gib Posted August 21, 2002 Share Posted August 21, 2002 The portrait attached was taken with the Canon G2 and Canon 420 EX flash. Flash bounced off white ceiling and the G2 set to flash exposure compensation of -1 stop. Suggestions for improvements with this gear.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografz Posted August 21, 2002 Share Posted August 21, 2002 William, what ISO did you have the camera set on? It seems you are getting some noise in the darks and artifacts in the hair area. There is a very nice program that cleans up noise and helps get more out of your digital camera. It's isoPro from sales@fredmiranda.com. About $25.00 and worth every penny. You contact him and pay through Pay Pal, then they send it to you via e-mail. It's an actions plug-in for PhotoShop if you have it. Very beautiful woman I might add. Happy shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gib Posted August 21, 2002 Author Share Posted August 21, 2002 I may have had ISO set to AUTO....thanks for the ideas on how to improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerrySiegel Posted August 22, 2002 Share Posted August 22, 2002 Given the camera and the bounce flash I think you did fine. When you get into more experimental light arrangements,of course you have to think of the next act. Are you going to use light modifiers and umbrellas. I would like to see some shots with pastels and softer garb colors for this model who photographs very well, as the man said. Anyway, I like the shot a lot, and you are off to a roaring good start with the G2.PS. My big concern with buying a G2,and I am sure debating one for my arsenal, William, is that I like to frame people right on the nose in composing the body and the hair and stuff and I wonder that I might not be able to do it with the dinky finder and maybe not with the LCD. Maybe you can give me some feedback on "seeing" the subject via the G2 viewing apparatus. Best of aloha,Gerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gib Posted August 22, 2002 Author Share Posted August 22, 2002 Marc and Gerry, thanks for the feedback. Gerry, let me say this about the G2. I rarely use the optical viewfinder at any time and did not use it with this model. The LCD works pretty well with framing. I find myself using the camera like a TLR, a la waist level, and sometimes holding it overhead for a different angle. I took about 120 shots with this model. Some outdoors with good light, some with a tripod, some with a flash and the G2 on a tripod. Of the keepers and there were many cuz the camera likes her a lot about a half a dozen surprised me because the focus was a little soft. It can be a mistake to just switch the camera over to PLAY and look at the full image. A better technique is to look at it in PLAY and then to push the zoom lever once to the right which zooms in to show the image in closeup, and then to press the zoom lever again and super zoom in to check focus. This zoom state persists, which is to say, you dont hold the lever. To zoom out and return to the normal full image you press the zoom lever left twice or once to get back to full image. While zoomed in, you can use the four way control to move around the zoomed in image to see whatever corner or part of the image you want to examine. I didnt do that cuz takes time and I will check that more often. I think the softness of the few shots were from a slight move on my part. I sacrificed the steadiness of using a tripod for the indoor shots which might have been a mistake. For the shoot I also employed a Canon Elan 7E with a Canon 85mm 1.8 lens. One plus of this duo of Canon cameras is that the Canon 420 EX works brilliantly with both cameras. My strategy long term is to let Canon produce one or two more digital SLR bodies and then to buy one of those. I have invested in four Canon AF prime lenses: 20 2.8, 28 2.8, 50 1.8 Mk II, and the 85 1.8. These I plan to use with a Canon digital SLR, although it seems that there will be a multiplier factor of 1.6 for effective use of the lenses with the digi SLR. Also, I have a 512 mb micro drive and a 256 mb cf card already. As for the model, she is a student, a good friend I used to work with in business, who wants to see if she can get into modelling. So we will probably do another session soon. For that one, I would like to vary her wardrobe. One idea in my head is a white blouse and black skirt or slacks. I also may get her to bring along a girlfriend who knows makeup. I will be doing some reading on the merits of either a soft box or a second 420 EX set as a slave unit. I had not thought about umbrellas. thanks again for the feedback There are more shots of the lady in a folder of mine, just click on my name and you can reach those. regards Bill Gibson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografz Posted August 22, 2002 Share Posted August 22, 2002 William, getting a hair and make-up person to help will a lot.I hire models quite frequently in my job as an Advertising Creative Director ( using other photographers), and as photographer. I never shoot real work or comp sheets without a H&M person on set. They will pull out all the best features while minimizing the flaws (which everyone has, even your friend). I know you are geeked with using the G Canon digital for this, but it isn't the optimal set up for such work, no matter how good you get at using it. But if you insist, try slaving the 420 that's mounted on a inexpensive light stand with a big umbrella and use a bounce card for fill. Is the G able to remote fire the 420 in TTL? (check your manual). If not, try setting the cameras' flash to -2 compensation so it acts only as a trigger for the slave. The cool thing about digital is that you'll know right away if it worked or not and be able to adjust compensation, main flash out-put and fill placement right then and there Happy hunting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanie_sholly Posted August 25, 2002 Share Posted August 25, 2002 I have a Canon ElanIIE with a 420EX Flash. Would like to know how you are planning to use the 420EX as a slave. What are you using to trigger it? I just purchased a set of White Lightning 800s. In fact I just unpacked them today & am thinking about using my 420EX as a background light but have been told it won't work as a slave. According to the 420 manual it can only be triggered with Canon equipment such as the 550Ex for example. Am I correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gib Posted August 26, 2002 Author Share Posted August 26, 2002 Stephanie, I just reread that section of the manual for the 420 EX and it says the 420 EX can be used as a slave with a master unit (550 EX, Canon ST-E2 (Speedlite Transmitter), or Canon MR-14EX(Macro ring lite)). This is a wireless set up. They show a diagram with two 420 EX units set left and right and a ST-E2 on the camera as the master unit. In a wired flash system, you can set up to four speedlites (any EOS-dedicated EX-series, EZ-series, EG-series, and E-series speedlite can be used. You will need a bunch of stuff to do it. In the example they show three 420 EX units, one on the camera with a TTL hot shoe adapter 3, two slave set 420 EX units with off camera shoe adapter OA-2, then a TTL distributor, and connecting cords they come in two lengths 60cm and 300 cm (scratching my imperial measure trained head, 300 cm is 3 metres, 39 inches in a metre, so 9 feet 9 inches). In the diagram you need three connecting cords. Also, the slave units are positioned with their sensors aimed back to the camera and the master unit, while the flash head is turned to face the photo subject. In their sample diagram, the slave units are positioned one to the side of the subject and one directly behind. I will, gulp, add up all the component costs and see if smelling salts are required. As for other units, there is no mention. There is a Elan 7e group that is pretty knowledgable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gib Posted August 26, 2002 Author Share Posted August 26, 2002 elan 7e group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elan7e/ regards Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjorke Posted September 3, 2002 Share Posted September 3, 2002 For a little more info on using the G with wireless flash, try <a href="http:// www.botzilla.com/photo/ETTL1.html">http://www.botzilla.com/photo/ ETTL1.html</a>. Once you get an ST-E2 you'll want to use it for ALL flash photography on your G. It's just a huge, huge improvement over mounting the stobe directly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gib Posted September 6, 2002 Author Share Posted September 6, 2002 the transmitter is 429 CDN - I am trying out a different approach: using a Sunpak 2800 on slave sensor hot shoe on a tripod. I use the G2's built in flash to trigger the slave. Manual 1/250 at f8, ISO 50, and AWB set to flash.....with the distances between subject and camera and subject to slave on tripod I can get a pretty nice 2:1 ratio. More experiments will continue. The Sunpak I picked up to use on my recent addition to my camera set...Contaflex Super B. The slave sensor hot shoe item was 19.99 CDN regards Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now