stick to their camera's max sync speed, which is usually 1/200 or 1/250. (1/250 on the 20D)

 

[Gavjenks]

I am looking at a new flash - specifically a Yongnuo. I shoot a 20D and do primarily still life / abstracts with shallow dof, although will probably use it on my kids some too. How important is HSS given the extra cost? Can the lack of it be compensated for by knowing how to use the flash in manual? Do I need to just buck up and spend the money on one with HSS? Aside - Looking at their transceivers as well. Thoughts?

Freezing motion can be controlled by having short durations and no ambient light. This is achieved with low manual flash power.

In my experience, young children aren't very fond of playing around and being cute while in pitch darkness...
Thus, the OP needs a fast shutter speed to cut out ambient light instead, which is what HSS is for.

And yes, you can also do it with a stupidly powerful studio strobe, and low ISO / small aperture / ND filter, but kids also probably aren't super fond of stupidly powerful studio strobes firing at full blast constantly, either. Also, they'd probably knock them over or go play somewhere else before you're set up. So HSS is definitely the best option for quick, minimally annoying candid shot flash for them.

For still lifes, you can use anything, Yongnuo is fine, because you control the light and have no reason to need a super fast shutter.

 

[Derrel]

HSS (or AutoFP on a Nikon) is a handy feature, but it really depends what situations you're shooting in.

HSS pulses the flash multiple times during the exposure time (shutter speed). This is necessary because when you're faster than a certain shutter speed, the shutter is never fully open.

The problem with HSS, is that because it's pulsing the flash repeatedly, it can't fire at a high output setting. This means that your range is severely limited.
Basically, you will be limited to about 1/3 the distance that you would otherwise have in 'regular' mode.

This limitation is why many photographers don't use HSS and just stick to their camera's max sync speed, which is usually 1/200 or 1/250. (1/250 on the 20D)

Well, yes, HSS (Canon) and Auto FP Synch (Nikon) DO both limit the flash power. Buuuuuuuut, offsetting this to a large degree is the fact that flash fill needs to be around two full f/stops lower to as much as three full f/stops lower in output than when one is doing what is called "flash as main light" or "full-flash exposure". So...the loss of power really does not hurt all that much for typical portraiture stuff.

The last time I shot FP Synch flash was an outdoor beach portrait session in August, during a 99-degree late afternoon, and I shot FP synch fill-flash of a woman with my 200mm lens, at around f/2.2 and f/2.5 at 1/2000 to 1/2500 second, from about 20 to 30 feet away in brilliant, almost blinding sunlight down by the Columbia River. I had the Nikon SB 800, which is a standard-power "good flash", probably has similar power to the Yongnuo, and is the same output as the 580 EX-II. I had PLENTY of flash power at 30 feet.

 

[o hey tyler]

In my experience, young children aren't very fond of playing around and being cute while in pitch darkness... Thus, the OP needs a fast shutter speed to cut out ambient light instead, which is what HSS is for. And yes, you can also do it with a stupidly powerful studio strobe, and low ISO / small aperture / ND filter, but kids also probably aren't super fond of stupidly powerful studio strobes firing at full blast constantly, either. Also, they'd probably knock them over or go play somewhere else before you're set up. So HSS is definitely the best option for quick, minimally annoying candid shot flash for them. For still lifes, you can use anything, Yongnuo is fine, because you control the light and have no reason to need a super fast shutter.

Thanks for the obvious, captain. I was stating generally.

 

[Gavjenks]

To you, perhaps. It's not obvious to the OP... since he/she was specifically asking about whether HSS would be useful for kids and for still lifes.
I think it would be quite useful for the kids, not for the still lifes.

You can still get away with flash for kids in a yongnuo, though, if a little extra convenience is not worth $200 more to you, though, deeky.

 

[lambertpix]

I think it would be quite useful for the kids, not for the still lifes.

I think this is probably about 99.5% right. Every once in a blue moon, though....

Here's an example, and admittedly, it's a bit contrived. I shot this flower outside, and I wanted to light the flower in order to darken the background. Since there was a fair bit of ambient lighting, though, HSS was a big help.


Bearded Iris by lambertpix, on Flickr

This was 1/800, with a strobe & mini softbox right next to the flower. There's more info here, including a picture of the setup showing ambient lighting. Again, this is really contrived because, among other things, I could easily have just waited for the sun to fade a bit in this case, but the point of the exercise was that it can be helpful to know how to use lighting to manipulate a scene for those instances when you can't wait for conditions to change.

 

[Derrel]

HSS is DEFINITELY a useful feature to have in a camera/flash combo, ESPECIALLY if you're going to want to do fill-flash outdoors, or in situations where you want to be able to shoot wide-aperture flash shots to control backgrounds. If you do not have a high-speed capable flash, then you're basically always "stuck at" something like 1/200 second at f/13 to f/16 in the sunlight, and everything is in-focus for miles with wide-angle lenses, and the backgrounds are often "busy". Buuuuuuut, if you can open up to f/2.8 and jack the shutter speed way up, you can get some control over the background depth of field. At the beach, or outdoors during the bright-weather months, when there are DEEP, DARK eye-shadows and such, it's really nice to be able to shoot fast speeds and wider f/stops and not have all those sensor dust spots showing up in the skies (and all over the frame) because you're at f/13, where dust spots look HORRIBLE, and very,very black and dense.

Nikon's low-end cameras do not offer HSS, nor do their lowest-level flashes. I think if your camera body offers High Speed Synch (canon) or Auto FP Sync (Nikon), that it's worth it to buy a flash that supports high speed flash synch.

 

[cynicaster]

I think if your camera body offers High Speed Synch (canon) or Auto FP Sync (Nikon), that it's worth it to buy a flash that supports high speed flash synch.

^^definitely.

It's a really neat capability to have. Once you learn how to use it, it opens up LOTS of possibilities.

 

[KmH]

It helps make the decision if you understand:

 

[deeky]

Thank you all. This is INCREDIBLY helpful. And no serious jabs (at least not to the face).