Stroboscope / shutter issues

[Edgar Nyari]

Hi everyone,

 

I did some tests with a stroboscope light for an upcoming shoot, and found it extremely difficult to replicate a strobing light effect on film due to shutter and stroboscope sync issues. The perfect solution would be to use some sort of camera-strobe synchronization, which is out of the question. The camera is a 35mm film camera, and it's impossible to sync it in any way with the device I'm using.

 

Is there a set of "magic" strobe frequencies that work best with 180 degree shutter on 24 fps, to give a nice flickering effect without too much skipping?

 

Considering this is my only light source in this scene, and total darkness should be between flashes, should I perhaps shoot the scene in full light, then just edit in blank frames at any desired frequency?

Is this ever done in editing?

 

thanks

 

Edgar

[timHealy]

If I recall correctly, a company called Unilux in New Jersey once made a syncable strobe. It was mostly used to shorten the exposure of every frame with the strobe so juice squeezed out of an orange or water coming out of a shower head was captures in crystal clear blobs instead of blurry streams with normal shutter rates. Perhaps they can help you.

 

I haven't seen these lights in years though.

 

best

 

Tim