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Digital SLR / DSLR Camera Question / DSLR Thread 2

Alpine600 said:
Been thinking about a wireless setup too. Friend told me about Cactus wirelss triggers. Somewhat cheap but hear it's not consistent. I bought a SB600. Sucks that it's not a master, can only be a slave. I hear it's best to have the flash OFF the hotshoe. School us on wireless setup.

P.S.
Diffusers. Stick with the diffuser that the SB600 came with? Or get one like the gary fong lightsphere?
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I started with the cheap Cactus triggers, and I even modified mine with an antenna and AA batteries. They still only fired about 80% of the time. If you're not sure that you're going to continue on with your photography, they could be a good place to start. I consider them a 'beginner tax.'

After a while, I got way too frustrated with all the missed pictures so I just went out and got some pocket wizards. I still use them with my dirt cheap Vivitar 285 flashes that I picked up on eBay and Craigslist. They do the job.

The very best thing about doing a manual flash setup like this is that it forces you to shoot 100% in manual mode. As soon as I was forced to shoot in Manual mode exclusively, that's when the learning curve steepened up for me.

Or, another option is to go to www.flashzebra.com and order one of these:

http://flashzebra.com/products/0123/index.shtml

It's not wireless, but it's a cheap way to learn how to do off camera lighting.

Please note that you will also need:

1. Light stand
2. Light modifiers (umbrella, soft box, etc.)
3. Umbrella adapter

Part of the learning curve also is to understand how each type of light modifier affects the quality of light you're adding. And, when you figure that out, you also have to pay attention to the color temperature of the light so that you start mixing the strobe lighting with the ambient with the goal of making it look like you didn't use any strobes at all.

Have fun!

And, as they say, one way to make your pictures more interesting is to start standing in front of more interesting things. :teeth

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BrassPremier said:
flash on hotshoe can be fine as long as you arent just pointing straight at your subject. if indoors, point up to bounce light off ceiling, much more natural. the wide angle diffuser built in doesnt do all too much, and those gary fong lightspheres are overpriced tubberware. there are plenty of DIY modifiers for speedlights, a quick google search should find you some ideas.
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just watch out for shadows falling into the eyes and under the nose...
 
Everything that Aris said, but I like the RPS Studio trigger as a cheaper alternative to the Pocket Wizards.

As Aris points out, these will force you to shoot in full manual everything - manual flash, manual camera. Just remember you can't set the speed to <1/200th ;)

That being said, if you want to 'wuss out', you can get TTL wireless remotes to go with Canon speedlights. I've yet to use them, but if they're anything like the TTL on my new 430, it'll be fantastic for when you don't have the time to set an exposure manually.
 
i use Cybersyncs for both my studio lights and speedlights. affordable and always worked, more than half as much as pocketwizards
 
:thumbup everyone, thanks for the good pointers.

Over the weekend, i went out to take some pics and mess around with fill flash (on camera POS) and did find it challenging getting the white balance just right. On the shopping list ive got:

2 flashes
light stands
radio transmitter

while doing a search for "radio slaves" on google, i did stumble upon pocket wizard, so i checked out their selection, and couldnt figure out what piece of equipment the slave flashes would attach to :confused
 
DOMS said:
:thumbup everyone, thanks for the good pointers.

Over the weekend, i went out to take some pics and mess around with fill flash (on camera POS) and did find it challenging getting the white balance just right. On the shopping list ive got:

2 flashes
light stands
radio transmitter

while doing a search for "radio slaves" on google, i did stumble upon pocket wizard, so i checked out their selection, and couldnt figure out what piece of equipment the slave flashes would attach to :confused
Click to expand...


Pocket Wizards are transeivers. In other words, they transmit and receive. They are the industry standard right now for professional photographers because they just plain work every single time. If you go this route, you will need to purchase:

1. three Pocket Wizard transeivers - One for your camera and one each for your two flashes.

2. Special cables that connect the Pocket Wizards to your flash - every flash has a slightly different connector. You will either have to figure out which connector it is then buy a special cable, or you can purchase a 'hot shoe' adapter cable. My Canon EX430 doesn't connect with a cable, so I have to use the hot shoe adapter with my pocket wizards when I want to trigger that remotely.

