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What flash to get for indoor sports

jeremy

Member
I have an OM-1 MD with no hot shoe. I want to start shooting my son's judo competitions. I will need to stand about 20 feet away, and want to use 1/125 or 1/250 to stop the action. What flash and hot shoe should I look for? And where?
Thanks a lot!!
Jeremy
 
Jeremy:

The flash sync is 1/60th on OM's, so open the aperture as you will not need a great deal of depth of field. There are several OM flash units that will meet the task. If you can't find one, try a METZ 54 MZ.

Good Luck:

Gilbert
 
Thanks for the reply Gilbert. 1/60 is not fast enough for me - I understand that there is a setting (FP?) that will let you choose faster speeds. Any idea where I can find info on this, and if all flashes will support it?

Jeremy
 
> There are potential problems here. If you are going to use flash, the highest shutter speed you can use on the OM-1 for electronic flash sync is 1/60th. You need a Shoe 1 (or Shoe 2 / Shoe 3 with the ttl pin cut off) and almost any hot shoe mounted flash with a high guide number. Olympus T32 Flash guide number is 104 @ asa 100, and is an indication of how much light it puts out.

I have new in box Shoe 2 $36 (I can modify @ nc) Excellent condition T32 in box $90 (90 day warranty) Shipping within US $10.49

Another consideration is to use 400 or 800 speed film and shoot with available light, but to stop action you need shutter speeds of 1/500 - 1/1000 and there might not be enough light for that.
 
> FP is for flah bulbs. If used with elctronic flash, flash goes on and off before shutter even opens. When you're using el;ectronic flash, its the very short duration of the flash that stoips the action, not the shutter speed of the camera, unless you are worried about ghosting.
 
Interesting... I shot my first competition last week with ASA 1600 and available light, at 1/60 and f3.5. A bit of ghosting (but it was cool looking) but horrible grain. The biggest problem was that everything was out of focus - these judo players keep moving! I figure that between getting ASA 400 film and a better depth of field, I need about 5 stops more light. Maybe six if I want 1/125. How can I find out if a flash like the T32 will give me that much light at 20-25 feet away?
 
Jeremy:

You must use a shutter speed 60 or less or the shutter will interfere with the exposure.

F stop= Flash Guide number/Subjet Distance

So when using a T32 with ASA 100 film and f4 you could reach 26 feet. f28=37.1429 feet.

Higher speed flash syncs enable better fill flash opportunities.

FYI:
Leaf shutter cameras can be use any speed for flash, but the flash distance still applies to the guide number and aperture.

I would suggest you look at some old photographs of boxers to get an idea of what to expect. Perhaps you will see an OM 1 in action.

Regards:

Gilbert
 
The formula you posted is very useful. Does this mean that at 400 ASA I can expect the T32 to let me use f16?
16 = 400/25 feet
(I assume that if I wanted f8 using ASA 400 the flash would simply put out less power?)
Thanks
Jeremy
 
Jeremy:

No! The flash guide number is 104 using ASA 100 film for the T32.

No! f8 would allow more light and greater distance.

Do you have the manual for your camera? If not you should try to download one. If you cannot find one I'll try to send you one.

Regards:

Gilbert
 
Hi Jeremy,

If your going to shoot this type of subject indoors with available light (even using ASA 1600 film) your going to have to get closer to the action, and as a minimum, use 50mm lens capable of good results at f 1.2.

Focusing will be critical as depth of field will be quite limiting this wide, but it could produce some stunning results without distracting the combatants with flashes.

Some venues will not allow flash photography simply for this reason.

Regards

ardvup
 
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