UNLEASH YOUR FLASH! Sony a9 III Global Shutter vs Leaf Shutter vs HSS

[@mauriciolee7349]

As of today, May 16th, 2024, out of countless flash videos I've watched, yours is UNIQUE because of the following reasons. 1. You DEMONSTRATE the difference of photos taken with flash and FOCAL POINT shutter, LEAF shutter, and GLOBAL shutter. You cover all of them in ONE VIDEO. 2. You back up your statement "When the shutter speed is faster than 1/16,000s, the color of the photos changes" by showing photos taken at different shutter speed with flash. I've seen one KZbinr talk about flash changed colors during his shoot. However, he showed only 1 or 2 photos of this issue. He did not show multiple photos at different shutter speeds like you. 3. You point out the disadvantages of the Sony a9III, unlike many others who don't mention its flaws. NO OTHER KZbinr has done such a THOUROUGH video on flash issues. We need more REVIEWERS LIKE YOU. Thank you very much.

[@MarkMillions-i3k]

The color shift on 80000 happened because he didn't get the peak output of the flash curve, you can adjust the timing in the menu and the color changes it is pretty funny.

[@Badonicus]

Brilliant introduction to flash use and brilliantly explained as always by Tony.

[@bmwohl]

Ditto. This was GREAT Tony. Thanks for all the hard work.

[@SuchetB]

Brilliant explanation - Thank you Tony and Chelsea for this 😊 Im getting the SONY A9III

[@armandoragusaucy96z.71]

1:53 lmao, that had me dying I swear I thought I was alone in those incidences any time I shoot a video or picture when my partner comes along 😂 People always be creeping or acting sus

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Yeah the barking was weird but we've had a couple of starers and almost robberies so I'm always on high alert.

[@ToRung]

I hope your special day will bring you lots of happiness, love and fun😍💞

[@CybrSlydr]

Wow, that Hassleblad is just... something else. Incredible how much better those crops of her eye than the Sonys!

[@lollihonk]

You compare 24 MP Vs. 100 MP ...

[@asamxs]

100MP with the medium format and leaf shutter has the fast exposure in read and write intenal bitrate more than any type of full frame.

[@MarkMillions-i3k]

@@asamxs Omg ... this conclusion is wild. 😉

[@lumenspaul]

becuase you need to use f1.8 or greater on a9.3 to get sync at 1/80000th ,it only syncs upto 16,000 at 1.2 or 1.4 .

[@rcdhi1g]

Humm , them use one ND filter true colors , less money and good results and low shutter speed and light flash 📸 equipments . That's my friends photographer saying every time for me .

[@allenwinston5157]

Beautiful video. Best explanation I've seen. Shared with several of the young airmen as we were just practicing this to help them with outside flash photography.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Thanks for sharing!

[@pauljohnroberts6650]

Would love to know how you synced a smartphone and flash as per your example at 13:30.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Just the iphone built in flash. Really wish smartphones could sync!

[@irutgers]

The Hasselblad camera images are gorgeous ❤❤

[@akhyarrayhka4048]

don't change your channel logo into the generic ones, the previous one is already iconic this new one looks like business insider logo

[@xhenriquefps]

Definitely one of your best videos, and you have a lot of great ones. Congrats 👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Thank you!

[@johnhann1852]

Woah, incredible explainer!!!! Please do more of these explainers with the animation. If only I had a way to express exactly how much more worth a picture has than words in this case...

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Thank you! It was time-consuming.

[@willsinger2945]

Love the comparison of this vs your much older outdoor portrait and outdoor flash portait videos. So much good information and wow, tech has come such a long way. Thanks for the great video and hard work!

[@falxonPSN]

The color shifts were interesting. From a theory perspective, it makes perfect sense that the color temperature of the flash output would vary based on what part of the flash cycle you capture, but I've never actually seen it demonstrated until this. In a way, this is kind of the opposite problem of high speed sync. With high speed sync your artificially extending the flash duration to cover the full sensor for the exposure. Here the flash simply can't ramp up fast enough in the short time it's given.

