#Speedotron strobes

[evaneugenedavis]

Discovering Beauty in Simplicity: How I Used a Basic Lighting Setup to Create Stunning Portraits

As a portrait photographer, I believe that capturing the personality of your subject is just as important as getting the lighting and composition right. That’s why, in a recent photoshoot with my friend Lian, a talented dancer and choreographer in New York, I set out to do just that. I had just purchased a set of Speedotron strobes, but unfortunately, my lighting modifiers had not yet arrived in…

[kookwtf]

Fresnel Speedotron 102 Strobe

So I’ve been laying off this project build for a long while, and finally got around to building it.

Basically, in short, I gutted the Speedotron 102 head and swapped the gut over to this fresnel body.

Ofcourse I had to resolder all the wiring in order to run the cable into the fresnel body seamlessly. I also had to replace the switch for the modeling light, since the original switch from the used Speedo head I bought second was damaged already.

Barely any room to glide the zoom inside the fresnel housing since I did not anticipate for the length of the Speedo 102 head, but will take note for the next build, plus I just took notice to the Speedo 103 heads, it’s shorter!!!

[dannymarder]

Running the Old school Black line Speedotron Strobes in my studio while streaming music across the room I ran into one of those 21st century issues. My computer Smart APC thought the strobe pack circuit was a power surge and shut down my computer to protect it. Thus leaving me in silence 😔wondering if I blew up my computer... I changed to a different outlet across the room and this time the music server stayed on... It will be fun running a Plasma cutter 😛 http://ift.tt/2xgN12C

[jshaffer2]

Making it by faking it: High Speed Sync with any studio flash, old or new

I conducted a little experiment recently to see if I could incorporate a modern technique, High Speed Sync, using older strobe equipment, a Canon DLSR from a few years ago, the 60D, and a Canon Speedlight, the 580 EX II. Since I don’t also own a Sony-compatible speed light, I couldn’t do High Speed Sync with my other camera, a Sony RX10-3. However, it does have the option of using the mechanical shutter,(instead of the usual electronic one)  which can sync with flash up to 1/2000 sec. So I made a comparison test with that vs. the Canon in High Speed Sync mode.

Canon 60D, 1/8000 sec. @ f1.8, 50 mm lens, ISO 800, bright sun

I decided to “trick” my 25 year-old Speedotron 2403 pack into syncing at shutter speeds up to 1/8000 sec on my Canon 60D. Here’s how I made the High Speed Sync work with the Speedo pack. I took my Canon 580 EX II speed light, put it into high speed sync mode and aimed the flash at an optical slave in the Speedo pack, using an accessory coiled cord sync attached to the hot shoe, which allowed me to put the flash close to the slave. (see photo below)

This utilizes the speed light only to fire the power pack and flashhead, which had a strip light soft box attached.

Shooting with the Canon camera with a 50 mm lens, I was able to shoot outdoors at up to 1/8000 second, wide open at f1.8, with an ISO setting of 800. The power pack was set at 800 Watt-seconds to compensate for the extensive light loss with high speed sync. If I set the pack to its maximum output of 2400 watt seconds into a single head, I could drop the ISO to 320, but that’s as low an ISO as I could achieve with this setup.This technique should work with any brand of studio flash, moonlight or power pack/head type, as long as it has an optical slave that can see the speed light’s flash.

Next I wanted to see what I could get with the Sony’s mechanical shutter. This was synced to the flash with a Pocket Wizard Plus-X transceiver on the hot shoe and at the pack. I was able to get an exposure of 1/2000 @ f4.5, zoomed out to 40.73 mm (120mm full frame equivalent) using only 100 ISO and 400 Watt seconds, at-3 stops power (essentially 50 watt-seconds).

Sony RX 10-3. 40.73 mm(120mm equivalent on full frame sensor) 1/2000 sec. f4.5, 100 ISO  50 watt seconds

As you can see in the two images compared below, the Canon one on the left has shallower depth of field, and the background is a little brighter. The Sony image has more fall-off, darkening the background more, and the depth of field is not as shallow, due to the fact that the lens at this focal length can go no wider than f4.5 at this power output, and it has a slightly smaller sensor than the Canon.

Canon 60 D Image                                   Sony Rx10-3 image

Conclusion:

 In terms of image quality and setup, I prefer the Sony camera, as I don’t need to perform any “trickery” to get the benefit of high speed sync allowing wider apertures in full sun. In addition I can use a very low power setting at the lowest ISO as well. Of course, the depth of field achieved with the Canon is shallower, I am certainly limited by the amount of power required to get there, and I have to use a higher ISO as well. Of course, this is a subjective area. I say, whatever works best for your needs!