dark edge on image?


fibredrive

Senior Member
Mar 18, 2009
1,552
6
38
Hi all,

I experienced this problem whilst shooting some products for a company today. I don't know why but here goes...

I just bought a wireless flash trigger (Trigmaster) together with a Nissin Di866 flash. The photo below was shot with the flash bounced w/ shoot thru. I was happily shooting without issue until i set my shutter speed to 1/250. then this happened. i was standing fairly near to the flash when i shot this (flash and shoot thru were on my right). i noticed it also happened on some photos at 1/180. when i moved away from the flash and started shooting other stuff in the house, but away from the flash, it was ok. sometimes, the dark edge appears on the bottom instead when I am shooting landscape. portrait it will appear on the right.

was wondering if any one can help me here. is it a setting, lens, flash issue? photo shot at f4, 1/250, ISO 100 @ 44mm. Thanks for your help!

4450317132_12277134ba.jpg
 

What's your flash synch speed?
 

hmmm. 1/200.

but there was one shot at 1/180 i took which had the same problem.
 

Are you sure there's nothing encroaching into the frame?
 

quite sure. surrounding was clear. nothing blocking the lens area either (i.e. strap or whatever). when shooting landscape, the dark edge is at the bottom of the image. it's weird.
 

Flash sync issue.

Try it with a proper flash (i.e. your own camera brand flash) on the auto fp mode (I'm using the Nikon example here) and you won't have such issues.
 

1) Change the battery of your flash trigger/receiver.
2) Lower your shutter speed to 1/125 or so if you don't have new batteries.
 

Hi all,

I experienced this problem whilst shooting some products for a company today. I don't know why but here goes...

I just bought a wireless flash trigger (Trigmaster) together with a Nissin Di866 flash. The photo below was shot with the flash bounced w/ shoot thru. I was happily shooting without issue until i set my shutter speed to 1/250. then this happened. i was standing fairly near to the flash when i shot this (flash and shoot thru were on my right). i noticed it also happened on some photos at 1/180. when i moved away from the flash and started shooting other stuff in the house, but away from the flash, it was ok. sometimes, the dark edge appears on the bottom instead when I am shooting landscape. portrait it will appear on the right.

was wondering if any one can help me here. is it a setting, lens, flash issue? photo shot at f4, 1/250, ISO 100 @ 44mm. Thanks for your help!

4450317132_12277134ba.jpg

Simple answer: Assuming ALL batteries were fresh/fully charged, you pretty much solved the problem (assuming that you tried 1/250, 1/180 as well as slower speeds) when you moved away from the flash.
 

using wireless triggers?
There could be delays as well.

Yes. am using aputure trigmaster. do you mean delay betwn the camera and flash?

Flash sync issue.

Try it with a proper flash (i.e. your own camera brand flash) on the auto fp mode (I'm using the Nikon example here) and you won't have such issues.

won't have an opportunity to try with a Canon flash. maybe the next time i meet up with a friend with a canon flash i will see if it still occurs.

1) Change the battery of your flash trigger/receiver.
2) Lower your shutter speed to 1/125 or so if you don't have new batteries.

the battteries on the flash trigger/receiver are brand new. lowering the shutter speed does solve the problem but since the Nissin Di866 is supposed to achieve 1/250, i figured it shld be working fine.

Simple answer: Assuming ALL batteries were fresh/fully charged, you pretty much solved the problem (assuming that you tried 1/250, 1/180 as well as slower speeds) when you moved away from the flash.

but that's what i am curious about. is it supposed to be like that if you are standing near the flash? i don't think anyone's got this problem. am trying to see if it's my camera, lens or flash or the flash triggers...hmm.

thanks everyone for chipping in. appreciate it!
 

Hi Allain

it's flash sync. Your shutter is being caught in the act of closing by the flash. Slow your shutter speed down to 125. Flashes occur much faster than 1/125 of a se3c, but the latency in the IR or radio TF is what causes the problem.
 

paul! that you? (i.e. cakewalk?)

didn't know you were on CS! :)

thanks for the tip! so the problem is the latency of the triggers. hmm. hope i can get it changed. sigh.

thanks dude!
 

yes, mate, it's me. Should have joined this place a long time ago. :)
 

Yes. am using aputure trigmaster. do you mean delay betwn the camera and flash?



won't have an opportunity to try with a Canon flash. maybe the next time i meet up with a friend with a canon flash i will see if it still occurs.



the battteries on the flash trigger/receiver are brand new. lowering the shutter speed does solve the problem but since the Nissin Di866 is supposed to achieve 1/250, i figured it shld be working fine.



but that's what i am curious about. is it supposed to be like that if you are standing near the flash? i don't think anyone's got this problem. am trying to see if it's my camera, lens or flash or the flash triggers...hmm.

thanks everyone for chipping in. appreciate it!

Hi Allain

it's flash sync. Your shutter is being caught in the act of closing by the flash. Slow your shutter speed down to 125. Flashes occur much faster than 1/125 of a se3c, but the latency in the IR or radio TF is what causes the problem.

paul! that you? (i.e. cakewalk?)

didn't know you were on CS! :)

thanks for the tip! so the problem is the latency of the triggers. hmm. hope i can get it changed. sigh.

thanks dude!

