question about cactus v4 system

[robertwsimpson]

So, I was playing around last night with my new transmitter and receivers, and I was thinking, man these pics could use just a little bit of fill from a flash that's on the camera... I only have 2 receivers, so I can't put another flash near the lens. I was wondering if it is possible and/or advisable to use the PC link to plug in the transmitter and then pop another flash (or use the pop up flash) on the camera for just a little bit more fill...

I'm new at using off camera flash. Don't hurt me!

 

[robertwsimpson]

Also, I'm planning on trying it tonight just to see how it works. I'd like to shoot the background with 2 powerful flashes, and illuminate the subject with a weaker flash that I have... I know it's not going to create ultra-dramatic lighting, but it might yield interesting results. One of the flashes I have doesn't work on a cactus receiver anyway.

 

[Big Mike]

That should work just fine.

What I often do, is fire a remote flash with a radio trigger plugged into the camera's PC port, but then also use an on-camera flash (430EX) in E-TTL mode.

The remote flash is manual so I can adjust it's exposure by changing the aperture or ISO. I can adjust the exposure from the on-camera flash with FEC. So with that (plus using the shutter speed to control the ambient exposure) I practically have full control over the lighting conditions.

My usual plan of attack is using the remote flash as the main light, and then using the on-camera as fill.

 

[robertwsimpson]

That's exactly what I was thinking... I have a little dinky quantaray flash to put on camera, which I would probably leave at the lowest setting, just for fill. I have two other pretty strong units that I could use as my main lighting. Cool to hear I am not the first one to think of this!