How does flash guide number change when you reduce flash power?
Asked 1/1/2012
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I understand guide number as distance × f-number, adjusted for ISO (typically using an ISO factor such as √(ISO/100)). If a flash’s published guide number is for full power, what happens when I set the flash to 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 power, etc.? Does the guide number scale directly with the power setting, or does it change by a square-root relationship?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
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The guide number is inversely proportional to the power squared. This is due to the way that light intensity diminishes with distance, at twice the distance light is spread over four times the area, so each bit of that area receives 1/4 of the light.
So the actual formula needs to take into account the square root of the power level:
$$ \text{Guide Number} = \,\frac{\text{Shooting Distance}\times \text{f-number}\times \sqrt{\text{Power Level}}}{\text{ISO factor}} $$
The guide number has the same inverse square relationship to the sensitivity, as detailed by the ISO factor, defined as follows:
$$ \text{ISO factor} = \sqrt{\text{ISO}\over 100} $$
Substituting and bringing sensitivity onto the top of the fraction gives a formula which you can simply plug numbers into:
$$ \text{Guide Number} = \text{Shooting Distance}\times \text{f-number}\times \sqrt{\frac{\text{Power Level}\times 100}{\text{ISO}}} $$
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
14y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A flash’s published guide number is normally given at full power, usually at ISO 100 and a specific zoom setting. If you reduce flash power, the guide number does not drop linearly. It changes with the square root of the power ratio.
So:
- full power: GN × 1
- 1/2 power: GN × √(1/2) ≈ 0.71
- 1/4 power: GN × 1/2
- 1/8 power: GN × √(1/8) ≈ 0.35
That’s because guide number is based on aperture and distance, and light follows the inverse-square law with distance.
A useful relationship is: GN_at_power = GN_full × √(power fraction)
ISO also follows a square-root relationship: GN_at_ISO = GN_100 × √(ISO/100)
So yes, your assumption that published GN is for full power is generally correct, but halving flash power does not halve GN; it reduces it to about 70.7% of full-power GN.
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