[@renestaempfli1071]

I have just tested the SONY HVL-F60RM2 and the Broncolor Satos 3200 flash with the SONY A9III. Thanks to the flash protocol and communication between the SONY flash with the A9III, the results are much better, than what you got with your Flashpoint strobes. Also shooting up to 20P/s and the fast flash rate of the HVL-F60RM2, all pictures a fast moving artist in AF-C with very high shutter speed are tack sharp. The colour is also far better, than what you achieved with the Flashpoint. Of course, you can do the same thing at a higher flash rate with the Broncolor at a much higher cost. The A9III is revolutionising flash photography. All you have to do, is use a flash that understands und communicates with the SONY flash protocol and the camera.

[@MarkMillions-i3k]

The Flashpoint color shift is because the timing was not set correctly in the in camera menu, when the flash burns it has a peak output and then the output gets lower over the duration of the flash time. On and around the peak the color is correct and with the relatively slow shutter speed of the Hassleblad compared to the 80000 of the A9 this peak is included, on 80000 or even 40000 this peak hast to be synced in camera correctly to get the correct color output. It needs a little try and error for different flashes but it is pretty easy.

[@renestaempfli1071]

@MarkMillions-i3k yes, this is automatically done on the SONY HVL-F60RM2. It gets slightly more complicated, when using multiple flashes at different energy level. It does work with multiple SONY flashes.

[@FrankSD76]

Thanks! Nobody understands HSS. . .well, you do and now I do a little. Thanks for all the work and very clear explanations.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Thank you!!

[@VeeDriving]

Wouldn't the Sony A1 be a better contender for this scenario since it has a 1/400-sec flash sync?

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Yeah that's what we normally use for portraits like that but I wanted a more typical flash sync to represent focal plane shutters.

[@VeeDriving]

@@TonyAndChelsea Makes sense. Thank you for clarifying.

[@RMalayeri]

Dang Tony! This is such a thorough and amazing explanation and analysis of flash, leaf, and global shutter 😊👌

[@DennisKapatos]

Tony gets so in-depth with the tech he is reviewing and I'm here for it. When the A9III dropped it felt more like an experimental piece of equipment than a consumer camera and it raises so many questions.1) Why does Sony have the aperture limitation on shutter speed? 2) What is the source of the poor color at very high speeds - is it something that may be overcome by firmware updates or new hardware? 3)Will this new global shutter era bring about new flash tech or new products that might be interesting or exciting? If there anyone who can divise experiments (or talk to Sony engineers) to begin to glean some answers it's Tony.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

1) I can't figure that relationship out. I would think it would be harder to close the shutter than leave it open. 2) the flash color changes throughout the duration of the pulse. like it's warmer at the beginning and cooler at the end and it evens out UNLESS you cut out the beginning or end. More precise flash timing adjustments would help (right now you're limited to 20 microseconds which I found to be too long). 3) Yeah I think flash manufacturers will take notice and do some engineering around accurate syncing and shorter flash duration... Maybe just multiple separate bulbs in a single housing. It's kind of a chicken and egg situation right now.

[@HappySlappyFace]

After doing some research ( mostly chatgpt ), 2nd problem is mostly caused by the initial burst having more energy thus being bluer for a split second. It was also mentioned that the way xenon flash is the following: during the initial flash burst, plasma is being generated as the xenon gas is getting ionized, generating a bluer flash. Right after ionization comes a recommendation period which produces a warmer flash, summing up to be a neutral color. I sure hope my chatgpt research is correct but for me it makes sense. Damn physics are interesting

[@Localtraveler2376]

Can you make another video of the G9II after you figure how to turn on the animal eye detect? Thanks.

[@nightdonutstudio]

Every medium format camera use leaf shutter? or just this particular camera?

[@VladimirLadev]

How about if you use your flash at max output and maybe get 1/500 speed but your camera shoots at 1/40000 shutter speed. In my mind it should grab all the light it needs and freeze motion better. Does that make sence or am I confused about it?

