Flash Power Settings Explained | What Do These Numbers Mean?

[@LastXwitness]

Just figured I’d try to make some sense of this for some people out there after years of the same question. Let me know if this was helpful! And as always hitting subscribe really helps

[@Joseph-iu6ip]

I thought you were losing me at first, but I stuck it out and now I get it. Thanks for the information it was very helpful.

[@LastXwitness]

Glad ya hung in there Sorry I don’t script so sometimes my train of thought can get confusing

[@brad_in_yyc]

Excellent explanation. That was really educational. Thanks, as always, Seth.

[@LastXwitness]

Appreciate ya

[@mattorrz759]

Going straight to my speed lights and play. Thanks for the in-depth explanation Seth. Extremely helpful 👌

[@LastXwitness]

Awesome hope it helped

[@mattorrz759]

@@LastXwitness Sure did man. Really appreciate the vid 🤙

[@jeffreykeeney5363]

YOU ARE THE MAN, Your level of knowledge and how you convey that knowledge has no comparison on any platform. I've followed you for 3 years now. I learn then I practice then I come back to hone what I just practiced. It's all your fault. Your ability to communicate to your audience just like you are talking to A PERSON, ONE on ONE. With passion that seems to be boundless.

[@LastXwitness]

Really glad this is helping some of you out there

[@JenH-nd]

This has been an absolute life saver for me! Think I finally grasp this enough to get started - thanks so much!

[@LastXwitness]

That’s awesome. Glad it was helpful welcome to my channel poke around you might find some more stuff that helps

[@petegazzolo1356]

Thanks Seth. I get it now!

[@LastXwitness]

Awesome!

[@kenduh7947]

Really great explanation👏

[@LastXwitness]

Thank you !

[@stewartmunrovideo]

Loved the new video, mate! Off topic, I would love to know: have you ever not been paid for a job, and what did you do to deal with the situation? Would love to see a video on it.

[@LastXwitness]

Sure it’s happened I’m also not a good source for business advice on any of that trust me. I’d check some reputable people out there a lot of wedding photographers have content on that but they def do work with contracts so it’s more legit than me going “here’s my invoice “ lol

[@Adkhikerandexplorer]

Hey Seth, I just bought my first strobe and had no clue what the numbers meant, so this is really helpful. Thank you for making this.

[@LastXwitness]

Glad it was a help thanks for swinging through my channel

[@ejorbe]

I had to watch this twice to get it through my skull. Haha This helped me out very much. I did not get all of it as I now have to put my hands on my flash and start to see the results, but now I have the theory of what the numbers mean and that those numbers are not my exposure. I hope I remembered that correctly. Thanks Seth for making this video and helping me in my journey to understand artificial light!

[@LastXwitness]

Yea I figured it’s a lot and in a language some people that shoot just don’t speak..yet!

[@Dentmaker]

Super helpful, especially at the end. I kept wanting to say “turn it up to 11”

[@richardbalch8763]

Sheila loves working with you, Seth. She'll always help you out in a pinch. Great explanation and examples.

[@LastXwitness]

You build a relationship with anyone you work with. Do right by them they will come through for you when you need them

[@mattorrz759]

Liked it before I have even watched it. I know it’s going to be good 😉🤙

[@LastXwitness]

lol thank you

[@mrdarryljones1]

Super helpful! 👍🏽

[@DrivewithJo]

Man thanks for answering my question. Was wondering what’s the equivalence of the fractions and the whole number. 10 means 1/1. 9 means 1/2. YOU ROCK

[@LastXwitness]

You got it Glad you found it helpful. 🙏🫀

[@DJCENTIF1]

Great explanation

[@VanessaJoy]

Such a desperately needed video 👏👏👏

[@jacobjurg3746]

Great explanation, thanks!

[@LastXwitness]

Thank you! Glad to came across

[@jeffreykeeney5363]

AAHHHHH Light Ratio between Key and full!. I get it.

[@jamesrobinson3663]

Thank you, Seth. Wonderfully simple the way you explain lighting, and I’m so glad I can finally use my fourth grade math skills….Miss Flanagan would be so happy 😂

[@ebowden53]

Thank you for this! Great explanation that was needed!

[@jeffreykeeney5363]

Just picked up 24-120 f4 lent. OMG I love it. Now if I can find my Sheila I will die a happy man!!!

[@LastXwitness]

Just treat her right

[@ihknilsen]

Thanks for all the insight Seth!!

[@LastXwitness]

Thanks for swinging through to check it out

[@Thereal111t]

This is a fantastic explanation. It’s never occurred to me to use the power settings symmetrically like that instead of some kind of metering. I can see how the decimal readout would be more useful than the fractions. That’s the only thing I can see in favor of that method other than maybe it’s easier to design a bigger display. It seems to me that the fraction plus tenths display is more intuitive. For example that point you made about 9 instead of 5 being half power. I don’t see that as being confusing on the fraction display. The beginner needs to pay heed to the important point that you made about different distances, modifiers and lights changing the effective power at the subject position. Edit: wait a minute… that IS the way I used to set ratios on my vivitar 285 strobist portrait setups. I’d use the same umbrellas on the main and fill and keep them at the same subject distance but different angles… and then use the varipower wheel to set the key at full and the fill at 1/2 or 1/4. I totally forgot that until now.

[@LastXwitness]

Whatever works for you

[@Thereal111t]

@@LastXwitness kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGisi42Ohp1shcUsi=G9gY2O0vMom4P8gn

[@EdHelwig]

Huge help Seth, thanks much.

[@UsedProfessionalStrobes]

Stops of light / maintaining exposure - I think people understand that with ambient and the way you explained the two different power scales should help make it more clear for strobe users.

