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ConfusedUs posted:I got to watch this happen first-hand. The fresnel cracked and got bubbles in it...in addition to melting the guy's sto-fen diffuser. Yeah, there's warnings all over it, so it looks like the main risk with this thing is user error. Of course, you can pretty easily gently caress up an SB800 WITHOUT a high voltage cycler too, I've known people who melted part of the front using nothing but the included 5th-battery attachment.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2009 19:49 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 14:03 |
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SoundMonkey posted:Yeah, there's warnings all over it, so it looks like the main risk with this thing is user error. Of course, you can pretty easily gently caress up an SB800 WITHOUT a high voltage cycler too, I've known people who melted part of the front using nothing but the included 5th-battery attachment. Thankfully, I've never managed to pull that off with the 5th battery attachment (which never leaves my SB800).
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| # ? Jul 15, 2009 19:50 |
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ConfusedUs posted:Thankfully, I've never managed to pull that off with the 5th battery attachment (which never leaves my SB800). Mine never leaves either, but what loving rocket scientist thought it would be a good idea to put the CLS sensor right beside a large bump on the side of the flash, especially when the flash is quite often in front of the triggering device.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2009 19:55 |
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SoundMonkey posted:Mine never leaves either, but what loving rocket scientist thought it would be a good idea to put the CLS sensor right beside a large bump on the side of the flash, especially when the flash is quite often in front of the triggering device. God, yes. This is my #1 complaint with the SB-800. Especially since I don't actually own any radio triggers and rely on CLS and/or optical slaves most of the time.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2009 19:57 |
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ConfusedUs posted:God, yes. This is my #1 complaint with the SB-800. Especially since I don't actually own any radio triggers and rely on CLS and/or optical slaves most of the time. In the shade at least, CLS has been pretty good to me though. Typically I just point the sensor at the subject, and the bounce off them is enough to trigger it. I really, really wish the CLS sensor was as good as the optical slave is... the SB-800 has probably the best optical slave I have ever seen.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2009 20:07 |
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What would be a good easy modifier for a hotshoe flash to go out and buy as a 'my first modifier' type thing? I have umbrellas and a brolly box for my AC strobes but nothing for the smaller flashes.
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| # ? Jul 16, 2009 17:45 |
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TsarAleksi posted:What would be a good easy modifier for a hotshoe flash to go out and buy as a 'my first modifier' type thing? I have umbrellas and a brolly box for my AC strobes but nothing for the smaller flashes. Depends on what you want. Portability, softer light etc. I like the Stofen Omni Bounce, the Gary Fong, or a shoot through 30" umbrella. Most of what I use my flash for is outdoor photography against the sun.
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| # ? Jul 16, 2009 17:50 |
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TsarAleksi posted:What would be a good easy modifier for a hotshoe flash to go out and buy as a 'my first modifier' type thing? I have umbrellas and a brolly box for my AC strobes but nothing for the smaller flashes. I really like my lumiquest stuff. I have their softbox and the 80-20 bounce with all the reflectors. Both of those are pretty awesome and cheap.
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| # ? Jul 16, 2009 18:06 |
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TsarAleksi posted:What would be a good easy modifier for a hotshoe flash to go out and buy as a 'my first modifier' type thing? I have umbrellas and a brolly box for my AC strobes but nothing for the smaller flashes. Westcott also makes softboxes that have umbrella poles inside them, so that your umbrella swivel-mounted hotshoe flash sits inside them. The 60" umbrella is the no brainer.
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| # ? Jul 16, 2009 19:19 |
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A whale tail made out of cardboard?
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| # ? Jul 16, 2009 19:27 |
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Make some snoots or grids, I use those more than anything else.
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| # ? Jul 16, 2009 19:33 |
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In other words, whatever the gently caress you want.
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| # ? Jul 16, 2009 20:16 |
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TsarAleksi posted:What would be a good easy modifier for a hotshoe flash to go out and buy as a 'my first modifier' type thing? I have umbrellas and a brolly box for my AC strobes but nothing for the smaller flashes. quote:In other words, whatever the gently caress you need it for. Fixed. I used a Big Bounce and a off shoe camera cord for this: 
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| # ? Jul 16, 2009 20:51 |
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I may have missed it before but I would love to see some peoples macro lighting setups. I know some people use dedicated macro setups (RCR1 systems etc) but ideally I would like to put something together with a couple of speed lights if possible.
