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brad industry posted:I've seen this done before: you set up a bunch of heads on the same stand at the same distance in the same room with a basic, bare reflector and then just meter it. If strobe companies were really interested in giving useful information they would do something like that and tell you what f/stop they got at 10 feet or whatever. that's essentially what a guide number is. guide number is feet to correctly expose ISO 100 film for a given aperture. For f/1 it's the feet to subject, for other apertures divide as appropriate. the problem with guide number is that if you focus a flash or put a reflector on it or direct the light in any way, really, you can cheat by narrowing the angle of view the flash is distributed over.
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Dec 17, 2008 00:26
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friendship waffle posted:the problem with guide number is that if you focus a flash or put a reflector on it or direct the light in any way, really, you can cheat by narrowing the angle of view the flash is distributed over. Much like flash manufacturers do, with the ungodly guide number of hotshoe flashes followed by (feet, 105mm).
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Dec 17, 2008 00:32
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I'll second everything people have said about the AB modifiers being crappy. After reading a couple good things about their folding boxes on on fredmiranda, I picked up one with an AB800. Folded up, the thing is still HUGE and the thing just feels cheap. Maybe I'm spoiled by the Chimera softboxes my work has leftover from a product photography studio, but the ab box just feels like a piece of poo poo. I wish I'd gone for something else. Ah well, the light that comes out is fine and that's the most important thing for me at the moment. Definitely a fan of the AB800 though. It's a nice little unit and carting it to locations is SO much nicer than packs and heads.
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Dec 17, 2008 07:32
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powderific posted:I'll second everything people have said about the AB modifiers being crappy. After reading a couple good things about their folding boxes on on fredmiranda, I picked up one with an AB800. Folded up, the thing is still HUGE and the thing just feels cheap. Maybe I'm spoiled by the Chimera softboxes my work has leftover from a product photography studio, but the ab box just feels like a piece of poo poo. I wish I'd gone for something else. Ah well, the light that comes out is fine and that's the most important thing for me at the moment. Good to hear from someone who's used their softboxes and has something else to compare it to. Have you had any experience with their grids? If I was going to get anything from them, it would probably be that.
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Dec 17, 2008 09:13
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How is the beauty dish? Does anyone have any samples? Is it worth the price?
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Dec 17, 2008 17:48
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The grids and beauty dish are fine, I have both. It's everything other than that you have to stay away from.
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Dec 17, 2008 18:37
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SoundMonkey posted:Good to hear from someone who's used their softboxes and has something else to compare it to. Have you had any experience with their grids? If I was going to get anything from them, it would probably be that. Softboxes: PCB vs Chimera isn't exactly a fair fight. The grids are fine. The LightMod mainframe isn't required to use the grids, they will pop right into the silver reflector that comes with each monolight. The Fomo posted:How is the beauty dish? Does anyone have any samples? Is it worth the price? Last time I checked there was nothing else in the same price range as the PCB beauty dish so I can't complain. If you will ever plan on buying the diffusion sock buy it at the same time to save on shipping.
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Dec 17, 2008 18:40
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Yeah, I didn't mean that they sucked because they weren't as good as chimera; the PCB stuff is 1/2 the price so it's understandable. It just sounds like photoflex and others are a lot better for not much more money. Haven't used any of AB's other stuff so I'll defer to others on that.
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Dec 17, 2008 19:38
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Photoflex stuff is a lot better - not amazing like Chimera or Profoto - but definitely a big step up from the AB stuff and they cost about the same.
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Dec 17, 2008 19:50
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Mannequin posted:Yeah, I had a question about this also. I have a 16" continuous "cool light" that was relatively cheap. It looks like this: 16:29 < Mannequin> Speaking of that, you completely blew off my question in your lighting thread SM. While, as someone mentioned, the daylight balanced CFL aren't too bad, the light output can't hope to compete with a strobe. Maybe if you had a few you could get to like, 1/16 on a hotshoe flash. The lights I use at the theatre I work at are these 20-pound fuckers that take 1000W tungsten-halogen bulbs and have a bunch of lenses and crap, and decent studio strobe can blow them away even at relatively long range. Using a CFL array type thing like that has a couple advantages, but light output is not one of them.
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Dec 18, 2008 01:33
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The only thing I usually see those CFL fixtures used for are cheap video lighting and really basic product photography. Also, I've used the modeling lights from Broncolor packs to light video. It wasn't a perfect solution, but the end result was honestly pretty decent.
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Dec 18, 2008 01:47
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I'm pretty much set on picking up a B800 now. Is the ABR800 a good ringflash for the price? Strobist keeps going on and on about the Ray Flash and Orbis, but I am not convinced.
