wireless strobe setup, wide angle lens

[midget patrol]

Alright, so here's the deal; I have been doing a lot of skateboard/bmx/snowboard photography and I am running into the problem that my 28-80 doesn't go wide enough. I've got the 70-300 to get the long-lens shots, but i need to be in closer. I'm talking really close, and be able to capture a whole person on a bike and then some, or a boarder + board and jump/landing, etc.

First of all, I'm really not sure how wide I need to go. So any recommendations there would be fantastic.

There is such a plethora of lenses out there, I can't figure out where to start. I would like to keep it on the inexpensive side, too, because I'm trying to purchase a D200 as well. Aside from the fisheye, a zoom is a necessity. Here are the lenses I've seen that could fit what I need:
The nikon 10.5mm fisheye, the 12-24, and all the nikkors that start around 18mm. (help?)
The Sigma 12-24, 15-30, 17-35, 20-40, 10-20, 17-70, and 18-50s
The Tokina 12-24 and 19-35.
The Tamron 11-18, 17-50, and 17-35.


Long story short, I don't know what I'm going to need!



and for the wireless strobes. I need something small, battery powered, and mobile. Again, for the above scenario. I was thinking about one of the 2, 4, or 16-channel ebay transmitters, like this. For the strobes themselves, I was planning to use one or two of these, depending on what is called for. They're rather affordable. Bean bags/clamps/tripods can be used to mount and point them.

Feedback on the strobe setup, and help with the lenses? Thanks guys (and gals)

 

[midget patrol]

JEazy, i know you know something about skate photography. Got anything to share? Anybody have any comments about the lenses; good glass/bad glass?

 

[newrmdmike]

sb-800, lots of htem, or if you can't afford it buy the sb-600. they are great. check out dave blacks workshops on using them, in fact his last workshop has some examples from a few ways he uses them. his site is great, and also he will respond to your emails.

http://www.daveblackphotography.com/workshop/09-2006.htm

 

[KevinR]

Really, I would go with used flashes, say old SB-24's. Should be able to find them pretty cheap on ebay. Great flash at the time and still good. Has wireless built in.

 

[midget patrol]

Optical slaves, right? That means that if I want to avoid using the built-in flash on the D50, i need one for the hot shoe as well?

What kind of wireless transmitter do i need to run the SB-24s? Are they optical slaves? Are they iTTL?

 

[KevinR]

you can run optical slaves or the on camera flash. Or you can get on of the $20 radio ones from ebay, if you don't want any flash on camera, I would go with the radio set-up.

 

[midget patrol]

Ok, so i'll do the ebay transmitter. Now, where do i come up with $100 for an sb-24 or 200 for an sb600?

 

[JIP]

Really, I would go with used flashes, say old SB-24's. Should be able to find them pretty cheap on ebay. Great flash at the time and still good. Has wireless built in.

I have never heard of the SB-24 having wireless built in the SB-600 but not the 24. If you have the SB600 it can be used off camera (TTL) with the D-200 in a wireless setup using the pop-up as a master flash you can even power the pop-up way down to get less harsh direct flash from it.

 

[KevinR]

My bad, it's the SB-26 that introduced the wireless. We were using the SB-24s with optical slaves.

 

[Christie Photo]

...you can get on of the $20 radio ones from ebay...

Uh... I got one of those. It works fine EXCEPT... the one I have will not sync at speeds faster than 1/50 sec. I suspect you'll be shooting at quicker speeds than that.

Better check it out first.

Pete