Originally posted by Culture Why did you decide to use ND filters. From what I have understood just about all ND filters give a color cast. They are expensive if they dont.
I often use a Hoya PRO ND8 filter (is reducing the available light by 3 stops). I prefer to use the filter because with HSS there are some things I don't like:
- heating lamp; the flash enter in protection if you shoot in hss and you have to wait for the lamp to cool
- power lost (the output of the light is lost in the pulsing process, just before the shutter opens)
- you need to buy flashes and triggers that can work in HSS, using an ND filter can work even if you have a cheap flash without hss
Yes, some color cast can be noticed if you shoot directly into the sun with an ND filter.
Originally posted by Culture Also you still need alot of power to overcome the stops from the ND filter.
I checked your site. Nice pics.
Culture
Not really.
Let's say that I have to shoot a portrait outdoor with a bright background and for a corect exposure of the background I have to use the following settings: f1.8, ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/1000s. We know that:
1. shutter speed affects ambient light
2. aperture affects the power of the flash
3. ISO controls global light
If we want to use a speedlight to light the model but we:
- don't want to use HSS because using HSS means that we will lose some power of the flash and we will also have heating problems
- don't want to change the aperture because it will affect the flash power and also the DOF
then we have to play with the shutter speed because ISO it's already at 100. Adding an ND8 filter means that I can use a shutter speed of 1/125s (from 1/1000s to 1/125s there are 3 stops of light) and in the meantime I can benefit from:
- the full strength of the flash
- the DOF that I wanted in the first place (f1.8)
P.S. Thank you for visiting my website.
---------- Post added 08-18-17 at 01:26 PM ----------
Originally posted by mcgregni However once you have an efficient and reliable HSS system, as I do now with a V6II , RF60 / RF60x flashes then the ease of use and instant switching back and forth into HS mode and out again is an outweighing plus in my view.
Take a look at the image below. There were 8 photographers shooting in the same time the model. We were using my AD360 flashes and they were triggered by X1T triggers dedicated to Canon, Nikon and Sony, depending on what camera had each photographer. We were able to shoot without problems all of us, the main light being at 1/4 power and the one from behind at 1/32. You would have needed 8 Cactus flashes and a lot of batteries in order to shoot an entire day and have similar power as I had with 2 AD360 flashes. That is why I said that Cactus is nice and reliable (I had Cactus before Godox) but Godox system offers a lot more flexibility and choices. And I've heard that HSS can be achieved with Godox flashes and Cactus triggers.