Photography question of the day...
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- linearch0
here is a free app to show lighting diagrams. could be good to visualize stuff for this thread.....
- bigtrick0
any hot shoe flash will work off-camera. either you can get a flash cord for short distances and you hold any* hotshoe flash where you want it:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/pr…
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/…or you get one of these optical slaves:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/pr…and you fit any hotshoe flash you want into it, and it will fire when it sees another flash (e.g. the popup flash on your 20d, or any* hotshoe flash on your 20d).
Any* hotshoe flash will work in your hotshoe, no adapter needed. A Canon-branded flash (or a flash specifically designed to work with Canons) will give you goodies like e-ttl metering, and automatic zooming, and such, but off-brand flashes will certainly fire just fine, although you'll have to things like metering and zooming manually.
*if you are hooking up a hotshoe flash to your camera directly or via a cord, beware that some flashes can overload the hotshoe mount because of a too-high trigger voltage. The interwebs say that this voltage is 250V for your 20d. Here is a list of flashes and their trigger voltages:
http://www.botzilla.com/photo/st…
- bigtrick0
i respectfully disagree with sequoia.
while i have radio triggers, i still pack an off-camera cord whenever i am on a job that i'm only bringing my hotshoe for. and when i started out, $30 optical slaves did the job freaking great - no need to buy radio slaves (it's $130 for the cheapest radio transmit-receive set- paul c buff cybersyncs. radiopoppers are even more) right away. yeah, sure, optical isn't as great as radio, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper.
i'm a big believer in buying only what you need.
- bigtrick0
Here's a good, reliable place to find cheapass Viv 283/285s:
http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/P…
- OSFA0
So, the 285s seems to be the preferred by most people
- OSFA0
So, if I get some pocket wizards, it doesn't really matter what brand I use? I want to experiemnt a lot, so I'll probably use the flashes as external units most of the time and trigger them via PWs.
- bigtrick0
"shoot a lot" is the technique i used to learn about lighting :D get 2 or 3 cheap azz lights - the strobist shitty-shoemount way or else some alien bees/white lightnings - and shoot a whole frickin bunch, changing up the lighting technique when you get bored.
- sequoia0
missing "the shot" is not worth saving a couple hundred dollars
- bigtrick0
OSFA, i have paul c buff cybersyncs. they work fine. i've also rented pocket wizards, which are awesome and somewhat of an industry standard, but if you don't need the range and features of pocket wizards, cybersyncs will do great.
http://www.alienbees.com/remotes…
http://www.pocketwizard.com/
- bigtrick0
a word - there are two kinds of advice you'll get on gear to buy. one kind comes from the person who likes to buy gear. another kind comes from the person who speaks from experience and knows that $100 saved by buying optical slaves instead of remotes is $100 more you can spend on a new lens or an extra flash (:
- tuan, who makes money as a professional photographer, and spent his thousands of dollars on pragmatic solutions instead of the best gear, and has never regretted it.
- OSFA0
If shooting outdoors, is it better to use softboxes or umbrellas? I've gotten so many different responses from 'pros' and stores that it gets confusing. I'm looking to invest in lighting set but want to make sure I get something I can use at the studio or take outdoors if I need to. Any suggestions - reasonable budget of course, nothing pro.
- bigtrick0
umbrellas are a ton cheaper but you lose some light strength using them, since they don't effectively reflect all of the light from your strobe. i'd start with umbrellas b/c of cost.
also, don't buy a cheap off-brand strobe set off of ebay. you will regret it later when you realize you can only change the power by 2 f-stops and you have a tiny selection of light modifiers. either buy some decent used stuff from a big brand with a lot of accessories available (speedotron, novatron, alien bees/white lightnings, etc.) or start with the shoemount flash you already have, until you get some experience and know what you want.
sorry for monopolizing your thread
- OSFA0
What's a good site where I can find a decent kit? I'm trying to avoid ebay... Thanks!
- depends what you are after. Cheap battery flashes like the Vivitar 285HV could be a good way to start. I use a pair of 580exii's for location stuff, they are great.slappy
- 580exii's with shoot through umbrellas and pocket wizards on location, works a treat!slappy
- i second the 580ex2s... once u know how to use them, they rock... and so powerful too!sherm
- OSFA0
Not at all! I wasn't clear about the difference between both. A buddy of mine uses 2 continuous softboxes everywhere and they work fine. I was leaning towards softboxes as well as I have never played with umbrellas and a lot of people recommended to go with softies. let's say I get 2 softboxes for each side, what would you recmmnd for a soft front or bg?
- imnotadesigner0
How do you get giels to pose naked for yo without sounding like a perverted fag?
- learn to spell
be soberversion3 - lol... shitimnotadesigner
- hahahaOSFA
- haha modelmayhem.com pay $$ or be amazingtodaysnew
- learn to spell
- sequoia0
bigtrick is right. if you can achieve the results you're looking for without spending a ton of dough do it.
for me I want to have the most versatile equipment possible. so spending a little extra is fine by me.
sorry if i sounded like a dick. i get carried away sometimes
- CGN0
What's the must have two lenses for a canon slr?
- It's good to have at least one F1.8 prime lens, liek a 50mm 1.8 or 85mm 1.8 for bokeh effects,etcvaxorcist
- < i agree with vax - 50mm f1.8 is a great onebigtrick
- Hear hear!!!OSFA
- 24-70L 2.8 is an amazing lens for most situationslinearch
- nice but pricey... also inhales dust sometimes, and 24 prime 2.8 has less barrel distortionvaxorcist
- TY!CGN