Tom Bol Photo Blog

Many of you have been asking is it possible to use high speed sync with the Elinchrom Quadra using Pocket Wizard’s Flex transmitters and Hypersync. The short answer is yes, very much so.  The image above was shot using a Quadra with ‘S’ head at 1/2500, F5 at ISO 100.  Camera was a D300s, 14-24mm F2.8 lens. MiniTT1 transmitter used, receiver on Quadra was FlexTT5.

Here is how the system works.  To start I calibrated my miniTT1 transmitter using the Hypersync utility Pocket Wizard provides.  I found a setting of -1800 gave me the best results.  I saw minimal clipping occurring at 1/1000, and just barely a slice at 1/2500.  As I went faster clipping became more apparent.  The bottom line here is since I shoot in outdoor environments, clipping is often barely visible at 1/2500, just a tiny band that is easily cropped out (just barely visible in the image above). The scene also affects how visible the clipping will be…dark backgrounds would minimize its appearance.

In this image, the shot was taken at the same shutter speed, 1/2500, but no clipping is visible because I shot wider and just cropped out the tiny clipped section.  I could also shoot slower and further eliminate clipping. Another note, my Quadra was set to around 200 watts, or half power.  I imagine I can project flash quite a distance at full power.

To trigger my Quadra and have Hypersync work required using a FlexTT5 transmitter in receiver mode.  The FlexTT5 was connected using a MM1 Pocket Wizard cable.  Plug the cable into the flash port (labeled P2 on unit) of the FlexTT5 and plug the other end into the sync port on the Quadra, your ready to go  (see picture). You can use a Flextt5 or MiniTT1 on your camera hotshoe.

The only way this system works is using a ‘S’ head with the Quadra.  The slower flash duration allows Hypersync more time to sync shutter and flash burst.  I tried an ‘A’ head and couldn’t get it to work…the ‘A’ head has a faster flash duration.

I have continued to use my D300s and Rangers in high speed sync mode with amazing results. This image was taken at 1/3200 using a ‘S’ Ranger head and MiniTT1 transmitter. The Power ST4 receiver was plugged into the Ranger.

One thing I haven’t mentioned earlier is you can control the Ranger power via the Pocket Wizard AC3 Zone Controller.  This fits on top of either your miniTT1 or flexTT5 and adjusts flash output. The ’0′ setting correlates to 4.5 output on the ranger, and the ’3′ setting will put your Ranger at 7.5, full power.  Having this control at the camera is very handy.

After testing these systems now for weeks, I can’t imagine not having high speed sync with my Elinchrom flash gear.  I have shot editorial assignments that I couldn’t have done before, and my mind is spinning with ideas to put the system to extreme tests.  Stay tuned!

One last note. Thanks to everyone who has emailed me from around the globe with their own experiences with this system, hopefully this post will address some of the questions asked and suggestions mentioned. I will be speaking at the Manfrotto booth at Photoshop World in Vegas Sept. 7&8 on this topic.  If you are there, please come say hello.

UPDATE: Pocket Wizard released a firmware upgrade that should give even better performance.  I’ll report back once I get a chance to try the new firmware.

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We are lucky to live right near a scenic river and big reservoir in Colorado. Our front yard in the summer looks like a yard sale of boating gear.  One day whitewater kayaks, the next day sea kayaks, and the next day canoes. Since my wife likes to sea kayak as much as she can in the summer, this provides great photo ops for me.  The other day she was paddling under blue sky conditions, perfect for a sunstar shot.  But this presented some problems as you can see by the top image.

First, she was backlit, so no light on her face or paddle in the water.  Since I was using an Aquatech housing for my D300s, the fisheye port had water on it which added a lot of little flare marks.  The image needed a little fixing.

To solve the problem I put my SB900 in a Aquatech speedlight housing, connected this to the camera housing, so now I had dedicated TTL flash. This speedlight housing is remarkable in that you can adjust setting while the flash is sealed inside, very slick.

I had my assistant hold the flash underwater aimed up at my wife and the paddle.  The flash added fill light to the paddle and actually projected through the water onto my wife’s face, perfect. Lake water is usually silty, not Bombay Sapphire blue like the Bahamas, but I still liked the added color underwater.

We also tried some images that were over/under but with the flash above water.  This also created a nice effect for this shot.

Tech: Nikon D300s, 10.5 fisheye lens, ISO 200. Aquatech housing used for camera and flash, fisheye port attached to housing.

I’m off to Alaska for two weeks shooting an assignment, stay tuned for posts from the far north!

