Posted by Gerry Bishop on February 20, 2010 at 1:49 PM
I've been using this system on a D200 for about four years now, and I'm still not getting the consistently sharp and perfectly exposed macro images I used to get with my previous system of two SB-24s wired to an F100.
Since the sharpness issue seems to occur mostly with moving subjects, my hunch is that the two SB-R200 Speedlights just aren't powerful enough to freeze the movement with an ultra-short flash duration. I've even tried mounting a third SB-200 on the rig to increase the power and reduce the duration, but I still get too many soft images.
At other times, the TTL setting gives me severe underexposure, so I have to set the flash units on manual to get the exposures I want.
Anyone else have these difficulties? If so, do you have any suggestions?
Posted by Bill Stice on February 20, 2010 at 7:41 PM
Gerry, I use one with a D300 and a D300S and don't have any problem stopping motion. It sounds like you might be using a slow sync speed which would give you ghosting and could affect the appearance of sharpness. Another possibility is that you camera might be set for rear curtain sync. It seems to me that If the flash wasn't powerful enough the shot would simply be underexposed. Even the lowest output from any flash I've used will stop action since it's duration is still faster than most shutter speeds. It seems to me it would just be underexposed. You might want to check you flash sync speed or the rear curtain sync mode. Hope this helps.
Posted by Bryan Maltais on February 20, 2010 at 10:58 PM
Stupid question: Is your camera always in commander mode?
I use this system without any problems. The only time I do have some of the problems you've mentioned is when I failed to adjust my other settings properly, like a long shutter to allow for proper ambient lighting exposure, but too long to freeze motion.
Posted by Gerry Bishop on February 21, 2010 at 8:51 AM
Thanks, Bill and Brian. Yes, I do have the camera set on commander mode (not really such a stupid question!), and I don't have it set to rear sync. BUT . . . I am using the 1/60 sync speed, and since both of you seem to be homing in on that, I'll change it to 1/250 and see what happens . . .
Discussion
3 repliesSince the sharpness issue seems to occur mostly with moving subjects, my hunch is that the two SB-R200 Speedlights just aren't powerful enough to freeze the movement with an ultra-short flash duration. I've even tried mounting a third SB-200 on the rig to increase the power and reduce the duration, but I still get too many soft images.
At other times, the TTL setting gives me severe underexposure, so I have to set the flash units on manual to get the exposures I want.
Anyone else have these difficulties? If so, do you have any suggestions?
I use this system without any problems. The only time I do have some of the problems you've mentioned is when I failed to adjust my other settings properly, like a long shutter to allow for proper ambient lighting exposure, but too long to freeze motion.
Thanks again for your input!