jliane Loc: Washington state

1. I bought a new D5300 which cannot use high-speed flash. Is there much advantage to HS flash when shooting birds? In the jungle? I'm confused because I read it cuts down light by 2 stops. I like the articulating screen on the 5300 vs the 7100 which doesn't have one. Is it worth it to trade in my brand new camera just to have HS flash?

2. I'm ready to purchase a Yongnuo 565ex if I keep the 5300. Can anyone tell me which Better Beamer I need with that?

Thanks in advance for any opinions, assistance

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

It's closer to 2 1/2 to 3 stops of light you're "gonna"loose with HSS. Just by turning down your power level will give you flash durations of 1/10.000 to 1/40.000 - that might be a good alternative to think about (that's how you "freeze" those hummingbird wings)!

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

You'd never use high-speed sync for birds. You can just use the fastest sync speed your camera has, which should be 1/250th or so and the flash will stop the action. I wouldn't do this on birds in flight though. Keep in mind, using flash on animals can cause your image to look flat and unexciting. It can also cause some weird things to happen to the eyes of birds especially Owls.

The FX3 Better Beamer will fit most if not all speedlites.

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

The speedlite is where you set for high speed flash.
That with ETTL will give good results.

But as Jeep Daddy stated, not so good with moving targets.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Plus, there's not enough reach with your strobe in HSS. You must be less than 10 feet away, more like 5 feet away, to get enough light out of it using HSS.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

For bird photography you would only want flash, HS or regular to stop the wing motion of say Hummingbirds. Generally natural ambient light is best for nature photography.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Not necessarily...

HSS does limit flash's reach. But how much depends upon how high a shutter speed you're using, i.e. how far you're pushing the flash beyond the camera's flash sync speed. If only a modest increase over flash sync is used, distance isn't effected a lot.

A higher ISO setting and/or larger aperture also can be used to offset the loss of "reach" to HSS.

And it depends upon exactly how you are using the flash... If using it "full", as the primary or only light source, you're reach will be more limited than if you are using the flash as "fill", merely to augment ambient light and open up shadows a bit.

Plus, if using a Better Beamer or similar flash extender you get a lot more reach than with a bare flash alone.

I've used HSS, a flash extender, with a fairly powerful flash (about 180 GN), as fill up to 50 feet or more.

This was shot from about 20 feet away, with that flash as "full" (but balanced close to ambient light), and an extender...



Other benefits to using a flash this way is that it really helps when birds have iridescent feathers, as above.

And, flash assures a "catch light" in the critter's eye, which makes it look more alive than when their eye is just plain black.

Be sure to experiment with the flash... Particularly when it's your primary/only light source it will act as the shutter speed, and you many not need to go above the camera's sync speed. A typical portable flash acts like approx. 1/720 shutter speed.... some have even higher speed ratings. It doesn't matter if the camera's shutter speed is slower (unless it's so slow that ambient light overpowers the flash and/or overexposes the subject).