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| # ? Jul 17, 2009 17:50 |
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LuisX posted:Fixed. I use the Ultrasoft which is the smaller version of the Big Bounce. The Ultrasoft is small enough that you can keep it in your camera bag all the time. I had the camera and flash set up manually for the musicians on the stage so this impromptu shot isn't as bright as I might like it to be, but it shows how nice and soft the Ultrabounce can make a flash, in this case a Vivitar 285HV. If I were using it expressly for crowd shots, I'd turn it up a lot more since I wouldn't have to worry about exposing for the stage lighting. 
HPL fucked around with this message at Jul 17, 2009 around 18:05 |
| # ? Jul 17, 2009 18:01 |
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HPL posted:I use the Ultrasoft which is the smaller version of the Big Bounce. The Ultrasoft is small enough that you can keep it in your camera bag all the time. More love for the Ultrasoft here. It doesn't steal THAT many stops of light, and you can just put it under/behind your camera in the bag. It's nice to have some light-softening device with me all the time, without having to worry about actually packing either my tiny Aurora softbox or my Lumiquest one. Also HPL, since you're a Vancouver guy, Broadway Camera sells Aurora stuff now - the softbox is MUCH nicer than the lumiquest one, made entirely of cloth, folds flat, comes with a velcro strap, etc. The rest of their products are great too (I have the softbox, the bounce card, and the snoot). EDIT: The Aurora softbox will most likely not fit on anything other than SB600/800 or Canon 480-580. It certainly won't fit on a 285HV.
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| # ? Jul 18, 2009 01:45 |
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Does anyone have experience with a Canon ST-E2? I've been using one but can't for the life of me figure out how (if I can) to make it go into manual mode... any pointers? I like E-TTL but there are plenty of times I'd rather have full control. I can do it if I'm using a 580 as the commander, but not with the transmitter.
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| # ? Jul 21, 2009 16:31 |
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SoundMonkey posted:
I couldn't google up a link to the aurora you're talking about, got a link?
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| # ? Jul 21, 2009 16:54 |
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poopinmymouth posted:I couldn't google up a link to the aurora you're talking about, got a link? I'm having a hell of a time finding their website too, actually, at least one that lists these products. I'll have a look for some of the old packaging, maybe there's some information on there.
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| # ? Jul 22, 2009 05:03 |
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TsarAleksi posted:What would be a good easy modifier for a hotshoe flash to go out and buy as a 'my first modifier' type thing? I have umbrellas and a brolly box for my AC strobes but nothing for the smaller flashes. This is a pretty popular grid with strobist. He likes it a lot better than the DIY ones you can build yourself for cheap. Joe McNally is apparently a fan, too. They are compatible with Nikon and Canon speedlights. I'm thinking of getting one myself, but I keep putting it off.  http://www.honlphoto.com/servlet/th...eed-Grid/Detail Other than that, I guess it depends on how you want to modify your light. The Stofen Omnibounce is great, as Verman suggested. I really like the Gary Fong Cloudsphere, but it's a giant rip-off (at like $70 bucks). As strobist says, you can use tupperware to achieve the same effect.
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| # ? Jul 22, 2009 05:20 |
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Mannequin posted:This is a pretty popular grid with strobist. He likes it a lot better than the DIY ones you can build yourself for cheap. Joe McNally is apparently a fan, too. They are compatible with Nikon and Canon speedlights. I'm thinking of getting one myself, but I keep putting it off. A really cool mod for the Honl grid (which I have mine for sale, the 1/8" version, PM me euro goons if you're interested) Is to make a cardboard insert that has just a tiny hole in the center. There are times when you really want just the tiniest kiss of light, and you can get a pencil-spot light this way. It basically only allows the light from the 4 central-most straws through.
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| # ? Jul 22, 2009 09:05 |
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How come you're selling them? Are they not worth it?
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| # ? Jul 22, 2009 12:13 |
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I have both versions (1/4" and 1/8"), and I think they're worth it. they're built very well and the straps are useful for putting flags and gels on flashes without tape (you can buy gels and flags from honl, but I just made my own).
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| # ? Jul 22, 2009 12:23 |
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Mannequin posted:How come you're selling them? Are they not worth it? Because I sold my 2x 580s, and have only the Quadra now, which does not fit this honl grid. The guy who bought mine already has the exact grid, so he didn't want to buy mine. I used mine quite a bit when I still had hotshoe flashes though.