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Some folks have emailed wondering how I got some earlier images that seem taken underwater yet still triggering flash above water. I have been using some fantastic gear by AquaTech to get these unique perspectives.

Here is a recent shot from floating in a snowmelt river using an AquaTech D300s housing and an SB900 housing.  As far as I know AquaTech is the only company that makes housings like this for flash, fully sealed hard shell housing with electronic ports to connect to the camera housing or a Pocket Wizard remote housing.  Brilliant gear, I couldn’t get these images without it.  I attach my Flex TT1 transmitter to the hotshoe inside the SB900 housing.  I have to unscrew the hotshoe mount so my transmitter can fit inside.  With this attached and connected to the underwater housing, I can shoot over/under images still using high speed sync.

I’m not recommending submerging yourself in a rapid, but that is about what it takes to get a good angle of the action.  I just slide out to where the current is as much as I can take, and shoot away.  The other key is working with a phenomenal kayaker.  I’ve been shooting with Patrick for years, and he knows exactly what we are trying to do in the photograph, vital to make these shots happen.

Once again I used an Elinchrom Ranger, ‘S’ head and Pocket Wizard Hypersync to get this image.  You have to shoot really fast to freeze all the flying whitewater.  In this case I used 1/2500 of a second.

Tech: Nikon D300s, 10.5 fisheye lens. ISO 200, 1/2500 at F5.6. Elinchrom Ranger and ‘S’ head used with sports reflector at a setting of 6.5 power.  Pocket Wizard Flex system used for high speed sync. AquaTech D300s and SB900 housing used.

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So far I have only looked at using the fast flash sync speeds using the Pocket Wizard Flex System for freezing the action.  What else can you do with that lightning fast shutter speed?  How about using wide open apertures to create selective focus in an image?  I was shooting fly fishing the other day in bright sun.  In order to get the right exposure and use an aperture of F4,  I needed a shutter speed of 1/3200.  No problem anymore.  I just set up my Ranger 40 feet away with a sports reflector and used my Pocket Wizard TT1.  The fast speed also helped freeze the action.  Tech: Nikon D300s, 24-70mm, ISO 500, 1/3200 at F4.  I liked the shallow depth of field and action in this image, but wanted more of a sense of place in the next image.

Out came my 45mm PC-E tilt shift lens.  I swung the lens plane to the left, creating a pronounced soft focus effect in the shot.  I used F2.8 for very shallow of depth of field.  I needed 1/8000 of a second for the correct exposure.  Tech:  Nikon D300s, 45mm PC-E tilt shift lens, F2.8, ISO 320. Elinchrom Ranger with ‘S’ head used with sports reflector.  Pocket Wizard Flex system used to trigger flash.

Another technical point.  The Ranger was not at full power for this image, even 40 feet away, but closer to 80 percent power.  I still had room to move the subject further away from the light.

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I have continued to work with the Pocket Wizard Flex Mini TT1 and ST4 with my Elinchrom Ranger (see last post).  Here’s the good news.  After more experimentation, I can sync my D3 at 1/1000 at full power.  And even at 1/1250 I get minimal flash fall off and clipping.  1/1250 will freeze most subjects I shoot, and is a huge improvement over the 1/200 sync speed I had before.  And I  still can shoot at any shutter speed I want on my D300s (including 1/8000!).  The skier in the super pipe was shot at 1/2500, F7.1, ISO 100 with the Ranger at full power from about 20 feet away, camera was a D300s.

Here is some useful data for anyone using the Hypersync utility and calibrating their Nikon D3 or D300s with a Ranger. I have found the best results setting the Hypersync adjustment tab to minus 2000.  This seems to be the right setting to get the best sync speeds using a Ranger and Freelite ‘S’ head.  I have found no difference shooting RAW images at 12bit or 14bit, they both give similar results. Since the Ranger has its fastest flash duration at full power, I also experimented lowering the flash power (therefore slowing the flash duration) and trying to get faster sync speeds.  I saw a little improvement, but not a much.  To keep things simple, I start at full power and lower the speed if the output is to much on the subject.

One important note.  Shooting full power on a Ranger (1100 watts) gives you great shooting distances using high speed sync. The skier is about 20 feet away from my flash, and I am using a standard reflector.  If I put on a sports reflector (which projects flash even further), I’m sure I could shoot 30 feet or more away at my subject at 1/2500.  I also have room to open up my aperture and increase distance even further.

I have used both the standard Ranger and the Ranger RX Speed and gotten similar results.

The bottom line is I will use my Skyport system for normal shooting, and use the Pocket Wizard Flex TT1 when I need to freeze action.  High speed sync is here to stay with the Elinchrom Rangers.

