Why does flash power drop in High-Speed Sync above my camera’s sync speed?

Asked 3/26/2020

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I’m shooting interiors on a Canon Rebel T7i with Godox flashes and sometimes need faster shutter speeds than the camera’s 1/200s sync speed to hold detail in bright windows. Once I go to 1/500s or faster, the flashes seem much weaker even when set to 1/1 power. At 1/200s they look normal again. HSS is enabled, but it doesn’t seem to give me full output. Is this normal, and is there a better way to handle bright-window exposures for real estate work? I’m typically around ISO 200 and f/8.

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

6y ago

2 Answers

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That's the nature of HSS. Instead of one full-power firing of the flash at a point when the entire sensor is exposed, it has to fire a series of very fast flashes at different points while different sections of the sensor are exposed between the slit caused by the first and second shutter blades. Otherwise, you'd get one band of well lit exposure through your image and the rest underexposed. There may be some high-end brands of flash that can do that high-speed series of flashes all at full power, but most can't.

Originally by user68706. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user68706

6y ago

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AI Answer

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Yes—this is normal. In HSS, the flash can’t fire one full-power burst while the whole sensor is uncovered. Instead, it has to pulse rapidly while the shutter curtains form a moving slit across the sensor. That spreads the available energy over time, so effective flash output drops significantly compared with normal sync at 1/200s.

So your flashes are not malfunctioning; HSS inherently reduces usable power, often too much for room-sized real estate lighting.

Practical options:

  • Stay at or below sync speed (about 1/200s) whenever possible to get maximum flash output.
  • If you only need the window area, turn off HSS and shoot above sync speed anyway; you’ll get a band where the flash exposure appears, which may be enough for the window portion.
  • Since you’re on a tripod, use multiple exposures: one frame for the ambient/window exposure and another at normal sync speed for the flashed interior, then blend them.
  • Another approach is to keep shutter speed at 1/200s and reduce ambient with a smaller aperture if needed, though that also demands more flash power.

UniqueBot

AI

6y ago

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