Interview with Jan Kasl about high-speed sync

His passion for action sports connected with photography brought him to the world of professional sportsmen, spectacular performances, inspirational people and amazing places all over the world. He is very proud of being part of the Nikon, Red Bull, FOMEI and Vans family, which offers him astonishing opportunities in his progressive development.

Honza, how are you doing, what are you currently working on?
I’m doing really great. I’m currently working on a catalogue for Ghost Bikes company. I’ve just returned from Erzeberg, Austria, where I shot new bikes for the catalogue together with our successful biker Tomáš Slavík. It’s a unique place that holds Enduro uphill races. This quarry, which is still used, is closed once a year because of this motorbike races. Several hundreds of racers starts there each year but only few make it to the finish line.
Even though I am chased by fog, rain and snow during the photoshoot, I try to use this bad weather conditions as my advantage which gives completely a new aspect and atmosphere to the photos.



Did you try our FOMEI HSS triggers during your photoshoot in Austria? Was it good?
I’ve been using different triggers for some time and I’m able to illuminate and use shorter time than 1/250s to capture action photos. I’ve put a lot of effort into programming the triggers – trial and error. There is no guide how to set up the trigger, because it’s always a combination of 3 aspects – camera body, flash and trigger. Though I had some great results, I wasn’t able to cover the photo with the same light intensity. Other photographers made fun of me because I took photos with my camera upside down, trigger on the bottom side. I usually place the composition into the upper part of the frame, and this was the only way to achieve brighter upper half of the photo.
That’s why I was content with the FOMEI HSS triggers, they cover the whole frame with light proportionally. All I had to do was plug the trigger in.

Why do you like using high-speed sync?
Since I’m specialized in action sports photography, I usually illuminate the scene in a daylight. Only with the FOMEI HSS, I’m able to freeze the motion perfectly and take a sharp photo using the flash.



Why do you like using high-speed sync?
Since I’m specialized in action sports photography, I usually illuminate the scene in a daylight. Only with the FOMEI HSS, I’m able to freeze the motion perfectly and take a sharp photo using the flash.



What photography projects are you up to?
I’ve recently got an underwater housing, so I focus on water sports even more. I’m planning to extend this recently found passion during winter. Underwater housing is a waterproof case for the camera with changeable reducers for each lens. And I’m also planning several adventurous trips to the North, to Scandinavia and farther. I’m going to the Artic Surfing soon. I’d like to go deeper into discovering roots of kayak. I will go to Greenland to find out more about old Inuits and together with Vavřinec Hradílek, we will try to find the roots of kayaking.

Can you give an advice to the beginners?
Take photos of what you like, what you understand a try to be the best in it!

Thank you for the interview and good luck.
René Tomaides




Jan Kasl
His passion for action sports connected with photography brought him to the world of professional sportsmen, spectacular performances, inspirational people and amazing places all over the world. He is very proud of being part of the Nikon, Red Bull, FOMEI and Vans family, which offers him astonishing opportunities in his progressive development.

www.jankaslphoto.com
www.facebook.com/jankaslphoto
https://instagram.com/jankaslphoto

Jan Kasl’s equipment:

Cameras:
Nikon D4, Nikon D810
Lens: Nikkor 16 mm/f2.8, 14-24/f2.8, 50/f1.4, 24-70/2.8, 70-200/2.8, Lensbaby

Flash heads: 3x FOMEI S600DC battery flash head

High-speed Triggers:

Triggers for Canon and Nikon
Current magic in photography is the 1/8000s sync time. FOMEI came up with its own solution for high-speed sync – for Canon cameras, and recently also for Nikon cameras. The solution consists of 2 plugin modules that are connected to the internal electronics of the flash head. They work in 2.4GHz frequency range. 

René TomaidesProduct manager – Lighting Equipment

Rene directs the development of our studio lighting system product lines. He is also head of an SLS department in our company. His duty is to take care of the main customers and partners worldwide. He is a founder of FOMEI Ambassador and Photographers projects.