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| # ? Jul 22, 2009 13:06 |
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I'm thinking about getting a Canon 220EX for my 40D mostly for the AF assist, but also for a little bit of fill light for backlit situations. Don't need anything to turn night into day, just something inexpensive and compact. Will the 220 fit the bill?
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| # ? Jul 23, 2009 00:31 |
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LuisX posted:Fixed. Is that kind of effect made by rear curtain flashing with a moderately slow shutter?
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| # ? Jul 23, 2009 02:24 |
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TsarAleksi posted:Does anyone have experience with a Canon ST-E2? I've been using one but can't for the life of me figure out how (if I can) to make it go into manual mode... any pointers? I like E-TTL but there are plenty of times I'd rather have full control. I can do it if I'm using a 580 as the commander, but not with the transmitter. The ST-E2 will trigger your flashes in manual mode but there is no control (that I know of) that will allow you to switch the flash from E-TTL to TTL or M without doing so via another master flash unit or directly on the slave itself. Edit: "commander"? C'mon Tsar, none of this Nikon jargon. It's master. I always think racist thoughts when I play with my strobes.
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| # ? Jul 23, 2009 03:47 |
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Cyberbob posted:Is that kind of effect made by rear curtain flashing with a moderately slow shutter? The same effect comes from front curtain, I use it in concert shots a lot.
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| # ? Jul 23, 2009 03:59 |
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Cyberbob posted:Is that kind of effect made by rear curtain flashing with a moderately slow shutter?
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| # ? Jul 23, 2009 12:22 |
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You can also set up your flash to fire more than once for interesting effects.
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| # ? Jul 23, 2009 12:55 |
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I'm looking to buy some diffusion material for the lighting tent we have at work. Currently, we have hot lights shining in that are not quite tungsten, and not quite fluorescent. I don't exactly know what they are, but we're keeping them for now. We use a shower curtain to diffuse the lights now. (It's horribly bad but it's what they have been using for years and it produces results that are "good enough"). We also don't have the budget to re-do everything with a professional setup. But I need to replace this shower curtain because it looks like a giant mess. I guess I need to buy Rosco diffusion material but the problem is I have no idea what kind. Looks like B&H stocks different kinds with different transparency levels and tints (I guess to combat WB issues). I just want plain white diffusion at a transparency level that is similar to this light shower curtain material we have. Would something like this be sufficient do you think?
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| # ? Jul 24, 2009 14:57 |
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Mannequin posted:I'm looking to buy some diffusion material for the lighting tent we have at work. Currently, we have hot lights shining in that are not quite tungsten, and not quite fluorescent. I don't exactly know what they are, but we're keeping them for now. We use a shower curtain to diffuse the lights now. (It's horribly bad but it's what they have been using for years and it produces results that are "good enough"). We also don't have the budget to re-do everything with a professional setup. Definitely not that. Not only is it plastic sheets (think overhead transparencies) it is way too thin compared to your shower curtains to diffuse light. That is the sheet itself sitting over the white paper. It's super transparent and would barely diffuse anything. You need actual fabric, and have it be much more opaque. Honestly if your light sources are already weird WB, I'd just buy white fabric from the store. You only go with high quality fabrics to maintain rigidly neutral WB.
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| # ? Jul 24, 2009 15:10 |
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poopinmymouth posted:Definitely not that. Not only is it plastic sheets (think overhead transparencies) it is way too thin compared to your shower curtains to diffuse light. That is the sheet itself sitting over the white paper. It's super transparent and would barely diffuse anything. Rosco makes diffusion material that is pretty much exactly what you need. They call it grid cloth, it's fabric. They make it in various weights. You'd probably want to find a swatchbook to see what would work before buying it though. It's in the Cinegel swatchbook I think, which you should be able to get from any movie equipment rental/sales place.
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| # ? Jul 24, 2009 18:08 |
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SoundMonkey posted:Rosco makes diffusion material that is pretty much exactly what you need. They call it grid cloth, it's fabric. They make it in various weights. You'd probably want to find a swatchbook to see what would work before buying it though. It's in the Cinegel swatchbook I think, which you should be able to get from any movie equipment rental/sales place. I did not know that, but it's good to know. I still recommend he buy cheap fabric rather than Rosco stuff, because for the amount he needs, it will probably be pricey, and it sounds like he already has pretty hellish WB, the slight tint regular cloth gives won't matter much. Just look for the whitest thinnest fabric you can. I mean, if you're making due with real shower curtains now, even white rip stop nylon would be an improvement.
