Your biggest 'uh, duh' moments

[fjrabon]

Recently I've really been diving in to Nikon's commander mode. I LOVE being able to control power level to all my units right there from the camera body. Sure, in certain situations, you just have to use pocketwizards, but a lot of the time you can really save a lot of time and running around with Nikon's line of sight system.

Two moments recently hit me as 'uh, duh, can't believe I didn't realize that already' moments:

One was realizing when I'm using my speedlight as the commander, zooming it in will give it more reach to optically trigger the slave units. The difference in how much reach you get with it zoomed all the way out (I think maybe 14mm?) and all the way in (I think 200mm?) is pretty substantial. The second, related one was realizing that I could use a hotshoe sync cable (ie one that attaches to the hotshoe of the camera body and the hotshoe of the flash) and then get my commander off camera, but still use it as a commander. This allows me to either better direct it to get it to trigger the speedlights more effectively, or have it work double duty as both a commander and a light.

Both were pretty common sense type revelations, but they both really made my life a lot easier, as when it works, line of sight triggering is SOOOOO much more convenient than radio triggers. And it's one less piece of equipment to eat batteries or go out. And did I mention that controlling levels with one push of a button on your camera is beyond convenient (and it also makes you seem more professional, because isntead of running around like a crazy person from unit to unit, you just dial in the correct levels right from the commander screen). Oh, and that reminds me of a related third 'oh, duh' moment. Realizing that I could assign my DoF button (which I NEVER USE) to bring up the commander screen, so I don't have to menu dive every time. Just hit the DoF preview button, and then bam, I'm adjusting any flash level my heart desires.

So you guys have any relatively common sense, 'oh, duh' moments you want to share?

 

[Mach0]

Lol. Mine is with CLS as well. I do the Red Carpet a a night club and I lost my transmitter. I was so upset. I couldn't figure out what I was going to do. Then I remembered commander mode and the sb800 off camera + the other light in slave mode.. Hahahaa all that panic for no reason.

 

[Derrel]

When the self-timer is set to 10 second delay, it's REALLY DIFFICULT to capture that split-second shot...no matter how many times you mash on the shutter release button, or how colorful your sailor's language is...

 

[Tee]

Was shooting a couple the other night. Suddenly my autofocus stops working. I turn the camera off, then back on. Still not working. Take batteries out and put them back in. Still nothing. Before the look of panic sets in, I decide to disconnect lens from body. As I go to take off the lens I realize my finger switched the button on the side of the lens from autofocus to manual. DOH!

 

[fjrabon]

Lol. Mine is with CLS as well. I do the Red Carpet a a night club and I lost my transmitter. I was so upset. I couldn't figure out what I was going to do. Then I remembered commander mode and the sb800 off camera + the other light in slave mode.. Hahahaa all that panic for no reason.

haha, yeah, I forget about the pure slave mode (ie when it just senses a flash being fired), even though you can't control power that way, you get more reach with it, as it doesn't have to pick up any precise signals, just sense a bright light.

 

[fjrabon]

When the self-timer is set to 10 second delay, it's REALLY DIFFICULT to capture that split-second shot...no matter how many times you mash on the shutter release button, or how colorful your sailor's language is...

haha, yeah, though that's one you never get past. I've set it to the timer many times to do a test shot with me in the photo, forgot about it, then that first subject comes up and it's "oh yeah, hold your pose for 10 seconds, pretty please". That happens at work, since we don't have remote shutter releases.

 

[jaicatalano]

Mine was when I said why the f**k is it so dark? My wife said you have the cap on blondie.

Uh duh!

 

[pixmedic]

no matter how many times you push the button...the monitor will NOT print out a 12 lead report when leads v1-v6 aren't connected to the main cable. DOH!

 

[fjrabon]

Was shooting a couple the other night. Suddenly my autofocus stops working. I turn the camera off, then back on. Still not working. Take batteries out and put them back in. Still nothing. Before the look of panic sets in, I decide to disconnect lens from body. As I go to take off the lens I realize my finger switched the button on the side of the lens from autofocus to manual. DOH!

I once menu dove for about 2 hours on my little Lumix LX5, trying to figure out how to switch it back from manual focus (I had been shooting fireworks, so I set it to manual focus infinity) to auto focus. I had gotten beyond frustrated. I was on the verge of pulling out old boxes from storage to find the manual. Then I happened to notice, and remember, that one of the main reasons I bought the LX5 over other P&S's was that it has a physical manual/autofocus switch.