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Andaman Sea Blackwater

Started Jan 20, 2022 | Photos thread
OP Barmaglot_07 Contributing Member • Posts: 633
Re: Andaman Sea Blackwater

kelpdiver wrote:

It can drive one batty trying to compare lumens to watts, or GN to watt seconds versus coverage distribution and consistency with marketing spin to boot. And then there's the misery in (esp S&S strobes) getting the right fiber cord to couple to the SLR or flash trigger.

Any single number is largely meaningless out of context when we're dealing with complex devices, but guide numbers are particularly bad. Pavel Kolpakov measured the output of Inon Z-330 when that strobe came out, and found that the GN33 rating was accurate... for a tiny little spot dead center where the two beams from its bulbs intersect. Everywhere else it drops off rapidly.

Circular bulb strobes are generally better at light distribution (witness DS160 with its GN24 outperforming GN33 Inon and S&S strobes in tests) but even that is far from guaranteed - Weefine/Kraken made a circular bulb strobe and somehow messed up the reflector design so bad, they ended up with a narrow beam (IIRC less than 90 degrees) and a dim spot in the middle.

Thinking about that, it's possible, theoretically, that SUPE D-MAX does actually dump 250 joules into its bulb, but half of that gets lost in the reflector and the output ends up losing to a strobe with 60% of its theoretical power.

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