Flash sync for M2P?

[AMann]

It’s too bad that the M2P camera does not have a flash sync output for photography.

Has anyone found a good way to make a external flash sync for their M2P? I’ve seen the delays made to trigger by sound and light for shooting lightning and things like that, but they are simply too fast. What would be needed is a longer delay that can delay flashes up to a half second or less as the remote flash trigger connected to it would also add a small delay itself.

As I did not want to crack open my remote control to access the camera trigger button circuit, to trigger the delay and sync it with the camera trigger button on the remote, I was considering sticking a flat micro switch on top of the camera trigger button on the remote control and connecting that to a adjustable flash delay timer which would fire off my external flashes remotely. The delay would allow me to sync the flash with the time delay between the remote trigger button and the camera.

TL3315NF160Q E-Switch | Mouser

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HiViz.com - Kits - DU2s Delay Timer 2 kit

The camera flash I would mount on my drone is much brighter than Lumi Cubes, and it is also remotely adjustable as well. Also, this type of trigger can be used to fire off remote studio strobes on the ground.

Has anyone found or use any easier and inexpensive ways to do this?

 

[paulatkin73]

pointless - you will need to sync it perfectly and due to the mutating random duration of the lag of control signal processing in the flight controller software it will never work within the required sync interval to trigger electronic shutter while your strobe is firing. mavic is not good for such things - you want here a functionality a heavy lifter can do having a proper dslr attached to it. all you can do on mavic is to use those lumi cubes or similar LEDs that produce negligent amount of light.

if you want to do some serious hacking - you would need to open up camera harness, figure out its protocol and attach a servo on the line that sends shutter signal to the gimbal. then put a flash unit on that servo switch. piece of cake work on any open source unit - and probably also not quite possible with dji, as nothing of its guts is documented.

 

[AMann]

Thanks for your reply!The random latency of the trigger function was my concern too, however I can increase the flash duration and make adjustments to the timing to at least get it close and then play around with it for a random shots. I realize that it’ll probably be more accidental to catch it if anything. Since I already bought the parts, I might as well test out. I will also get to test your hypothesis of “it will never work”

 

[paulatkin73]

Thanks for your reply!The random latency of the trigger function was my concern too, however I can increase the flash duration and make adjustments to the timing to at least get it close and then play around with it for a random shots. I realize that it’ll probably be more accidental to catch it if anything. Since I already bought the parts, I might as well test out. I will also get to test your hypothesis of “it will never work”

sure, you can try, why not. but, usually the duration of the TTL flash is very short, around of 1/1000s. unless it is quite dark and you will set shutter for 1/20s or longer - it will take some effort to sync it.

 

[AMann]

sure, you can try, why not. but, usually the duration of the TTL flash is very short, around of 1/1000s. unless it is quite dark and you will set shutter for 1/20s or longer - it will take some effort to sync it.

I can also lengthen the shutter speed.

 

[johnmeyer]

I'm old enough that my first night pictures were taken with flash bulbs. I even had some flash powder, although no one was using that anymore.

The reason I mention this is that there is a really old-fashioned way of dealing with this that might work, if it is really dark. The old way was to open the shutter and leave it open (so called "bulb" setting, because it was for flashbulbs). Then, while open, manually trip the flash, and then close the shutter. The shutter will be open for about a second. All you have to do is set an f-stop that ensures that the exposure from the ambient light will be negligible compared to the light from the flash.

I've done this many times, and it works absolutely perfectly.

I don't know if the shutter can be opened and closed manually, but if it can be set to at least one second, this will work.

 

[AMann]

I'm old enough that my first night pictures were taken with flash bulbs. I even had some flash powder, although no one was using that anymore.

The reason I mention this is that there is a really old-fashioned way of dealing with this that might work, if it is really dark. The old way was to open the shutter and leave it open (so called "bulb" setting, because it was for flashbulbs). Then, while open, manually trip the flash, and then close the shutter. The shutter will be open for about a second. All you have to do is set an f-stop that ensures that the exposure from the ambient light will be negligible compared to the light from the flash.

