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What is the duration of the built-in flash for the Canon M6?

Started 3 months ago | Questions
cryora New Member • Posts: 1
What is the duration of the built-in flash for the Canon M6?
1

I have a Canon M6 (mark 1) and I am interested in trying out some high speed photography using the built-in flash.  I am having trouble finding any specs on the flash duration.  There is a spec called X-sync that is 1/200 sec, but I presume that has more to do with the timing of the flash relative to the shutter and not the actual flash duration.

I imagine this can be tested with a fan with a known RPM with a speed fast enough to exhibit some blur for whatever the flash duration is, or simply measure the flash with a fast photodiode, but I am not in possession of such tools.

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Canon EOS M6
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Sittatunga Veteran Member • Posts: 5,406
Re: What is the duration of the built-in flash for the Canon M6?
1

cryora wrote:

I have a Canon M6 (mark 1) and I am interested in trying out some high speed photography using the built-in flash. I am having trouble finding any specs on the flash duration. There is a spec called X-sync that is 1/200 sec, but I presume that has more to do with the timing of the flash relative to the shutter and not the actual flash duration.

I imagine this can be tested with a fan with a known RPM with a speed fast enough to exhibit some blur for whatever the flash duration is, or simply measure the flash with a fast photodiode, but I am not in possession of such tools.

It will vary, depending on when the E-TTL cuts it short to get the exposure right.  I'd be surprised if the maximum duration was more than a millisecond.

R2D2 Forum Pro • Posts: 26,528
Re: What is the duration of the built-in flash for the Canon M6?
1

What will you be shooting?  And where?

If you're in controlled conditions, the Buff Einsteins have one of the shortest flash durations, esp at lower power.

R2

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davev8
davev8 Veteran Member • Posts: 4,833
Re: What is the duration of the built-in flash for the Canon M6?

cryora wrote:

I have a Canon M6 (mark 1) and I am interested in trying out some high speed photography using the built-in flash. I am having trouble finding any specs on the flash duration. There is a spec called X-sync that is 1/200 sec, but I presume that has more to do with the timing of the flash relative to the shutter and not the actual flash duration.

yes

I imagine this can be tested with a fan with a known RPM with a speed fast enough to exhibit some blur for whatever the flash duration is, or simply measure the flash with a fast photodiode, but I am not in possession of such tools.

this cannot be answered..flash duration is measured like a shutter speed as a fraction of a second ..the brightness of the flash is fixed ..but the camera/flash gun adjusts the flash output by allowing it to continue  for more or less time  so the flash has to vary the duration time to  change the output..so unless you can set the M6 at like full, 1/2,1/4 etc it may be different every time

a full-sized Speedlight on a full power pop the flash duration may be as long as 200th of a second however at power at say 1/64 it may be 100,000 of a sec

some old pro guns did give the flash  duration at all the manual power ratio in the speck you will just have to use google to try to find this out and buy the speed light that you can find with this info

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Attention Dislexsic i mean dyslexic person... This post will have many although spell checked, spelling and grammatical errs ..its The best its going get so no need to tell me it is bad I know it is .....................................................................................................
the EOS M is not dead and wont be for a long time ....as long as you don't want a flagship camera with a VF...if that's the case it died sometime ago
My 5D IS a MK1 classic
.........................................................................................................
There is no argument for FF vs APS-c (or m43) with shallow DOF..as it's a law of physics and a very subjective personal thing if you want to make use of the shallow DOF only FF can offer
.....................................................................................................
If you wait for a camera that will  tick all your boxes ....by then you will have more boxes to tick..... so the wait continues .....David Appleton

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Sittatunga Veteran Member • Posts: 5,406
Re: What is the duration of the built-in flash for the Canon M6?

davev8 wrote:

cryora wrote:

I have a Canon M6 (mark 1) and I am interested in trying out some high speed photography using the built-in flash. I am having trouble finding any specs on the flash duration. There is a spec called X-sync that is 1/200 sec, but I presume that has more to do with the timing of the flash relative to the shutter and not the actual flash duration.

