I know Juan has one or two of these...

Anyone have any suggestions for lighting? Mostly will be used indoors in larger rooms (faux studio), or perhaps parking garages, etc. I am in the market for some lighting other than my 430EX, so I thought I'd post here first :D

Thanks!

 

What size object are you trying to illuminate? Full cars? Portions of cars?

If you were shooting Nikon, I'd say get another speedlight to fire remotely, but I don't believe Canon has that same capability without pocketwizards or cables.


The above is a photo that Juan shot with his Alien Bee (intentionally trying to capture the umbrella reflection in the headlight). I'm not sure what version he has. He was gratious enough to let me experiment with it at AMVIV though. The main limitation I see to the Alien Bee system for shooting in parking structures is that you either need to get lucky and find an outlet and have a long power chord or spend more money on portable power supplies. Juan can no doubt comment more on the +/- of the system and what kind of performance to expect from it.


As far as your other option, that would be to get some pocketwizards and speedlights. The pocketwizards use a radio frequency from a transmitter (attached to the camera) to trigger remote flashes that are connected to the receivers. I had an opporunity to shoot a bit with pocketwizards and Canon flashes belonging to Mark Ferguson over Christmas when I was back in Denver. I liked the fact that you didn't need line-of-sight to trigger the flashes, but the combined pocketwizard and speedlight system seems a bit pricey (mind you I'm comparing it to what Nikon's flash system costs to get similar performance out of).

 

Thanks Dave. Yeah, that's a great photo, I was checking it out in the other thread.

As far as what I'm shooting... it would probably be whole cars and portions of cars. But, not from very far away, and to be honest I'd probably be shooting other stuff more than autos, and it'd be mostly close up.

I considered getting a 580EX and using my 430EX as a slave, but for the price of the pocketwizard system, I can buy an alien bee, which is what got me thinking about it. Just like you say, it's an expensive system.

 

I have a B800 and I believe Juan does too (or a B400). I am in the process of getting another one and a softbox, to compliment my SB600 AND SB800, I highly recommend any of their products. It does depend on what you plan to shoot most of the time., For me, to have a lot of options gives me availability to shoot many different genres.

 

Thanks for the input... What do you use it for mostly?

 

A couple of plusses for the pocketwizard and additional speedlight route:

• You would then have two light sources you could work with to even out the lighting
• Speedlights and pocketwizards are battery powered and thus more portable.

That said, also think about if this is the only lighting you are going to get or if you will be building a more elaborate system down the road and using this as a building block to that.


nice.

 

I started with cars, and landscape shots, and now portraits, and events are coming into play. I cannot stress that what you hear from everyone; "good lighting is the key" IS very much the truth. The more creativity you can place into your lighting, the more friends, family and customers will appreciate your work. If you have to invest, glass is the most important, and next should be lighting. For portaits, family pics, weddings and modeling to have many different lights will allow very unique shots that will impress everyone!

 

Definitely. Thanks for the advice both of you.

Dave, you are definitely right about the portability.

 

The B400 was a given to me. My interest in it was mostly for portraits. I only shot the pic above because I was excited at having an S as a loaner a while back. (That, and just following the "Red Rule." )

Mark S has indicated he has two of the B800s, while some other guy posted he had just gotten a 1600 a while back.

I like the Bees, but as has been stated here, portability is an issue.

-Juan

 

While waiting for my 2nd B800, I decided to test out some lighting schemes. I have NOT been able to edit or crop the pics, so be kind. With 1 more B800 I will be able to get the effect I want, but this is with the SB800 on the camera at -3.0, SB600 off to the right (in later pics it is behind the bucket) and the B800 with Reflector umbrella off behind me slightly to the right.












Sorry for all the pics. Just wanted you to see many examples.

 

Never mind the lights. How did you bribe the dogs to stay in the bucket?

 

Cool, thanks for the help Juan and Itsdchz, that's good info.

I may end up looking more into Dave's suggestion of the pocketwizards and a second 580EX...

 

Tuffy (the black one) Has been in front of the camera for the last 6 years. he used to go to Picture People in the mall before I started shooting in home. He loves the attention. Tucker (the wheaten) see's Tuffy getting all the attention, and then does what he sees Tuffy doing. Tucker is only 1 year 2 months, and has been a camera ham since the beginning. Milkbones also go a long way.
Tucker at 4 months old:

And Both of them in January:

 

I don't have pocket wizards, but keep in mind you will need the transmitter/receiver AND a chord to interface with your camera. You can get that cable from paramountcords.com (it may be best to call them to find out exactly what you need). That information comes courtesy of Mark Ferguson who does have the pocketwizards and uses them with his 20D.

 

I was looking into the pocket wizard last night, until I realized it was going to require a receiver/transmitter on each end, as I wanted to get my SB800 off the camera, but I dont mind using the SC29 cable to get the SB800 off the camera as that was $35 compared to $235 for EACH Transceiver unit of the pocket wizard....

 

Lee: What Nikon camera do you have again?

Also, are you just trying to get one SB-800 off camera and fire only that one flash or are you trying to get the SB-800 to still act as the commander flash, but get it off camera and fired remotely?

 

Also, B&H has a 4-channel pocket wizard set (transmitter and receiver) for $350

 

I have the D50.
Thats a great price, may have to look into it. Thanks!

 

Ok, now I understand. The D50 lacks commander flash ability with the pop-up flash.

 

Exactly!

 

i don't use anything but the wizards.
never failed me in tens years of location shooting
www.mcallenphotography.com

 

Miles, here are a couple of shots where I used my single Alien Bees B400 on Nikon D70 and 50mm f/1.8 lens. It might give you an idea as to what they do with portraiture.





Oh, obviously, the strobe was off to the side a bit, and about 3ft away.

Hope it helps a bit.

-Juan

 

Thanks Juan, that gives me a good idea about what it can do portrait wise.