Any Strobists Here?

Browncoat

Senior Member
Is anyone else into off-camera flash lighting, a la Strobist style?

In a previous thread, I posed a question about non-Nikon flashes. Yesterday I decided to take the plunge to start building my setup and did in fact buy the Strobist recommended LumoPro LP160. Initially, my setup will be very similar to this one from MPEX.

What remote triggers are you guys using? Pocket Wizards seems to be the most popular, and expensive for that matter...which is the problem for me. I can't justify the expense, and have considered the Gadget Infinity brand, which are 1/10th of the price. Does anyone have experience with those?
 

jdeg

^ broke something
Staff member
This is my next big adventure - leaning how to use flash and fill light properly. At that point I'm going to wish the D5000 had wireless flash control.
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
Me too!

I'm simply amazed by how much you can get out of just a single flash with the right setup. It's relatively cheap and can travel with you just about anywhere!
 

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
I attended Joe McNally's session in Philly a couple months ago and was amazed at what he can do with light - and how much I have to learn.
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
I live near Columbus, Ohio...so the Strobist recommended store, Midwest Photo Exchange (MPEX) is just about 25 miles from me. It's a great little store, and boy do they have a ton of stuff! Today I added several complements to my LumoPro LP160 flash:

  • LumoPro LP604 stand. With the instant rebate, this stand was about $27. It's a 6-ft stand that collapses to less than 20", so it's very portable.


  • Cactus v4 Radio Slave Set. As I said earlier, the Pocket Wizards are nice with their 1600' range, but also very expensive. I opted for the Cactus brand, which has a 100' range for $45.
In hindsight, I should've picked up an umbrella too, but no big deal...I'm sure I'll be back down there in the future. I've been toying with this setup all afternoon, and it's awesome!
 

ohkphoto

Snow White
I've been dinking around with this for a while. I had pulled out all my "old" nikon speedlights and use the su-4 with one of them. So with the D200 in commander mode, I'm able to set off 3 flashes remotely (sb-900, sb-600, and an older sb on the su-4).

I'm still experimenting with nikon's CLS but am not real sure how it works in a multi-flash set-up.
 

Ranie

Senior Member
I've been dinking around with this for a while. I had pulled out all my "old" nikon speedlights and use the su-4 with one of them. So with the D200 in commander mode, I'm able to set off 3 flashes remotely (sb-900, sb-600, and an older sb on the su-4).

I'm still experimenting with nikon's CLS but am not real sure how it works in a multi-flash set-up.

The CLS will only work with your SB900 and SB600. Hooking up the SU4 to an older SB will trigger it thru the optical slave but not thru CLS
 

ohkphoto

Snow White
The CLS will only work with your SB900 and SB600. Hooking up the SU4 to an older SB will trigger it thru the optical slave but not thru CLS

I kind of figured that, but not really knowing how the cls works exactly, I feel a little lost. Here's an example, if I use the sb-900 as a main light and the sb-600 as a fill light, it's workable and I can make + or - EV adjustments for each flash on the camera. If I move one of them to use as a backlight for the subject, it gets really bizarre . . . seems to throw the system off ("pilot" error, I'm sure) . . .mostly seriously underexposed. . . so what I would really like to know is what is being emitted from which flashes to where, and how does this tie into the camera (iTTL)?

The more I talk about this, the more confused I get :) I need a detailed primer on nikons CLS
 

Ranie

Senior Member
I kind of figured that, but not really knowing how the cls works exactly, I feel a little lost. Here's an example, if I use the sb-900 as a main light and the sb-600 as a fill light, it's workable and I can make + or - EV adjustments for each flash on the camera. If I move one of them to use as a backlight for the subject, it gets really bizarre . . . seems to throw the system off ("pilot" error, I'm sure) . . .mostly seriously underexposed. . . so what I would really like to know is what is being emitted from which flashes to where, and how does this tie into the camera (iTTL)?

The more I talk about this, the more confused I get :) I need a detailed primer on nikons CLS

I will try my best to answer you regarding CLS and how it works on CLS capable flash guns.
When you are at the commander mode, you have to identify the groups that you will be triggering. For example, your SB900 as mainlight, put it at group A. Then your SB600 as fill light, put it at group B. Then set the camera and the flashes at channel 1. Now, you can adjust the output of group A and groub B thru your cam. This is not EV value but actual flash output. I usually set the built in flash of the cam as "--" , meaning it will just emit a small amount of flash to trigger the flash, but it will not affect the out of the off cam flashes. After that, adjust the opening of your lens and shutter speed. On portraits that I do, i usually start at F8 and 200 shutter speed. Then slowly fine tune on the flash output.

Maybe we have other members here who can explain thouroughly regarding CLS.
 

ohkphoto

Snow White
Ranie, thank you for your explanation and help. I have to admit that I have been neglecting my flash photography a little, but plan to "play" with it this weekend and will let you know about my progress (or lack of it LOL)

Best Regards
 

goz63

Senior Member
I had not heard of "Strobist" before this post. I have now gone to their site and it has some good information. For those interested in learning some off camera flash techniques this looks very interesting. Here is the link to the website:
Strobist: Welcome to Strobist.
Thanks for binging this topic up.
 
And, in locations where space is NOT your friend, you can use your flash unit on camera to create something like this:

RRmystery.jpg
 

ohkphoto

Snow White
Essence, this is gorgeous, ESPECIALLY for on camera flash. Can you share your settings --flash and camera, and did you use a modifier on the flash?

Best Regards
 

goz63

Senior Member
I second Helen's post. Could you post your settings, the flash used and such. That is a vary nice shot with an excellent example of light.
 
Ask and ye shall receive:

picinfo1.jpg


picinfo2.jpg


This is a mirror shot - I was beside the mirror at a 30 degree angle facing the mirror and capturing the model looking into the mirror.
Flash was stopped down by 1.7ev from the iTTL lighting calculation, bounced off the wooden ceiling with the "stock" diffuser in place (SB-800).
If I'm in the area again, I'll take a picture of the area, and show some of the challenges of the shot. Tight space, the eye-bolt that was holding the framed picture (lower right) in place, so we couldn't move it out of the way...
I took the original into Color Efex Pro (www.niksoftware.com) and added some glamour glow to warm up the skin tones and add the bokeh I wanted to have in that image. Otherwise, I would have shot that image with one of my f/1.8 lenses (35 or 50mm).
 
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