# Delay a pulse to fire a speedlite



## niels123 (Nov 13, 2017)

Since there's quite some photography knowledge here, I like to give it a go in the hope someone has a clever answer to my problem ;D

I have the StackShot Macro Rail and have recently bought a Sony a6300 next to my canon gear, just because it has silent mode so I can do lots of extreem macro without shutter wear.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to use flash as well and I own 4x 600EX-RT. Problem is: Sony doesn't support silent mode with flash trigger by the camera itself. I tested and if you do silent exposure while pressing the red test button on the flash itself you get proper exposure over the entire frame.

I have heardly any electronic knowledge, but what I would like to have is a setup where the stackshot controller itself triggers both camera and flash from the trigger port of that controller. The shutter lag requires a delay, which I have no idea how to manage that in a safe way since I don't want to kill my camera and/or flash. A radio trigger that supports a delay would be a welcome solution, but I have no idea if that exists.

Suggestions / ideas welcome


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Nov 14, 2017)

I doubt that the shutter lag is nearly consistent enough to be able to adjust the triggering of a electronic flash precisely, the delay is probably slightly different depending on camera settings.

This is a good example of purchasing a product based on specification sheets or DXO scores, you have to dig down to your exact application (if you can), and see if its supported. I've been there and done that, wasted a lot of $$$ buying something that would not work as I wanted.

The logic of a silent shutter is to be stealthy, and, since a flash would nullify that usage, its probably considered not worth the money to implement. 

It is possible to design and build a delay circuit, but if you are not a electronics person, you might not want to try.

If you want to try, you can set this unit to delay triggering a camera or flash. *The issue may be finding the right cables for what you plan to do.* The trigger can be initiated from the Stackshot, and it will delay triggering the flash, shutter, or whatever you connect it to in 1 MS intervals. 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1140342-REG/hahnel_hl_capturpro_capture_pro_module_with.html

I think that you may be chasing a solution and spending a lot with poor results. Turning off the silent shutter may be easier and more reliable. Use of continuous lighting is another option.


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## wjauch (Nov 14, 2017)

Pocketwizard had a technique they called hypersync for permitting flash use above the usual about 1/200 sec sync speed. It relied as far as I know on timing the trigger so that a relative long duration flash was triggered to fire first, then shutter would expose for say 1/1000 sec while flash was firing. AFAIK the delay could be adjusted. Here is some info, more on hypersync near the end. 
http://www.pocketwizard.com/inspirations/technology/hypersync_fpsync/


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## SecureGSM (Nov 14, 2017)

Flash synchronisation delay can be achieved with Godox X1T-s trigger. C.Fn settings:

C.Fn 00 - set from 0 to 19.9ms in 100us steps. It works. You need a Godox compatible radio receiver, flash of monolight though. Godox receivers (i.e. X1R-S) are very inexpensive.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Nov 14, 2017)

SecureGSM said:


> Flash synchronisation delay can be achieved with Godox X1T-s trigger. C.Fn settings:
> 
> C.Fn 00 - set from 0 to 19.9ms in 100us steps. It works. You need a Godox compatible radio receiver, flash of monolight though. Godox receivers (i.e. X1R-S) are very inexpensive.



The question is how much delay. Presumably, focusing is done first, then the shutter closed, in which case there is a approx 20ms delay. Beyond that, shutter delay gets very large.

A 19.9 ms delay might not quite make it, marginal at best.

There are some shutter lag measurement test results here, the tolerance is unknown, but I'd expect it to be in the neighborhood of +/- 25%.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/sony-a6300/sony-a6300A6.HTM


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## SecureGSM (Nov 14, 2017)

You are correct of course. If 20ms is not plenty enough, then I wouldn’t even waste time setting it all up. It only proves that Canon system turns out to be far superior and mature than the Sony currents offerings.


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## niels123 (Nov 14, 2017)

I should have bene a bit more specific.

We are talking about dedicated extreme macro setups where there are literally no moving parts: a microscope objective in front of a raynox tube lens which is directly in front of the sensor. Everything is done by moving the entire camera-lens-microscope objective combination which is mounted on a high-precision auomated rail with stepper motor to move the setup.

