RSS FeedGee Please will be back Shortly
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!
The Tricky Flash Sync
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.
Whats with the Grey?
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.
Douglas grey card
Filters-Exchange Review
I was looking for an online shop locally that accepts Paypal, it was hard to sort out through heaps and heaps of sites on google. I finally decided that I would post an inquiry to one of the forums I am in. I asked for a call to action in sharing the sites they know locally that accept paypal. I received two to three suggestions and one stood out. It is Filters Exchange.
Filters Exchange stood out because the owner actually responded on my thread that he is willing to accept paypal although not mentioned anywhere on his multiply e-store. However, he mentioned that the only thing that concerns him is that Paypal charges the seller or the recipient of the payment a particular amount at around 4 to 10% including the bank withdrawal percentage. So if I bought a 100USD item, it would then add up another 10% meaning I have to pay 110USD which is significant. Sir Joseph the owner of Filters Exchange said that he doesn’t want to add that additional burden to the buyer. The additional problem at that time was that the item I plan to order was still out of stock, so I had to wait a week or two for it to be available. I asked Sir Joseph to contact me when it is available, he agreed, but I got to learn it was available a couple of weeks later just as he was posting an update on the stock availiability.
Filters Exchange
I mentioned, well usually a buyer using paypal is already aware of the additional charge, if not then he should inform them, and they may not mind. So I said I don’t mind the additional fee as long as the transaction is reasonably fast and efficient. Another problem we encountered is that there was no fixed calculations for the items how much to add to the retail price when doing the paypal-to-paypal transaction. We had some rough calculations; that’s why I decided to build a new paypal calculator for this purpose on this blog.
Fast –forward to the time when the items are finally on-stock. After we mutually agreed that I’ll be charged extra for doing a paypal-to-paypal transaction, I selected some items on his multiply e-store. Sir Joseph, fondly called Sir Lehboy on forums, tipidpc ads or sulit.ph ads was quick enough to respond on our Instant Messenger conversations. We not only talked about the transaction but we talked about other stuff as well. The atmosphere was laid back and reassuring. After I confirmed what I would want, I private messaged the items I plan to order to him. The next day we YM again to confirm the calculations on the extra charges and whatnots. Then a couple of clarifications later, I sent the payment to his paypal address. He confirmed details on some of the items and asked for what shipping courier would be comfortable for me.
That was on Thursday April 23, 2009. The next day I contacted Sir Joseph again to ask for the shipping info, it was that day when he shipped that item, I got the shipping info later that day, he encountered some problems with the courier and one of the items I ordered was declined by the courier, so that other item will be shipped later.
Package Received
Saturday April 25, 2009 after lunch, I got a call from the courier asking for my exact location. 10 minutes later, package has arrived. It was well wrapped and all items have no speck of dust in it, even the packaging. I was pleased of how fast my transaction with Filter Exchange ensued. Basically I would say, Responsiveness is about an 8 out of 10 since sometimes Sir Lehboy is so busy with other orders, but he takes time to confirm the orders if you are already decided. Shipping efficiency and delivery I rank 10 out of 10, another recipient of the GP Gold Seal.
I am still waiting for the shipment of the final item of this set, judging by the reliability of the previous set, I bet it would be here sooner than I think…
Package Opened
Items Pristine
So are you ready to order at Filters Exchange? I highly recommend them; tell Sir Joseph you found the info on this site.
Wait for my review of the individual items I ordered on future posts.
Congratulations Filters Exchange for achieving the Gee Please Gold Standard.
If you have any feedback for Filters Exchange, don’t hesitate to leave your comments below.
GP Gold Achievers
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Recent Comments
- Chris Administrator Gee, Please...: Hi Worried. Yes, most Nissin Di866 depending on where you bought it from has some...
- Chris Administrator Gee, Please...: Hi Ricky, Not unless your Metz Manual flash is set to trigger at TTL, then it...
- worried: i just bought mine last saturday, to shot for my brother’s wedding… it was very noisy...
- Ricky: Hi, firstly, good job on this informative review. I’m looking for a 2nd slave flash for my Pentax...
- Chris Administrator Gee, Please...: Hi Sorry for the long wait, as you can see we haven’t updated the site yet,...
- Migs: Sir! I have two questions. 1) I have a Canon 430EX II, planning to buy Di622 which will serve as my slave....
- Jack: Hi, I just bought a Nissin Di622. When I try yesterday the unit with my Canon 7d as slave the di622 work but...
- Chris Administrator Gee, Please...: @Michael: It will work off-camera via ttl triggering. @Long: The red glass...
- benting: hello newbie here. which do you think is a best buy? two nissin di622 or 1 nikon sb-600? and i really...
- long: my red glass have broken and scattered to pieces…do i need to buy a new flashlight or can change the red...