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Dec 18, 2008 19:23
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The Fomo posted:I'm pretty much set on picking up a B800 now. Is the ABR800 a good ringflash for the price? Strobist keeps going on and on about the Ray Flash and Orbis, but I am not convinced. I'm set on torching the UPS building if they don't deliver my flash today, which is day 3. The only bad things I've heard about the ABR800 were from people who seemed to hate on pretty much anything PCB makes, so I'm not sure what to take from that. I think the reason Strobist keeps going on about those ones is that anything that runs on more than six volts is an affront to them. Both the Ray Flash and Orbis seem well-designed, and I haven't heard many bad things about them, but it does seem a little gimmicky.
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Dec 18, 2008 19:50
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The Fomo posted:I'm pretty much set on picking up a B800 now. Is the ABR800 a good ringflash for the price? Strobist keeps going on and on about the Ray Flash and Orbis, but I am not convinced. Those add on things are drat expensive for just an accessory. If I was going to spend 300 bucks I would buy the alien bee because that's an actual flash.
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Dec 18, 2008 19:50
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I have the ABR800. I mostly use it as a very slight fill (like, turned all the way down) and not as a main light - here is what I think of it: It's heavy as gently caress (obviously since it's a monolight), if you are doing a long shoot you will probably have to mount it on a tripod. It's also plastic like the AB's and to me it feels cheap - I have broken several of the knobs and other plastic bits (they always replace them for free). Light wise it is just as good as any other ringlight I have used. I've never tried one of those Ray Flash or Orbis things but for the price it is a great light. This is probably the only thing I've bought from PCB I wasn't 100% happy with but it works great even though it's heavy and kind of fragile, I will probably end up replacing it at some point in the future. I think if you only have one light you would be better off getting another B800 or whatever rather than a ring, I didn't get one until I had 3 other heads and I knew I needed one to add this subtle pop I was looking for. Get some more experience with lighting under your belt before you go for a specialized thing like that. It's really easy to over-use a ringlight and even though you can mount it on a stand it's not as versatile as a normal head.
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Dec 18, 2008 20:04
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brad industry posted:I think if you only have one light you would be better off getting another B800 or whatever rather than a ring, I didn't get one until I had 3 other heads and I knew I needed one to add this subtle pop I was looking for. Get some more experience with lighting under your belt before you go for a specialized thing like that. It's really easy to over-use a ringlight and even though you can mount it on a stand it's not as versatile as a normal head. This is probably the reason why people don't use ring light as much: it is as over-used as unsharp mask and the "dave hill" look.
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Dec 18, 2008 20:11
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I want to get one for on camera fill while doing group shots. I hate the way even subtle fill looks from the hot shoe. I move around a lot while shooting so something like this would be my best bet for on axis fill that way I don't have to any more stands than I have too. What I really need to do is find an assistant to work weddings with so I can use bigger lights again. I used to use monolights for the formals but the set up and carting around was killing me so I switched to strobist style speedlights.
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Dec 18, 2008 20:20
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Speaking of ringlights, how are those macro ringlights for portraits? Do they work well as substitutes? If not, how are they for macro lighting? I guess fairly decent, but I don't know nothin'
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Dec 18, 2008 21:14
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If you are doing group shots where you are a decent distance away from them a ringlight is going to look exactly the same as an on-camera flash honestly, you would get the same light with a flash on a bracket/hotshoe. What I would do in that situation is set up a large softbox or shoot-through umbrella directly behind you which is easy to shuffle around. If you keep the stand low and shoot from directly in front of it you will get the same benefit as a ringlight - I worked for a fashion guy once who would set up the most massive softbox he could rent, stick it right on the floor, and then sit down and shoot from in front of it - it was his way of getting the same benefits of a ringlight without having the same "ringlight look" as everyone else or having to deal with being tethered to a large, heavy piece of equipment all day. I have borrowed that technique a lot and it is a much less heavy-handed (and easier to control/vary) solution. The reason I bought one was because I do a lot of editorial stuff where you never know what the location is going to be like. I have been in a couple of situations where I had my back up against a wall with no room to set up lights around me and some sort of on-camera flash was the only option for fill. Personally I think that all these cheaper options for ringlights are going to open the floodgates for lovely shots - it's already becoming a really stale look in the editorial world - and that unless you are using it in a subtle or unique way you are not going to benefit from it. IMO get some other lights first and then if you think your work would benefit from it go for it. brad industry fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Dec 18, 2008 |
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Dec 18, 2008 21:17
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brad industry posted:If you keep the stand low and shoot from directly in front of it you will get the same benefit as a ringlight - I worked for a fashion guy once who would set up the most massive softbox he could rent, stick it right on the floor, and then sit down and shoot from in front of it - it was his way of getting the same benefits of a ringlight without having the same "ringlight look" as everyone else or having to deal with being tethered to a large, heavy piece of equipment all day. Bloody brilliant. That's what I love about photography. It really rewards out-of-the-box thinking. Or in this case, in-front-of-the-box. Badda bing!