[@F-Pfiff]

Questions. The t1 of AD600 at full power (1/1or 600Jule) is 1/220. This is way more longer than the sync speed of the Sony A9III. So I expect to see a decrease of real flash-brightness because of cutting the flashlight off. With the lowest power of the ad600 (1/256 or 2,3Jule) the t1 is 1/10000. So this could work with the Sony at 1/8000, but is this enough for outdoor against the sun? edit: You can see it in the video at 8:00. Tony uses 1/32 (or 18,78Jule) of the Power of the AD600 so t.1 is 1/4950. If you compare all the pictures taken at different shutterspeeds, you can see that the brightness of Chelseas face decreases with higher shutter speeds because the flashlight burns longer than the shutter is open (or read out time of the sensor). And I think this is also the explanation for the color shift. So my conclusion: Does not work properly at full power, does not work properly at lowest power. May be it does work partially at 1/32 power but with color shift. So in the moment I believe the global shutter is not a game-changer for outdoor flash photography against the sun.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

This is why the studio segment was shot with the rapid strobes at minimum output and a t.1 of 1/30000.

[@MarkMillions-i3k]

@@TonyAndChelsea The output curve has a peak and then decreases during the flash duration. If you do not sync the A9 to the peak where the color is correct you get a color shift. The duration of the flash is "much" longer than the picture taken by the A9 at 80000/sec so you have to sync the time when the A9 takes the picture to the peak of the flash and voila you get the right color even with 80.000/sec. There is a in camera menu setting for this and it requires a little try and error. 😉

[@MichaelThomas-qh4yv]

Greetings Tony & Chelsea here from across the pond in the UK, I trust you, your family and loved ones had a wonderful Christmas. Just want to say I have found your channel and its videos, educational, helpful, entertaining and inspiring; as a keen amateur photographer. May I wish you and your loved ones a Blessed, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year 🙏 🎉

[@oscarb3139]

Very good explanation Tony tky. Question, that delay problem you had with the transmitter that made you connect your strobe with a wire, its only with Sony? bc I have same strobe AD600, but my gear is a Nikon and obviously a Nikon transmitter, how can I test that I'm not having that same issue and maybe haven't noticed yet.

[@youuuuuuuuuuutube]

You can manually adjust the delay between flash/camera in the A9iii settings, and then you would get the right colors I guess. What you want is to hit the exact power peak from the flash. If it's too early or late then you're not getting that, meaning not only less light but wrong light.

[@ccudjoe89]

i been saying that but Tony has been explaining in other places that he's running into issues. Miguel Quiles seems to be having more success with it all the way up to 1/8000s. Waiting for his video too to see if the results are the same but his last video seems to supports the belief that figuring out how to successfully delay resolves the syncing issues faced in this video

[@TonyAndChelsea]

I manually fine tuned the delay. It was time consuming.

[@anar1072]

Which off-brand trigger did you use with the Sony a9iii?

[@aarong2374]

great video! And I shouldn't be surprised but dang do love that hasselblad

[@Zomlies]

My A7RV has a shockless shutter WB setting, would that help with the A9III?

[@qizhang5042]

I am just curious about the meaning of doing outdoor portraits in such a spot if one wants to turn the background dark and blurry. Does the background matter anymore?

[@jacy123]

I think one wants the background to be exposed nicely and to have an enjoyable and dynamic blend of chroma and luminance and a sunset does that well. Also good to remember how the skin tones can shift in an undesirable way from the ambient lighting, as demonstrated when they tested the 28mm lens for this Hasselblad x2d in a backlit grassy park and the fast sync allowed the x2d to pickup perfect skin tones because of exposing the professional lighting rather than the greenish skin tones they got with slow speeds due to reflected light off the trees and grass.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Woah Jacy remembers our 28mm review! Yes good point about another good reason to kill ambient light.

[@qizhang5042]

@@jacy123 I respectfully disagree. First, I should applaud the nice and systematic comparison of cameras, imaging settings, and Flashes by Tony and Chelsea. That is very informative. However, my question is more philosophical than technical. If you look at the best-lighted and balanced pictures, the background is very blurry and "binary" (i.e., the top half is bright yellow while the sunset is barely recognizable, and the bottom half is almost black). So, does a scenic spot as background matter anymore? In those pictures, the ambient lighting also no longer matters to the skin tones which were again dominated by the Flash lighting (and, even worse, by the unpredictable sensor behavior). Why not stay indoors and use a scenic picture as background? That is what photographers had used nearly a century ago with the ancient film cameras. Again, I am not against the new tech and neither am I against so many wonderful videos Tony and Chelsea made. I am just questioning where the tech will lead photography to, just like Tony questioning what AI will do. Nevertheless, we should couple with the emerging technologies and find new application scenarios for them.