Tech: Nikon D300s, 24-70mm, ISO 100, 1/2500 at F7.1, one Ranger shot at full power, standard reflector. Pocket Wizard Flex Mini1 and ST4 receiver used for strobe.

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If you are an action shooter like me, then you need to shoot at fast shutter speeds..1/1000 or faster to capture the action. But using flash at this speed required high speed sync, which in turn meant using multiple speedlights to get enough power to illuminate the subject. Speedlights work well, and have some advantages in their small size and portability. But what if weight isn’t a real problem, you just want lots of high speed sync power in a studio pack.

I’m happy to report if you are an Elinchrom user this ability has arrived via the PocketWizard Hypersync technology.  I had heard Dave Black showed some amazing images using this technology at Photoshop World (take a look at his site, incredible work), and my friend Mark Astmann at Manfrotto kept reporting you could shoot at 1/1000 or faster using Hypersync.  He was right.

To work with the Ranger, you need three parts..the PockeWizard Power ST4 receiver, the Flex TT5 or MiniTT1 and the EL-19374 Skyport Transceiver adapter (to connect the ST4 into the Ranger). Next, you will need to download the PocketWizard Utility at the Pocket Wizard website.

Here is where the fun begins.  You start by calibrating your MiniTT1 transmitter by shooting a full power flash burst at a white wall.  When you see clipping occurring, either a dark band at the top or bottom, you have gone past your maximum shutter sync speed.  You then keep calibrating the transmitter to improve your fastest sync speed.  PocketWizard does a great job walking you through the steps using the utility to get the best performance. For a detailed look at Hypersync and the new Pocket Wizard Flex system, check out Rob Galbraith. The tech at Pocket Wizard told me highest sync speeds will vary depending on camera used.  Boy were they right.

Using my D3, I was able to only get to 1/500 before clipping occurred.  This is faster than the 1/200 I normally get when using my Ranger, but not by much.  So I decided to try my D300s, and what a surprise.  I was able to get 1/2000 and much faster sync speeds.

How fast?  As fast as my camera can shoot, 1/8000 of a second! That is so fast that even wide open apertures give you dark images in the middle of the day.  Incredible!

Since the S Freelite heads have a slower flash duration, these are better to use than the A heads which have a faster flash duration. The longer flash burst allows Hypersync to time the shutter/flash better for faster sync speeds.

I’ll admit I am so excited about this that I just got my PocketWizards today, and spent 3 hours running tests. My son volunteered to ride his bike as fast as he could down the street. This is only the beginning. I have shoots in the next week that I will further put Hypersync technology to the test. Maybe I can get a faster sync speed using my D3. For now the high speed sync dilemma in studio packs is solved.  I can shoot at any speed I want on my D300s and still use my Ranger pack.  Very exciting!

Top shot: Nikon D300s, ISO 200, 24-70mm, 1/2000 at F4. Elinchrom Ranger with one S head used.  Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and ST4 used with Hypersync calibrated.

Bottom shot: Nikon D300s, 24-70mm, ISO 200, 1/8000 at F5. Elinchrom Ranger with S head used, Pocket Wizard Flex MiniTT1 and ST4 used with Hypersync calibrated.

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April is a great month to shoot skiing in Colorado. Warm temps, blue sky days, and midweek very few skiers on the slopes….no lift lines.

I wanted to shoot a classic sunstar jump image, which meant two things. First, I needed a skier that can fly high out of pipes and off jumps. Enter Dave, a ski coach and incredible skier. Second, I needed a flash to fill in the light. I love the Elinchrom Ranger, this pack just takes a beating and keeps shooting. With 1100 watts, it has plenty of power to underexpose the background on a sunny day.  How to carry the gear?

My lighting set up fits perfectly in my LowePro Vertex 300.  I can put a Ranger RX (smaller version to the Ranger Speed RX), one head, camera and lenses all into the same pack. The Ranger weighs about 13 pounds, the head around 4 pounds, so you have 17 pounds of lighting gear. Add in a Nikon D3 and lenses, one Manfrotto 366B stand attached to the outside and you have a pack that weighs around 30 pounds. The Vertex suspension system does a fine job carrying this load while skiing. Remember, carrying around 75 percent of the weight on your hips and the rest on your shoulders is the way to go. After years of carrying 80+ pound packs as a guide, you live and breath carrying weight efficiently.

