New to Strobes, burnt my gel!

[enotoarts]

I have just got myself a Canon 580EX II Speedlight and some special effect gels from Honl. I was playing with them yesterday but when I had my strobe on full power it burnt the gel! A little wisp of smoke came off the gel and sure enough there was a scorch mark on the gel. Is this normal? Is it only because I used it on full power that this happened or should I expect this to happen all the time? I don't see professionals gels in videos smoking so I must be doing something wrong.

[jjphoto]

I have just got myself a Canon 580EX II Speedlight and some special effect gels from Honl. I was playing with them yesterday but when I had my strobe on full power it burnt the gel! A little wisp of smoke came off the gel and sure enough there was a scorch mark on the gel. Is this normal? Is it only because I used it on full power that this happened or should I expect this to happen all the time? I don't see professionals gels in videos smoking so I must be doing something wrong.

I know nothing about the brand of gels you've used, however, I'd suggest using proper hi temp lighting gels such as Rosco or Lee. See below.

http://www.johnbarry.com.au/categories/lighting/consumables/lighting-gel/gel-sheets?page=2

The 580EXII will also burn it's own lens if used at full power for an extended period with the wide angle diffuser (because the flash tube (inside the flash) is right against the front lens when set to it's widest angle and the diffuser probably keeps the heat in too). There's a lot of heat there, albeit instantaneous. I've already had to replace one and it's only a matter of time before I have to do it again.

I use gels a lot and never have a problem but I use proper high temp gels.

JJ

[Seabee]

Yes its normal and the Honl gels do come with a warning in the packet of gels for this very thing!

There is a sticker on the plastic packet stating:

IMPORTANT NOTICE
To protect the inherently thinner Primary Blue, Moss Green and Light Red gels, place the enclosed Clear UV Gel between the Flash lens and gel to prevent wrinkling caused by the heat from higher powered strobes.

Well thats what mine has anyway :confused013
But mine were purchased some 5-6 yrs ago

[Judyd]

I have just got myself a Canon 580EX II Speedlight and some special effect gels from Honl. I was playing with them yesterday but when I had my strobe on full power it burnt the gel! A little wisp of smoke came off the gel and sure enough there was a scorch mark on the gel. Is this normal? Is it only because I used it on full power that this happened or should I expect this to happen all the time? I don't see professionals gels in videos smoking so I must be doing something wrong.

I've got the Honl gels and haven't had that problem with the colour correction gels. I've also got some special effects Honl gels including moss green but not primary blue or light red. I don't recall the warning that Seabee mentions but sounds like I don't have quite the same special effects collection she has. I haven't had any trouble with mine and I have the 580ex ii as well. Mind you i did buy some Rosco gels and they seem much thinner than the Honl ones and i did ripple the red gel of that pack. So maybe the Honl ones are mostly thicker depending on the colour you buy. Not sure if this helps.
Judy

[enotoarts]

Thanks all. It was the special effect gel in blue that burnt - it is still useable it just has a scorch mark on it. They are reasonably sturdy, no wrinkling from the flash and the plastic is quite thick.
I've since thrown out the packaging but I don't remember seeing a warning and there wasn't any clear UV gel's included in my set. I think I will just have to keep an eye on them. I saw a video on youtube with a guy walking around with his speedlight burning things from the flash - I didn't realise they got so hot seeing as they are always cool to touch!

[darylcheshire]

I got a new 600EX speedlite on Friday and I was RTFM and an entry said that the gels will wrinkle over time and are regarded as consumable items. See page 40 of the manual in the fine print.


I know the 600EX is overkill and it's a big step up from the 220EX and I'd prefer the 580EX but they are scarce.