[@MarcAdesso]

Have to wonder if there would have been different results with a better quality flash, like Broncolor or PF.

[@jean-claudemuller122]

Yes Godox / Flashpoint gear is too low grade for these high end needs, trigger is too slow and color inconsistency at short flash durations. In these conditions there is really no problem with one of the big three (Broncolor, Profoto, Elinchrom). For example, my Elinchrom triggers have two settings, normal for long distance and normal speed needed by focal plane shutters, and speed mode with shortened range and very fast triggering for high speed leaf shutters

[@MarcAdesso]

@@jean-claudemuller122 yes, that's what I was thinking as well.

[@MartianCitizen]

Great video you two. You cram so much knowledge into a short time frame that I find myself rewinding and watching again. As always, keep up the good work and keep'em flying. From the little red planet. If ther is anee mis speling forgive me, tito's rocks 👽👽👽👽👽

[@JasonVinson183]

You can get rid of the color issues at higher shutter speeds if you adjust the flash timing within the menu. I have a custom button programed to access the timing for quicker adjuents. Though I'm hoping they update the workflow for this process prior to release, since it can be pretty tedious!

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Heya Jason! Yeah I adjusted the timing, and spent at least 30 minutes going back and forth between a few settings. I think it needs to be more granular than 20 microseconds because 1/80,000 is actually less than 20 microseconds... the best setting clipped the flash and screwed up the color balance, and settings on either side of that missed the flash completely.

[@JasonVinson183]

@TonyAndChelsea interesting. I haven't used the 400 to test yet. But I was able to get decently accurate colors with my 200 pro and 1200 pro. Will have to do more testing.

[@EatCoffee]

Unfortunately there's always pros and cons, I always thought global shutter will eliminate all the issues with rolling shutter...

[@TungstenOvergaard]

Happy new year! Thanks for your work during 2023.

[@pilot2002010]

This is by far the best video I've ever seen with high sync and speedlight explanation! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! This was truly amazing!

[@TonyAndChelsea]

My pleasure!

[@SEAME7]

😂😂😂

[@MexBytes]

Did you use the Flash Sync Calibration tool on the camera or just shot the flash like any normal flash ?

[@TonyAndChelsea]

I calibrated separately for wired and wireless. It's a real pain... I wish they would automate it. It even seemed to vary a bit at fast shutters. They need more granularity than 20 microseconds too.

[@b.mz7]

Great information! What would happen if you used an ND filter to keep your shutter speed at 1/250 instead of HSS? Is that more or less efficient in terms of flash power needed? I shoot only small leaf shutter cameras (Leica Q2, Fuji X100V, X70, Canon G5xm2) because of the flash sync limitations of focal plane cameras. I’m always taking photos of people in bright day light and need to use fill flash to properly expose the scene. The limitation here is that none of these cameras allow for the best portrait focal lengths (85mm) so bokeh is limited when cropping in post.

[@QUINPANO]

You retain more power when you use an ND filter. There are a few popular sony portrait photographers who use and advocate for NDs so that you get more power and faster recycle times. I would avoid variable NDs though and buy a 3, 6, 10 stop ND filter on the bigger size like 82mm and step down (never step up). Variable NDs always have some kind of color cast no matter how cheap or expensive.

[@aliendroneservices6621]

Shallowness of *_Depth of Field_* (DOF) is a function of aperture diameter in mm, not focal length. An 85mm f/1.4 lens has a maximum aperture diameter of 61mm. A 135mm f/1.8 lens has a maximum aperture diameter of 75mm.