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Dec 18, 2008 21:36
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Now I just have to decide whether it's worth it to get the Nikon 60mm f2.8 Micro (I plan on making it work double duty as a portrait lens, as its DOF is a hell of a lot better than my 18-200mm) or an ABR800 first.
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Dec 18, 2008 23:38
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The Fomo posted:Now I just have to decide whether it's worth it to get the Nikon 60mm f2.8 Micro (I plan on making it work double duty as a portrait lens, as its DOF is a hell of a lot better than my 18-200mm) or an ABR800 first. If it were any other lens I'd say to get a flash, but that's a pretty awful lens. Also, Brad's advice about ringlights earlier was very good advice indeed. Also, derailing a bit, look into the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro.
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Dec 19, 2008 00:33
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SoundMonkey posted:If it were any other lens I'd say to get a flash, but that's a pretty awful lens. Also, Brad's advice about ringlights earlier was very good advice indeed.  . Yeah, I loved the 18-200mm when I bought it, but it keeps disappointing me lately. Bjørn Rørslett says the 60mm is one of the best Nikkors ever made, and it's at a great price too. I would get the Tamron, but it won't autofocus on my D40. I wish I had the money for a new body.Right now I just have a lone SB-800, so I wondered whether beefing up my lighting would be more beneficial than getting a new lens.
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Dec 19, 2008 03:08
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Nondo posted this in the IRC #creatives room and I haven't seen it posted elsewhere unless I missed it. And if so, my apologies. But it's pretty good - it's a short video on Annie Leibovitz using some Profoto battery kits with her octagon softbox and other neat stuff. http://www.profoto-usa.com/news/press/pro8-leibovitz.asp And I WON'T MENTION NAMES but somebody here said "professionals don't use Nikon, they use Canon." His or her name rhymes with Mad Industry, whoever that is. WELL YOU WERE WRONG BUSTER!
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Dec 19, 2008 07:07
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Brad: Thanks for the advice, a ringlight is not for me.
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Dec 19, 2008 07:18
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I'm thinking about buying a hotshoe flash that I can disconnect from the hotshoe mount and use either a cactus trigger (as I'm too poor for pocket wizards) or a PC cable to take shots with the flash in one hand and my camera in the other, or I'm considering buying a lightstand with an umbrella and using it as the strobe for that. I'm tossing up between the Canon 430EX II or 580 EX. Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations?
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Dec 19, 2008 07:33
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I don't really understand the hate for the sb 400. Yes, you have limited tilt control the way the head's designed, but so what, it's intended to be a compact bare bones hot shoe flash targeted at consumers. It's already leaps and bounds better than the pop up. As a hobbyist it suits my needs alright; if I were charging people for my work then I would step it up and get a better one for the sake of professionalism. If I get around to ever having enough money to upgrade my equipment I'll invest in a bigger speed light; but for now it's all I can really afford and it's a significant improvement over forcing myself to go sans flash or getting creative with the available lighting. I haven't had any major gripes with it; picked it up for 70 bucks used and thought I got my money's worth.
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Dec 19, 2008 08:10
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Tiny Faye posted:I don't really understand the hate for the sb 400. Yes, you have limited tilt control the way the head's designed, but so what, it's intended to be a compact bare bones hot shoe flash targeted at consumers. It's already leaps and bounds better than the pop up. As a hobbyist it suits my needs alright; if I were charging people for my work then I would step it up and get a better one for the sake of professionalism. If I get around to ever having enough money to upgrade my equipment I'll invest in a bigger speed light; but for now it's all I can really afford and it's a significant improvement over forcing myself to go sans flash or getting creative with the available lighting. I haven't had any major gripes with it; picked it up for 70 bucks used and thought I got my money's worth.
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Dec 19, 2008 08:18
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Womens Jeans posted:I'm thinking about buying a hotshoe flash that I can disconnect from the hotshoe mount and use either a cactus trigger (as I'm too poor for pocket wizards) or a PC cable to take shots with the flash in one hand and my camera in the other, or I'm considering buying a lightstand with an umbrella and using it as the strobe for that. I'm tossing up between the Canon 430EX II or 580 EX. Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations? Do you have some specific need for TTL metering? Are you primarily going to be shooting off camera? If the answer is yes, consider something other than the two most expensive options (the ones you mention). The Vivtar 285HV with cactus triggers, a stand and an umbrella is going to be less than just the 430EX alone.