yes

I imagine this can be tested with a fan with a known RPM with a speed fast enough to exhibit some blur for whatever the flash duration is, or simply measure the flash with a fast photodiode, but I am not in possession of such tools.

this cannot be answered..flash duration is measured like a shutter speed as a fraction of a second ..the brightness of the flash is fixed ..but the camera/flash gun adjusts the flash output by allowing it to continue for more or less time so the flash has to vary the duration time to change the output..so unless you can set the M6 at like full, 1/2,1/4 etc it may be different every time

a full-sized Speedlight on a full power pop the flash duration may be as long as 200th of a second however at power at say 1/64 it may be 100,000 of a sec

1/180 or 1/200 would be the pulsed duration for HSS mode. It will give about the same total light output as normal full power, but a much reduced intensity.

some old pro guns did give the flash duration at all the manual power ratio in the speck you will just have to use google to try to find this out and buy the speed light that you can find with this info

davev8
davev8 Veteran Member • Posts: 4,833
Re: What is the duration of the built-in flash for the Canon M6?

Sittatunga wrote:

davev8 wrote:

cryora wrote:

I have a Canon M6 (mark 1) and I am interested in trying out some high speed photography using the built-in flash. I am having trouble finding any specs on the flash duration. There is a spec called X-sync that is 1/200 sec, but I presume that has more to do with the timing of the flash relative to the shutter and not the actual flash duration.

yes

I imagine this can be tested with a fan with a known RPM with a speed fast enough to exhibit some blur for whatever the flash duration is, or simply measure the flash with a fast photodiode, but I am not in possession of such tools.

this cannot be answered..flash duration is measured like a shutter speed as a fraction of a second ..the brightness of the flash is fixed ..but the camera/flash gun adjusts the flash output by allowing it to continue for more or less time so the flash has to vary the duration time to change the output..so unless you can set the M6 at like full, 1/2,1/4 etc it may be different every time

a full-sized Speedlight on a full power pop the flash duration may be as long as 200th of a second however at power at say 1/64 it may be 100,000 of a sec

1/180 or 1/200 would be the pulsed duration for HSS mode. It will give about the same total light output as normal full power, but a much reduced intensity.

no I am referring to the duration of the flash on a full power pop

some old pro guns did give the flash duration at all the manual power ratio in the speck you will just have to use google to try to find this out and buy the speed light that you can find with this info

-- hide signature --

.
.
.
.
Attention Dislexsic i mean dyslexic person... This post will have many although spell checked, spelling and grammatical errs ..its The best its going get so no need to tell me it is bad I know it is .....................................................................................................
the EOS M is not dead and wont be for a long time ....as long as you don't want a flagship camera with a VF...if that's the case it died sometime ago
My 5D IS a MK1 classic
.........................................................................................................
There is no argument for FF vs APS-c (or m43) with shallow DOF..as it's a law of physics and a very subjective personal thing if you want to make use of the shallow DOF only FF can offer
.....................................................................................................
If you wait for a camera that will  tick all your boxes ....by then you will have more boxes to tick..... so the wait continues .....David Appleton

 davev8's gear list:davev8's gear list
Canon EOS 5D Canon EOS R6 Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM +5 more
Sittatunga Veteran Member • Posts: 5,406
Re: What is the duration of the built-in flash for the Canon M6?

davev8 wrote:

Sittatunga wrote:

davev8 wrote:

cryora wrote:

I have a Canon M6 (mark 1) and I am interested in trying out some high speed photography using the built-in flash. I am having trouble finding any specs on the flash duration. There is a spec called X-sync that is 1/200 sec, but I presume that has more to do with the timing of the flash relative to the shutter and not the actual flash duration.

yes

I imagine this can be tested with a fan with a known RPM with a speed fast enough to exhibit some blur for whatever the flash duration is, or simply measure the flash with a fast photodiode, but I am not in possession of such tools.

