Sony A9III and it's Relationship with Flash Duration. A fast camera needs a fast strobe!

[@6gwilliams]

Thanks so much PM-R. Brings back memories of strobing the old Spectrum in Philly for NBA Sixers and NHL Flyers shoots. Having the A9III myself, I look forward to your testing. Some smaller strobes powered down can have a short duration but you give up power and coverage. . Cheers my friend.

[@PMRTV]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@ncmotorcyclist]

Awesome info. Thank you. I bought an A93 (My first Sony, former Canon fan) and one of the big reasons was for photographing bike races this fall. I'm looking forward to being able to sync at any speed that I need to control and work with ambient light + flash.

[@PMRTV]

you will be able to do that and a lot more :)

[@itrepreneurpodcast]

Looking forward to this one!

[@AndyHortonPhoto]

We just put this into practice in a big way at a horse show when we showed up and realized we had to light two arenas with the equipment we brought for one. I wound up running three strobes in a covered arena with massive amounts of daylight coming in from the sides and was able to get more than passable shots with the a9iii because I could run at speeds up to 1/2000 and still get enough power from my lights.

[@PMRTV]

this is a huge change from what we had just a few months ago. What is possible is wide open now!!!

[@itrepreneurpodcast]

Thank you. Will ne following for the up coming flash videos.

[@rickymcc9072]

Thanks. This is super interesting to me so I subscribed. I just ordered an a9iii, love shooting sport and often use OCF (flash) for portraiture. I had enjoyed an a9 previously for ski action shots, but missed it when I sold, intending to buy an a1, (didn't, but that's another story). I'm an amateur stills shooter, love sport, portraiture and now trying to learn 'good' videography. Several reasons I'm buying an a9iii (not least because I miss my old a9 for sport, better ergonomics, no flickering in bad LED light, stabilisation in video, no rolling shutter in fast pans and the almost never talked about ability to theoretically sync flash at ultra high speeds. Done right, ambient backgrounds can be suppressed such thst flash illuminated portraits 'pop' against a dark background, even if shot in bright ambient light. But flash duration is, as you well understand, absolutely key to using a global shutter effectively with flash. Nobody I found, bar you, seems to talk about and appreciate this 'hidden' limitation. I have had lots of flash units over time, but currently use multiple Godox AD200s and AD400s. I need to test how well these work and what effective speed/delay settings on an a9iii are optimal for my situations. Time will tell, but my hopes fell when you mentioned Godox adversely. More recently I have been buying Apurture (Amaran) LED lights for video and stills applications. But they still dont have the short term (ie for stills use) luminosity capabilities of flash. Also these aren't easily portable, depend on multiple heavy V-mount cells or mains power, need rigging etc so not suited to 'run n gun' opportunistic portraiture. Time will tell what's achievable and a pragmatic compromise. Given above I wasn't thrilled to learn about the pretty high base ISO of 250 vs the more conventional 100 as it just makes background 1+ stops brighter, all other settings aside, nor will it likely help dynamic range. But, that said, it might be better for ambient light sport with longer lenses.😮

[@PMRTV]

I love Amaran and use them exclusively for my video production location work. I currently have 2-300c, and 5- 200D’d. they are fantastic lights.

[@rodrigodepierola]

Great t-shirt!

[@DavidStella]

Great info, thank you

[@PMRTV]

you bet!

[@WildExposures]

Great Video PMR as always! Just my 2 cents.....since many high schools are now using the led lights I shoot 1000th second with a Sony 135mm 1.8 around 3200 ISO or lower and with a 50mm 1.2 at 800 ISO or lower. I punch in with my Sony A1 using these lens and cover the court easy. So I have a 50mm 1.2 to 200mm 1.8 and still have 21 megapixels. I have 1 A1 in my lap and one in my hand and works great. I also shoot video at 60 to 120 fps from a much lower shutter speed of 125th to 250th of a second which now allows me to shoot and very low ISO!

[@Iskhakoff]

are strobes really necessary at big arenas now considering fast lenses and high-iso cameras?