3. Umbrell adapter - don't forget this. It will be hard for you to use your light stand without it.

That is the only complaint about the Pocket Wizards. You have to go out and get the right cable to work with your flash. I order all my camera cables from Flashzebra.com. Bob can custom build any cable with any connector you need, and his prices are very fair.

Going with the pocket wizards is probably the most expensive remote radio trigger route, but as I like to say, 'Once you buy the best, you only cry once.'

Some people spend their money on good flashes and cheaper triggers. I went the other way around. I bought dirt cheap flashes (Vivitar 285) and expensive triggers (pocket wizard plus II). I haven't regretted my decision.

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Nick, went over the lighting 101 site you referred... things are making a whole lot more sense now! :teeth
 
Aris, thanks... i too was thinking of going for cheaper flashes and getting better triggers. Not sure about the pocket wizards are the moment though.
 
I did the opposite to Aris :teeth

1 transmitter, 1 receiver. Then everything is slaved off that.

Pluses:
1. It's cheap
2. It's simple - just attach the receiver to your primary flash unit and set all the others to 'slave'
3. You don't have to worry about making sure you have a receiver per flash

Minuses:
1. Sucks at events where other people are using flashes - everytime their's goes off, so do all your lights
2. When using very low power from the main flash, the slaves don't pick up that flash reliably and fail to fire

I don't do much event photography, so having a receiver per-flash hasn't been a problem (yet). I'm about to do an event this weekend, and am wondering if I should dash out and get three receivers so I can 'un-slave' my slaves and have them all trigged via the remote instead of any-old-ambient-flashes.

In my stuff in the studio, it hasn't been an issue at all, except where I've wanted to really, really reduce the power of the primary light (to use a wider aperture, for example). I did a cheap hack and bought an ND filter instead (allowing me to up the output of the flash to reliably fire the slaves, and allow me to still use a big aperture), but it's a bit of a hack really.

I would get the extra transceivers as and when you can, but to save cash for now, you only need a transmit/receive pairing, and could slave the rest.

And yes, you'll need a transceiver-to-hot-shoe adaptor per flash, unless your flashes have PC inputs (not many do these days it seems).

Now I've said all that, you could go the SUPER cheap way and get a hotshoe extension cord to one flash, and slave the rest.
 
DOMS said:
Aris, thanks... i too was thinking of going for cheaper flashes and getting better triggers. Not sure about the pocket wizards are the moment though.
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By the way, please post some of your pics or a link to your pics. I'd like to see them.
 
wannabe said:
By the way, please post some of your pics or a link to your pics. I'd like to see them.
Click to expand...

Most of my pics have gone up on FB, and i used to upload to google images. I'll put some up when i get a chance. Im always open for C.C.

kyles here said:
rather then reading 180 pages ill just ask. whats a good beginner camera in the 5-600 range?
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What up Kyle, (its Daniel)

back in the day, i picked up a canon xti, shortly after my brother graduated from college and my parents wanted to get him a DSLR as a graduation gift. I recommended them the nikon D60 because of the kit being sold at costco was a better deal. I've played around with both quite a bit and what i found was that both are great beginner cameras, with enough options and settings to get you pretty far and experiment. The main difference i noticed was how color and noise was handled in each system.

At that price point you could go with any system you like and get great results
 
Joebar4000 said:
I did the opposite to Aris :teeth

1 transmitter, 1 receiver. Then everything is slaved off that.

Pluses:
1. It's cheap
2. It's simple - just attach the receiver to your primary flash unit and set all the others to 'slave'
3. You don't have to worry about making sure you have a receiver per flash
Click to expand...

I think I'll do this to start off with just because I'm not doing event schtuff. Plus it's cheap :party.

Thanks for all the tips and info gents. :cool:thumbup
 
^ I believe the D3000 replaced the D60, with more AF points (11 vs 3) There are plenty of reviews online if you want more specific infos, but all entry level DSLRs are practically the same. Choose which ever fits your budget and you'll be happy

Go to any local Best Buy and you should be able to play around with it and compare it to the other comparable competition and see which system you prefer better.
 
I have the D3000 and love it. First DSLR and have plenty to learn. I went to best buy and played with it till my hearts content then bought it. Once i get better at shooting in different modes, i will upgrade to a different lense so i can zoom in. I've had it since last year and enjoy every minute of it. Can't go wrong for that price.

Ren
 
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