Shooting action with optical triggered strobes

Hi, I use a D300 and have noticed that i miss quite a few shots shooting moving subjects due to the camera's flash not recycling fast enough. Is there a setting(s) which will result in faster recycling times of the camera flash?

Thanks!

I'll start with a qualification - Not a D300 owner, so I can't give specific settings.

The only way I can think of to speed up the camera flash is to reduce its output to the lowest setting that will trigger the external strobes, kind of assumes you’re not using TTL + new batteries every dive.

Eventually you’re going to hit the external strobe re-cycle limit as well, and there are not many choices there either

New batteries every dive, buy a faster strobe.

I'm going to try a different approach to this problem - I shoot TTL quite a bit, and the camera flash recycle time is dictated by how big/long a flash it puts out. With TTL this is directly related to how long the strobes fire for to correctly illuminate the scene according to the camera's metering system. How long that actually takes is directly related to the scene being photographed and the power of the strobes. Obviously it would be very inconvenient to be only able to photograph subjects that required only small amounts of light, so instead I'm going to experiment with increasing the number of strobes to reduce the length of time that the strobes are illuminating for which when using TTL will reduce the amount of time that the camera's flash is lighting for which will reduce the recycle time.

Just to help all, the exact gear I am using are:

D300 in Seatool housing

At present 1x Inon Z240.

I was shooting sharks, close up and my settings was on TTL. I find that with this (for me at this points in time) its the easiest way to get good exposure. If I switch over to manual mode, I am to likely to over expose the white parts of the shark's skin when then come in close.

With the TTL set, my understanding is that I need to keep camera's flash out put at default. Turning it down also mean less powerful flash by the strobes.

At the moment, i would be taking a photo as the shark starts to come in, one when its about 1.5m away and then when i want to take the 3rd photo the camera does not respond. So i am hitting the limit of the camera and not the strobes at present.

So will this "recycling" time come down when shooting TTL and adding second strobe?

Hopefully other D300 owners using optical connections will spot the post.

I am not sure that I have seen any way of controlling the light output of the internal flash on a D300, to be honest I have always seen it to be about as much use a chocolate teapot.

If you could then the way to go would be to shoot manual rather than TTL (it is not a big step - honest) and dial down the output on the internal flash as far as it would go.

This would be a good fix - if you can dial down the internal flash.

Paul C

Only option is to dial the internal strobes down as indicated by the others above or, go to electronic sync cords when shooting fast action. I don't think the TTL is your problem just the internal flash is slow to recycle.

Cheers

Todd

An Inon Z240 on TTL with the right-hand button UP and connected via fibre-optic cable will inhibit the D300s pop-up strobe, so that the recycle time is very short, and it will be the Z240s recycle time that is limiting. The explanation in the manual is opaque, but it does work if you match the recommended settings to the camera.

The settings are DIFFERENT if you use optical connection for manual strobe control... I think that you then lock the right hand control down, and the camera's strobe is again inhibited.

Todd's wrong, as the Inon's are specifically designed to avoid this problem: but it's explained in the worst possible way!

Tim

Paul, you can turn down the power of the camera flash in two ways as far as i know. First press the button below that which pops the flash and with the front comand dial adjust setting to -3 which is the lowest. Second in menu you can set the period the flash last shorter. Okay this does not mean directly less intense light, but will use less battery power and the exposure of the scene will look as if there was less strong light.

Todd, in a degree the TTL must be playing a role. Because when shooting this way the amout of light dump by the camera's own flash is more than when using setup for manual - or at least this is how i understand it.

tdpriest, i do believe that my setup is correctly set for TTL with all the buttons in the right places:) and yes it took a while to figure out and help from the forum:) I am going to test again to see which strobe is the limiting factor. When i tested the camera out of the housing after the dive, it seemed to me to be the camera's strobe as it was taking the same amount of time to recycle as i was experiencing uw.

Do you know how the inhibition work and what should the result be?

