Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

If full power on a flash is 1/300 second, could one put a bank of them together to fire off in some sequence to get down to maybe 1 second for water blur?

Example: First at 1/300 second, then second one fires after it making it 1/150, third for 1/60, fourth for 1/30 second, etc. Maybe even a bit of overlap so four heads might get there, not accounting for a bit of dead zone in the lighting sequence?

Some sort of IC#555/556 timer or microprocessor maybe to run this thing in a set sequence?

Tia.

Mack

You can trigger them staggered, and a PocketWizard MultiMax and appropriate receivers would allow for this, though I am not sure how fine of a delay you can get.

However, note that a flash pulse is not even throughout its duration, so you could get a sort of strobe effect. Also, that the 1/300 is probably a t.5 time, with quite a bit of light left to be discharged and the overlapping light may be an issue (or may not).

Thanks.

I managed to find some outfit that makes a flash sequencer that works with up to 12 units. They have some master control called StopShot that may feed the sequencer and pull it off. They also have one that is computer driven over the standalone.

http://www.cognisys-inc.com/products/sequencer.php

Need to look into that old mounting gizmo Paul made that holds the old Ultras together by their channels in a flash bank if it is still around. Maybe 6-8 of them?

Mack

This? http://www.paulcbuff.com/retired.php

Yes, that's it. Thanks.

Do you know offhand if it can link the Ultra's together and still use the 7" stock reflector on each unit with the above coupler in the middle, or does it need to be used sans reflector if they are coupled in a bank?

I did find a simple sequencer circuit here: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_6/chpt_7/6.html Might fire up to 10 strobes in sequence if I can figure out the timing (Maybe astable vibrator frequency off the 555 at 0.003 seconds per cycle.). PC socket in place of the Trigger on the 555. Don't know about the hotshoe cable from the flash head to each LED out of the 4017 decade sequencer though.

Looks cheap to build though compared to the other link. Just a lot of flash heads, maybe 8 heads into two Vagabond mini's might get me a one second flash duration to keep from freezing the water as with one flash.

Mack

No, the 7" reflectors will not fit with paired Ultras.