1/4000 or higher SP with external flash and no high speed sync

[John Fantastic]

I had lots of time last Christmas Holidays so I played around with my new Innovatronix CPFlash 550W External Flash. Although the CPFlash 550W was primarily designed for smartphones it is a tri-function flash and can be use with DSLRs/Mirrorless and Video Lighting effects.

My old radio triggers are also not up to date and has no high speed sync capability and I no longer wish to invest on new radio triggers with high speed sync as I haved already decided to use my Huawei P30 Pro as my camera of choice.

So I did a very simple DIY set-up at home to test it. I used a high speed electric fan as my test subject.

Here is the set-up. I placed a single CPFlash 550W at the bottom of a frosted Table top glass. Then I also placed tracing paper on the top glass and I placed a provided diffused magnetic filter to further diffused the light. I inserted a power bank on the CPFlash to ensure un-interrupted shooting.

I also placed white reflectors on the sides and on the top of the test subject.
The CPFlash is unique in the sense that in Flash mode it gives a burst of high intensity LED power equivalent to 550W. Almost twice as bright as a 300W continuous power source such as those provided by Aputure. Based on previous testing the CPFlash 550W has a comparable power output to my Canon 580 EX flash.

Upon quick Testing I determined that the CPFlash Power output be set at 80%.
Here is the set-up that I did.

Here is the shot taken at 1/4000 of a second

Canon EOS 1500D f/3.5, 1/4000 second, ISO 800, 90mm lens


This shot was set at a shutter speed of 1/2000 second

Canon EOS1500D f/5.0 , 1/2000 second, ISO800 90mm lense

This shot at 1/1000 second

Canon EOS1500D, f/7.1, 1/1000 second ISO 800 90mm lense

1/500 second

Canon EOS 1500D , f/10, ISO 800, 90mm lense

1/250 second

Canon EOS1500D, f/14, 1/250 second, ISO800 90mm lense

1/125S

Canon EOS1500 D, f/20, 1/125, ISO 800 90mm lense

1/60S

Canon EOS1500D , f/29, 1/60S, ISO800 90mm lense

The CPFlash 550W included DSLR Hot shoe Radio trigger can only reliably sync if installed in the hot shoe up to 1/250 second. But a I did a simple work-around, I adjusted the CPFlash 550W flash duration to 500 milliseconds (1/2 second) . Then fire the CPFlash remotely and capture it with DSLR by waiting for the CPFlash to fire .

This would be ideal for a group of photographers in a training session because you only need 1 lighting set-up and everybody waits for the CPFlash to fire and they capture the image.

 

[John Fantastic]

Here is another example of a shot where the shutter speed is much higher than the X-sync speed of your camera.

This one was taken with a CPFlash at 80% power and the yellow warming magnetic filter was installed in the head.

Canon EOS 600D f/4.0 , 1/1000 shutter speed , ISO 400 18mm focal lenght


Same image without CPFlash

Canon EOS 600D f/4.0, 1/1000 shutter speed, ISO 400 18mm focal lenght

 

[John Fantastic]

BTW I was surprise but very pleased when I realized that unlike xenon strobes, There is no reduction in power output when you use the CPFlash 550W . Unlike a Xenon tube flash where you suffer a 2-4 stop reduction in power when using high speed sync, with a continuous light source you don't have any reduction at all.