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Old May 14th 04, 01:19 AM
Bob Monaghan
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Default Focal plane vs. leaf shutters in MF SLRs


the wink light is okay in the 3 to 12 foot or so range, provided you can
find the 45 volt batteries etc., but lots of us shoot with slower films
and at distances beyond 12 feet...

There are some sophisticated camera/flash combos in 35mm which provide a
series of short flash pulses during exposure in a similar manner to the
wink light, but here again, light levels are limited as flash tubes heat
up, even if you solve all the timing (read as avoiding banding) issues ;-)

unfortunately, extended focal plane flash bulbs are available from only a
few sources new, and quite pricey.

this is getting to be less of an issue, as focal plane flash synch speeds
continue to increase, but then leaf shutters have also gone up in speed
too (e.g., PQS rollei 6x6cm leaf shutter lenses at 1/1000th second flash
synch speeds). I have used nikon kits with a nikkormat backup body just
because the flash synch speed was almost a stop faster than the pro F
bodies.

The big problem for MF focal plane users is so many MF cameras have flash
synch speeds around 1/60th second, making ghosting in daylight shots
(e.g., weddings outdoors) problematic with many film choices ;-( Older
cameras may be even worse, down to 1/30th second (yeech).

The other issue is reliability. Camera MTBF for focal plane camera bodies
is almost entirely determined by shutter failure rates. Having leaf
shutter lenses (plural) means when the shutter in one lens fails, you can
still keep shooting with the other lenses. Yes, maintenance costs and
purchasing costs are higher, but the extra margin of reliability may be
worth it.

Still, the flash synch range for leaf shutters is really their big selling
point, IMHO ;-)

grins bobm


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