Apollo Orb and TTL.

[VASATI]

Here is my issue/question.

I just purchased the apollo Orb umbrella/softbox hybrid. I plan on doing a portrait shoot in a downtown area at night. I plan on keeping my ambient pretty dark and want to illuminate my subject with the flash. No problem.

I obviously need to adjust the flash for correct light on my subject. I have two pocket wizard FlexTT5's. I've never shot with TTL at night. Shooting in manual is not an option. Because the flash is sealed within the umbrella with diffuser on the front, I don't really want to meter remove diffuser readjust flash reattach diffuser etc.....

In low ambient light will my canon 5D mark III or MarkII meter correctly to give me a correct (let just say adequate)exposure.
It seems to me that the low ambient might affect the Metering coming from the camera.

Does anyone have a work around or thought that would enable me to not have to meter manually?

I would prefer to have a handheld digital adjustment device. (Like the Paul C. Buff commander) and a strobe whose power can be adjusted remotely. Is this type of device and strobe available?
I currently have a quantum QFC, 580EX and two Lumapro manual strobes, for out of studio work.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I'm new to the forum.

 

[Buckster]

Sorry, don't have a TTL solution for you.

I have the Apollo Orb and love it, but I use a Sekonic meter to get dialed in. I still have to manually reach in and adjust it though after I've taken an initial reading, unless I'm willing to adjust ISO, shutter or aperture on my camera. I haven't found that to be much of a problem though; The velcro-attached diffuser is easy to pull open enough to get a hand in, make the adjustment, and seal it back up again in just a few seconds.

Even without a meter, it should only take a couple of those adjustments to get where you need to be beforehand in a test setup, then just note the camera & flash settings and light distance to subject, so that you can set up easily again without doing much fiddling with it in the future on real shoots with clients.

Derrel once posted a suggestion to attach a string the length you need to the light/modifier after getting dialed in during an initial test. Said string is the length you need for distance to subject given the settings you want to shoot at, to make it easy to set up over and over. I haven't done it myself, but it seems like a really good idea for a quick setup that's consistent every time.

If all you need is, as you put it, "adequate" exposure, just set up, fire off a test shot using TTL, chimp it, and start dialing till the test shots look "adequate". Without a meter, I assume all you're going to be able to go by in any case is the LCD on the back of the camera showing the image, histogram and "blinkies", unless you're tethering to a calibrated screen of some sort.

 

[VASATI]

Thanks for commenting Buckster.
I guess I'll be shooting manual and dial it in.
Still looking for that remote handheld digital solution.

 

[VASATI]

And the answer is the canon 600EX-RT flash with the ST-E3-RT transmitter. The wireless transmitter allow you to adjust the flash output from the transmitter(On top of the camera).
It is pricey but supposedly works great.

I elected not to get the ST-E3-RT because of the lack of the infrared auto assist. I will be using a second 600EX-RT as a master instead which should enable camera autofocus in dark situations.