[@b.mz7]

@@QUINPANO thanks for the detailed response. I have a B&W variable ND 1-5. I’m just a hobbyist tho, my wife and I are digital nomads so we’re always in amazing places for photography, but I travel light and don’t want to lug around too much equipment or fiddle with switching NDs. Do you think I’d be able to capture well lit photos in bright daylight (even backlit) with an XT-5 (1/250 max sync) with a guide number of 20 on an unmodified off camera flash close to the subject? (No softbox or beautify dish)

[@b.mz7]

@@aliendroneservices6621 wow I feel like I should have known this. Thank you, all of a sudden it makes complete sense

[@aliendroneservices6621]

@@b.mz7 You're welcome. I wish lens brands would add this information to their lens boxes. Would save people a lot of time and trouble. (Additionally, every lens box should have both F-stop and T-stop ratings.)

[@pointzerophoto]

Tantalisingly, you have the rotolight aeos 2 in shot and didn't show us how fast and well the a9ii and the aeos 2 would sync! Is it super quick? I know the rotolight can keep up with the 120fps of the a9iii, but the power output would be interesting - next video?

[@shichaosun3298]

what about nd filter?

[@ilaion11]

It seems to me that the white balance changes in the shorter exposure times not only for the flash light but for the background sunny scene as well. This might be an effect of the electronic shutter overall.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Hmm I'll have to check that.

[@DennisKapatos]

I agree, something seems off. I feel like there's more to be uncovered with respect to this sensor or perhaps the camera's operation.

[@ilaion11]

@@TonyAndChelsea try to put the camera on a fixed WB, not Auto. I guess you were on Auto.

[@derrick072]

I had a choice to buy the A9III or Hasselblad X2 and I choose Hasselblad because I like what I saw in your comparison

[@gamebuster800]

Can't you just use an ND filter? Also, Why the weird adapter for the wired flash trigger? Doesn't the A9 III have a flash port?

[@TonyAndChelsea]

ND filters block the flash, too, so you might as well use HSS if it's more than a stop. The a9 does have a sync port but it needed a different connector type than I had.

[@NildoScoop]

So in bright sunlight it is still worth to use variable ND's to level the ambient light with the sync speed of the flash. With high speed sync the flash will loose too much flashpower.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

NDs are useful if you don't have HSS, but because NDs also block the light from the flash, you might as well use HSS unless it's just a stop.

[@MokPhilip]

Great video to answer many questions. Will a Sony flash say HVL-F60RM still able to take backlight portrait under sunlight? Suppose the flash duration of full output is 1/1000s, will higher shutter speed decrease its power? And start to get inconsistent color when shutter speed higher than 1/25000s or even lower speed?

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Maybe because the flash output is focused it doesn't need much light. But who wants the ugly light from a flash head?

[@MokPhilip]

@@TonyAndChelsea Thanks very much for your reply. Understand direct light from flash head cannot compare to off camera flash with light modifier. However, bring a AD600 when travel sometimes not possible. If the global shutter of A9III can help, it can be an solution.

[@rzero21]

Flashpoint gear is the same as Godox? Are they compatible??

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Yeah Flashpoint is Godox with American support by Adorama... and if you've ever tried to get support directly from Godox, you'll appreciate how important that is. But they're completely compatible and many of our triggers are branded Godox.

[@swistedfilms]

I've been meaning to attach an ND filter to my lens to decrease the incoming light while keeping a wide aperture and using flash. The only potential problem with that is that you have to use a filter that's as good as the glass you're using.

[@Athiril]

I found it only affects the colour not sharpness on my lenses

[@TonyAndChelsea]

If you don't have HSS an ND is a good solution, but NDs obviously also cut the power of the flash.

[@Athiril]

I generally gain 2-3 stops with ND filters over HSS.. or rather you only lose what the ND filter is cutting back, you lose a few stops more with HSS than what it's cutting out

[@CarstenStolze]

THX for doing all the testing. Great work!

[@TonyAndChelsea]

You're welcome!

[@danistudio360]

Very good explanation...and why not use an ND filter on the A7RV instead of HSS?

[@TonyAndChelsea]

NDs block the flash, too, so unless it's just a single stop you might as well use HSS.

[@danistudio360]

An ND filter will never be able to compete against a global shutter, but I think that in the battle in this video it would have been fairer to have used an ND filter on the A7RV than HSS since with HSS you lose more flash power. Greetings

[@rphandler]

Tony, take Chelsea's x100v with its leaf shutter that syncs to 1/4000" and see what it can do! (You'll need to move in closer with the 23mm APS-C lens, but that also means you can use a less powerful flash.) I'll watch for your results.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Forgot that has a leaf shutter!

