Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Is there a new strobe planned this year that will have HSS? I heard through the rumor mill that a new strobe was being worked on and I would really like to wait instead of buying a different brand that has this feature. I don't want to buy Pocket Wizards due to their reported unreliability of their newest model even though they are supposedly capable of Hypersync.

Paul had mentioned publicly the development of a new flash was in progress. He did not mention a time table, and as with any product, features may be added or removed before the final release iteration.

With that said, true HSS is highly unlikely, as its implementation will vary based on the camera used, requiring more engineering than we have resources for. Also, a TTL trigger would be required to time the flash appropriately.

Thanks for the reply, I love your strobes and will probably pick up the new one if it is of the Einstein type variety. I still need high speed sync for my Nikon D800 though. Oh well...

Hi, Gridrunner

If you are not shooting something like sports where you need very high shutter speeds, you do have a few options (using PCB mononlights) other than high speed sync - especially since you are shooting with a D800.


Craig

httpS://www.craigwasselphotoart.com

Hey Craig, I want to do outdoor portrait photoshoots with the lens wide open and without having to use neutral density filters. high speed sync excels at this.
http://dpheadshotswest.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/DPP_1130-Edit.jpg

It offers a new avenue of flash photography that so many photographers are flocking to, I plan on getting Godox ad360(has HSS) with TTL this summer when it is released and maybe a flashpoint 600 just for this feature.
I just wish PCB strobes had this feature, I would pick up two right away.

Hey, Gridrunner.

Nice portraits at that site - really like the catchlights. Yours?

So if I am hearing you right, you want to cut down on the ambient with shutter speed. Using PCB monos but not an ND, there are a couple of approaches but they don't offer a lot of "wiggle room" (even at ISO50) depending on how bright the outdoor background ambient is and whether "wide open" is F/2.8, F/1.8, or F/1.4.

One option is to ignore the Xsync and push to 1/400th or maybe even a little more, with the plan in place to shoot at full res with the D800 and simply crop off the shadow of the curtain. In bright ambient and F/1.4, though, this approach becomes less effective since the shutter speed needs to go way past 1/400th.

The other option is to fire a PCB mono at the power level of its max flash duration. With an Einstein, this is also max power, so that introduces other limitations and issues.

Craig

httpS://www.craigwasselphotoart.com

I need to be able to hit at least 1/4000 shutter speed with good power for this to work. 1/400 isn't fast enough to darken the sky at noon in full daylight. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

I think the first route I would try then would be the most Nikon "native": an SU800 to fire your Nikon Speedlights. You should then be able to take advantage of FP and get your high shutter speeds. The disadvantage would be the IR triggering as opposed to radio triggering, which can be hampered by bright sunlight or line of site.

Craig

https://www.craigwasselphotoart.com