In terms of the delay: I really really do not care about miliseconds because I have the setup in a somewhat darker room where ambient light will have zero influence on the image, even with exposure times of > 1 second. So I will just use an exposure time long enough to match the flash with its delay and if that is a 1 second exposure (it should be doable to trigger the flash somewhere in that 1 second period with a set delay) I am very very happy ;D

For part of my shots I use continuous lighting and for parts I like to be able to use flash in silent mode. I take so many pictures that I'm tired of shutter wear: my plan is to stack most of my colletion in the next years, which will likely involve *millions* of shots, if not more. The sole reason I bought the Sony a6300 is its silent mode and even if I can't manage to get "silent flash", I already gained a lot because often I can use continuous lighting since the setup is _in principal_ not moving. I'm saying in principal because vibrations at high magnifications are quite nasty: if I shoot at 50x and the neighbours close a door, I can see it on my live view. Even with my setup on a thick, heavy metal plate with special sorbotane shock absorbers underneath.

Edit: for me, the only good reason to try using an exposure time of 1/10th of a second (compared to 1s) is getting slightly less pattern (long exposure) noise, although I doubt that the difference between 1/10 and 1s at iso 100 will be relevant, if even visible.


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## Steve Balcombe (Nov 14, 2017)

I looked at the A6000/A6300 as a possible move from an old 60D specifically for macro. Lack of flash compatibility was a major reason why I didn't go ahead. However I'm pretty much committed to a portable Canon setup for use in the field - in your case, with the big investment you've made in the setup and the huge amount of time it will be used, switching to a flash which is properly compatible with your Sony camera would surely make sense.


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## niels123 (Nov 14, 2017)

Steve Balcombe said:


> I looked at the A6000/A6300 as a possible move from an old 60D specifically for macro. Lack of flash compatibility was a major reason why I didn't go ahead. However I'm pretty much committed to a portable Canon setup for use in the field - in your case, with the big investment you've made in the setup and the huge amount of time it will be used, switching to a flash which is properly compatible with your Sony camera would surely make sense.



Switching to a Sony flash doesn't make it compatible with silent mode :-\
In addition: The a6300 will be the *only* Sony product I have. I won't buy a single Sony lens, flash, etc. I have a 1D X, 5D III, 4 x 600EX-RT and a dozen EF lenses so for the rest I stick to my lovely Canon gear. Also: I hate the operation and feel of that a6300 but I love the silent mode. Since I only use it tethered and hardly touch the buttons on the camera, I don't care about how it feels in my hand.

Also: I don't need TTL or anything like that. Everything will be on full manual mode and with a simple radiotrigger I will always be able to trigger the Canon flash in Manual mode with the sony in nonsilent-mode and a radiotrigger (as a last resort)


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## SecureGSM (Nov 14, 2017)

Niels123,

It sounds that the flash syncronisation delay may work for you. Just a couple of observations if I may:

1. As far as I understood, your setting is extremely sensitive to parasitic vibrations. In that case, the actual flash duration may play an important role in reduction of camera shake typically, flash duration at full power is about 1/300s give or take. At 1/256 of full power flash duration is much, mich shorter and is in order of 1/10000s

You want your speedlights to fire at 1/256 of full power to eliminate camera shake completely. See how you go with this. If your Canon 600 speedlites are not powerful enough ( I doubt this is the case though), then there are similar sized and considerably more powerful pocketable flashes available. I.e. Godox ad360 II (approx. x6 more powerful than canon 600 each).
2. Godox radio triggers able to trigger off camera Godox radio flash units regardless of their system. 
I.e. Godox XT1-C trigger is fully compatible with Godox radio flashes and monolights for Canon, Sony, Fuji, Nikon, Panasonic. 

