Flash that will endure over 2000 continuous shots?

[rs]

I am going to be taking pictures of regular books and not any special ones.

How fast are you going to turn the pages? And are you going to use the flash at full power with your 1D X and EF-S 55-250 with your petal hood? I'm guessing overheating won't be an issue for any of the Canon flashes with that usage, but a spare set of duracells might come in handy.

Failing that, why not just buy these 'regular books' as e-books?

 

[Hannes]

I'd say two yongnou 560 III and a rf-603 transceiver. You probably don't need more than 1/64 and with one lighting from either side there will less risk of shadows. Two sets of batteries and you will be able to shoot as long as you want. Heck, you could even use the built in flash to trigger the yongnous for even less shadows but recycle time on the built in one is not great.

However, what I think you need more than new gear is more knowledge about fairly basic photography techniques.

 

[NostraHistoria]

I am going to be taking pictures of regular books and not any special ones.

How fast are you going to turn the pages? And are you going to use the flash at full power with your 1D X and EF-S 55-250 with your petal hood? I'm guessing overheating won't be an issue for any of the Canon flashes with that usage, but a spare set of duracells might come in handy.

Failing that, why not just buy these 'regular books' as e-books?

I do not want to pay for any books if I get can them for free.

 

[rs]

I am going to be taking pictures of regular books and not any special ones.

How fast are you going to turn the pages? And are you going to use the flash at full power with your 1D X and EF-S 55-250 with your petal hood? I'm guessing overheating won't be an issue for any of the Canon flashes with that usage, but a spare set of duracells might come in handy.

Failing that, why not just buy these 'regular books' as e-books?

I do not want to pay for any books if I get can them for free.

2000 shots. That can't be many books. How much will four e-books or so cost you compared to all that time taking the photos and post processing them, let alone the cost of the lighting rig and the flights to Germany?

If you really do have to spend money on equipment and flights just to carry out this plagiarism, buy a cheap flatbed scanner instead. Rocking up to a library with a laptop and scanner in tow will draw a lot less attention that shooting each and every page with a flash.

I'm confused. On another thread you announce you've got the money to buy a 1D X, but in this one you say you won't pay for four books?

 

[Rienzphotoz]

I use LED lights (which provide continuous light) to take pics of books from libraries or when my kids borrow difficult to find text books etc ... I use YONGNUO YN-300 II which is a bit big but they have several smaller ones that work really well and they are very cheap ... check here http://www.yongnuostore.com/category/led-lights-other/ ... there are plenty of other brands that work really well including those made by reputable manufacturers such as Manfrotto http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Manfrotto+led+lights&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=
http://www.manfrotto.com/led-lights#.UareA-uHTPE

Thanks. It is a good price. I thought I would have to get the Nissin and pay about $800.

Is its light white and clear? I do not want a yellow light. Can you send a pic of pages from a book to [email protected]?

Yes it is white light ... but the same unit can also provide yellow light if you want. I'll try and dig up some pics and send them.

 

[RGF]

Hi,

I need a flash that will take over 2000 continuous non-stop shots. I take pictures of books for research. I am a grad student in history.

Can someone please tell me the best and cheapest flash I need?

You say continuous non-stop shots. Do you mean 5-10 FPS? Or perhaps a picture every few seconds.

How do you plan to power the flash?

 

[Zv]

Try cam scanner on the ipad. Free app that can take a picture of a printed sheet and automatically fixes it to look like a scanned image. I use it in the office for documents I want to digitize. Failing that, use your iphone or whatever. These days the cameras on smartphone are pretty decent.

How decent does the quality need to be, it's just for you to read, right? You're not trying to sell this stuff, whatever it is, are you?

 

[bardamu]

I think the whole issue of flash durability is a bit overrated. This article might be of interest:

http://strobist.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/will-your-flash-last-forever.html

I've done a lot of focus stacking with my flashes, sometimes up to 200 flashes per sequence. Generally I'm operating at quarter power or less to minimise variation between bursts. I'm guessing my flashes have put out many tens of thousands of blasts and they are still going strong. One of them makes an ominous noise on startup and shutdown, but still works fine, and I think this problem originated from a nasty bump or salt-water contact whilst I was on holiday in Tasmania, photographing marine animals on the back deck of a yacht.

May be worth enquiring if your destination institution has a copy stand - many large institutions do.

Unrelated matter but I was suprised to find that the 430EX II and 600EX-RT put out light that is rather different in colour. 600EX looked slightly warmer from memory.

 

[Wildfire]

Why not an AlienBees AB400? That should do the trick.

 

[RLPhoto]

Any flash can do it as long as it's around 1/4 power. At 1/2 power or full power I'm sure you'll melt a speedlite. A studio strobe or Q-flash would do full power all day, all night.

 

[brianleighty]

Another option nobody has mentioned. You said you're using the on camera Flash. I assume you're saying that the flash drains the batteries on the camera pretty quick? If the oncamera flash is sufficient for your purposes, what about just getting an adapter to run your camera off of AC power? You still have the flash recycle time but if you're not firing at full power I don't see that being much of an issue.

 

[brad goda]

2 X of anything cheep... just use manual exposure and give ample time for recharge.
shoot RAW and do extensive exposure and color balance test first... use QP or Kodak chart...
if your exposures are good +-0.3 all color can be fine tuned in PS RAW process...
and stick with the same lens & camera for the project

 

[barton springs]

Hi,

I need a flash that will take over 2000 continuous non-stop shots. I take pictures of books for research. I am a grad student in history.

Can someone please tell me the best and cheapest flash I need?

I've read your previous posts and inquiries so for this job just use your smart phone for photos