The other issue with this image is freezing the action. Since the Ranger and Freelite A head produce a very fast flash duration, as long as I minimize the effect of daylight on my exposure, the action will be frozen in time. To accomplish this I set my daylight for 2 stops underexposed, ensuring that the flash, not daylight, would be the main light illuminating Dave. The flash froze Dave in the air with no ghosting at all.

Underexposing the background and creating a sunstar work together perfectly. You need a small aperture opening to achieve a sunstar, so I set my aperture at F22.  This tiny opening also helps underexpose the daylight. I set my ISO to 100 (L1 on Nikon), shutter speed to 1/200 and was ready to go. The pack was set to full power at 1100 watts. I use these exact settings everytime I shoot sunstars and flash, it always works as long as my subject is around 10 feet away.

Tech: Nikon D3, 14-24mm 2.8, F22 at 1/200, ISO 100. Elinchrom Ranger RX, Freelite A head, Skyport wireless system to trigger flash.

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I recently finished another photography training video for Kelby Training, this one on winter sports. We had a blast with Scott, Matt and Adam before the video shoot, shooting straight through a huge blizzard and wallowing through snow drifts.  Check out Scott’s blog for more details.  One of the athletes we got to photograph was Eddie, and friend of Adam’s and an incredible snowboarder.  Stay tuned, the winter video should be out shortly.

I was up at the superpipe at Copper Mountain last week photographing Eddie.  I was traveling light, a few lenses and one body, and no flash in my bag.  It is almost impossible for me not to have a flash tucked away in a pocket, or more likely a truck loaded with lighting gear, when I am on a shoot.  But when you are skiing by yourself, and trying to keep up  with Eddie, you want to go as light as possible.

Luckily we had a sunny day, which greatly simplifies lighting.  In winter you have a great natural reflector in the snow.  Light bounces and reflects off all surfaces, and staying in tune with natural reflective surfaces on a photo shoot can solve (or create) lighting challenges.  Light will reflect the color of the surface it is bouncing off, so don’t bounce light off a green wall unless you want the ‘alien effect.’  If you shoot in snowy areas, let the snow fill in shadows and bounce light to your advantage.  The image above had lots of reflected light hitting Eddie’s face and goggles, no flash needed for fill on this shot.

Tech: Nikon D3, 14-24mm 2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/4000 at F5.6.

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Just back from Patagonia, had a good trip with everyone, and some great laughs!  We photographed a wide range of subjects, from landscapes, ice climbers, wildlife to tango shows.  Some of my favorite images from the trip are portraits.

Backgrounds are an important part of a portrait, they either add some context to the image, or they are almost featureless to focus the viewer on the subject. We photographed a gaucho for one shot, and including the environment was key to making this shot.  Gauchos are cowboys of the Patagonian landscape, herding sheep with their trusty dogs across miles of open country.  For this shot I used a 45mm tilt shift lens to blur the background and add some mystery to the image.  A single SB900 was used off camera to add catchlights to his eyes and open up shadows under his hat.

Throwing the background out, or making it blurry, can be done at capture or in post processing.  I always like to do everything I can at the camera level, so for the second portrait I used an f-stop of F1.4 on the new Nikon 85mm 1.4 lens.  This lens is beautiful, and the pleasing blur it gives to shot is hard to match.  I focused on the tango dancer’s eyes, knowing that everything else would rapidly fall out of focus at this aperture.

Always consider your background with a portrait.  Does it add to the image, or distract the viewer from the subject?  If you have a busy cluttered background, just use shallow depth of field and throw the background out.

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I was shooting for an upcoming article in Digital Photo Magazine the other day, and realized the obvious is sometimes the easiest. I was working with Kate, a terrific model in town, and we were working on some simple portraits. The day had started gray and overcast, so I packed a lot of lighting gear to make my own lighting reality depending on where the shoot went.

As the day progressed the sun starting breaking through the clouds creating some dramatic backlighting.  But I was stuck in my preconceived shot, I wanted to work in the shade and create my own lighting.  Have you heard the phrase ‘shooting with the blinders on?’

Luckily it dawned on me how beautiful the sun would be as an accent light to Kate.  We found an alley with the sun streaming down the middle, and she leaned up against a wall for this shot. One Elinchrom Ranger was used shooting through a small square rotalux softbox.

Always stay in touch with your available light and how it changes during the day.  Come to a shoot with your creative ideas, but always be aware of changing conditions.  In this case, my lighting got a lot more simple.  I let the sun work for me, not against me, and used one strobe for some fill light.

Tech: Nikon D300s, 70-200mm 2.8 lens, 1/200, F5.6, ISO 100. Elinchrom Ranger used for lighting.

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