Blog
Canon G11 high speed flash syncing 1/800
No comment
I did a test shoot of a basketball game a few weeks ago using a Canon 40D. The guys were playing in early morning sunshine which didn’t do me any favors. One end of the court was shaded by some trees so I went shooting there as the contrast wasn’t so harsh. To really freeze the action I needed a shutter speed of at least 1/800 but I still didn’t like the shots as there was too much detail missing in the shadow areas.
So I thought about filling the shadows using off camera flash but I knew I couldn’t sync a flash above 1/200 when using my 40D unless I was using a high speed sync flash like the 430exii or the 580exii and from what I’ve read the power is reduced big time when using the HSS mode so I ruled out that option. I know some of you maybe thinking of ganging several 580exii flashes together but that’s too much money in my opinion.
I went away and did some research on the internet and found out the the Canon G11 has an electronic shutter and is able to high speed sync with remote flash heads connected via a wireless remote trigger / receiver set or a pc cord / hot shoe adapter. Yes I know the G11 isn’t a DSLR but it’s still a pretty darn good camera.
I borrowed a G11 off a friend and went back to shoot another game again in the early morning sunshine, yes it’s always sunny in Mexico. My off camera flash was an Alien Bees B800 with a 7” reflector, I would have preferred to have used the 11” long throw reflector but sadly I don’t own one. I set the B800 to full power which has a T1 duration time of 1/1000. I did test the night before and the G11 would sync at 1/800 but anything faster would turn to black when using a Yongnuo RF-602 transmitter and receiver set to fire the flash. I guess Pocket Wizards would have been ok at 1/1000 due to having less delay in the electronics but I don’t have any Pocket Wizards to prove that theory.
When shooting action with the G11 it’s better to manual or pre focus (half button press) to avoid shutter lag which can be a killer when shooting any type of action, some say it’s also better to turn off image stabilization. The G11 was in full manual mode on this shoot and the file format was RAW CR2.
Anyway as you can see it all worked out and I returned the borrowed G11. Now I’m searching to buy a used Canon G9, G10 or G11 for doing some more high speed sync flash shoots and some pole aerial photography. For the Nikon crowd you could buy a used D70 or D70s DSLR as they also have electronic shutters and can achieve the same goal of high speed flash syncing using off camera flash heads.
The final image above has had some light adjustments made in Photoshop.
Viewing CR2 RAW thumbnails in XP’s Explorer
No comment
This will save you loads of time as you will no longer need to load up a specific application like Canon’s DPP or Photoshop, etc just to see a quick thumbnail preview of any CR2 RAW file.
Make sure you have XP’s service pack 3 installed.
Download and install Canon’s latest CR2 Codec for windows
Download and install Arcsoft’s RAW thumbnail viewer.
Reboot your computer and you should be able to see those CR2 files as thumbnail previews in Explorer.
Canon 40D – Err99 and a costly repair
2 Comments
Whilst on a weekend trip my Canon 40D camera stopped working and came up with Err99. What the hell is Err99 I thought? I went on the internet and discovered that it’s Canon being lazy, it c
an mean loads of different problems (read more here). My Err99 turned out to be a defective shutter, mirror and mirror box after only 14,500 actuations, Canon state a shutter’s average life for the 40D should be 100,000 actuations. I guess they didn’t do enough life cycle tests and going by the comments on flickr it seems there are quite a few upset 40D owners whose shutter failed long before hitting 100,000 actuations. It’s rare for the shutter, mirror and mirror box to fail at the same time so I got the super short straw.
I had the camera repaired via an authorized Canon workshop in Leon – Guanajuato, Mexico and the repair price came to $2,800 Mexican Pesos or $224USD. I’ve read that the same repair in the USA is at least $360USD as the labour rates are far higher compared to Mexico. They say that Canon has improved the manufacturing of these faulty parts, but if the camera is out of warranty you still pay even though the Canon original parts weren’t up to doing the job.
The repair time was 10 days as the mirror and the mirror box were out of stock and they ended up taking roughly six days to arrive from Canon’s main office in Mexico City. Hopefully the workshop has done a good job and the camera will never need repairing again within it’s lifetime. The repair has a three month warranty so I’d better do some serious shooting to give it a good test.
Keeping that USB hard drive awake!
No comment
It’s so annoying when your external hard drive falls asleep whilst working in Photoshop or come to think of it when using any other software program. Then it takes up to one minute to come back to life. This can happen countless times within a day’s work. It would have been so easy for the makers of USB external drives to put a stay live button on the unit, but no that’s too logical.
My frustration came to an end when I discovered some free software to help me avoid this big problem. Ashutosh Agarwal is the creator of NoSleepHD a tiny program that writes and erases a file to your chosen external hard drive at set intervals thus keeping the USB hard drive on it’s toes and constantly awake.
SMC Skype phone WSKP100 replacement battery
3 Comments
I bought this wireless no PC Skype phone about a year ago, I’m quite happy about the sound quality it gives, but the battery is terrible as reported by many other users and it finally died about three months ago. So I went on the hunt for a new lithium rechargeable battery, it took me a long time in Google to find anyone selling a replacement battery which I thought was specially made for the WSKP100. One place in the UK was selling the original replacement battery totally over priced once the P+P was included. I searched some more and then I found a thread on a forum with someone stating that the same battery is used in other electronic devices and the type is called a NP60.
The original battery has the specification 3.7v 1300mAh, as you might know it’s the voltage that should be the same when finding a replacement battery the current should be the same or more than the original. I couldn’t find a NP60 with the specs 3.7v 1300mAh on ebay.co.uk, but I did find a NP60 with the specs 3.7v 1400mAh via several Chinese sellers. 
One deal included two batteries, a USA wall charger which is also ok for use in Mexico and a car charger all for $18 USD inc P+P to the UK, bargain. It was exempt from import tax to the UK as the price was so low. So if you have got one of these phones and a duff battery just do a search on ebay for “NP60 3.7v 1400mAh” and you’ll find several vendors in China selling them for a fair price.