Dickies work pants

 I have a pair of navy blue dickies from way back.  I don't remember when I bought them, but as far back as I can remember they were in my wardrobe.  I think probably more than 20 years or so.

I wasn't a big fan for two or three reasons.  I outgrew the pants soon enough as I started to grow horizontally in my mid thirties.  And the pants are true to size and really hit the waist instead of low.  Also it's not 100% cotton, so in terms of breathability it's not exactly great.  But if you want your pants creased then they maintain the crease quite well, which I find it quite interesting, I meant these are considered work pants.  But I guess back back back in the old old days, workers are expected to be well or properly dressed and groomed.  Another funny thing, at least in my book is the belt loops are relatively small or narrow, not for big freaking belts but for narrow belts.  So again what is the deal.  If you have some cowboy belt it's not going through those narrow loops for sure.  Again perhaps the idea is to make these work pants more like dressed pants with small belt loops* and creased legs, I could only reckon.

They are pretty well constructed and durable.

After some twenty plus years I ordered online another pair.  And this time around I ordered online directly and I chose the Lincoln green color.  I think that's the color for the sanitation workers here in NYC.  I am just fascinated by that color.  Black and navy blue are the most common work wear colors and Lincoln green kind of special.  The model name is 874 which I think is the original cut instead of some more updated version like slim fit or something something.

*Serious dress pants should never have any belt loops anyway.

Flash Duration

 Flash duration seems like an easy concept... What I don't understand is how does it come into play if your ambient light is like sunny f/16, with lots of sunlight?

If your camera shutter speed is set at X sync at 1/250s with a shortest flash duration, will that even matter at all?  As the ambient is continuous sunlight, how does a short strobe duration helps freezing action in this case?  I understand if your ambient is jet black then sure, even if your shutter set at 1s, if your flash duration is short enough then you can freeze the action.

I read and watch, and people keep talking about flash duration or a very short flash duration helps freeze action.  But they never mention only if you have no and very low ambient.  Am I missing something?  I really want to know.

I think a long flash duration and high camera shutter speed with well timed shutter release, that is, hyper sync works better in broad daylight.

Hypersync hack using SB-800 and a pair of Sunpak 120J

 I have a couple of receivers and a transmitter that say

Frequency 433MHz, Service range <= 30m

Sync Speed >= 1/250s

Receiver 2x1.5*AAA battery.

These radio trigger can't do any high speed sync or hypersync or hi-sync ...

However if I were to attach my Nikon SB-800 to the hotshoe of say my D700,  Hypersync from my Sunpak 120J is possible.

I need to run a sync cable from my SB-800 to the transmitter.  Then connect the receiver to the sync terminal of the 120J.

The D700 is set to do AUTO-FP at 1/250.  Honestly I don't know if it's at or above or just above that speed then the camera and the speedlite will do the high speed sync, that's producing pulses of light as if continual lighting for the duration of the exposure.

For this to work relative well, I have noticed the following.  There is really no black band on the frame but for high speed and small aperture, say 1/1000 and f/16, the picture looks darker.  And the bottom of the picture looks brighter regardless.

Let's say I shoot about 10 ft away subject to 120J, at full power, and it says f/16

My SB-800 is set at 1/128 power as I only use it as a trigger not as a flash.

So here is my settings

D700, at 1/1000, f/8, 2-stops lower than my 120J says.

Sunpak 120J: full power

That's it, full blast and the picture looks good no black bar at the bottom.

Conclusion:

I have a pair of Godox CellsII-N which is bigger and supposedly do some hypersync.  But the trigger sometimes fires randomly.  So I don't like them.  Plus it's only 2, one is transmitter one is used as a receiver.  So any time more than 1 light is impossible.  Even though most of the time I shoot with one off camera light anyway.

With this SB-800 hack I can run two 120J at full power blasting off and still run at 1/1000 or higher and the triggers is cheap and pretty reliable in my book.  It can run at regular sync or hypersync, so it's all good.  And if I want I can run the SB-800 as fill flash as well in addition of being a trigger only; so three lights.

Strobe qflash model T

 Latest fascination

The Quantum qflash.

I couldn't find any difference between T and T2.  I think if I don't ever use any TTL then perhaps it doesn't really matter.

One is untested and is on its way.  I am taking a chance as it says it's untested except it can power on.  What does that mean, the most optimistic scenario is the unit actually works it's just than the vendor is being very forthright telling you that the unit hasn't been fully and completely tested.  I wonder how many sellers actually test the whole feature set, I mean do they see if the flash duration is actually within spec at 1/2 power for example?  I don't think so.  Or the TTL actually works?  Or the slave feature works?

Instead of getting an extra Powerpack like the Godox PB 960, I opted for the silly power pack from maxxpower.  When I first got my Sunpak 120J that's what I got for the power.  But now the powerpack can no longer be charged.  I wonder if it's because it hasn't been used and needs to be awaken.  But then I have no way to awake it or know if it's just sleeping.

Also ordered a TR 2000 cable, which doesn't fit right into the Sunpak 120J; it needs a 3 to 2 prong adapter which I have with the original TR-PAK II I got years ago.

Or I can order a quantum turbo extension cord QT49 to run 2 120J from one PB 960.

I sort of create my own problems and look for solutions on eBay.