My strobe came

[chauncey]

Gonna give this thing http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Monolight.html overnight to acclimate to warm temperature.
Have one question to start with...I shoot tethered in manual mode...how would
I set my exposure for flash use, will the modeling light suffice, i.e., is it as bright as a flash would be?

[Manfred M]

No, the modeling light is little more than a work light that (in a darkened room) shows you how the light will fall on your subject. I don't know how your particular unit operates, but many studio lights let you turn on the modeling light to "mirror" the amount of light coming out of your flash head or to be on full power or to be off completely. The output is nowhere near what the flash will output.

Unless you have a flash meter, you are going to have to go by trial and error, using your histogram to gauge your exposure. Small subject close to the light modifier = low power output. Larger subject that is further away, you will have to crank up the output level. The inverse square law at work. Start at a mid range power setting and aperture and go from there. Just remember that in most situations shutter speed will have no impact on your exposure (the studio flash will have a duration of perhaps 1/1000th sec).

You need to shoot 100% manual and I would try shooting one full shutter speed below your camera's published synch speed (studio lights tend to fire a touch more slowly than Speedlites).

[Stagecoach]

Congratulations Chauncey, we expect to see the first results within 24 hrs

[Loose Canon]

Congratulations Chauncey!

Impact is a good company and I think you will be happy not only with the light itself, but the expanded uses it will allow in your studio work.

First thing I would do when I got time is go ahead and order another modeling bulb or three, maybe another flash tube, and have some spare fuses lying around.

If I may expand a bit on what Manfred has said?

Shutter speed. I shoot at my camera’s max sync (1/200th) mostly with no problems. But if you decide to shoot at a speed slower, just take a shot of the subject without firing the flash. You should get a black frame. This way you are sure you are not getting any ambient light interference. If you are getting any light in the frame, either up the shutter to max sync and/or turn the room lights down. It is possible to drag the shutter to the point that ambient will come into play. That is cool too for some situations you may come up with, but if there is ever any doubt, the black frame is what you want. That way you know only the flash is lighting the scene.

Exposure. Once you have your shutter speed established, you will be controlling your light with power output, aperture, and ISO.

If you don’t have a hand-held meter one way to get a grip on what your light will do is to do a session shooting a white towel. Throw in a gray card so you can get an idea of what the light color temp is looking like. Use this as a model using your modifier (umbrella) and varying your light’s distance-to-subject, ISO, and aperture. Vary until you see blinkies or signs of overexposure (loss of detail, the usual). That will let you know where you are and how to get what you need. You can take the shot into post to check color balance. Your light will most likely have varying color temp throughout the power range. May not be enough to be a big deal necessarily but just be aware this will probably be the case.

Your exposure will of course vary for different subjects and purposes so you’re back to Manfred’s trial and error. Just a few test shots should get you dialed in!

Remember that the lower the power output, the faster the flash duration, the more “action stopping power” you will have. So when you shoot your smoke shots (I’m guessing you will!), check your shots in your editor at 100% to see if you got what you wanted stopped. If not, lower the flash output, shortening the flash duration. Compensate with either aperture or ISO.

Most of all, have a ton of fun Chauncey!

[chauncey]

In my years of using this 1Ds3, I never once investigated anything to do with flash settings within
the custom function settings...dah, ya think maybe I should do that now.

It was mentioned on another thread that the fastest flash duration on this unit is 1/1800,
not sure what that means in practical terms, as in...will it freeze a falling droplet?

Is lighting cumulative, i.e., is it beneficial to use my existing clamp lights in conjunction with this
new flash strobe?

You guys are doing a great job of dumbing it down for my limited cranial capacity, appreciate that.

[Mike Buckley]

Remember that the lower the power output, the faster the flash duration

That's new to me. Thanks! Is this also true of speed lights?

Impact is a good company

It's reassuring to know you have come to that conclusion. Most of my lighting equipment is made by Impact. It seems to be less expensive than other brands but made well enough to stand up to the relatively minor requirements of my makeshift studio (as opposed to equipment being used in other kinds of studio work and regularly being taken onto location). Now that I realize how effective it has been for me, I try as much as possible to buy only Impact equipment.

[Mike Buckley]

In my years of using this 1Ds3, I never once investigated anything to do with flash settings within
the custom function settings...dah, ya think maybe I should do that now.

Nah. Wing it!

Is lighting cumulative, i.e., is it beneficial to use my existing clamp lights in conjunction with this
new flash strobe?

Use multiple light sources when the situation calls for it. However, I recommend using your new toy by itself for awhile until you gain a command of the effects of using it. If you start out using multiple light sources, you won't be able to identify which lighting characteristics are being caused solely by your new toy.

