Last nights presentation

[bert haddock]

Thanks to Phil for his presentation last night, the link up of the camera laptop and projector to show on the screen the effects of the differant set ups was very good, also a big thanks to Kerry for her part in the evening, much prettier than looking at Phil all night.

Thanks again,
Bert.

[Paul Jones]

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have a Nikon SB-800 and am keen to improve my techniques with it.

If you're interested there are links to some good flash lighting websites from our Links page - http://www.adaps.org.uk/links.htm

In particular:

Neil Turner - http://www.dg28.com/technique/index.htm
Neil van Niekerk - http://planetneil.com/tangents/flash-ph ... echniques/
Strobist - http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/02/we ... obist.html
Dave Black - http://www.daveblackphotography.com/workshop/index.htm

[Andy C]

Being fairly new to photography and not even owing an off camera flash unit, I wondered if thursday nights presentation would go straight over my head. I'm glad to say it didnt, I thought Phil presented his information in a clear and easy to understand format, Thanks Phil.

Infact, it has started me thinking about venturing down the road of purchasing a flash unit. I was wondering about how I would go about triggering the flash off camera. The flash units are not exactly cheap and niether are remote triggering units, I dont want to spend more money than I have to (its tough enough as it justifying large expenditure for my hobbies to the wife ).

I own a Canon 400d and was looking up the spec of the camera. In the external flash section it states "E-TTL II with EX series Speedlites,
wireless multi-flash support." Can anybody explain to me what "wireless multi-flash support" means?


Andy

[Walter Brooks]

Thanks Phil for an interesting evening ... so much so, that I am looking at Canon's old Speedlites and thinking of having a go. Have used the link to Neil van Niekerk's site and found it interesting with some very good examples of on camera, bounced flash ... Andy if you go to Canon.co.uk and click on the camera accessories booklet link, there is some information there ...

[Walter Brooks]

After my last post - seems as though I am down to Speedlites 533/ 577 with their very limited aperture facility. Am watching one on eBay and have found some through dealers at £100 +. Has anyone got one that I can look at before I make a costly mistake? Regards

Walter

[oakeycoke]

Hi,

Thanks for the kind remarks, I've been away for the weekend in the caravan and just got back.

Very quickly, for Canon users the EX speedlites are the ones that work with the digital cameras, the older EZ series dont, well not wireless or ettl. However as Paul's and other flash links on the net show you can nearly use any flash gun off camera with any camera if you use the expensive pocket wizards or cheap ebay wireless clones which have dubious reputations. You lose ettl and have to set the flash manually , thus there is more experimentation.

Andy, the wireless multiflash support I showed just briefly towards the end, where the ST-E2 wireless transmitter will control the other flashes, but the better option is to buy an EX580 Flashgun MkI or II which can be a master flash, i.e. it can control upto 3 groups of other Canon EX flashguns and there can be numerous flashguns in each group, but you would need a very deep pocket!
The 40D has the option to control the flash from the camera, that is in its ettl mode you can alter some of its settings from the camera. At the very end I showed the FEC, 'flash exposure compenstion', where i used the menu setting on the camera to tell the flash to expose by 2 stops over and under.

I only showed the flash in ettl mode during the talk as there wasn't time to go into manual mode, dont get mixed up with the camera being in manual mode though as that was for a different reason (mainly so the settings were consistent) . Also some flash guns only work in auto i.e ettl mode such as my EX420 where as its replacement the 430 will work in manual.

Personally ettl does all the hard work for you, if you and your subject are constantly moving it would be difficult to set the flash consistently in manual mode.

Here are a couple of extra links which might help,as well as the ones provided by Paul which are excellent not just for Canon but all flash users, but be prepared for a long read:
http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/flash.html
http://super.nova.org/DPR/Canon/Links.html/

I'll also try to find the link to the bounce card template, the one I showed with the blue back to prevent flash annoying people behind.

Phil

[oakeycoke]

Hi again.

Here's the link to the bounce card with the template at the bottom of the page, I adapted it somewhat with the 'Hobbycraft Fab Foam' and some staples, but it worked well and can be adjusted as necessary to fit any flash, not just Canon.
http://super.nova.org/DPR/DIY01/
Which leads to this:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=18308364
and this:
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/1427850

For entertainment value watch Peter Greggs original bounce card videos :http://www.abetterbouncecard.com/

Phil

[oakeycoke]

The EOS flash bible, well not really but links to everything and more for Canon flash:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/sho ... p?t=138907

You'll just need a week to read it all and a year to understand it!

Walter, dont know much about the older speedlites 577 etc, but many people on the forums recommend the Vivitar 285 flash which can be triggered wirelessly and it has manual mode. As you are aware with the flash in manual you will probably need a light/flash meter especially when using film, with digital you can chimp a little and look at the histogram. I use the auto/ettl(II) mode as it works most of the time (definitely not all the time)

Didn't really get time on the night to look at histograms or using the flash manually, though the EX580 speedlite will activate other flash guns even though they are set to manual.

Phil

[Walter Brooks]

Thanks Phil, I have a couple of 283s but was thinking of something dedicated with flexible bounce options to reduce the pain. No doubt be able to cobble some elaborate set up together, but as you showed on the night a level of dedication between flash and camera helps immensly ... an up to date system would help!

[oakeycoke]

Walter,

The 450D camera is now available for just under £400 without a lens and then there is a £50 cash back from Canon, the 580EXII flash can be had for about £270, so realistically for a little over £600 you can have a very up to date system flash wise (some of the ettl and other functions are not available on dslr's prior to the 20D, if you were thinking of the second hand route). Nikon and Olympus systems I know would be available for roughly same price, not sure about the others.

With the top spec flash you get manual mode on the flash itself and all the relevant settings down to 1/128, no ettl pre-flash in manual mode and thus your 283's would still be useful for doing manual flash setups with a light meter for film or chimping the histogram in digital. A second dedicated flash could come later, but I think its surprising the effect you can get just using one flashgun especially with the bounce card and other diffusers.

Just a reminder for those interested in the card its actually foam avaliable in A4,A3 and other sizes from Hobbycraft, called 'Fab Foam' at 49p for the A4 size. It packs away easily in a camera bag and partly reshapes itself. Though I've now got some velcro spots to build one like the template.

John has preliminarily booked me in for 5th March next year to expand/update the session, so nearer the time I'll post a message asking what info/subject etc people want to cover, though the clubroom restricts somewhat for fill flash techniques but I'll work on that.

Phil

[Walter Brooks]

Thanks for that Phil - looking forward to Part II, regards

Walter