[@rphandler]

Maybe I'll try with mine. Will seek an opportunity.@@TonyAndChelsea

[@donho6523]

also has built in nd!@@TonyAndChelsea

[@BMacVids818]

I wish this video was around 13 years ago when I was using KZbin to learn photography. The best explanation of flash I’ve ever seen. Do you know if profoto lights would have the same color variance when shooting at higher sync speeds?

[@tstanley01]

Some of their pack lights have flash durations in the 1/80,000s of a second, but I think they are about $25,000 dollars...and that is at minimum power...1/80,000s of a second is really really fast...LOL

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Likely any flash would have color variation if the sync speed is exceeded because the flash changes color temperature throughout the burst. But as tstanley01 said, ProFoto makes a single $25k strobe with a 1/80000 sync, and that's what Sony used to demonstrate the tech.

[@Skipsul]

Excellent video! Would love to see more like these.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Thank you!

[@RickMentore]

I've seen a thousand demo like this before, well not quite like this, nevertheless I still enjoy them! Thanks T&C. Sink speed, shutter speed, megapixel; the Hasselblad is just a better camera!

[@goactivemedia]

So it only works with a wire into a flash that takes one it seems. Just got mine in today and it will not work with any flash or trigger I have.

[@carlosj.martin6395]

Hola Tony buenas tardes y gracias por este nuevo video. Me gustaría hacerte una pregunta, ¿La Hasselblad X2D tiene global shooter? o, ¿ Lineal shooter? Gracias por tu respuesta y un abrazo a los dos.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Hola Carlos. No sé cómo traducir el término, pero tiene persiana de hojas... "Leaf shutter" in English. It's in the lens. It also has a pretty useless electronic shutter.

[@jerrylee188]

thank you so much for this video! very informative, answering many questions about diff between sony and hassy!

[@TonyAndChelsea]

You're welcome!

[@bobtronic73]

Thanks for putting this together. Learned a bunch 👍

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Glad it was helpful!

[@thelensguy6050]

You nailed this video, I loved it , I learned a lot and the information shared is perfectly explained, thank you sir!

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Thank you!

[@Lastman10101]

that intro with the wind blowing is nightmare lol BTW how did you get that 90mm been waiting haha

[@TonyAndChelsea]

It's a loaner. This started as a review for that lens and just became really complex lol.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

BTW, 2 sandbags to keep that stand upright in the wind and Chelsea still had to catch it a couple of times.

[@shiny7157]

Try a Broncolor Scoro S and see how you get on it. Controlable colour temperature.

[@DJVARAO]

Now I want a Hasselblad. 😂

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Yeah me too 😂

[@josecontreras5359]

Do you recommend that I buy the Sony a7rv or Sony a93 for the money, it doesn't matter. I just want to know what your recommendation would be to buy it

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Sports, get the a93. Otherwise get the a7R5.

[@jongrall]

Nice video. Personally I find VND filters useful when I want to shoot wide open in bright conditions with flash and want to avoid the power loss penalty of HSS, but of course they do affect the whole image.

[@comartse]

Excellent presentation, very well done! Thank you!

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Thanks!

[@valiusa10]

from my tests with sony a1 u can shoot 1/32000 at f1.2 and with the flash in hss

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Yeah HSS is just continuous light so it works with any camera at any speed.

[@zachswy]

The modern camera world catches up to 2005's Nikon D70 (in this one very specific metric)

[@davecurtis8833]

Excellent video. Just goes to show some of the medium format cameras do have real world benefits.

[@maggnet4829]

What about ND filters? Aren't they designed to block the excess light?

[@TonyAndChelsea]

They block flash too, so might as well use HSS (at least beyond a single stop).

[@maggnet4829]

@TonyAndChelsea I see what you mean. That's an advantage for the Sony. If, however, you take the Hasselblad and lower the ISO, you impact the area that is hit by the flash, too. Admittedly, in the case of the Hasselblad compared to the Sony, you gain more dynamic range and lower noise in return.