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Dec 19, 2008 14:28
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torgeaux posted:Do you have some specific need for TTL metering? Are you primarily going to be shooting off camera? If the answer is yes, consider something other than the two most expensive options (the ones you mention). The Vivtar 285HV with cactus triggers, a stand and an umbrella is going to be less than just the 430EX alone. Is TTL metering helpful? I'm primarily going to be shooting candid photography with the flash in my left hand (say 70% of the time) and 30% of the time with it on a stand using an umbrella. The thing is I don't really want to upgrade later, so I'm looking at getting something that I can keep until I have to upgrade my body (40D) or possibly longer... With the Vivtar, is it possible to change the power of the output like it is with the 430/580?
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Dec 19, 2008 14:40
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gently caress vivitar, get a nikon sb26 and never look back.
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Dec 19, 2008 14:54
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notlodar posted:gently caress vivitar, get a nikon sb26 and never look back. Will that work with all of Canons functionality?
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Dec 19, 2008 15:11
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Womens Jeans posted:Is TTL metering helpful? The vivitar isn't quite as versatile, it can be set to auto (a sort of manual auto), full power manual, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/16th power. It's powerful, cheap, fairly rugged for an all plastic flash, and really cheap. You could get the Vivitar, the gadget transmitter and receiver, the umbrella and the stand for around $250. The MPEX strobist kit, http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,6618.html has all that, with umbrella holder, plus some gels, some gaffers tape and some rubber ties for $250. You probably don't need some of that stuff, but the gels are nice to have, and frankly you're not overpaying for any of the little stuff it comes with. notlodar posted:gently caress vivitar, get a nikon sb26 and never look back. Two problems with this: First, you have to buy it used. Second, it's more expensive. Third, you can never, never use it on camera, while with the Vivitar you can. So, yes, it has some advantages, but I'm going to vote against it. And, my word is law. torgeaux fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Dec 19, 2008 |
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Dec 19, 2008 15:16
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SoundMonkey posted:Also, derailing a bit, look into the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro. There's a rebate on this lens until the end of the year. This lens is simply awesome. Totally worth it, probably the sharpest lens Tamron has in its line up. If you're one of those backwards shooters who still uses silver, (wee school) they are going through an architechure change and going all motorized with this lens. (at least in the Nikon version) There might be some non G type lenses around if you look hard enough. Totally sorry for the derail. Back on topic: I agree with the ringlight comments, beef up your inventory first, and make sure you're good with that before going for the fancy niche lights. There's so much you can do with just two lights and a couple minor accessories. You'll just drive yourself batty with a ringlight trying to achieve looks that are really doable without a clunky piece of equipment.
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Dec 19, 2008 15:54
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Is there a way to fit those speedring to small flash or is that too ghetto? I'd like to buy speedring-compatible stuff so that I don't have to buy all the accessories again if I move onto real flash units. Edit: sorry guys, I expected this to be hard to find, it's apparently pretty common although awfully expensive for what amount to a folded piece of metal. Oy vey the word of photography is expensive. IsaacNewton fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Dec 19, 2008 |
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Dec 19, 2008 17:58
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torgeaux posted:[SB26 fanboy] Yes, you can use SB-26's on camera. I have four and put them on my D50/D200 sometimes; you just don't get TTL and all the bangs and whistles. I got them for $20 each, but ebay has them in the $60-70's. The huge plus is a built in optical slave. SB400's basically only plus is iTTL on modern cameras. It's closer to the camera axis, doesn't have a pc port, doesn't do CLS, the power can't be adjusted, and the tilt capabilities are really limited. In essence it's just a more powerful pop up with no future use.
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Dec 19, 2008 18:56
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While we are on this topic, what's the cheapest/most powerful option for a battery powered flash? I want to pick up a couple to use only off-camera with PW's to supplement the strobes I already have.
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Dec 19, 2008 20:02
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Womens Jeans posted:Will that work with all of Canons functionality? torgeaux posted:Two problems with this: First, you have to buy it used. Second, it's more expensive. Third, you can never, never use it on camera, while with the Vivitar you can. So, yes, it has some advantages, but I'm going to vote against it. And, my word is law. Not more expensive than the 430EX II. SB 26 Pros Optical Slave PC Socket LCD display Manual settings Did I mention the optical slave? It's about 400 times better than a Wein Peanut Light output seems to be the same as 430 EX mk I built in bounce thingy?? Cons No longer in production
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Dec 19, 2008 20:33
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brad industry posted:While we are on this topic, what's the cheapest/most powerful option for a battery powered flash? I want to pick up a couple to use only off-camera with PW's to supplement the strobes I already have. I may be a special snowflake for loving these, but my current favorite is the Sunpak 433D. Bounce and swivel head, 1/1-1/32, non-TTL auto mode, but no PC port. If you look around you can find them for VERY cheap, I got mine for $15 each. They also have an HV plug if you use Quantum batteries. I think they're pretty similar in power, possibly a little less, compared to the 285HV.
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Dec 19, 2008 20:34
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What kind of sync plugs do they have? I need to be able to hook up a PW some way.
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Dec 19, 2008 20:45
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