This may work for you really well as you use multiple camera systems and will be able to use your Godox flash system off camera regardless of the camera system your have the radi trigger connected to. 
More over, you will be able to switch camera systems in between shots and utilise your setup without the need to readjust the setting. 
And finally, Godox system is very reliable, inexpensive and available in USA as Adorama Flashpoint line of product. Well supported and extremely inexpensive. 4 x flash units in Canon 600 ex size and a radio trigger cost around US$400 all total. If a shorter flash duration required, I would consider ad360 II or ad200 units instead. 
i hope it helps.


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## niels123 (Nov 14, 2017)

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure if the godox trigger can forward a pulse with a delay. In the setup I desire, the camera is not communicating with any flash and my stackshot controller does everything: move the rail, fire the camera and with a delay fire the flash.

I know I can (with some adapters) hook a (cheap) intervalometer normally used for time lapses to my flash pc sync port and have it fire every x seconds, so it is 'in sync' with the camera that is operated by the stackshot. Problem is that it is incredibly difficult to get and keep them in sync all the time for a stack of a 1000 frames.

So a radiotrigger that allows a delay will work if it has some jack or pc sync input port that I can hook up to the Stackshot RCA port (there are cheap adapter cables available). The radiotrigger then gets the signal from the stackshot and forwards it with a delay to the receiver that is on the hotshoe of my flash. Also firing in HSS is not really an option because it increases the time of the flash and thus the heat generated, quickly resulting in overheated flash units during long stacks.


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## niels123 (Nov 14, 2017)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1140342-REG/hahnel_hl_capturpro_capture_pro_module_with.html



I watched some youtube video's and don't really understand how it will work in my case. My post above describes the setup in a bit more detail and I'm curious how/if it will work, because if it does: it's a very good solution for me.

I have to get the flash fired when the camera is doing an exposure and the camera is triggered by the StackShot controller. Yes, getting 1/160e second in sync with flash will be _at least_ very challenging, if not impossible. Fortunately, almost _any_ exposure time will be fine, although I like to keep it under 1 second, and if possible, under 0.3-0.5 second.

In fact, the fluorescent daylight bulbs that I use 'flicker', resulting in banding when the exposure time is shorter than about 1/30e of a second. In reality, I have exposure times in the order of 0.5-1 seconds, which works fine and doesn't give motion blur for magnifications up to 10x. The higher magnifications (>20x) are more problematic because amplification of vibrations as well as exposure times increase rapidly.


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## niels123 (Nov 14, 2017)

Unfortunately, I know very little about electricity. However, I did phone a general electronics shop in my city and they suggested to have a look at the Velleman VM206 universal timer. I contacted Cognisys (manufacturer of the StackShot) and they said that they took a quick look at the manual and think that it should work.

However, it does work with a relay, which not as nice as a fully electronic device with no moving parts.


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## SecureGSM (Nov 14, 2017)

Niels123,

Yes, Godox X1T radio trigger comes with 2.5mm PC Sync Port:

Transmitter PC Sync Port – Input & Output

Therefore you can trigger the Godox trigger via PC Sync cable as you suggested. 
I see this being a viable solution to what you are trying to achieve. 
You can configure the PC Sync port to work in input or output mode. 
Input mode is what you are after though.


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## niels123 (Nov 14, 2017)

SecureGSM said:


> Niels123,
> 
> Yes, Godox X1T radio trigger comes with 2.5mm PC Sync Port:
> 
> ...



SecureGSM,

Thanks for your reply! Sounds great  Just to be sure, I like some extra confirmation.

Is this the transmitter you are referring to, available for Nikon, Sony and Canon?

I live in The Netherlands and I also found transmitter + receiver combo on a very large Dutch camera (web)store and on Amazon.co.uk.

The Sony receiver will probably not fit the hotshoe of the Canon 600 EX-RT because Sony uses a 'weird' hotshoe so I assume I will need a Canon transmitter + Canon receiver? The transmitter then connects to the RCA port of the StackShot and the Canon receiver to the hotshoe of my speedlite. Is this correct? Can I then program a delay onto the transmitter that is connected to the StackShot? Is there an option in the menu where you can choose a time in seconds or miliseconds for the delay? I'm asking because I don't see how you would normally use this so I'm surprised this function is available on these transmitters.