[@keithspurlock4732]

I learned this in the late 70s when I bought my first Leaf shutter medium format Bronica! What a difference it made over my Nikon F2 in both resolution and being able to shoot with flash above 1/60! Wish I could afford a Hasseblad!

[@TonyAndChelsea]

I'm really just learning to appreciate the leaf shutter. I feel like it hasn't been effectively marketed because I really didn't know what I was missing.

[@ManCalledMif]

Great video explanation 🎉

[@jonmitchell9213]

Variable ND filters will help tremendously in situations where over-exposure is a problem. As much as I can appreciate the A9III's ability to shoot at 1/80,000, its unrealistic for most applications. Shooting at standard portrait settings with an ND filter in bright environments not only helps with the exposure itself, but also just helps with overall image quality and appearance. They're awesome tools!

[@denizahmet2299]

Why no mention of using an ND filter ? That would also get to the intended flash look.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

NDs block the flash at the same rate as the ambient light. Might as well use HSS.

[@denizahmet2299]

@@TonyAndChelseaThat's right but it means you can work under the native sync speed and avoid HSS.

[@Neopulse00]

That is one nice jacket Tony you've got on.

[@T-Slider]

Tony, Chelsea: a wonderful timely video just chock full of very important info! Would you follow this up with an in-depth specific context video please. Context: all day lighting at the beach like midsummer’s Florida Sun. What can the a9iii and H. do that would be practical to do for a shoot, yet not possible without the H. or a9iii that would be worth doing. models of course. I apologize for asking for so much, but you da power couple of photography! Thank you. Joe

[@nclarke110]

Thanks Tony

[@TonyAndChelsea]

You're welcome.

[@zenphotocraftmedia8326]

How it compares to the nikon z8

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Check our review of the Hasselblad 28mm. The Z8 has a really low sync speed-for us it worked at 1/160 (lower than advertised).

[@joshashdown4431]

Great video and explanation. Thank you.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Thank you!

[@bigdhav]

Wow! You can certainly see where your money goes in the Hasselblad! Amazing images.

[@CarlosMartinez-mj6cu]

Wow the Hassleblad is a dream

[@onlysublime]

those flash shots didn't do anything to get a person to try this. All it showed was how good the Hasselblad was and how bad the others were. the photos so were bad that you might as well take pics of Chelsea in a studio and then use AI to generate the background.

[@JasonFiske]

A great reference video. Thank you.

[@rickfarber4243]

Thanks for an interesting and technical analysis. One comment on the audio: voice-over Tony is much louder than A-cam Tony. I found myself having to adjust up and down to dial in a comfortable level.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Yeah it's weird because the levels are the same, but if you have good bass in your speakers I think the VO sounds louder because my VO mic picks up the bass better. I need to just use the same mic.

[@rickfarber4243]

Thank you for a quick response. Yes, the same mic would help, or you may try to EQ the tracks to equalize the frequency responses of the two mics.@@TonyAndChelsea

[@bobbykingma4109]

I used Sony gear for about 12 years and was always very happy with it. I also loved the top model Sony Flash which created awesome photos with a natural feel. I bought the Hasselblad X2D recently together with the 35-75mm lens and will order the Profoto A10 Flash. In color realism, Hasselblad is far superior to all other brands. I will sell all my Sony gear.

[@lollihonk]

Isn't it a Sony-Sensor inside the Hasselblad? Just mentioned.

[@bobbykingma4109]

@@lollihonk, yes it is. The same counts for Nikon and Fuji. But this doesn't say anything about the color realism. The Hasselblad can reveal over 70% more light due to the sensor compared to any Sony. The Fuji GFX-100 II uses the same sensor as the Hasselblad X2D. But does not even come close to the natural colors the Hasselblad can reveal.

[@Xirpzy]

Any idea how it compares to canon? I only ever shoot canon and find colour to be good but always slightly shifted towards either warmer or cooler colours depending on what lens I use.

[@lollihonk]

@@bobbykingma4109 better lenses or how is this possible?