[@PMRTV]

it's a fair question. I would say yes, if you want the best looking images possible. LED's have increased the lighting in every arena they get installed in but you cannot compare available light images with those shot on strobes. The difference also is shooting at f/5.6 and 200 ISO vs. shooting at f/2.8 at 1600 ISO. That's a big difference.

[@dbcooper3767]

Sir, I am obsessed with FD.. I am using the older Speedotron 105 with Norman splitters to convert the two plug head into one port of the bank so when I have 2x105s and splitters ; I have that 1/6200 second FD at 400ws to shoot drift cars. And it is scalable to other Speedotron units so I can beat Chinese strobes at lower price ranges like using the Speedo 1205 at the 600ws port to get 1/5000 FD with a single 105.

[@PMRTV]

That’s a powerful and FAST set up! Very cool!

[@glennjames1756]

PMR: what is the true flash Duration on Speedo 2401SX @ full & half power? Speedotron is saying something like 1/1175 sec and I am assuming that is at full power with 2 cable quad heads. Any experience with the A9III on speedos? Thanks for what you are doing here on your channel. Im still having trouble with the A1 at 1/400sec with the speedos still getting slight motion blur or "ambient blur"

[@PMRTV]

I always went by 1/1100th with short, 4 cable 105's. Longer cables make the duration longer. 2 cable heads make it even worse because you are combining banks of caps in the pack. Separating them is key. You are probably not going to fix it unless you add more power is my guess. If you are seeing blur, it's because the ambient is so high. I think....????

[@gerhardwiesinger]

Nice, any recommendations on newer but not newest Elincrhrom flashes for high speed as the mentioned one? (e.g. BX Ri 500, BRX 500)

[@sayharris1361]

Thank you, What are your thoughts about using profoto with an A9 lll?

[@PMRTV]

as long as you turn it down to get the higher flash durations, it's fine but at full power, most of the Profoto gear is just too slow. If you are using it for portrait work, it's no problem but you will need to do some testing so you can "lag out" your shutter speeds with the flash power output of your lights. You should make notes on this and store them in your phone so when you are on location, you won't have to re-test every shoot.

[@MikeAnthonyPhotography]

do you think now the sony a9iii has come out ....do you think westcott will make a fj400 sport ( work on the name of the new light ) but something that can use the full power of the a9iii for the future cuz the fj 400 was more made for high speed sync days and now that is kinda gone for most part for ppl who own the a9iii

[@PMRTV]

I doubt it. Of all the people shooting on FJ400's, only a fvraction are using the A9III. it wouldn't make sense. But... as other manufacturers catch up and eventually produce their own global shutter bodies, we might see someone make a light with shorter duration again... Old Elinchroms are still the easiest way to get power AND duration...

[@rpgroome]

Are you quoting t.1 or t.5 durations?

[@PMRTV]

whatever... the concept is the primary thing. Godox is Slow, Elinchrom is FAST. Westcott is in the middle.

[@OKuusava]

Hm, and as the global shutter is not on global market of cameras, what shall we do with this? We can sure use fast flashes to freeze movement, but if using "normal shutters" they are only likes of 1/250s fast. And if we are not dimed enviroment we have to be on what, small apertures, to get these working to our benefit?

[@PMRTV]

I'm trying to figure out your question????

[@mgportraits]

Broncolor Siros L is faster! Maybe? but so expensive!

[@PMRTV]

Actually its very slow compared to the FJ400 and is $2400!!! Here is the spec that you missed on Flash Duration t.1: 1/6200 to 1/400 Sec t.5: 1/11,300 to 1/1200 Sec it might take 4-5 Sirios L units powered down to 1/4 power to get the same flash duration as a single Elinchrom EL500 unit (500 w/s 1/1700th duration). That would cost you a little over $13,000 not including sports reflectors and grip/pins... Everyone is quick to remember that Broncolor used to have really short duration strobes but what they forget is that they only produce those super short durations near minimum power instead of max power.

[@shootermcgavin4999]

If new LED lighting is better and brighter...why dont you just use the ambient. Most places you can shoot 1/1000 at like ISO 2000 or very worst ISO 3200. A9 looks nice at those ISOs.