Most transmitters are not designed to work very close to the receivers, and some receivers also get affected by being placed too close to unshielded flash units.

Also, some cheapo ebay triggers are notorious for erratic max sync speeds; they can change depending on their 'mood'. :bsmilie:

Hope the rest of your shoot went well.
 

yes, mate, it's me. Should have joined this place a long time ago. :)

welcome to CS! aye you aren't that far behind, i joined exactly a year before you only. heh.

Most transmitters are not designed to work very close to the receivers, and some receivers also get affected by being placed too close to unshielded flash units.

Also, some cheapo ebay triggers are notorious for erratic max sync speeds; they can change depending on their 'mood'. :bsmilie:

Hope the rest of your shoot went well.

thanks Dream Merchant! on a separate note, the Aputure Trigmaster is quite unique in that it is a wireless flash trigger and wireless remote as well. am quite liking it save for the issue above. rest of shoot was ok. managed to email the images to the company yesterday. actually bought this setup to shoot my newborn kid. heh. thanks for asking!

cheers
 

The sync speed is considered really fast for a 3rd party wireless flash trigger. Most wireless flash trigger can only achieved about 1/125s sync speed.

One question, do you really need such a high sync speed? Most user are using 1/60 to 1/80 for their wireless flash settings. Currently, i think only pro flash trigger like pocket wizard have that can accomodate high speed sync.

Strobists and Pros, please correct me if my understanding is wrong?
 

The sync speed is considered really fast for a 3rd party wireless flash trigger. Most wireless flash trigger can only achieved about 1/125s sync speed.

One question, do you really need such a high sync speed? Most user are using 1/60 to 1/80 for their wireless flash settings. Currently, i think only pro flash trigger like pocket wizard have that can accomodate high speed sync.

Strobists and Pros, please correct me if my understanding is wrong?

guess not. I was working fine with anything below that but since that was the advertised sync speed, i was wondering if it worked accordingly. But the more impt thing was, i was concerned with what was causing the dark edge on my image above. i thot it was my lens or camera or flash problem, not the wireless trigger.

cheers
 

guess not. I was working fine with anything below that but since that was the advertised sync speed, i was wondering if it worked accordingly. But the more impt thing was, i was concerned with what was causing the dark edge on my image above. i thot it was my lens or camera or flash problem, not the wireless trigger.

cheers

Hmm.. You might want to use a original speedlite to test using the same trigger and sync speed. If there is no dark edges, then it might be the flash issue.
 

yes, mate, it's me. Should have joined this place a long time ago. :)

Welcome to CS Russell! :)

thanks Dream Merchant! on a separate note, the Aputure Trigmaster is quite unique in that it is a wireless flash trigger and wireless remote as well. am quite liking it save for the issue above. rest of shoot was ok. managed to email the images to the company yesterday. actually bought this setup to shoot my newborn kid. heh. thanks for asking!

cheers

That's great to hear fibredrive. Would love to see some of your child photography. :) Where did you get Aputure products from?

The sync speed is considered really fast for a 3rd party wireless flash trigger. Most wireless flash trigger can only achieved about 1/125s sync speed.

One question, do you really need such a high sync speed? Most user are using 1/60 to 1/80 for their wireless flash settings. Currently, i think only pro flash trigger like pocket wizard have that can accomodate high speed sync.

Strobists and Pros, please correct me if my understanding is wrong?

It seems to vary - Wildly for MIC triggers.

On a flickr discussion, "with my canon, it (RF 602) sync at 1/200s (my camera sync speed is 1/200 only, so it max out. will get a 40D or 50D to test later), my old PT-04 system can sync only at /160 on a good day, sometimes only 1/125.

with my LX3, it (RF 602) only sync at 1/500s, where with PT04, i can sync at 1/1250 or sometimes 1/1600."

http://www.flickr.com/groups/yongnuo/discuss/72157621773293562/

At any rate, a lot depends on the way a system is designed and how it actually works/reacts under real-life conditions. Unfortunately, I am not an Electronics Engineer so I can't comment on this area with any certainty.
 

Welcome to CS Russell! :)



That's great to hear fibredrive. Would love to see some of your child photography. :) Where did you get Aputure products from?



It seems to vary - Wildly for MIC triggers.

On a flickr discussion, "with my canon, it (RF 602) sync at 1/200s (my camera sync speed is 1/200 only, so it max out. will get a 40D or 50D to test later), my old PT-04 system can sync only at /160 on a good day, sometimes only 1/125.

with my LX3, it (RF 602) only sync at 1/500s, where with PT04, i can sync at 1/1250 or sometimes 1/1600."

http://www.flickr.com/groups/yongnuo/discuss/72157621773293562/

At any rate, a lot depends on the way a system is designed and how it actually works/reacts under real-life conditions. Unfortunately, I am not an Electronics Engineer so I can't comment on this area with any certainty.

Wow. that is alot of variations. The flickr site is talking about the Yong Nuo and i think the TS is having the Aputure Trigmaster which is newly release by Aputure.

I have the Aster and Tetra and both will not be able to achieve that 1/250s sync speed but both are good enough for my usage. Will get the Trigmaster as it hav 2 in one function(Camera shutter wireless remote and wireless flash remote)..