[@bobbykingma4109]

@@lollihonk, | I only used Zeiss lenses with my Sony camera. First, Hasselblad's censor can reveal over 70% more light than Sony's censor for their best cameras. The biggest difference is in color realism. HNCS Hasselblad Natural Color Solution is God in photographic technology. When you compare all the best cameras Sony, Nikon, Canon, and Fuji make with the X2D, the difference in color realism is huge.

[@john32son]

This video just made me want the Hassablad even more!

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Yeah this test made me start buying Hasselblad gear. It converted me. I think it would convert a lot of photographers if they got a Hassy in their hands.

[@door-hinge]

Technical Tony is one of the best youtubers out there, unfortunately he can come off a bit snobby in his Cuban Tony phases, but nobody is perfect.

[@sisyphos-or2lx]

That quality decrease at 80.000 looks scary. What could be the reason and is this consistent??

[@TonyAndChelsea]

It was consistent and I don't totally understand the reason. Tested without flash I didn't see the same image quality problems. Even in the studio with flash I didn't see the same issue... So I dunno.

[@sisyphos-or2lx]

so youre saying in studio 80.000 with flash looks fine or also the bad quality? thank you@@TonyAndChelsea

[@rw9735]

Thanks so much for the great content.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

You're welcome!

[@RollinLeonard]

Adorama is the best because they are nice on the phone. I cannot say the same for the "others."

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Yeah Adorama is made of people and I appreciate that.

[@yohannsphotographyvideogra9542]

I really wanted to see pro photo mono-lights they are faster more reliable and color accurate specially on the a93

[@TonyAndChelsea]

The light Sony used to demo the a9 III is $25k, and I think they had several connected so they could be used at minimum output and flash duration... Soooo I had to draw the line somewhere 😳

[@asamxs]

Sony has the lower amount and resolution pixel include read/write performance in the storage lower bitrate when you are compare the real global shutter with the large format sensor.

[@T-Slider]

OK Tony, time for the elephant in the room test results! Do Profoto flashes exhibit the same color problems with the a9iii? In other words, is it the camera or the flash?

[@TonyAndChelsea]

I think any flash would if you were cutting into the flash duration, because flash output isn't the same color throughout the flash. But if you have $25k and you're working at just the minimum 1/256 output, Profoto has a single model that will sync to 1/80000. That's what Sony used in their demo.

[@YogueDaddy]

@@TonyAndChelsea What's funny is that this pack does not really goes to 1/80000... that's just their t0.5 data. If you look at the specs, the t0.1 (which we all know is a way better metric for flash duration) is actually 1/17,500 at 2.4Ws. So, in essence, this speed and power could probably be achieved more easily and for a way lower cost with a bunch of speedlites.

[@Enlightenment_2025]

Thank U for comparison video, Tony.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

You're welcome!

[@RollinLeonard]

great video!

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Thanks!

[@bjarnebuggesolvik6034]

I suppose the A9iii will perform just as well as the Hasselblad if you compeare at max 1/4000. The Sony still have better sutofocus and all the good stuff, even this generation one sensor might be a litle so so. So this boils down to having a flash with short flash duration. I know Elinchrom on the ELB 400 sold a seperate head for that - the action head. With a difrent bulb! I suppose these manefacturers can make special bulbs and maybe also oversize the acumulator or what it is called, to create a flash that can perform well with global shutter. If Sony makes a A7v with global shutter and max shutterspeed 16000 and we get a small flash with equally short duration, or a big flash go, that would be something. A different question is, what about using HSS with A9iii? I expect a lot of powerloss in HSS is due to the curtain shutters, not the flash.

[@FrankDiNardi]

Intense video is right! Wow watched twice!

[@Athiril]

With flash duration its not linear, most of the power is bunched up over a sub-duration of that duration, so it should be more power efficient than ND filters, though the colour issue is interesting

[@theathletesmedia]

Been doing this since I first got an x100s.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Yeah I forgot those have leaf shutters!

[@tanako98]

Get a in body clip on ND filter!! That’s solves the HSS issue!!

[@russellbaston974]

HSS is not truly “continuous “ light it’s still a flash just firing a very high number of, lower power, pulses.

[@TonyAndChelsea]

Sometimes! I have a gadget that shows the flash output and mine was continuous. Regardless it acts as a continuous light.