Posts Tagged ‘Speedlight flash’

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash: HSS, rear sync, and stroboscope

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In this final article on choosing a speedlight flash, we'll look at two flash modes that aren't used a great deal, but can come in very useful when looking for creative shots. And we'll also cover a mode that isn't used a great deal, and is unlikely to come in useful, but can be fun to play with, and is worth knowing about.

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash - Part 8: High Speed Sync, Rear sync, and Stroboscope

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

March 20th, 2016 at 3:53 pm

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash: Build quality & compatibility

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Often when people compare products, they look at just the features and price. But it's important to also consider build quality and compatibility. There's no point saving money on a flash if it turns out to be unreliable, or breaks down after a couple of months. Similarly, a bargain flash is no bargain if it won't work with your camera properly.

In this article we'll look at the issues of build quality and compatibility, and why you should definitely consider these when deciding which flashgun to buy.

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash - Part 7: Build quality & compatibility

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

March 13th, 2016 at 9:25 am

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash: Off-camera use

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While speedlight flash is great for on-camera use, giving you a more powerful flash with bounce capability, speedlights open up even more lighting possibilities when used off-camera. In this article we'll look at some of the different trigger methods speedlights may include that allow you to use them off-camera.

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash - Part 6: Off-camera use

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

March 6th, 2016 at 5:00 pm

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash: Size, weight, and usability

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In recent years many photographers have decided to try and cut their kit down to a smaller and lighter selection of gear that doesn't give them a bad back after a full day shooting. This smaller and lighter mantra can extend to the choice of speedlight as well.

However, what you give up in terms of weight and size with a smaller speedlight, you are also likely to give up in terms of power and ease of use. But with good high ISO capabilities on modern cameras, a low power flash is not as big a problem as it used to be.

In this article we look at the size, weight, number of batteries a flash takes, and the usability of flash units, to help you decide which features are most important to you.

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash - Part 5: Size, weight, and usability

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

February 28th, 2016 at 11:27 am

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash: Light color, duration, & accessories

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In the fourth part of this series on what to look for when choosing a speedlight flash, we'll cover color temperature, flash duration, and included accessories. We'll look at why these may be very important features you should carefully consider, or why they might not matter at all, depending on the type of photography you practice.

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash - Part 4: Light color, duration, & accessories

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What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash: Head, sockets, and lights

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Continuing on from the previous two articles about what to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash, in this article we'll be looking at some more speedlight features. Some speedlights may include all the features discussed in this article, others may not include any of them. Hopefully by the end of this article you'll know whether these features will be important for your photography, and so be able to make an informed decision when deciding which model of speedlight to buy.

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash - Part 3: Head, sockets, and lights

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

February 14th, 2016 at 8:15 am

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash: Exposure modes

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Continuing on from the first article on choosing a speedlight flash, in this article we'll look at the various exposure modes available on different speedlight models. Some speedlights will feature all of these modes, others just one.

By understanding the different exposure modes, you can see which one(s) will be most useful, or even essential, for your photography, and ensure that any speedlight you consider features that mode.

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash - Part 2: Exposure modes

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

February 7th, 2016 at 7:19 am

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash: Power

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Just like buying a new camera or lens, buying a speedlight flash can be quite confusing given the large number of different models from different manufacturers, across a wide variety of price points. Why do some speedlights cost 10x more than other models? And are the extra benefits offered by more expensive speedlights actually worth the extra cost for your photography?

Over the next few articles, we'll look at the different features Speedlights can offer, and why those features may or may not matter to you. A feature that's very important to a wedding photographer may not be important at all to a product photographer, for example. This should then help you in determining what model of speedlight will give you the best value for money for the way you like to work.

In this first article we'll look at the power (maximum light output) and recycle time, and why they could be important features for your photography.

What to look for when buying a Speedlight Flash: Part 1 - Power

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

January 31st, 2016 at 8:44 am

Don’t make these 7 mistakes with flash

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Almost all cameras sold today, whether a phone, compact, or ILC, feature a built-in flash. The few that don't (as well as many that do) often have a hot-shoe for adding a speedlight flash. And many photographers have one or more speedlight flashes they can use when the need arises.

But good use of flash isn't simply letting the camera pop up the flash whenever you're shooting in low light levels. In this article we'll look at seven mistakes people sometimes make regarding flash, and how avoiding these mistakes can help you get better photos.

Don't make these 7 mistakes with flash

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High speed photography How-to

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High speed photography refers to the capture of an event that happens too fast for the human eye to see. Things like a splash of water frozen in mid-air, an egg as it smashes, or an insect in mid-flight.

There is no specific rule as to exactly how short a time period needs to be captured to qualify for high speed speed photography. But in general it would be considered to be an event captured at an effective shutter speed of 1/1000s or faster. In practice, effective shutter speeds of 1/10000s and faster are often used.

In this article we'll look at how you can take high speed photos, including how you can achieve super fast effective shutter speeds like 1/10000s even if you camera's shutter speed doesn't go that fast.

High speed photography How-to

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

January 11th, 2015 at 1:40 pm