Sorry if these questions seem novice but here goes: Wouldn't turing the ISO while keeping it in TTL accomplish the goal? Granted that is a factor with diminishing returns the higher you crank the ISO but the D300 should handle the higher ISOs well enough. Also when shooting something like a shark wouldn't you want to have the metering set toward the center of the frame so your camera isn't trying to expose the background? I've only shot solitary sharks so I haven't had the good fortune of being in a fast shooting environment with them. I too would like to learn before i get there and figure out I'm doing it wrong :?)

Do you know how the inhibition work and what should the result be?

It's simply that with the bulk of the light coming from external strobes in TTL mode, the Nikon strobe shuts down early. In manual mode the Advanced Pre-flash Cancellation shuts down pre-flashes: that's when you should power down the Nikon's strobe to the minimum needed to trigger the Inon. This is predictable with an optical cable, unpredictable without.

Tim

Hi, I use a D300 and have noticed that i miss quite a few shots shooting moving subjects due to the camera's flash not recycling fast enough. Is there a setting(s) which will result in faster recycling times of the camera flash?

 

Thanks!

I shoot a Canon XTi, but I feel your pain. As long as you are shooting TTL and triggering from the camera strobe, you will have the problem of waiting for the camera strobe to recycle. The only thing you can do to help a little is turn down the internal flash intensity, and compensate for that by adjusting up the settings on the 240 to match. You could also, as mentioned, push the ASA a little, but you wouldn't want to go far with that.

Other than that, the only solution for fast recharge is to shoot manual, or purchase one of these http://reefphoto.com/index.php?main_page=p...roducts_id=2354, add a bulkhead to your camera for electronic control, and control the strobe from your camera's hot shoe instead of the strobe.

It's a shame none of the manufacturers have come up with a better/cheaper solution. I've been in exactly the same situation as you, tracking a shark coming towards me, snapping shots, and finally when he's RIGHT THERE, the money shot, you push the button and nothing happens. It's maddening.

Sorry if these questions seem novice but here goes: Wouldn't turing the ISO while keeping it in TTL accomplish the goal? Granted that is a factor with diminishing returns the higher you crank the ISO but the D300 should handle the higher ISOs well enough. Also when shooting something like a shark wouldn't you want to have the metering set toward the center of the frame so your camera isn't trying to expose the background? I've only shot solitary sharks so I haven't had the good fortune of being in a fast shooting environment with them. I too would like to learn before i get there and figure out I'm doing it wrong :?)

If you turn off the pre-flash, wouldn't that also disable the TTL?

Can you use the D300's internal flash in manual mode? I used my 7D with the 10-17 for the first time on the weekend and put the 7D's internal flash to manual mode @ 1/128 power. I could shoot at about 4-5 frames per second and the internal flash kept up easily. The external Z240's could keep up this pace as long as they were at low power. However at full power the Z240's couldn't recycle fast enough to keep up with the 7D.

There's a video in this thread of a 7D in a Nauticam housing setup the same way as I was shooting on the weekend that gives some idea of how quickly you can shoot:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...mp;#entry240201

HI Gudge, I will have to see when i have two strobes again what my recycling time is. I can set the D300 to manual flash and speed to 1/128.

Maybe the recycling time of the 7D flash is just way faster than that of the D300.

On side note - Congratulations on your achievement in the Beneath the Sea competition. Always have like that photo!!!

Saudio, you are right, its a real pain in the butt:) The solution you propose would mean losing the benefits of optical cables, right? (ie less points of leaking)

Before going down that route, i will first keep an eye on what the performance of the camera which will replace the D300 will be like in this regards.

If I can get to shooting as many frames as in the video by Ryan, then i will be happy. Although I think it will not be anytime soon as the water i dive in, is much darker than what the light levels are in the video and therefore can only conclude that in iTTL mode the camera will dump more light.

I can set the D300 to manual flash and speed to 1/128.

Maybe the recycling time of the 7D flash is just way faster than that of the D300.

On side note - Congratulations on your achievement in the Beneath the Sea competition. Always have like that photo!!!

Yip, that was a typo.

Will test again this weekend, i have a suspision that I forgot to have the right bottom button in the down position for my last test when i switch over to manual.