Strobe batteries

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Wow thanks for your message, I didn't know about them but that looks perfect!

I borrowed some eneloop pros from my brother (brand new) and tested my strobe with them, it's a significantly faster recycle time than my 2 year old amazon basics (made in japan) batteries. I'm gonna make more precise measurements but so far I'm getting 6 seconds vs 4 seconds.

But not sure about my strobes, even 4 seconds is way longer than what it should be according to the manufacturer, and if I press the shutter right when the light turns red the flash isn't ready, I have to wait at least 1.5second after the light is on before firing. I'll update this topic when I have more reliable tests :)

Is it possible that the strobes are ready to fire, but it's your camera that is not?

If you are using a built-in (internal) flash in your camera as an optical trigger for your strobes, then that has to recharge as well, just like the strobes. If that is your setup, you should look to see if there is a way to set your camera's flash power manually and set it as low as possible. With my Olympus E-M10, I was able to set the internal flash power to 1/64. With that, it would let me fire my strobes as fast as they can cycle.

I use Inon Z240 strobes with Eneloop Pro batteries. I usually have them set to Manual mode, around f/4. I'm not sure what that translates to, but I'm guessing the strobes are firing around 1/4 power? Anyway, with things setup that way and my camera set to continuous drive at 2 or 3 frames per second (can't remember the Olympus spec for Low speed continuous drive), I can hold the shutter release down and the strobes will generally fire on every other frame, for at least 2 or 3 seconds worth of continuous shooting.

Before I got the Eneloop Pro batteries, I was using some other NiMH rechargeables I got off Amazon. When I got the Eneloops, it made a noticeable difference in how quickly the strobes would cycle when shooting on continuous drive.

If I have to replace my Eneloops once a year to maintain the quickest cycle time, I don't mind that at all. They are not THAT expensive.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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