What is a Flashgun? (And Other Important Questions)
- What is a Flashgun?
- Flashgun Adds Quality Light
- A Flashgun Can Stop Time
- Flashgun Exposure is so Easy
- You Can Modify Flashgun Light
- Flashgun Photography Puts You in Control
- Where to Find the Best Flashgun
Photo by squidmediaro via istock
There’s an internet meme I saw some time ago: “Show me a photographer who says they always shoot natural light, and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t know how to use a flashgun.”
It’s somewhat funny and a little bit condescending, but it hits on a real-life situation. The situation is that there are a lot of photographers, even advanced, experienced ones, who are a little bit nervous about flashgun photography.
I’m going to list five reasons why no photographer needs to be worried about flashgun photography. I’ll also be listing some flash units you can get from the online platform MPB, my favorite camera store. You can buy, sell, and trade all manner of used photography gear at MPB.
Table of Contents:
What is a Flashgun?
Photo by jgroup via iStock
A flashgun (AKA: strobe unit, electronic flash, speedlight) is a basic item of photography gear. Many cameras, including your smartphone camera, have a flashgun built-in. It is an accessory that adds a quick burst of color-corrected light to an exposure.
A flashgun puts out a lot of light in that brief moment, which makes them different from a continuous photoflood that stays on all the time. While you may see large studio strobes in a photographer’s workspace, the term flashgun also implies portability.
Flashgun Adds Quality Light
Photo by Viniciao Ferreira via iStock
In my description of what a flashgun is, you’ll notice I said it adds “color-corrected” light. That’s an important bit of information to know. Because a photographer usually doesn’t want just any light, we seek out the right kind of light.
Besides whether light is hard or soft, the color temperature of the light is a major concern. Most electronic flash units use a xenon tube that emits the light with an instantaneously high peak output. In other words, it comes on full blast. That is how photographers are able to use a flashgun at fast enough shutter speeds to avoid ghostly streaks of subject or camera motion.
A xenon tube emits a full spectrum of light in this all-at-once output. So it’s much like natural sunlight. Plus, the flashgun has a specifically formulated tinted lens or cover that helps balance the color temperature of the torrent to a natural-looking light source. Almost any flashgun will have a color temp of 4800K to 5600K.
A Flashgun Can Stop Time
Photo by Marc Dufresne via iStock
One of the photographic side effects of using a flashgun is that the instantaneous outpouring of light is so brief it can be used as a stop motion control. The flash of light can be relatively long, such as about 1/5,000th of a second, and can be as brief as 1/100,000th of a second.
Using that as a basis of exposure means you can capture some interesting stop-motion photos. Some cool experiments can be seen all over the internet, with images of an arrow busting a water balloon or a bullet shattering a light bulb. Your flash is fully capable of stopping some pretty rapid movement, even if you’re not imaging a bumblebee in flight.
Flashgun Exposure is so Easy
Photo by SensorSpot via iStock
Here’s why that meme I referenced earlier has a kernel of truth, flashgun exposure used to be a pain in the butt. Guide numbers based on the flashgun power, ambient lighting, shutter speed to sync with the flash, a lens aperture based on the focusing distance, and the flashgun guide number… yeah, it was a mess.
Here’s a brief view from Joseph J McAllister of how complicated it was for early photographers:
Thanks to some camera makers in the 1970s, though, through the lens (TTL) off the film plane (OTF), light measurement began to be implemented into more and more modern cameras. Minolta created it, Olympus first used it, Canon added focus information to the calculations, and Nikon created a matrix that balanced everything.
What the results are now is that TTL-OTF flash metering coupled with focus info in an overall matrix is standard equipment for digital cameras. Let me tell you, despite all the posturing you may see in some online forums, pros LOVE autofocus and accurate flash metering. I know I do!
It’s all so simple and yet completely sophisticated. A flashgun like the Nikon SB-910 Speedlight can be used as an on-camera flash or be combined with multiple flash units through a controller like the Nikon SU-800 for seamless integration and make up any number of lighting configurations. Similar equipment exists in all the major camera brands and with 3rd party manufacturers as well.
You Can Modify Flashgun Light
Photo by gorodenkoff via iStock
You aren’t limited to only the small window emitting light from the flashgun; there are many ways to modify the light, such as softboxes, umbrellas, and diffusers. Another way to modify light is to bounce the flash off of a wall or ceiling.
For example, a flashgun such as the Canon Speedlite 580EX-II has a flash head that tilts up and also swivels. You can aim the flashgun at a nearby wall or ceiling while keeping the flash on the camera, all the while relying on automation to keep flashgun photography exposures balanced out.
Flashgun Photography Puts You in Control
Photo by caiaimage via iStock
Since flashgun photography is both simple and sophisticated, you can be in complete control of your exposures and thus be free to adjust compositions and other creative ideas. Since you arene[t limited to only using the light that’s available in the scene, you can pretty much do almost anything you want.
Flashgun photography is one of the major tools that any photographer can take advantage of. Don’t buy into that meme; take control and create the images that you desire.
Where to Find the Best Flashgun
Photo by Deagreez via iStock
As with anything photographic, cameras, lenses, and other accessories, buying a flashgun is somewhat of an investment. This is why I love shopping for recent models of flashguns at the online platform MPB, specialists in used photography gear.
I like MPB because I can also sell or trade in equipment I no longer need for even more savings than the used equipment savings I enjoy. MPB makes it all so easy to do, as easy as using a high-quality camera flashgun!
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