Update: I found the manual as a pdf. On the last page is a table with technical data. In the table is listed:
Synchronization delay set: Yes (0~10ms，use 100us as the unit). The section of the manual in which this Synchronization delay is discussed states that a number from 1 to 100 (in us) can be set. My best educated guess is that us means μs (microseconds). Obviously, 100 microseconds equals 0.1 miliseconds, a delay so short it doesn't make sense :-X

Niels


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## SecureGSM (Nov 15, 2017)

yes, that is the one. X1T is the model and the letter at the end stands for C - Canon, S-Sony, N-Nikon, etc, etc.

yes, you need X1T-C version for Canon and X1T-S for your Sony, but... you can trigger your off camera Godox radio receivers or flash with either system radio trigger. that is convenient.
btw, you can set syncronisation delay in the receiver unit instead of the trigger or to both:

in 100us - microseconds steps, 1-100 units. so that is maximum 0.01s delay according to manual for trigger and 0.01s for the receiver. therefore you can set up to 0.02s delay combined if both the trigger and the receiver is used.

http://www.godox.com/EN/InstructionManual/Godox_X1C_20170906.pdf

you enter menu and set C.Fn-00 (sync delay value) accordingly:

00 - no delay (default)
01-100 - Synchronization delay N*100 us
(synchronization delay icon is displayed.)

You need:
X1T-C trigger for your Canon Camera
X1T-S trigger for your Sony Camera
X1R-C receiver for your Canon Speedlites

*please note*:

Q: Why X1 can not trigger in near distance	(A.M.: up to 50cm close to flash or receiver)
A: Please long press the TEST button and turn on the power simultaneously until STATUS blink for 2 seconds, 0-30m remote control can be selected.


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## rpt (Nov 15, 2017)

niels123 said:


> Since there's quite some photography knowledge here, I like to give it a go in the hope someone has a clever answer to my problem ;D
> 
> I have the StackShot Macro Rail and have recently bought a Sony a6300 next to my canon gear, just because it has silent mode so I can do lots of extreem macro without shutter wear.
> 
> ...


What exactly are you shouting? Can you not use an LED source instead of a flash? Sorry if it is a stupid question.


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## niels123 (Nov 15, 2017)

SecureGSM said:


> yes, that is the one. X1T is the model and the letter at the end stands for C - Canon, S-Sony, N-Nikon, etc, etc.
> 
> yes, you need X1T-C version for Canon and X1T-S for your Sony, but... you can trigger your off camera Godox radio receivers or flash with either system radio trigger. that is convenient.
> btw, you can set syncronisation delay in the receiver unit instead of the trigger or to both:
> ...



If the flash transmitter is not on the camera itself (and it is not - it is attached to my StackShot controller), why would I get a Sony transmitter and not a Canon one? If I get the Canon combo, I can use it also with my Canon EOS system and a monolight to shoot studio portraits, right?

Concerning the delay: if it really is 100 microseconds, it is 0.1 miliseconds, which is 1/10.000th of a second or 0.0001 second, not 0.01 second. That's why I find these numbers so ridiculous.

Sorry, but I don't get the part about the near distance.

Niels


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## niels123 (Nov 15, 2017)

rpt said:


> What exactly are you shouting? Can you not use an LED source instead of a flash? Sorry if it is a stupid question.



I'm shooting minerals and crystal specimens. I use fluorescent daylight bulbs most of the time because the light better matches daylight than most led's. Problem with LED's is that the spectrum lacks certain wavelengths, which are sometimes vital to the proper color of a mineral. For example, azurite (copper carbonate) is deep blue under daylight and looks turns black under most LED's. Sodium street lights are another well-known example where colors become impossible to see properly.


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## SecureGSM (Nov 15, 2017)

niels123 said:


> If the flash transmitter is not on the camera itself (and it is not - it is attached to my StackShot controller), why would I get a Sony transmitter and not a Canon one? If I get the Canon combo, I can use it also with my Canon EOS system and a monolight to shoot studio portraits, right?



correct. i was suggesting to get both: Canon and Sony, they are dirt cheap. but you are right.



