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I don't know much about the lights you are talking about, but its not too uncommon in electronics to have similar components fail at similar stages in life...

 

The question then becomes: are there two or more caps in there or just one? If there are more than one, I would make sure all of them have been changed before the next one blows! If there is only one, see if you can determine the specs and make sure the right one was put back in there when it blew up the last time.

I think you could probably get away with speedlights as long as the walls and ceilings arent green or red or a real strong color... You could probably bounce as many of them as you can get your hands on off the ceiling and perhaps an appropriate wall to create a nice soft light...

 

from there, shoot with a low shutter speed, higher ISO and just enough aperture to cover the DOF needed. If you need more DOF and dont have enough light, bump your ISO up to cover the change in aperture... You can also point them towards the group at a 45 degree angle if you really dont have enough light, but I would avoid that if you can...

 

If the light is too directional and you have dark eyes, a single flash pointed directly at them from on the camera can create a nice fill too, but you have to be careful not to get the power up high enough to create new shadows...

the plate that comes with it works in a pinch... when one of my shoes went missing on a shoot once we just put the sb800 on its foot on a lightstand, then used another lightstand to hold the umbrella in the bracket and it worked okay, just with two lightstands. The umbrella brackets are great, though, because they allow for all sorts ot tilting thats a lot easier that moving the flash head...

I use sb800s a bit on stands with umbrellas... There are a few different umbrella speedlight brackets at b&h.

 

The only thing I'd recommend strongly is using an upgraded flash shoe if you buy cheaper brackets... this is the shoe I use:<br>

<a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=52772&is=REG&addedTroughType=search">link</a><br>

<br>

on this bracket<br>

<a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=298709&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation">link</a><br><br>

 

with photoflex 30" and 45" convertable umbrellas.

This might be a useless response, but you also might find it interesting... I took apart a D70 in order to get to the CCD filter a while back, and in the process I damaged a little ribbon cable connecting the ccd board to the main board (if I remember correctly)

 

The camera had the exact same symptom as yours... a $4 cable from nikon fixed it.

 

Its not to say that its the same problem, but it is the exact same symptom.

I think this method kind of stinks, honestly...

 

the shutter lag becomes much too long... the camera is no longer 'responsive' because of the preflash delay...

I use the SC-17 all the time with a D70 and I-TTL and it works perfectly.

 

The SC-28 replaced the SC-17, and functionally it is the same... the SC-29 is an SC-28 with the focus assist...

what about the whole "expectation of privacy" thing? I was told that I could use just about anything as long as the person being shot had no expectation of privacy and that they were not exceedingly embarrassed by the image.

 

I see trouble if I shot them professionally and I have no release, but if I walked outside and shot the first person walking down the street, I believe I could use those images on my website, no matter the age.

 

I'll read up on this a little...

 

Rob

joann's fabric stores sell 120" muslin and rit dye that works okay... i just hooked a hose up to a hot water faucet in my basement, filled a rubbermaid bin, twisted up the fabric for a sort of tie died effext and dipped... some come out better than others, and it takes practice.

 

I think the website it joann.com, but search if not... sign up for their email list and they'll send (eventually, hopefully sooner than later) a 50% off coupon... Thats when I bought a full roll (15 yards) of 120" muslin for around $60... its a good deal and fun to play with, but I think the real professional backdrops are better, from denny, et al... Its fun to try, though, but wear clothes you dont care about!

if memory serves correct, the d100 book says that fine mode offers no compression, full size files, the normal mode compresses to about 50% of original and the basic mode compresses to 25%. Its never the same size, based on content (as stated above) but it all depends on the compression factor of the equipment you are using and then your image quality tolerance. Sounds like you only need basic quality though because you wont see the difference on a TV in a million years... 25% should do if the camera will go down that far.

I was reading a flyer from nikon on their new 28-200 G series lens, supposedly designed specifically with the D1 series in mind, and it mentioned something about the smaller sensor size actually contributing to the image quality... I wish I had their buzzword for what they were talking about in front of me... however, it sounds like they are going to stick with the same size detector on the d2 series based on the advertising surrounding the new lens...