this cannot be answered..flash duration is measured like a shutter speed as a fraction of a second ..the brightness of the flash is fixed ..but the camera/flash gun adjusts the flash output by allowing it to continue for more or less time so the flash has to vary the duration time to change the output..so unless you can set the M6 at like full, 1/2,1/4 etc it may be different every time

a full-sized Speedlight on a full power pop the flash duration may be as long as 200th of a second however at power at say 1/64 it may be 100,000 of a sec

1/180 or 1/200 would be the pulsed duration for HSS mode. It will give about the same total light output as normal full power, but a much reduced intensity.

no I am referring to the duration of the flash on a full power pop

I'm pretty sure no Canon Speedlite has a capacitor that big - the camera sized flashguns tend to be limited to a maximum duration of about a millisecond, though I could believe a duration of 1/200 for a studio flash.

some old pro guns did give the flash duration at all the manual power ratio in the speck you will just have to use google to try to find this out and buy the speed light that you can find with this info

-- hide signature --

.
.
.
.
Attention Dislexsic i mean dyslexic person... This post will have many although spell checked, spelling and grammatical errs ..its The best its going get so no need to tell me it is bad I know it is .....................................................................................................
the EOS M is not dead and wont be for a long time ....as long as you don't want a flagship camera with a VF...if that's the case it died sometime ago
My 5D IS a MK1 classic
.........................................................................................................
There is no argument for FF vs APS-c (or m43) with shallow DOF..as it's a law of physics and a very subjective personal thing if you want to make use of the shallow DOF only FF can offer
.....................................................................................................
If you wait for a camera that will tick all your boxes ....by then you will have more boxes to tick..... so the wait continues .....David Appleton

davev8
davev8 Veteran Member • Posts: 4,833
Re: What is the duration of the built-in flash for the Canon M6?

Sittatunga wrote:

davev8 wrote:

Sittatunga wrote:

davev8 wrote:

cryora wrote:

I have a Canon M6 (mark 1) and I am interested in trying out some high speed photography using the built-in flash. I am having trouble finding any specs on the flash duration. There is a spec called X-sync that is 1/200 sec, but I presume that has more to do with the timing of the flash relative to the shutter and not the actual flash duration.

yes

I imagine this can be tested with a fan with a known RPM with a speed fast enough to exhibit some blur for whatever the flash duration is, or simply measure the flash with a fast photodiode, but I am not in possession of such tools.

this cannot be answered..flash duration is measured like a shutter speed as a fraction of a second ..the brightness of the flash is fixed ..but the camera/flash gun adjusts the flash output by allowing it to continue for more or less time so the flash has to vary the duration time to change the output..so unless you can set the M6 at like full, 1/2,1/4 etc it may be different every time

a full-sized Speedlight on a full power pop the flash duration may be as long as 200th of a second however at power at say 1/64 it may be 100,000 of a sec

1/180 or 1/200 would be the pulsed duration for HSS mode. It will give about the same total light output as normal full power, but a much reduced intensity.

no I am referring to the duration of the flash on a full power pop

I'm pretty sure no Canon Speedlite has a capacitor that big - the camera sized flashguns tend to be limited to a maximum duration of about a millisecond, though I could believe a duration of 1/200 for a studio flash.

i never say canon or any brand it is probably not down solely to the size of the cap..the tube may make a difference as guns of the same output can have different duration. here i cut and paste from the Metz 58AF speck

>>>>> Flash duration runs from 1/125sec at full power output to 1/33000sec at 1/256 power output.<<<<<<<

i remember this gun when i research guns many years ago i remember thinking that if i made full use of my 1/250th sync speed i would waste a lot of the power this was one of the reasons i did not get this gun

my metz 60 has about 3 times the output of a shoe mount gun and its full power duration is 1/200th

some old pro guns did give the flash duration at all the manual power ratio in the speck you will just have to use google to try to find this out and buy the speed light that you can find with this info