[Manfred M]

It was mentioned on another thread that the fastest flash duration on this unit is 1/1800,
not sure what that means in practical terms, as in...will it freeze a falling droplet?

Yes, but you really need to know at which power level this is. When I looked at the specs of other studio lights, some seemed to have the fastest light output at minimum power, with other units this was less straight forward. Sure you should be able to freeze a drop of water, but as you've probably noticed from Mike Buckley's work, lighting a transparent subject is not at all trivial.

Is lighting cumulative, i.e., is it beneficial to use my existing clamp lights in conjunction with this
new flash strobe?

Yes but... Your existing lights have very low power, so the exposure time and apertures to use them will be the same as you use currently, whereas you new light is extremely powerful with a very short burst. Going to the smoke example, the studio light could be used freeze the smoke you could overlay motion blur with your new light.

Remember too that the two lights will have significantly different colour temperatures, so you will be facing working with a mixed light solution. You could filter the existing light source CTB filter to bring the temperature up to 5500K or filter the studio flash with CTO gels to cool it down. Or you could work with mixed lighting.

You can also use the studio light as "two lights"; use the studio flash as a main (key) light and use a reflector (white foamcore, mirror, etc) to bounce stay light back at your subject.

That being said, before you get too complex, I agree with Mike. Get to know your new equipment really well first and then switch over to trying something new.

[chauncey]

Impact is a good company....It's reassuring to know you have come to that conclusion. Most of my lighting equipment is made by Impact

Alright, that is reassuring to read...other sites echo that impression as well, fine minds and all that stuff.

As you guys suggest, the KISS principal does appeal to me.

[Manfred M]

[QUOTE=chauncey;496095As you guys suggest, the KISS principal does appeal to me. [/QUOTE]

KISS for sure. You are shooting 100% manually with your new light.

With a multiple light setup, doing things trial and error is a real pain. The moment I go multiple light sources with studio lights, I bring out my incident (flash) light meter. Multiple lights are set up one at a time...

[Loose Canon]

In my years of using this 1Ds3, I never once investigated anything to do with flash settings within
the custom function settings...dah, ya think maybe I should do that now.

You probably should but its not going to have any bearing as concerns your new strobe Chauncey. I’d make sure you have flash set to “enabled” but that’s about it. The custom function settings for flash are for controlling a compatible hot shoe flash. Ettl/manual, second curtain, etc.

Your strobe is what is known as a “dumb” light. Your camera will fire it (with your PC/mini cord plugged in). Period. It doesn’t have any evaluative capability and you will have to use it manually. You will have to control it by going over there and setting it where you want it.

It was mentioned on another thread that the fastest flash duration on this unit is 1/1800,
not sure what that means in practical terms, as in...will it freeze a falling droplet?

Essentially, flash duration is a function of the time it takes for a flash of light to fire, then dissipate (tube current, voltage, and light as the capacitors discharge to zero). So with any flash (speedlights included), the higher the flash power, producing more light(current/voltage), the longer the dissipation, the longer the flash duration. This is described (in general) as the term t.5. t.5 is the time it takes for 50% of the total flash power to dissipate. This is the generic spec used for a generic flash duration time rating per most manufacturers. But, and here’s the rub, there is a much longer trailing edge for the remaining 50% of light that is continued to be emitted and this is what will cause motion blur.

t.1 is the time it takes to discharge/dissipate 90% of the total flash power and gives that much more of an accurate prediction of motion stopping. Big difference but still not definitive (the extra 10% emission)! This spec was introduced by the photography industry to get a better comparison of flash duration to camera shutter speed. But companies like Impact usually only give t.5 specs if that. So 1/1800 as a t.5 spec is relatively pretty slow I’m afraid. It is likely that 1/1800 sec flash duration with your light is (slightly) less than the equivalent 1/1800th sec. shutter speed on your camera.

But will it stop a falling water drop with absolutely no motion blur? I’ve never tried it at that t.5 setting. As an example, I shoot water splashes with a t.1 spec of 1/8000th minimum and the faster above that the better. But that water is moving much faster than a falling drop, especially if you catch it early in the drop. I would guess Chauncey that your light would stop a water drop clean. Again, you would probably have to dial your light down to its lowest power setting, adjust your camera to get the proper exposure (Aperture/ISO). You could then gradually/incrementally increase your power level on your light to find where you start getting motion blur (viewed @ 100% crop in post). I’d love to see you do a shoot to find out and give us your findings.

Is lighting cumulative, i.e., is it beneficial to use my existing clamp lights in conjunction with this new flash strobe?