[@LastXwitness]

Hope so!

[@CynthiaS1951]

Thank you for the excellent explanation, this video is extremely helpful!

[@LastXwitness]

Glad it was helpful and worthwhile!

[@humanmeyer6982]

You defenatly shed some light on my lights.. thanks a lot..

[@LastXwitness]

I see what ya did there. Thanks for watching

[@chucksohm7213]

Thanks for that. I always worked with lights with the fractions indicated (Godox). Now I can use fancy lights if that is what is available.

[@LastXwitness]

Same language diff dialects

[@garrettfitzgerald955]

Thank you !!!!! Great video.

[@LastXwitness]

Glad you found it worthwhile

[@arangodan]

Ah! I like the notion of thinking in terms of stops. I've never really cared what the numbers are, my light meter gets me to the right power setting. On the Flashpoint kit, going from 1 to 1/2 is one stop?

[@LastXwitness]

Yep as see @6:20 each double of. Or half of where you’re at is a stop

[@vic_the_roman]

This should help more than a few people.

[@LastXwitness]

Hope so

[@wmshannahan]

Great job Seth. I was hoping at some point this would be explained so that those watching would come to understand that the power setting of the flashes and camera are relevant to the enviroment that your working in at that time. So unless a person can create the exact senario, the flash and camera settings that are being used won't produce the same results, I find that to be the case even with presets. I'm sorry if my statement does not make sense I've just rolled out of bed and I am not quite awake yet. At anyrate thanks for all that you do the art, your videos and those of the presenters at Adorama, have really aided me in developing my skills.

[@RedShiftedDollar]

A few years ago you went all in on profoto speed lights and your reasons for choosing them were very compelling. I see you’ve got an ad100 pro. How do the ad100s stack up to the criteria you liked about the profotos? Color consistency from light to light, high quality light, high quality spread, battery charging, pulse duration, reliability, recharge time, etc. do the AD100s exceed your expectations?

[@LastXwitness]

If you’ve kept up with anything I’ve done since you probably woulda have spotted I adopted the Profoto A2 after doing the launch video for them on other channels I work for : kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5vFcmSsr9CUoqssi=BsF9CWk2ef_7AY7W Aside from them fitting into my system perfecting with the fact that I shoot profoto as a system and they match how I want and work with the system I shoot . After traveling with them worldwide for a couple years now I havnt had any fail, shift color, miss fire or physically break and they take the same batteries I already own. Everything I said I. The A10 video I still stand by Profoto just gave us another option for small strobe and I leaned into it for my off camera options That said this is the system I am in and I would say to anyone in a strobe system to probably stick to what’s in that system as options before mixing in diff brand models if you’re not ready to deal with issues like getting them to fire together some how or the possible difference in the color they give you mixing. I borrowed this flashpoint evolv100 for this video since this wasn’t about brand it was about interfaces people deal with them setting their lights As far as “exceeding my expectations” I’ll say for what it is I get the appeal but I think at a third the price of the light I chose to go with you have to expect at some point you get what you pay for in this industry sometimes. If you’re in that system and you want a small strobe it’s not a huge price to adopt it and see if it works for you and your needs which is a huge benefit of that system. Here’s an article from a few years ago when it came out. This issue has seemingly been resolved but it’s also one I don’t ever want to deal with or find out I’ll have to deal with after investing in equipment But again $300 vs $1k huge gap petapixel.com/2021/08/05/the-godox-ad100-flash-is-unusable-for-pro-photography/

[@RedShiftedDollar]

@@LastXwitness Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I got and AD100 and AD200 and the first thing I noticed was they aren't the same color. They're close but far enough apart to notice a difference. So now I'm thinking about the cost difference like if somebody came up to me and said "i'll give you a few thousand dollars now, but in exchange you will never be able to do these things for the rest of your life: -set a proper white balance -use a color calibration chart -have consistent colors in different areas of the same photo -quickly edit color in post-processing because you will always be fiddling give-and-take to compensate for the competing lights These color problems are fundamentally unsolvable. When I think about it this way, the cost difference between Godox and Profoto isn't as big as it seems, because the cost of bad color is actually very high.

[@daryl0063]

You are great. Thank you.

[@LastXwitness]

Appreciate that thank you

[@WilsonPhotography1]

Very well said.

[@JBGuarino43]

subscribed because of this content. very helpful, but makes me wise I brought profit seems so much quicker to understand.

[@johnhjic2]

Hello Seth, Some great explanations on some thing that photographer starting with flash/strobes do not get. For me I generally stay these number will give the user there ratio of power between heads, Now most of the time I am shooting Broncolor and each hole number dose is a one stop set, but some time I am mixing light brands with bit older Elinchrom strobes (that may not be one stop). To tell the truth I just alter the bower on each unit to suite the job I am doing, The power number are just a guid and only if I was try to document the image so I could recreate it latter I do not even note the power settings. Just add a Profoto too.

[@tomleiningerphoto]

Makes me wish the school i teach at wad in the profoto system...just so I am clear you usef ttl to set the exposure, then manual to change the power?

[@LastXwitness]

In that situation yes I did and it’s usually how I work

[@ohnoflicks]

That woman is neked! hey Seth any reason your Nikon Z6iii video got marked private? Caught intro for your stream last nite but had to run so I emailed myself the link. Cannot access today. Thanks much. And thnx for this video. Informative as usual.

[@darrinlalla9008]

You had me at 'nerd'.

[@LastXwitness]

😂🤷‍♂️🙏

[@i_am_x_wild]

Mind blown

[@LastXwitness]

🤯

[@Sithlord04]

Far less confusing than 4th grade math class 🤣🤣

[@LastXwitness]

Depends how many times you had to repeat 4th grade