Portable Lighting for Portraits

[That One Guy]

Buy a peanut slave for $15. That's what I was referring to when I said "peanut." It's an optical slave that attaches to the flash's sync.

Hey thanks Max!! The peanut slaves at B&H only work with vivitar 285s. The peanut slaves are way cheaper than what they suggested.

So here's what I am going to do....buy the 285s (they are only $10 more than 383s) and the peanuts. ends up being more affordable.


Thanks again Max

 

[TCimages]

I use an STE-2 as my trigger.

Can you tell me if the STE-2 can be used off camera while you use the onboard flash?

 

[Alpha]

Hey thanks Max!! The peanut slaves at B&H only work with vivitar 285s. The peanut slaves are way cheaper than what they suggested.

So here's what I am going to do....buy the 285s (they are only $10 more than 383s) and the peanuts. ends up being more affordable.


Thanks again Max

That's odd. Can you post a link to what you were looking at? A peanut slave should work equally well with any flash that has a sync cable input. I've got a peanut attached to my Sunpak 544 that I trigger with my studio strobes.

 

[That One Guy]

i just spoke with someone on livehelp @ b&h. they said it would work with the 383.

i have read quite a bit that people have trouble using the peanut with the vivitar 285hv.

again, to correct my previous post. the peanut WILL work with any flash that has a pc socket/cord.

so i am back to the sunpak and the peanut

 

[Alpha]

As much as I like shoe-mount flash, I've found that especially with Sunpak, the handle-mount flashes absolutely destroy them in power output and recycle time. I demo'ed a bunch of older shoe-mounts, including the 285 and the 383, and was very underwhelmed by their very long recycle times, bulky adjustment knobs, and lower power. IIRC the price of a good Sunpak handle-mount was hovering around $100 on ebay last I checked. For the extra $20 I think it's well worth it, especially if you're going to use them in a "strobist" studio type setup most of the time.

 

[just x joey]

the sun! its freee.

 

[just x joey]

the smith Victor one looks nice! im probably going to buy that for myself. hehehe

 

[TCimages]

That's odd. Can you post a link to what you were looking at? A peanut slave should work equally well with any flash that has a sync cable input. I've got a peanut attached to my Sunpak 544 that I trigger with my studio strobes.

You may have problems using optical triggers with a Canon flash in the ETTL mode due to a preflash that's emitted.

 

[JerryPH]

With a Nikon, I have the option of using wireless iTTL (CLS) off camera and use the camera's flash and the SB-800 in concert, or having the camera flash trigger the remote mounted SB-800 and my studio strobes that have optical triggers buit-in.

If you do this, you cannot use ETTL with Canon or iTTL on the Nikon, as the preflash that is used to test and set the light strength will set off the strobes well in advance of your shutter opening.

I do not know if the Canon can do this, but on the Nikon D200 you can manually set the onboard flash strength to anything from full strength to 1/128th power. At it's lowest setting it is strong enough to trigger my strobes but still offer no additional light to the picture from itself going off. It is also functional from a surprising range. At that low flash strength (1/128th power), it is good for an easy 40 feet area around the subject.

One of my very next purcases is a good light meter that can take incident, ambient and flash readings. The Sekonic L-358 is the one I am getting... and if in the future I decided on pocket wizards, the L-358 has a built-in trigger for them already. Too bad that I am going on vacation in 3 days... I would have taken it with me on my trip, but it has to now wait until I come back.

 

[Alpha]

Really, though. Who cares if you can't e/i-ttl in this situation? Why would you want any of your strobes in auto mode in a multi-strobe setup? That doesn't even make sense in theory. They'd all evaluate the scene simultaneously, adjust accordingly, and then completely blow out your shot.

 

[TCimages]

Really, though. Who cares if you can't e/i-ttl in this situation? Why would you want any of your strobes in auto mode in a multi-strobe setup? That doesn't even make sense in theory. They'd all evaluate the scene simultaneously, adjust accordingly, and then completely blow out your shot.

The beauty of the Canon wireless TTL system is its simplicity. Flash-to-subject distances don't matter with regard to exposure because the TTL automatically compensates both for setting the ratio and the exposure.

 

[TCimages]

Here is a practice shot out of camera converted to jpeg. Set up using three different groups. A:B:C. Master on camera (A-Fill), slave 45 degrees to the right (B-Key), and third as background flash (C). Ratio for A:B was 1:4.

I have lots to learn, but I really like the flexibility this system offers.