Ran into some issue after setting up home studio.

[ghache]

Since this is my first post, i would like to introduce myself.

My name is Guillaume.
I got into photography and DSLR camera's about a year ago.
i bought a d60 for my first dslr, since the price was pretty low and after
reading some review i gave it a shot. overall its a great camera.

After a few months of playing with the camera, testing, doing small shoot for friends and
family, the camera's lack of advanced features started keeping me from experiencing more technical stuff.

So 2 weeks ago, i sold my d60 and bought a d90. the body is amazing, i really like it.
I thought about buying the D300s but it was out of my budget for now and couldn't see myself hauling that heavy camera around.
Once i master the D90 and everything it has to offer me then i will think about getting a pro camera and keep the d90 for my wife.

I have a friend photographer and she was nice enough to give me all the equipement i needed to setup a home studio to practice and learn.

after setting everything up, i ran into a small problem that i am pretty sure some of you experienced before....



Here is the setup i had.


1 X 9" wide ultra white background mounted with a background stand.
room is 24 X 24.

1 X OPUS L150 studio strobe mounted on tripod/umbrella as a main light

1 X SB-600 as a background flash

1 X sb-600 that i move around to created different effect.


My camera was set to commander mode to fire both sb-600 and the strobe has a built in optical trigger.
Both sb-600s was firing correctly using ITTL but the light produced by the strobe was not showing on the pictures.

after doing a little bit of research, i found out that CLS is using a pre flash to calculate exposure then trigger the sb's using infrared pulse.
That pre flash is firing the damn strobe a little bit too soon.

problem would be solved if the d90 had a pc port but it doesn't have one.

the cheapest solution i found was to use optical triggers on both my sb-600s and set my on camera flash to manual 1/128 (no pre flash using manual mode)
so everything fires together.

Not a bad/inexpensive solution but it leaves me without CLS and this is what i wanted to experiment and test.

i would like to be able to fire those sb-600 with cls while using the strobe but if i use the commander mode to fire them, pre-flash is on.

i know that i can use an as-15 on my hot shoes to sync the strobe but this will leave me without cls on the sb's

any suggestions?

Thanks

i am also building a website with some pictures i did. mostly friends and family, my wife, my dogs, landscapes and cars all taken with my d60 the 18-55mm that came with it.

Photography By Guillaume - Home

its not completed yet so don't be afraid if there is latin words on some pages.

Enjoy!

 

[Derrel]

My suggestion is to forget about using CLS entirely. You've got a studio monolight and two speedlights. In order to establish the power levels and lighting ratios between the three lights, I would suggest simply forgetting about CLS.CLS is for multi-speedlight shooting on location. In the studio, the simplest,easiest solution is to set the power levels on your lights,and make coarse adjustments by power level, and refine the exposure by subtle movements of the lights.

The vast majority of studio light adjustment is more about moving a light four or five or eight inches one way or another while leaving it at an "established" power level.

 

[ghache]

My suggestion is to forget about using CLS entirely. You've got a studio monolight and two speedlights. In order to establish the power levels and lighting ratios between the three lights, I would suggest simply forgetting about CLS.CLS is for multi-speedlight shooting on location. In the studio, the simplest,easiest solution is to set the power levels on your lights,and make coarse adjustments by power level, and refine the exposure by subtle movements of the lights.

The vast majority of studio light adjustment is more about moving a light four or five or eight inches one way or another while leaving it at an "established" power level.

Thanks for the tips. this is what i am going to do. i've had no problem so far getting the exposure and light i needed using manual mode.


for CLS and the speedlights, your telling me that they will work best or help me get better result in a non-controlled environment ?

 

[JimKing]

I think Derrel got it. The CLS works pretty well but it will change exposures based on what it sees and that can be because of adding a hat, moving an arm, changing a shirt. If your exposure is based on skin tone you now have the camera computer changing exposure with every shot. Manual is the way to go. I use CLS with an off camera SB600 with my D200 for shooting the grand kids flying around the room where manual doesn't do as well but for studio work: manual.

 

[Big Mike]

I agree with that advice.

Once you get the hang of it, you'll likely find that manual flash is a great option because it's consistent. CLS can be great, but because it's still an auto mode, you don't have full control over it.

If you don't have one yet, I'd suggest picking up a flash meter. It's an invaluable tool when learning to use studio lighting.