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Help with 645D and leaf shutter with flash

tashley

Subscriber Member
:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

It was so embarrasing being caught like that: the sage fire had got rather out of control and when the model arrived I was trying to put it out with a can of whipped cream...

Tim, have you tried burning sage? A minor exorcism perhaps? Don Libby suggests burning sage, chanting, and dancing naked around the DF. That's usually exactly the time when your model will show up...

:ROTFL:
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
Seriously I have raised the aperture reset issue with Phase as a support case cos it's doing my head in. Does no one else get this problem?
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
Seriously I have raised the aperture reset issue with Phase as a support case cos it's doing my head in. Does no one else get this problem?
Nope, no problems at all. I have a perfectly well-behaved Phase DF and IQ180 that work well together, including fast wireless flash sync up to 1/1600.

Of course, there's no sage left in the house, burn marks on the ceiling, and the neighbors won't let their kids come over to the house to play with my kids anymore. Should have followed Don's advice and closed the front drapes...

:ROTFL:

Seriously though, maybe check firmware on both the DF and the IQ?
 

cunim

Well-known member
Seriously I have raised the aperture reset issue with Phase as a support case cos it's doing my head in. Does no one else get this problem?
Tim, I have the opposite issue. I will be shooting away at 5.6 and suddenly everything goes dark. F has gone to 18, or wherever the minimum aperture sits. If you don't check the back, you can lose shots that way. I mentioned this to P1 a month or so ago.

I did notice that I sometimes move the aperture wheel inadvertently. I use a strap and the way the heavy body sits in my hand tends to rub the wheel as I move the camera around. A lock would be great.

Other issue I have is the back defaulting the custom settings for no reason.

Re sage, I prefer to kill a chicken. Dance is the same but the soup is good.
 

adamduckworth

New member
I have the same issues as Tim on my 645DF with P40+ back. Latest firmware in everything, and it still does it occasionally.
Take a load of shots at f/8, say, then the next one is with the lens wide open.
I have raised this issue before on here, and nobody else responded.
But now we are three in the "auto wide open" club!
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
I've been testing this today in response to questions from Phase support, and I can only make it happen with the 110LS... Also, now I have updated to back FW 2.01 from 1.47 and you can now control aperture and shutter sped from Capture Pilot and C1 and so far (sage burning, curtains drawn, chicken at the ready) it seems to have stopped. Of course, as soon as a real shoot starts, it'll follow Sod's Law....

I can't get to the new FW for my DF because my dealer's Vgrip was at a show this week when I was able to take the body in, so at some time in the near future I will do that too.

But thanks for the feedback guys...it's all part of the jigsaw!
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
PS I have now used the remote aperture control feature of C1 in a tethered session to ascertain that in fact I can't get proper flash sync above X sync speeds: it appears to be working but even when in forced Leaf Shutter mode from Custom Function 18, every time I bump the shutter faster than 1/125th, though there appears to be sync and the frame is exposed, with constant aperture each frame is darker with progressively faster shutter speeds... I will try it with a sync cord instead of the hot shoe and see if that makes a difference...
 

gazwas

Active member
That more to do with the Gemini's rather than the camera.

Due to the slow flash duration, the faster you go up in sync speed the less of the output of the flash is registered on each capture.
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
That more to do with the Gemini's rather than the camera.

Due to the slow flash duration, the faster you go up in sync speed the less of the output of the flash is registered on each capture.
From memory the Gemini 500Rs have a flash duration of 1/900th so I would have hoped to get 1/500th out of them... but I am no expert!
 

gazwas

Active member
1/900th at their highest setting but any thing lower and that drops dramatically. 1/300th sounds more realistic and I'd test at various power setting around that as a starting point and work your way up.
 

Sheldon N

Member
From memory the Gemini 500Rs have a flash duration of 1/900th so I would have hoped to get 1/500th out of them... but I am no expert!
That's likely the specification for T.5, which is the time it takes to discharge half the light from the strobe. The more accurate specification is T.1 which represents a discharge of 90% of the strobe's power. The general rule is that T.1 is about 1/3 the speed of T.5, so your Gemini's are likely really discharging at around 1/300. The 1/900 spec may also be for full power. If you go lower in power, your duration is likely longer (depending on the strobe's design).
 

MaxKißler

New member
From memory the Gemini 500Rs have a flash duration of 1/900th so I would have hoped to get 1/500th out of them... but I am no expert!
Well, that is probably just the t0.5 duration. You should check the t0.1 time of your system which is probably something like 1/290 or somewhere in that region. t0.1 is the duration after which 90% of the flash's power is gone (t0.5 = half of the power gone if I remember correctly..). Some flash durations wary depending on the power output. So if you're using a fast synced shutter speed you're cutting off the last part of your flash's power. Maybe you can compensate for that by increasing the power output. Good luck.

Dammit, I was to slow... Just like your strobes. :ROTFL:
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
This place is full of comedians tonight! (thank God)

Great advice... And another whole load of stuff to learn. I've been shooting static studio stuff for a couple of years now but not very often and never needed to go beyond X so now, on to the next part of the learning curve... Which leads, as my good friend above has pointed out, to the buying curve.

Sigh. My D800e is almost in the post and I have NO Nikon glass.

Where's the wallet....
 

FredBGG

Not Available
I am guessing you have something delaying the firing of your flash or have a flash with to long of a flash duration.

I would use a cable sync. More reliable and it does not microwave your brain and optic nerve.

But seriously taking the wireless out of the picture would narrow down any issues you are having.
 
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