> Concerning the delay: if it really is 100 microseconds, it is 0.1 miliseconds, which is 1/10.000th of a second or 0.0001 second, not 0.01 second. That's why I find these numbers so ridiculous.



1us (microsecond) =1e-6 seconds
100us =1e-4 seconds

100x100us=1e-2 seconds = 0.01 seconds  <<<< 100 units maximum at 100us per each unit. 01-100 range in C.Fn menu. that's number of units, not microseconds in total.

0.01s sync delay set in receiver + 0.01s sync delay set in transmitter = 0.02 seconds total sync delay



> Sorry, but I don't get the part about the near distance.



flash wont fire if trigger and receiver is closer than approx. 30cm to each other. in case your trigger will be located at short distance to receiver, you will have to enable "short distance firing" in Godox terms . procedure is as per my note above. it shortens the connection range to 30 meters instead of 100 meters. I do not see this being an issue for your situation though.


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## niels123 (Nov 15, 2017)

SecureGSM said:


> niels123 said:
> 
> 
> > If the flash transmitter is not on the camera itself (and it is not - it is attached to my StackShot controller), why would I get a Sony transmitter and not a Canon one? If I get the Canon combo, I can use it also with my Canon EOS system and a monolight to shoot studio portraits, right?
> ...



Ah! Each N equals already 100 microseconds? I thought that N equals only 1 microsecond. I couldn't think of a reason to set a delay of 1 microsecond and electronics that can reliably do this must be expensive.

Sounds great then, Although 20 ms could still be a little bit too short since it is exactly equal to the reported shutter lag (+ I'm also seeing if the solution can be implemented in the workflow of a friend of mine. He uses a 5D III with Magic Lantern and Full Resolution Silent Picture with DNG output. I think that shutter lag must be considerably longer in that case).


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Nov 15, 2017)

niels123 said:


> I should have bene a bit more specific.
> 
> We are talking about dedicated extreme macro setups where there are literally no moving parts: a microscope objective in front of a raynox tube lens which is directly in front of the sensor. Everything is done by moving the entire camera-lens-microscope objective combination which is mounted on a high-precision auomated rail with stepper motor to move the setup.
> 
> In terms of the delay: I really really do not care about miliseconds because I have the setup in a somewhat darker room where ambient light will have zero influence on the image, even with exposure times of > 1 second. So I will just use an exposure time long enough to match the flash with its delay and if that is a 1 second exposure (it should be doable to trigger the flash somewhere in that 1 second period with a set delay) I am very very happy ;D



The point is that shutter delay is the time until the shutter opens. If you cannot delay the flash until after the shutter opens, it does not matter how long your exposure is, because the flash triggered earlier.


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## niels123 (Nov 15, 2017)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> niels123 said:
> 
> 
> > I should have bene a bit more specific.
> ...



Makes sense  Fingers crossed, I ordered one Godox X1 Trigger and one Godox X1 receiver on Amazon. For a couple of dollars, I ordered the necessary adapters and cables. What I will try is:

RCA splitter on StackShot. Trigger cable to Sony cam on one end. Adapter from the other end to Godox Trigger. The receiver can be mounted on the flash hotshoe and I will set the max delay on both receiver and trigger, which gives 20 ms of delay in total. If it doesn't work, I have a 30-day return policy from Amazon and can simply return them for a full refund.

The other possible option I have been looking into is a Velleman VM206 universal timer which can be configured with some software via usb (using a pc). It can delay signals as much as you want (from 0.1s to, I think days of delay are possible).


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## rpt (Nov 16, 2017)

niels123 said:


> rpt said:
> 
> 
> > What exactly are you shouting? Can you not use an LED source instead of a flash? Sorry if it is a stupid question.
> ...


Ah! And sorry for writing the word shouting instead of shooting but you figured that out.

