Metz flash and high speed at night . . .

[RacerX]

Looking for help on using the Metz flash for shooting night football games and be around 350 for speed. Is the possible?
Or is there a better way? Any thoughts would be great, thanks! :confused:

Rick

[Swampy]

The Metz will most likely only work up to 1/125 shutter speed. I haven't been able to go any higher with it.

[Wichita Wayne]

I have shot night football with a flash on a Hasselblad and had pretty good results. I would however recommend at least a 60 series flash so you can really project a lot of light.

[RacerX]

Thanks for the info. I found that I too could only push it to 125 speed with the flash. I'll keep working the settings with the S2 and see what I can get. Thanks guys!

Rick

[easternherp]

There is no way that the S2 can shoot at anything faster than 125 sec with flash. It is to do with the mirror moving out of the way I believe. In all film slr's it is because they use a curtain to block out the film. It is this that restricted film slr's top flash speed.
You will need to use a wide aperture and and use the rear curtain sync. This will freeze the subject with the flash at the end of the movemnt trail rather than the beginning.
Wayne's Hassleblad can shoot at 1/500 sec as there is no curtain just the aperture shutter. This means that as soon as it starts to open it lets light in for the exposure and stops when it reaches the correct aperture and closes again.

[Swampy]

I'll have to disagree with the max 1/125 sync speed. I plugged a Sunpak 522 into the PC Sync and was able to pull 1/180 shutter speeds every time. Anything higher than that though and I would get the "curtain" partially blocking the shot. I know, it was probably the mirror since there's no curtain, but from film, it's the same effect.

Too bad this Sunpak only works reliably when plugged into A/C. When I use the batteries, it will just fire off on it's own occasionally and if I shake it (just normal movement even) it will fire numerous times. Otherwise, I'd let you try it Rick, cause it's a big flash.

[Wichita Wayne]

If you are refering to the focal plane shutter then I can tell you that the S2 does have one. It is, in fact what you see when you push the shutter speed above 180. The reason that the flash sync is slow is because the duration of the flash acts like a shutter in and of itself. It will have a duration of 1/2000 or shorter. When a camera has a focal plane shutter the short flash duration must occur when the film/sensor is completely uncovered. The highest sync speed is the speed that allows this to happen. At speeds higher than the sync speed the film/sensor is never completely uncovered. If you could slow the process down you would see a slit travel accross the film/sensor. With a shutter that is in the lens this is not a factor because the film/sensor is always uncovered completely during the exposure process. If you flash a focal plane shutter camera at 1/500th of a second you only expose the open slit that is uncovered. With a shutter in the lens you can flash all the film/sensor all the time regardless of the shutter speed. So the low sync speed is in fact a function of a focal plane shutter. If the S2 did not have a focal plane shutter then you could flash at any speed and the exposure would work fine, like the case with a shutter in the lens. And the mirror couldn't be the problem because Fuji would simply design the camera to wait till the mirror was out of the way before allowing the flash to fire. In fact it is a requirement that the shutter not fire till the mirror is out of the way already or you will see the mirror in every picture. This action is really obvious to anybody that has used a Mamiya RB. When you push the release it takes a while to move the mirror before the shutter releases.

So in my typical long winded way I think you are mistaken about the mirror being the limiting factor. The S2 does have a focal plane shutter and that is what limits the flash sync speed.

[killians913]

So help me to understand, guys....In order to use 1/180 shutter speed, what camera settings must be used? Can I do this in P mode or must I do this in S mode or? Also, I gather that I must use the external PC sync connection and that the flash contacts on the S2 limit me to 1/125th.

I want to use my Sunpak Super Pro 622 with my S2. What do I need to do in order to do so, especially at 1/180.

Pls clarify. Thanks!