air gap

Test Your Flash Duration With An Arduino And a 50c Diode

Feb 2, 2015 by Udi Tirosh Add Comment

By now you already know that Flashes don’t just pop for a fraction of a second. This fraction has a value and its value determines how well it will stop motion (say a splash of liquid). This time is called T.5 (and T.1) and they are explained here.

So every flash manufacturer shares their T.5, and as with many devices there is some variance. Matt Kane of vela.io recently built a device for testing the actual flash duration using an Arduino board and a cheapo diode. The reason for this was to test how the output from strobes (and the vela LED airgap) behave.

Interestingly LED strobes behave differently than Xenon strobes and their fall off patterns is different. They are also much faster (see title image).

[Read More…]

Vela Lab’s Uber High Speed Flash Aims To Freeze Bullets In Mid Air

Nov 25, 2014 by Mitch Highman 6 Comments

Vela Labs developed an LED flash with speeds of up to 1 /2,000,000 of a second – the Vela One. This means that the Vela One is fast enough to stop a bullet in flight.

Vela Labs CEO, Matt Kane, told us that such a fast speed is obtained by using ultra-high flux COB LEDs, and overdriving them. My first question was how exactly can you push an LED so brutally and not damage it. Matt explained that the massive currents are delivered in very short pulses and do not damage or shorten the life of the unit. [Read More…]

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

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