How about this process - it will be a bit iterative but should work.
[list type=decimal]
[*]focus on the subject
[*]set focusing to manual
[*]set shutter speed to B
[*]darken the room - completely dark
[*]hold down shutter
[*]test fire flash
[*]check exposure of the image
[*]adjust flash power, aperture or ISO and repeat as needed from step 4
[/list]


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## niels123 (Nov 16, 2017)

rpt said:


> niels123 said:
> 
> 
> > rpt said:
> ...



Poeple meka typo's  Don't wurry 

With the exception of bulb mode that's how I normally checked my exposure and see what flash power I wanted (with Canon and mechanical shutter). As far as I understand, it doesn't solve the flash delay problem when the focusstacking controller form Cognisys is triggering the camera each step during the stack.


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## jolyonralph (Nov 16, 2017)

Hi Niels. 

You may well have already seen them but do check out Stephan Wolfsried's articles on mineral photography - he goes into some detail discussing his Stackshot setups and issues.

https://www.mindat.org/user-1664.html#5

Personally I find flash to be too limiting for mineral photomacrography - you really do need to see in advance what is being lit down to the individual (micro)crystal faces. 

I would think an investment in better quality (ie expensive) continuous lighting would be wise.

Jolyon (and hello to a fellow mineral person!)


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## niels123 (Nov 16, 2017)

jolyonralph said:


> Hi Niels.
> 
> You may well have already seen them but do check out Stephan Wolfsried's articles on mineral photography - he goes into some detail discussing his Stackshot setups and issues.
> 
> ...



Thanks Jolyon  I have seen the article from Stephan (and I've been on Mindat for many years). Although I fully agree with that you need to see what's happening with flash, it does give advantage in reduced motion blur risk, especially at high mag's. I've seen Stephan is using those 3 of those Zeiss KPL flex arm lights. I have one and I don't really like it in my setup (as well as the output colors of the halogen bulbs, even when shooting raw and doing correct white balance).

My hope is that I can use continuous light most of the time, but in case I need or want to use flash it is nice to have the possibility in silent mode and if that takes an investment of $80, it's well worth it. I have a bunch of speedlites lying around anyway 

On a side note: I think it is mainly the diffusor(s) that determine the quality of the light. The flex arm halogen units are designed for microscopes and when used without diffusor give quite harsh lighting so that makes me wonder if there are better (possibly less expensive) options for continuous lighting. Three of those Zeiss units are well over 2000 usd, maybe even over 3000 usd.


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## jolyonralph (Nov 16, 2017)

It's true, there's nothing quite like macro stacking to increase your shutter activations in a hurry 

I had the A6000 and now have the A7RII but I haven't really had much success with either of them for macro photography and have always gone back to the 5DSr. 

Jolyon


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## niels123 (Nov 16, 2017)

jolyonralph said:


> It's true, there's nothing quite like macro stacking to increase your shutter activations in a hurry
> 
> I had the A6000 and now have the A7RII but I haven't really had much success with either of them for macro photography and have always gone back to the 5DSr.
> 
> Jolyon



If I may ask: what's the reason the A7RII is not as suitable for you as the 5Ds R for macro photograpy? Is it for mineral photography or macro photography in the field (e.g. insects)?


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## niels123 (Nov 22, 2017)

SecureGSM said:


> Flash synchronisation delay can be achieved with Godox X1T-s trigger. C.Fn settings:
> 
> C.Fn 00 - set from 0 to 19.9ms in 100us steps. It works. You need a Godox compatible radio receiver, flash of monolight though. Godox receivers (i.e. X1R-S) are very inexpensive.



Today, the Godox X1 Trigger + Receiver arrived. I set the value of C.Fn 00 to 100 (Flash synchronization delay), corresponding to a delay of 10 miliseconds. I tried with my stackshot, but the flash is too early for my Sony a6300 in manual mode (1 second) 

Here they mention a max HSS delay of 19.9 ms. The manual only mentions a C.Fn 00 delay of max 10 ms and I can't find anything about HSS delay in the manual. Nevertheless, I don't want to shoot in HSS as it generates much more heat in my flashes.

So I guess it doesn't work? Any ideas to try before I return them?