I've done this many times, and it works absolutely perfectly.

I don't know if the shutter can be opened and closed manually, but if it can be set to at least one second, this will work.

I thought the same thing above, slow shutter and adjust that with a small f/stop and a strong flash. I really like shooting that way at night with my DSLR.

 

[Paul2660]

I don’t think you can sync a ES shutter to a flash. At least no camera company has been able to as all the ones I know of with ES as an option will not allow flash with ES. You would need a focal shutter like on a Phantom which has both the ES and mechanical shutter.
Not sure what your results would be on a Mavic 2 which only has the ES. iPhone flash is not really a flash but a bright light which via an LED. So I guess with LED lights would be the best solution.

Paul C

 

[mconferphoto]

1/2 second to one second shutter and my profoto air release device held in hand would totally work. Practice a few times, you will be able to sync it even faster, maybe a 1/15 , thanks for the idea

 

[Claude72]

Hello, would anybody know if a hack on a Zenmuse P1 or H20 would be possible?

Thanks

Claude

 

[Claude72]

I'm new here. I have a M2P and a M300. I try/would like to make some flash photography with the drone camera, with a flash attached to the M300. However and does anybody has a clue on how to make it possible, even if hacking the Z P1 or H20 is necessary, syncing the Z P1 or H20 to a flashgun would become possible?
Thanks.
Claude

 

[Bai Shou Tao]

The camera flash I would mount on my drone is much brighter than Lumi Cubes, and it is also remotely adjustable as well. Also, this type of trigger can be used to fire off remote studio strobes on the ground.

I can also lengthen the shutter speed.

I'm old enough that my first night pictures were taken with flash bulbs. I even had some flash powder, although no one was using that anymore.

The reason I mention this is that there is a really old-fashioned way of dealing with this that might work, if it is really dark. The old way was to open the shutter and leave it open (so called "bulb" setting, because it was for flashbulbs). Then, while open, manually trip the flash, and then close the shutter. The shutter will be open for about a second. All you have to do is set an f-stop that ensures that the exposure from the ambient light will be negligible compared to the light from the flash.

I've done this many times, and it works absolutely perfectly.

I don't know if the shutter can be opened and closed manually, but if it can be set to at least one second, this will work.

I thought the same idea and will try it out later this week. But the way you did with the B shutter was practical only when the camera is on a tripod. most of the drones nowadays can set the shutter to 1/2 - 1 sec without doubt but while the shutter is open the wind can create so much blur to the image. but in a windless day this might work perfectly.

 

[AMann]

I thought the same idea and will try it out later this week. But the way you did with the B shutter was practical only when the camera is on a tripod. most of the drones nowadays can set the shutter to 1/2 - 1 sec without doubt but while the shutter is open the wind can create so much blur to the image. but in a windless day this might work perfectly.

Some photos look really great with an under-exposed blur behind a well exposed flash image that freezes the motion.

To be honest, this project has been put on the back burner since I posted it as other things came up, but thank you for reposting it! Now I am interested in it again as well!

 

[AMann]

So a lot of people have been using their drones as a remote flash to do remote lighting for their ground based camera. Some of these are interesting. I was originally considering doing the opposite where the drone takes a picture that is lit with ground based flash units. I could see doing it both ways. You could also use flash, or a bright light attached to your drone to paint or illuminate light on a remote object. That’ll be tricky, though, as the drone’s own nav lights will be eliminated in the images- you’d have to use a spotlight or zoom flash and stay back for this.

Both of the resulting images in the articles below are doing composition photos, where they’ve edited the flash carrying drone out of the images- the videos explain the process they used.

Lighting the Impossible — Drone Mounted Flash Photography

For this shoot the goal was to light the impossible. So we mounted a flash under a drone, put a model on a cliff, woke up at 3:30AM and created these images

leegphotography.com

Action Flash Photography With a Strobe Attached to a Drone

Drones have grown into a standard item to own not only for videographers, but also for many photographers. Most have used them to capture images from the sky or places hardly accessible otherwise. A few have played around with these small machines to light their subject in a unique way, just...

fstoppers.com