Reply To: Enabling HSS -Nikon D850, Nauticam housing – Backscatter ATOM strobes

[Nicolas]

Hi @ianmarriner

Thanks for sharing this

I’d recommend anyone to get fibre optics with 613 core fibres (= quality fibre optics) because modern UW flash triggers tend to rely on low-powered LEDs, so you need excellent light transmission through the cables, especially if you’re using something as sensitive as HSS.

Hope it all works out, in particular, i’d be interested in your findings about how valuable HSS is, when it comes to balance out ambient light.

Here’s the thing:

When you maxed out your strobe power in ‘normal’ manual mode, AND you’ve maxed out your shutter speed (max sync speed) and you’re as close as you can get to the subject, and still the sunlight dominates the photo, you’d hope HSS swill save the day, by letting you increase the shutter speed further.

The thing is, the shorter the exposure, the less time your strobe has to HSS-shine onto your foreground, so you reduce flash contribution too, and whether you’ve managed to increase the strobe-to-ambient light ratio really depends on the strobe design & the flash trigger (the answer usually is no).

So, let us know what you find out please 🙂