High Speed Sync

407370 · Apr 10, 2024

Hi All,

I was trying to capture some moving water over a static subject and of course it led to High Speed Sync (HSS).

NIKIN Z8 + GODOX V1 Flash +Nikkor MC 105mm

I setup the camera by applying the Highest Sync Speed available:

When I applied this setting I noticed that the V1 Flash menu showed the HSS Symbol :

The object of the exercise was to get 1/8000 shutter speed with an acceptable exposure at the lowest possible ISO setting.

First attempt was made using the V1 with a bounce card:

The following is the lowest ISO I could use to get a useable image:

I tried a few different diffusion methods.
The V1 has an optional kit of light modifiers and the best results I got was with changing the bounce card with a Grid:

The Grid made a huge difference:

One other example is that I am always looking to get a good pic of my cat. Using the grid and ISO 100 / F3.5 / 1/8000 with HSS I got the best pic ever of my cat:

Sandy

Overall not as difficult as I first thought but I will be using HSS a lot more. I am now wandering the countryside looking for moving subjects.

As usual all comments are very welcome.

CHEERS
JBO

smoke665 · Apr 10, 2024

Good shots, and write up. I use HSS outside frequently, just feel like it adds a certain depth that flat light can do, without being contrasty. . You have to consider that a speedlight is limited on output, add a modifier and you choke down the output even more or move to far away and it just doesn't provide enough light. I've found that 1/1000 on shutter seems to be an overall good setting for HSS, I haven't really noticed any significant improvement going above that. This was a 4 layer focus stack shot yesterday between the rain (not nearly enough layers thanks to more rain). 1/1000, f/7.6 ISO 320

wfooshee · Apr 12, 2024

Cats are VERY hard to shoot with flash unless you disable the i-TTL. i-TTL is an auto-exposure mode for flash that fires a pre-flash before the shutter opens to get a light level reading in the meter, and then uses that information to control flash power during the exposure. Cats' reflexes are so fast that they blink on the preflash and you get closed eyes. Turning off i-TTL means you have to figure out the flash level and set it manually, like 1/4, 1/16, whatever is appropriate for your selected aperture. And of course, you probably then get glowing eyes. Red-eye reduction seems like it would help, but that's multiple preflashes, which will probably send the cat running.

407370 · Apr 13, 2024

wfooshee said:
Cats are VERY hard to shoot with flash unless you disable the i-TTL. i-TTL is an auto-exposure mode for flash that fires a pre-flash before the shutter opens to get a light level reading in the meter, and then uses that information to control flash power during the exposure. Cats' reflexes are so fast that they blink on the preflash and you get closed eyes. Turning off i-TTL means you have to figure out the flash level and set it manually, like 1/4, 1/16, whatever is appropriate for your selected aperture. And of course, you probably then get glowing eyes. Red-eye reduction seems like it would help, but that's multiple preflashes, which will probably send the cat running.

Cats are an overall nightmare to try and get a good pic. I was lucky to get a cat just waking up and as you said it was gone immediately after the flash.

Cat pics are an under unappreciated photographic genre.

CHEERS
JBO