Oct

Gee Please will be back Shortly

October 6, 2009 · Filed Under GPLZ stuff · Comment · 559 views

Dear Gee Please readers and subscribers, sorry for yet another long stretch of break in the Gee Please updates. We have been reorganizing our staff, from writers, editors, testers and guest writers list.

Rest assured that with these changes, Gee please will be more current and streamlined. Check out the list of upcoming contents on this site after the jump.

We are also making some server-side updates and still doing it as we speak. We are also redesigning a bit of the whole appearance of the site to make it more reader-friendly. We employed some changes in the internal pages to make it easier to scroll and read. Including easier follow of comment replies from the staff.

THE NEW LOGO

On our list of coming contents are:

A review of the Nissin Di866
Field Test of the Nissin Di866
Review of Kimstore Gadget Shop
First Look on Nokia 5800 Xpress Music
First Look on SAMSUNG Star
NOKIA 5800XM Review
SAMSUNG Star Review
Shield for your gadgets
Basic Lighting Tutorial using the Nissin Line-up

We are also looking for additional contributing writers, if you have articles to share, do share it with us by using our contact form.

If you’re a Merchant and you want your products tested as well, we can also do that per your request and arrangement.

To our readers, if you need us to review something, please dont hesitate to send your suggestions to Gee Please and well make sure to put it on the queue for review and testing.

Thank you for continuing to support Gee Please!

Tags: Camera, Canon, Canon dSLR, Di622, Di866, dSLR, Flash, Flashgun, Lens, Lighting, Lumi, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon dSLR, Nikon SB-400, Nikon SB-600, Nikon SB-800, Nikon SB-900, Nissin, Nissin Di622, Nissin Di866, Photograph, Photographer, Photography, Photos, SLR, sony, Studio, Sunpak, Tamron

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Jun

The Tricky Flash Sync

June 16, 2009 · Filed Under DSLR, Gadget Tips, Gadgets, Technology · Comment · 827 views

What is the Flash Sync? How do I use it? And how do I achieve a high-speed sync?

These are a few questions you ponder about after getting your first ever external flash. First let’s clarify the meaning of “Sync”. Sync is actually a shortcut of synchronization, and synchronization is the way two objects function, move, execute at the same time in it’s simplest sense.

Now Flash Sync is all to do about the Flash Shutter. The Shutter is like your eyelids. It closes and opens much like your eyelids does. However for the Flash Shutter, the wider it is open and the longer it stays open, the more light is captured by the camera sensor. Basically, the camera sensor only sees light, that is why photography in it’s simplest description is a means of capturing light. If the shutter is blinking fast, which is a fast shutter, the sharper the image and the quicker your camera sensor captures the image while sacrificing the amount of light it captures as well.

Therefore, slow-shutter speeds are good for low-light conditions, making fast moving objects blurred, making running water from streams and waterfalls appear silky-smooth and taking night photographs and especially useful on time-lapse photography.

Fast-shutter speeds is good for fast targets to make them appear like you stopped time, or freeze the moment. Good for pictures of sports, racing, active kids and the like. However, you need ample amounts of light to get proper exposure at fast-shutter speeds. You can hand-hold your camera and take sharper images. For slow-shutters, a tripod is absolutely needed.

This answers your questions about high-speed sync and flash sync. It is the relation of your camera shutter with your your camera flash.

The shutter of your camera has its own rating for maximum speed which you can use the flash. Thus your camera also has a limit as to how fast the shutter curtains (eyelids) can be made to move. At higher speeds, a second shutter curtain which is rarely noticed also move to increase the speed capacity of the camera.

The secondary shutter is released before the first curtain has finished moving. This will appear like your camera sensor is shooting through moving strips.

Thus the higher the shutter speed, the thinner the strip is. This affects your flash reliability to properly expose or light up your subject. If the flash fires while the curtains are about to close, the the proper flash exposure is not taken. Thus the timing between the flash and the shutter, which is your sync speed, is essential. They must thus work in harmony.

Fast Sync, notice how the action and the crowd is captured

Slow Sync, notice that the crowd is now blurred by panning the shot.

The maximum shutter speed where the camera sensor is properly exposed when it is wide open is called the “Flash Sync” or “X-Sync” speed. It usually ranges at about 1/200 - 1/500sec. However this varies depending on the SLR/Camera.

Your external flash needs to cope with this value. That is why your reliable on-camera flash fails at higher sync speeds or your camera won’t allow you to shoot at higher sync speeds at all. Most external flash has a “High-Speed Sync” mode, allowing your camera to use any shutter speed. Notice that without your external flash attached to your camera, the camera shutter speed option is limited. Your external flash does this nifty little trick to synchronize with your camera shutter. Your naked eyes cannot see this, but to achieve high-speed sync flash, your dedicated external flash fires a series of several flashes as opposed to what your eyes can see which is a single fire of your flash. This is timed to match the period where your camera sensor is exposed. This multiple fire at high-speed sync reduces the intensity of your flash considerably, so most high-speed sync shots is done best for fill-flash at close range.

Tags: Camera, Canon, Canon dSLR, Di622, Di866, dSLR, Flash, Flashgun, Lens, Lighting, Lumix, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon dSLR, Nikon SB-400, Nikon SB-600, Nikon SB-800, Nikon SB-900, Nissin, Nissin Di622, Nissin Di866, Photograph, Photographer, Photography, Photos, SLR, sony, Studio, Sunpak, Tamron

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Jun

Whats with the Grey?

June 12, 2009 · Filed Under DSLR, Gadget Tips, Gadgets, Technology · Comment · 326 views

Getting the right color temperature, white balance and the true feel of a photograph is difficult to achieve even for seasoned photographers. Auto White Balance is a hit and miss affair, any PRO photographer you ask will tell you to set your white balance (WB) manually yourself. There are many ways to do this, and one effective method is to use a Photographic Grey card.

A Grey Card is used as a baseline of the level of White Balance the camera should apply. It balances the color of your photos much better. It is letting your camera choose a better exposure level to match the current lighting situation.

One of the best Grey Card is the “Douglas Card”, I am trying to look for the newer version, but there is none available in my area. The Douglas Card is from Douglas Photographic. The Latest version is called the Douglas Mark II. It offers better color balance in many kinds of lighting conditions. At around 20USD, the Douglas Mark II or Mark 2 contains no artificial brighteners which could distort your dSLR’s’ exposure readings.