What flash for night time action photography

[farmwife]

I am not a professional photographer but I love to take photos. My two sons and husband race mini sprint cars on a dirt track and while I have taken great photos, if I do say so myself, in the daytime most of our racing is at night.
I need a flash that will light from a distance and will work with fast action. I like to use the autofocus if that is possible at night and with a flash. My question is what would any of you recommend I buy for a flash attachment? I have a Canon Rebel XS EOS I have two lenses but most likely would use the 18-55mm lens. The other lens is more of a zoom lens. Thank you, Kim

[Shadowman]

I wouldn't recommend using flash when someone (the driver) is trying to concentrate on a task. Most tracks have floodlights, at best position yourself in front of the light source if possible and increase ISO as necessary.

[farmwife]

I understand what you are saying but you are not shooting straight on at them. It's usually from the side. We have had photographers out there that use flashes. So just wondering what is the best kind?

[pnodrog]

At most night time sports events you will see flash photography taken from stands. These people know nothing about photography and are just providing a distraction without any photographic benefit.

If you have a powerful flash and are less than 30 feet away there maybe some gains made by utilizing flash. However a camera with high ISO performance and a fast lens is the choice for professional sports photographers and in many venues flash is not permitted.

This LINK has a few pointers regarding sports photography and I am sure you will be able to find many more.

If you do get a flash for this purpose get the most powerful one you can afford.

[Manfred M]

Very few flashes "work from a distance" and the light output drops off very quickly the further you get back from the subjects.

If you are using an 18-55mm lens, you are probably shooting from quite close, so that should work in your favour. Ideally, you would have your flash on a light stand near the track and pointing in the right direction and would trigger it remotely with either an optical trigger or even better with a radio trigger.

I would agree with Paul; most sports photography is done with high end cameras with good low light performance and fast lenses. Flash is really not a typical approach.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Kim and welcome to CiC,

most of our racing is at night. I need a flash that will light from a distance and will work with fast action.

The key here is 'distance', what distance are you shooting from?

Can you post any pics that you have taken that show the typical example of the shots you take/like at the typical distance you are with the information of what lens focal length you have used?

I like to use the autofocus if that is possible at night and with a flash.

AF use at night is going to be dependent upon the ambient light available along with your camera/lens performance.

[dje]

All good advice above Kim. One further problem with flash for action photography is the fastest shutter speed available when flash is engaged. This will be limited to about 1/200 sec for your camera. Whilst the duration of the flash itself is quite fast and should be fast enough to capture the subject without blur, the track lighting will also contribute to the exposure and this will last for 1/200 sec, probably not fast enough to prevent some visible blur.

Dave

[rpcrowe]

It is pretty difficult to provide advice when the parameters of the shooting (distance, ambient light, etc.) is not known.

Additionally the price level you desire is also another factor involved

However, I will try some guessing...

Possibly, getting a faster lens might just be what the doctor ordered (if there is sufficient ambient light). I am assuming that you are using a kit lens which is fairly slow. If your 18-55mm focal range suits your shooting, purchasing a 17-50mm F/2.8 Tamron might allow you sufficient shutter speed to achieve sharp imagery.

If you decide to use flash, it just might be problematic because you would need a fairly high shutter speed. Granted, that the flash would freeze the action but, if you are not using a fairly high shutter speed and if here is enough ambient light, you would be getting a ghost image problem: one image frozen by the flash and another image from the ambient light.

Shooting with a higher shutter speed would require High Speed Sync which in turn cuts the power of your flash.

Possibly, a two flash rig might work. I have a friend who shot night football. Until he could afford fast glass and a professional DSLR camera, he shot with his camera on a monopod. He had two flashes mounted about 18 inches or so below the camera. This rig did not disturb the players by blinding them. I don't remember if he shot with two 550EX or two 580 EX flashes. A pair of used 580EX or EXii flashes might cost what a 600EX RT flash would cost. I would not get a pair of 550EX flashes because those units are quite old and might have had a lot of use.

There are some powerful flash units that are made by companies like Quantum, which might be just what you need but, they are very expensive.

[William W]

. . . My two sons and husband race mini sprint cars on a dirt track . . . most of our racing is at night. I need a flash that will light from a distance and will work with fast action.

The key here is 'distance', what distance are you shooting from?

Kim,
I concur with Grahame.

No precise advice regarding what Flash, or even if a Flash will assist you, can be forthcoming without knowing the typical distance(s) from the Camera to the Subject (i.e. the Subject is ‘the car’).

This is because each flash has a GUIDE NUMBER (or a set of Guide Numbers) and from that we can calculate the maximum FLASH WORKING DISTANCE – which is the maximum distance from the Subject that the Flash can be situated to make a ‘correct exposure’ as the MAIN light.

The lenses and the camera being used are also necessary information, but you have supplied those latter two pieces of information: being the 18 to 55 Kit Lens and EOS 1000D

Welcome to CiC.

***

. . .I like to use the autofocus if that is possible at night and with a flash.

AF use at night is going to be dependent upon the ambient light available along with your camera/lens performance.

Hi Grahame,
Re Kim’s question the bold and underlined for my emphasis -
I had the thought that Kim might have heard about and then now be specifically referring to “AF Flash Assist”.

***

Kim,
If you were referring to "AF Flash Assist", then that will be of little use for your circumstance: and I again agree with Grahame's comment - AF efficiency will depend upon the (amount of) Ambient Light (on the Subject) and the lens's and camera's performance.

