How To Choose Your Strobes

[@Lgwvphoto]

Great info as always. Way to call out the TTL shooters Matt...lol.

[@matthewsullivan4026]

was i too harsh? 🙃

[@Lgwvphoto]

@@matthewsullivan4026 tough love is important.

[@janinacooper4199]

Excellent episode with a lot of useful info. Thank you!

[@mclachlanwild]

Another great episode guys!

[@scipionemannaciosoderini8842]

Great video, with a lot of very useful suggestions. Thanks a lot. 🙏🙏

[@AwkwardSwine]

Both of you commented that Strobe Recycle time is not high on your list of importance and that you don't use it much... Except for when you do. But even then, it's often too hard to chase the shark or whatever. I find this logic a bit twisted, but I also predict that you will change your mind in the end. Multiple frames per second have not been available in any strobes in years past, and very recently it is starting to show up as a feature in new strobes. I strongly suspect a bias in favor of how we have always shot in the past, getting used to the fact the higher frame rates were not possible at all. Certainly, this was my attitude for a long time. And now that higher fps capability is becoming more common, we will find more uses for it. I recently bought the Backscatter HF-1 and really the #1 reason was the rapid recycle time. I've felt limited in a few (occasional) situations where I really wanted this capability. Example #1: Shooting Six-Gill sharks in Puget sound. I've seen these rare sharks a total of 3 times in 15 years. When you see them, they might only pass by you a single time and take off into the dark. Being able to capture at even 3fps makes a gigantic difference when you only have a 5 second encounter. Apply this to other pelagics, maybe a whale shark. Example #2: A swimming macro subject like a Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker. This tiny fish has an occasional habit of swimming right into your macro port, and you are very lucky to get a single frame. Shooting at a higher FPS would be very beneficial. Apply this example to any fast-moving macro subject - juvi drum fish, sweetlips, pipefish, etc.

[@robocop423]

I think the conversation with recycle time has started to appear with the rise of Blackwater Diving.......a style of underwater photography where fast recycle time can definitely be beneficial.

[@tobiaszurcher8066]

Exactly in combination with hss!

[@tobiaszurcher8066]

Thanks @alex for using a proper mic! Apprechiate it after my comment on another video. So much better to listen to :)

[@searcaig]

Something You missed is the colour temperature of the strobe and setting this on the camera. Do you set this on the camera for your specific strobe or do you use the standard camera setting?

[@UWPhotoShow]

Good point - we should have talked about that during quality of light - not that anyone wanted an even longer episode! Anyway, what I would have said on colour temperature is - it is important - a naturally warm strobe is thought by most to be better for blue water wide angle shooting, while a cooler strobe is perhaps more suited to green water wide angle. We can modify colour temperatures of strobes easily with light gels or tinted diffusers, but it makes sense to start choose one that is closer to what you want than to always have to filter it. Since water naturally cools light as it travels through it - it is better to start with a warmer light source. Measuring colour temperature requires a special colour meter that is flash compatible - so most people cannot verify what manufacturers claim. Manufacturers are away that warm selling flashes are more desireable to often claim lower K values for their colour temps - generously reporting their specs as in other variables. When I have tested strobes I have found than many get significantly colder as you turn the flash power up - while a couple resist this. But it means that if you want to get a "warm" reading when selling your flash - a manufacturer could use this to fudge their figures. Do note that most flash tubes naturally produce cold (blue) light - and they are often coated (with a colour) to correct this, which costs a little of the output.