Are electric eyes affected by flash?
I’ve been asked if the electric eye will be affected by my strobes more times than I can count. Now with Equine Photo School, my students are being asked, so they look to me for the answer.
Let’s think through this for a quick second. I have nearly 3 million photos on my website, www.oliesimages.com, of barrel racing, team roping, breakaway, and many other timed events. These are nearly all with strobes. So, nearly 3 million strobed pictures of timed events, and that’s just one photographer. Countless other professional photographers are taking countless photos of timed events and all using strobes. If strobes affected the timers, would these big-time events allow photographers to use strobes? No, they wouldn’t. I will take 5, 10, or even 15 shots during a single run and other photographers do the same. If strobes affected the clock, no one would ever get a time. People are getting times with strobes at arenas all over the world. Therefore, strobes do not affect electric eyes.
So, can we put this to rest? Strobes do not and will not affect electric timers.
Here is a quote from FarmTek, one of the leading manufacturers of these electric timers:
From their FAQ page titled: “Does sun affect the electric eyes?”
“A late afternoon or early morning sun shining directly into the face of the receiving electric eye can affect the maximum range between the eyes. Imagine driving West into a setting sun without a visor – it is difficult to see. The receiving electric eye (the one with the antenna) is much like your own eye and has to fight the same problem. The easiest solution is to simply swap the electric eyes so that the receiving electric eye has its back to the sun. If this is not possible, then just as shading your eyes with a visor helps you see the road, any sort of sun-shield on the electric eye helps the electric eye “see.” Keep in mind that even when facing into the setting sun, you may not experience any problems unless you have a large distance between the electric eyes (e.g., over 125 feet).”
https://farmtek.net/faq.html
This tells us that only during a tiny portion of the day do the stars literally have to align for there to have a chance of light affecting the timer. Back in the ’80s and ’90s, at my parent’s arena, we would have to use long PVC pipe to shield the timer from the sun or take a 5-minute break at sunset during a couple of weeks of summer when the sun would align with their electric timers.
So, unless a photographer is mounting a strobe directly above the timer opposite of the receiver and they are aiming it at the receiver, would there ever be a chance of having a problem.
I hope this effectively debunks this myth!
Thank you!
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