I’m going to go with the experts on this Chauncey and highly recommend you shoot with just your strobe for a while. As Manfred mentioned, for your continuous lights to make any real difference and not just cause problems you will have to drop your shutter speed considerably. Remember? You shot at max sync, took a shot, and were looking for that dark frame, effectively killing any ambient (continuous) light.

After you and your cool new light get to know each other a bit, then maybe allow some continuous to the party!

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks for that explanation, Terry! I've seen references to t.1 and t.5 but never took the time to learn what those terms mean.

[chauncey]

TaDa, first shots and am already confused...shot tethered using my handy dandy x-rite gizmo.
f/13, ISO 100

Strobe set to maximum modeling light mode, the bulb is listed for 100W. 1st image
Proper exposure required 4.0 seconds. WB is 2850, 0
But I see more saturation in this image...
Obliviously it's not using all 100 W in modeling mode...right?

Replaced strobe with one of my LED 100W equivalent clamp on lights in same position. 2nd image
Proper exposure required 0.8 seconds. WB 2750, 0

[Manfred M]

ERROR: The modeling light should NOT be used to do this. Light from the flash only.

Modeling light has a totally different colour temperature than the studio flash. The modeling light should turn off momemtarily before the flash fires. If this is not happening, your connection to your camera is not working.

The modeling light is purely a work light to help you see as you are setting up the shot and makes zero contribution to the shot.

[chauncey]

The strobe was not set to fire...I made the assumption that the 100W bulb actually put out
100W at full power. My bad.

[Manfred M]

The strobe was not set to fire...I made the assumption that the 100W bulb actually put out
100W at full power. My bad.

I'm really trying to figure out why you care how much light the modeling lamp puts out.

The modeling light was never meant to be a light source for photography; rather it is supposed to more or less track the output of the flash itself, so the linearity from low to high power is much more important from a photography standpoint than the total amount of light it pumps out. If you are setting up more than on one studio flash (a fairly common studio lighting technique), the modeling light gives you a fairly decent approximation of the amount of light each unit will project onto your subject at a given power setting. If I am trying to set up a key light to fill ratio of 2:1, I really do want each modeling light to show me that.

If the light fulfills its primary purpose that you bought it for; pushing out enough light to illuminate your subject, that's really what you should expect it to do.

[Mike Buckley]

The modeling light was never meant to be a light source for photography; rather it is supposed to more or less track the output of the flash itself

I've never used a modeling light but one of the characteristics I would be looking for would be the shadows. I would be looking for the degree of softness and where they fall. I assume the flash and modeling light would create close enough to the same shadows that I would be able to make determinations about the shadows using the modeling light.

[Manfred M]

I've never used a modeling light but one of the characteristics I would be looking for would be the shadows. I would be looking for the degree of softness and where they fall. I assume the flash and modeling light would create close enough to the same shadows that I would be able to make determinations about the shadows using the modeling light.

Exactly correct; and frankly that is really what lighting ratios is all about; how light or dark should the shadows be?

If you are looking at a 2:1 lighting ratio; the shadows are subtle and there is lots of detail in the shadow areas; got to a 4:1 ratio and the shadows start looking quite dramatic, with much lower shadow detail.

Modeling lights (in a suitably dark room) give you a good indication as to here the light will fall. Not necessarily perfect, but good enough to set your lights quite well; a bit of tuning might still be required when you see your actual shots.

[Loose Canon]

Thanks for that explanation, Terry! I've seen references to t.1 and t.5 but never took the time to learn what those terms mean.

Well, you’re welcome Mike. But I should mention I’m certainly no expert on this. What I gave is kind of a general overview as I understand it.

While the t.5/t.1 explanations I offered are pretty much the case, the fact that flashes have shorter durations at lower power is complex. The vast majority do to be sure, but for different reasons. Meaning by and large studio strobes use different technology than speedlights.

As I have been (for quite some time now) and continue to research this I get to a certain depth and then start to find varying explanations and start hitting heavy into the technical aspect. For my real world use I don’t need to know so much how Variable Voltage Control, Thyristor Control, Capacitor Switching works aside from a good overview of the differences. I’m not an electronics engineer and really have no need or desire to pursue the formal training needed to understand complex circuitry.

But, I do need a certain level of understanding as I choose and use the gear I think I may need to produce the results I am after. Technology is changing and as newer technology becomes available products change with it as we all know.

I think it is advisable for the individual to thoroughly assess their needs and then thoroughly research the options available to make a choice they won’t regret later.

[chauncey]

T'would appear that some more training is called for. Unfortunately that unit does seem to have
much available, will try some generic types.