However, if as you state in post #3, you are shooting the cars in TRANSVERSE MOTION (i.e. the cars moving across in front of you at about 90 degrees to the camera) then you will not need very fast AF at all. In fact you could use a pre-focus point on the track and then lock focus. And that technique probably might be the safer technique to use considering the camera and lens that you will be using.

*

An Hot Shoe Mount Flash Head with a Zoom Capability would be most economical choice for your task and models with an automatic computation to identify that the flash is mounted on an APS-C Format cameras would be even better for your purposes. Canon models from 430EX and 580EX onwards have these capabilities.

As an example of Max Flash Working Distance a Canon 430 EX MkII will in most cases allow a ‘correct flash exposure’ when working up to about a maximum of 45~50ft from the Subject, when your EF-S 18 to 55 lens’s Focal Length set at FL = 35mm and the Aperture is set at F/8 and the Camera set at ISO1600 (which I believe is your camera’s Maximum ISO).

You will have a bit more (but not much) Max Flash Working Distance if the lens is zoomed in to FL = 55mm.

If you can use the lens at F/5.6, you will have a Max. Flash Working Distance of about 60 to 70ft, with a 430EX MkII.

45ft to 60 ft from a car which is racing on a track is, I expect, quite “close to the action” – but I don’t know.

My advice is that you really need to know, and know reasonably accurately, exactly how far away the FARTHEST distance you will be from the cars, before you spend any money.

*

Very Important -


HOWEVER - IF the AMBIENT lighting is strong and the Flash cannot overpower the Ambient Light to make the 'correct exposure' as the MAIN LIGHT, then buying a Flash will be of little benefit.

Richard Crowe has already detailed this important point.

So we also need to know the Typical Level of Ambient Light (the night time flood lights at the track) - you can measure that Ambient Light Level with your camera's TTL Meter by taking a well exposed photo of a car on the track at night .

WW

[Marie Hass]

I dunno. Everyone above has provided some excellent commentary.

I too, enjoy dirt track racing, but the volume of dirt kicked up by the cars, in my opinion, is detrimental to your camera and lens. Are you using some kind of protective cover for your equipment?

Using a prime might be an idea. A 50mm F1.4 or 1.8 is nice.

Marie

[rpcrowe]

Marie Hass stated,

"I too, enjoy dirt track racing, but the volume of dirt kicked up by the cars, in my opinion, is detrimental to your camera and lens. Are you using some kind of protective cover for your equipment?"

I always carry a pair of Optech Rainsleeves along with a few elastic bands, in the back pocket of my photo vest. This contributes virtually no weight or bulk to my gear but will do, combined with a protective filter of some type, an excellent job protecting my camera/lens from blowing dust and dirt as well as rain.

Total cost of the two Rainsleeves was less than seven U.S. Dollars... Total cost of two cameras and two top-line lenses? I shudder to consider losing them

[William W]

Hey Kim,

Hope you are OK? ? ?

I for one, am keen for you to reply with more information so we might further assist you . . .

WW

[inkista]

All good advice above Kim. One further problem with flash for action photography is the fastest shutter speed available when flash is engaged. This will be limited to about 1/200 sec for your camera. ...

Actually, while this is true with the pop-up flash, it's not true using an external flash on the hotshoe.

Unlike Nikon entry-level dSLRs, Canon entry-level dSLRs can perform HSS. If the OP gets an HSS-capable Canon-compatible flash, and uses TTL triggers (e.g., Yongnuo YN-622C or, say, a Canon 600EX-RT/ST-E3-RT setup), high speed sync, even with remote flash, is possible.

It's just not very practical, given that distance is already going to eat the power, and HSS will just eat another two stops. But sync speed will not be limited by the camera body here, but rather by the flash and/or trigger choices.

[dje]

Thanks for clarifying that Kathy, I'd actually been thinking about that point after I made my post. I just assumed that an entry level camera would not support HSS.

Dave

[DEAN01]

Kim,
You have received some excellent information from all the previopus post. I do not know anything about the camera you are using--I believe someone said it was an "entry level camera--not all of use use what may be considered professional equipment. However, I have shot at dirt tracks before using flash. A rather inexpensive flash is the Vivitar 285, generally under $100. While not considered "professional" gear, but it works. My suggestion is try shooting with a flash. Ambient light may help. Try panning with the cars, use higher ISO if needed. If your camera can do second shutter sync try that. Experiment a lot. Most importantly, have fun. I look forward to seeing your race photos.

[dasmith232]

Kim mentioned that she has a "Rebel XS". Unfortunately that sensor is pretty noisy even at 400. At 800, even I find it to be pretty noticeable (and I often don't have an issue shooting at 3200 on my newer sensor cameras). Black and white might "fix" some of that!

For purposes of the original question, I'd say Inkista covered it just fine. You have to buy the (powerful enough) flash unit. Continuing with the Yongnuo brand topic, the YN-568EX will basically give all the power and features of the Canon 580EXII at a fraction of the price. I have several of the Canon flashes and just used my first YN-568EX recently, and wow! Not bad.

For the more experienced folks, I'd want to go with slightly underexposing the ambient, using 2nd curtain sync and shooting from however close I could get to track side. By letting the shutter speed stay slower than sync, I keep the extra 1 or 2 stops of available power on the flash. And with that flash, it'll reach the subject (for what I'm imagining).

[William W]

. . . however, I thought that the OP's question was basically asking for advice on what particular Flash Unit for her to buy.

Advice that the Flash Unit needs to be "powerful enough" does cover that question, but it seem to me very difficult to provide advice about what particular flash unit will be "powerful enough" - unless the OP provides us with information regarding the typical Working Distance of the Flash.

WW