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## niels123 (Nov 23, 2017)

I'm considering to keep them so I can do off-camera high-speed sync with one of my canon speedlites 

I have a cheap monolight that I use for model work, I guess the Godox X1 won't be able to use high-speed sync with that one or am I wrong? if so, how can I do that?


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## LDS (Nov 23, 2017)

High-speed sync needs some help from the flash. It needs to output light as long as the shutter slit travels across the sensor. That's done in different ways. Some units can keep the lamp on for a longer time, and the shutter is synced so it fires to get the better output of the lamp (a lamp doesn't turn on and off instantly, it's an asymmetrical bell shaped curve, you want the shutter to fire to use the light around the peak). Others pulse the lamp very quickly. Those different technologies may be given different names like Hypersync and High Speed Sync. 

If your monolight has a longer flash duration (and a peak wide enough, usually at full power) you'll need to trigger it slightly before the shutter opens - but I don't know if the Godox can achieve it. It would be tricky anyway, if you need it, better to get a unit and a transmitter already designed for it.


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## niels123 (Nov 23, 2017)

LDS said:


> High-speed sync needs some help from the flash. It needs to output light as long as the shutter slit travels across the sensor. That's done in different ways. Some units can keep the lamp on for a longer time, and the shutter is synced so it fires to get the better output of the lamp (a lamp doesn't turn on and off instantly, it's an asymmetrical bell shaped curve, you want the shutter to fire to use the light around the peak). Others pulse the lamp very quickly. Those different technologies may be given different names like Hypersync and High Speed Sync.
> 
> If your monolight has a longer flash duration (and a peak wide enough, usually at full power) you'll need to trigger it slightly before the shutter opens - but I don't know if the Godox can achieve it. It would be tricky anyway, if you need it, better to get a unit and a transmitter already designed for it.



It would be welcome but for sure not *needed*. 99+% of my studio work is portraits and static body scapes. Currently, I definitely won't spend money on a flash that can do it since they are quite expensive when you want quality as well. My flash has no options to do it whatsoever, only the power can be adjusted. That being said: I don't mind at the moment, I have succesfully used my 600EX off-camera at lower powers and slightly higher ISO's (around 400) to freeze some motion of models in my studio. I think my speedlites will have more than enough power to perform the things I would want to and I don't see myself carrying a large monopack for shoots outdoors. In that case, I usually just bring a single speedlite and flash umbrella.

Nevertheless, the option to have off-camera HSS with my Speedlites (compared to 1/160 limit with my current Cactus V5 triggers) is a big improvement I think. It gives me the option to use flash for portraits in brighter conditions outside without half your image completely overexposed. What do you think?


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## LDS (Nov 23, 2017)

niels123 said:


> Nevertheless, the option to have off-camera HSS with my Speedlites (compared to 1/160 limit with my current Cactus V5 triggers) is a big improvement I think. It gives me the option to use flash for portraits in brighter conditions outside without half your image completely overexposed. What do you think?



HSS is really useful outdoor (or indoor with a lot of ambient light) when you need shutter speed faster than X-sync. As an alternative indoor to obtain faster exposures to freeze motions, faster than some monolights allow (i.e. my Elinchrom RX4 has a flash duration of 1/800 at full power) it may not work for all subjects, you may need very short flash duration anyway.

If the speedlites work for you the better, whenever you feel the need of HSS with more powerful units better to rely on one designed for it, or you may end in an expensive "hit-and-miss" situation, especially if you do it for a living.


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## niels123 (Nov 23, 2017)

LDS said:


> niels123 said:
> 
> 
> > Nevertheless, the option to have off-camera HSS with my Speedlites (compared to 1/160 limit with my current Cactus V5 triggers) is a big improvement I think. It gives me the option to use flash for portraits in brighter conditions outside without half your image completely overexposed. What do you think?
> ...



I don't do it for a living, model shooting with off-camera flash is just hobby. I do shoot paid assignment though, but I rely on ambient light and fast primes 99+% of the time then. If I would get paid a decent amount for shoots with off-camera flash, I would for sure invest in a high-end monolight.


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