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| # ? Jul 25, 2009 14:54 |
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poopinmymouth posted:I did not know that, but it's good to know. I still recommend he buy cheap fabric rather than Rosco stuff, because for the amount he needs, it will probably be pricey, and it sounds like he already has pretty hellish WB, the slight tint regular cloth gives won't matter much. Just look for the whitest thinnest fabric you can. Ok, if no one else will ask, what the hell caused the custom title? I saw where you were probated, but kill the curiosity.
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| # ? Jul 25, 2009 16:11 |
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SoundMonkey posted:Rosco makes diffusion material that is pretty much exactly what you need. They call it grid cloth, it's fabric. They make it in various weights. You'd probably want to find a swatchbook to see what would work before buying it though. It's in the Cinegel swatchbook I think, which you should be able to get from any movie equipment rental/sales place. I've been wondering this for a while as I learned about lighting. According to the Wikipedia entry on "Diffusion filter", quote:Diffusion filters are also used in stage lighting (and likewise in photography setups), where they may also be called diffusion gel, or just diffusion. This is a reference to color gel, which is another type of lighting gel. Diffusion gels soften the light in order to reduce or diffuse shadows or glare. How exactly does a diffusion gel soften light? My understanding was that the softness of a light source was only affected by its apparent size. Why, then, would you put a diffusion gel over something like a fresnel or flash? Does adding a layer of material over a light source "make it softer"? It's like the discussion about using a Sto-Fen outdoors. I think people (including several I know personally) are under the assumption that the Sto-Fen's translucent plastic will diffuse the flash and thus make the light softer. Is this true? Someone, please, educate me!
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| # ? Jul 25, 2009 19:56 |
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The only point of a stofen is to bounce some of your light on walls. I have no idea why you'd want to use them outdoors.
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| # ? Jul 25, 2009 20:02 |
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evil_bunnY posted:The only point of a stofen is to bounce some of your light on walls. I have no idea why you'd want to use them outdoors. Yes, I realize this. It creates a bare-bulb. However, my question was about diffusion filters. The Sto-Fen entered the discussion in the following manner: quote:I think people (including several I know personally) are under the assumption that the Sto-Fen's translucent plastic will diffuse the flash and thus make the light softer. under the logic of quote:Why, then, would you put a diffusion gel over something like a fresnel or flash? Does adding a layer of material over a light source "make it softer"? I'm not saying that the Sto-Fen does make it softer. I'm asking why people do things like put diffusion gels over stage lights and flashes to "diffuse the light" when, logically, the Sto-Fen would do the same thing with its plastic.
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| # ? Jul 25, 2009 20:06 |
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Diffusion can be used as a shaping tool, even in directional light. (like a stage light) (someone please correct me if I'm completely off.) Light coming out of say... a parabolic reflector is columnated. (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) Meaning, it's all leaving the reflector going roughly the same direction. When you diffuse a light source, the light will travel in every direction out from that source. Doing this, will change the dynamic of your shadows, reduce your power (if only by a stop or so), and 'soften' areas that might suffer from harsh glare or hot spots. The larger the diffuser, the larger the light source becomes. If you use this sort of thing on the end of a stage light (or a flash), it will still be directional in the sense that you can point it, like a softbox.
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| # ? Jul 25, 2009 21:54 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 14:03 |
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dakana posted:How exactly does a diffusion gel soften light? My understanding was that the softness of a light source was only affected by its apparent size. Why, then, would you put a diffusion gel over something like a fresnel or flash? Does adding a layer of material over a light source "make it softer"? I can only speak for theater, despite having access to lots of gel, I haven't actually used diffusion gel photographically. In theater we use it, generally, to either increase the spread of a beam of light, or to soften the edges of the beam. It's a tremendously halfassed way to increase the apparent size of the light in certain ways - it still doesn't fix hard shadows when the light is 80 feet away. We also have silks, which are awesome in that they make the beam rectangular instead of round. It's pretty loving cool and I should really be using it on my flash. I was, however, referring to diffusion FABRIC in my reply to Manny. There may be confusion because Rosco makes it as well as making gel. This can range from light grid cloth (similar to the ripstop nylon that poop was talking about, but thinner) to tough spun, which is pretty much a hardy industrial version of dryer sheets. The best way would be to just go get a Cinegel swatchbook from your local theater supply place, because it's easier to see it than to explain it. EDIT: I'm also not sure if it's relevant, but theatrical lights (at least ellipsoidal reflector spotlights) are more optically complex than flashes.
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| # ? Jul 26, 2009 07:58 |
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