Thanks, Blooper. I wasn’t really going for any type of certain effect, I was just trying to see how these long exposures would turn out in the dark.
You’re right about the minor stuff though in the last pic, I’ll probably clean it up now that it was brought to my attention. Thanks.
The Canon 135 F2.0 is an amazing lens. I put it to good use this weekend up in Fresno.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3425/3355977558_4b61ac15d7.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3468/3356022498_0545d13813.jpg
yea, its my favorite lens right now. =]
good stuff guys. for a year+ this has been my fave imm thread. if only there was more stuff, more often.
i would totally contribute more if i knew there were people like you looking. haha. ill try to contribute more.
Just wondering, what would you guys recommend for a softbox? DIY?
I’m looking at some Lumiquest softboxes, there’s a new one (SB-III) and then there’s the mini one. I’m basically just going to be using them for home use and maybe play around with them in a few different settings, so should I just go big and go for the SB-III? I noticed that it would cover the sensor when I’m using it in slave, but I guess its not a big deal if I just tilt the head of the flash all the way back.
I already have one umbrella, should I just get another instead of buying softbox? (I have two flashes)?
ive been thinking about getting soft boxes as well. i primarily use umbrellas that i shoot through. but for indoor, they bounce the light too much and its a little harder to control than a softbox. of the ones you links to, i would prefer the larger one since it would diffuse a little more than the small one. and it also has a larger surface area. as far aa blocking a wireless signal, are you using the IR? or radio? radio shouldnt have an issue, IR might have a slight issue but if youre indoors in a relatively large room, you should still be fine.
IR, I’m using a 550EX II as a master and a 480EX as a slave. I’m hoping that rotating the head so that the SB doesn’t cover the sensor would probably solve my problem. Hopefully.
yea, a lot of people underestimate the IR system. but its actually pretty lenient indoors. ive triggered a 430 behind my models before without any problems. that 550 actually emits a lot of information that could be received indirectly from the signals being bounced off the walls/ceiling of your room. as long as your sensor on the 430 is facing any open all (of light color, it almost never fails in a room with white walls/background), it should be able to pick up some signal. using them out in open space, like outdoors, may be difficult.:chat:
Ah, I see. I was having problems with my DIY beauty dish cause it obscured the sensor, but I didn’t think of rotating it back at that time, which is why I had to think twice on a big softbox. It makes sense what you’re saying though. Thanks.
QFT
I only have problems outdoors.
So, I finally got my primary flash off-camera! Previously, I had been using my primary (550) flash on-camera pointing straight up with a gobo to block the light just so I could trigger my 430 slave. I know, terrible waste.
So, I looked back at some links that Rei posted for me about a year ago (yeah, its took that long for me to finally do it) and got a PC to Hotshoe adapter and a cord to go along with it (from Flashzebra.com. Great customer service and came really fast!). Had some problems initially but figured out that it was because I didn’t push the flash all the way into the adapter and not all the pins were touching (d’oh!). I used it for some light tent stuff for some things I’m trying to get rid of and sell on ebay (DS and games), but I also tried it out my DIY Beauty Dish. Got some pretty decent results, I really can’t wait to play around with this more.
Here’s a pic of my daughter (I know, again) with the single light. 550EX through DIY Beauty Dish directly behind camera, angled down at about 45 degrees.
And here’s one of me with a dumb expression on my face that I’ll spoiler just so it doesn’t haunt you everytime you scroll through this thread, haha.
buh?
[details=Spoiler]
The horror! I played with positioning on this one. This one is a lot closer, slightly to camera right.[/details]
Definitely going to try to pick up that larger softbox when I have some spare cash. Thanks for the advice about the IR, seemed to work fine when I did the light tent stuff.
And, its probably in the manual, but is there an easy way to set the slave to a lower power independently of the master? Do I have to set it in another group? I’m using the 550 in manual (since I’m using the PC port) and I was trying to fiddle with the 430, but I couldn’t get it to go down. I’ll mess with it more later and maybe figure it out.
yea, its the EV settings. REI showed me once. but if you hold the “set” button, you can adjust it from -2 to +2 to compensate any exposure bias.
edit: it has to be in manual mode i think. and you use the “-/+” buttons to adjust them. its been a while since ive done that. i just rely on ettl most the time.
Chairhome grabbin’ dem titties…
…seriously.
Cool, thanks. I’ll give it a try when I get home.
Hahaha. I don’t know if I should be offended for my daughter. But I’m not.
You have to put the 430 in slave and then press and hold the mode button, then it will give you the super secret slave manual mode settings.
Or, you leave it in ttl and hit the set button and go plus or negative using the FEC.
Or, you set the group to something different than the master and control the flash power using the group ratio controls on the master.
In the real world, most people end up using the second option, because it is the least difficult to use.
Cool, thanks. I’ll test it out when I get home, Rei. I thought I couldn’t leave it in TTL though when I have the Master connected through a PC Port?
Man, if only that SRK Photo assignments thread had taken off, I’m ready for it now! Haha. Maybe we can do something similar… they have a photography thread at NeoGAF where they just have a theme every couple of weeks and people just submit pics that fit the theme, then they vote on the best one and the winner gets to pick the next theme. Personally, I liked the idea of Rei’s assignments better, but would anyone be interested if we did something like the themes?
IIRC, If you open up your 580, and cut the hot wire on the pc port, and bridge it onto the center pin of the hot shoe connector, it will allow you to do master mode with a pc-sync cable. I can provide more details if you need, but it is within the skill level of anyone that has built or modded arcade sticks.
It will void your warranty.
I’m down for doing a theme like we do the ABC stuff.
Hmm, interesting. I have a 550 though, is it still doable? My warranty is probably expired anyway.
Cool… anyone else down? I figure we’d need a decent amount of people for participation if we want to get something like this off the ground.
-crickets chirp-
it sounds fun. but with my schedule nowadays, i dont know if i can compete as much as i would like. im totally cool with doing themed photos to submit tho. as long as i dont have a close deadline all the time. hell, this might inspire me to go out more again.