-- hide signature --

.
.
.
.
Attention Dislexsic i mean dyslexic person... This post will have many although spell checked, spelling and grammatical errs ..its The best its going get so no need to tell me it is bad I know it is .....................................................................................................
the EOS M is not dead and wont be for a long time ....as long as you don't want a flagship camera with a VF...if that's the case it died sometime ago
My 5D IS a MK1 classic
.........................................................................................................
There is no argument for FF vs APS-c (or m43) with shallow DOF..as it's a law of physics and a very subjective personal thing if you want to make use of the shallow DOF only FF can offer
.....................................................................................................
If you wait for a camera that will tick all your boxes ....by then you will have more boxes to tick..... so the wait continues .....David Appleton

 davev8's gear list:davev8's gear list
Canon EOS 5D Canon EOS R6 Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM +5 more
Sittatunga Veteran Member • Posts: 5,406
Re: What is the duration of the built-in flash for the Canon M6?

davev8 wrote:

Sittatunga wrote:

davev8 wrote:

Sittatunga wrote:

davev8 wrote:

cryora wrote:

I have a Canon M6 (mark 1) and I am interested in trying out some high speed photography using the built-in flash. I am having trouble finding any specs on the flash duration. There is a spec called X-sync that is 1/200 sec, but I presume that has more to do with the timing of the flash relative to the shutter and not the actual flash duration.

yes

I imagine this can be tested with a fan with a known RPM with a speed fast enough to exhibit some blur for whatever the flash duration is, or simply measure the flash with a fast photodiode, but I am not in possession of such tools.

this cannot be answered..flash duration is measured like a shutter speed as a fraction of a second ..the brightness of the flash is fixed ..but the camera/flash gun adjusts the flash output by allowing it to continue for more or less time so the flash has to vary the duration time to change the output..so unless you can set the M6 at like full, 1/2,1/4 etc it may be different every time

a full-sized Speedlight on a full power pop the flash duration may be as long as 200th of a second however at power at say 1/64 it may be 100,000 of a sec

1/180 or 1/200 would be the pulsed duration for HSS mode. It will give about the same total light output as normal full power, but a much reduced intensity.

no I am referring to the duration of the flash on a full power pop

I'm pretty sure no Canon Speedlite has a capacitor that big - the camera sized flashguns tend to be limited to a maximum duration of about a millisecond, though I could believe a duration of 1/200 for a studio flash.

i never say canon or any brand it is probably not down solely to the size of the cap..the tube may make a difference as guns of the same output can have different duration. here i cut and paste from the Metz 58AF speck

>>>>> Flash duration runs from 1/125sec at full power output to 1/33000sec at 1/256 power output.<<<<<<<

i remember this gun when i research guns many years ago i remember thinking that if i made full use of my 1/250th sync speed i would waste a lot of the power this was one of the reasons i did not get this gun

my metz 60 has about 3 times the output of a shoe mount gun and its full power duration is 1/200th

We're getting a long way from the original topic, but here's a discussion of the flash durations of various Canon speedlites; Solved: What is the flash duration of Canon 600 EX II - Canon Community

The capacitor for the flash built into the EOS M6 will be very much smaller than these, but the flash tube will be smaller.  The cheap manual external flash I had decades ago, that was a bit under half the size of the M6 had a claimed duration of 1/2000s.

some old pro guns did give the flash duration at all the manual power ratio in the speck you will just have to use google to try to find this out and buy the speed light that you can find with this info

R2D2 Forum Pro • Posts: 26,528
Re: What is the duration of the built-in flash for the Canon M6?

cryora wrote:

I have a Canon M6 (mark 1) and I am interested in trying out some high speed photography using the built-in flash. I am having trouble finding any specs on the flash duration. There is a spec called X-sync that is 1/200 sec, but I presume that has more to do with the timing of the flash relative to the shutter and not the actual flash duration.

I imagine this can be tested with a fan with a known RPM with a speed fast enough to exhibit some blur for whatever the flash duration is, or simply measure the flash with a fast photodiode, but I am not in possession of such tools.

I just took some shots of my fan with the M6 Mark II (my Mark I is at work).  The fan blur at 1/4000 second (no flash) looked to be about the same as the blur from the flash (at full power).  Just a very rough guesstimate though.

R2

ps. BTW, what are you shooting?

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