christopher_newkumet

<p>One of my 600 EX-RT's started acting up last night on a job and I thought someone might be able to point me to a solution. I had it mounted on a 5D Mk III in master mode, on ETTL, and using wireless to trigger another 600 EX-RT set to manual. I had a Quantum battery plugged into the flash on camera. I've used this setup countless times, but last night, for some reason, the flash attached to the camera would pop intermittently, mostly when I would move the camera. There was no obvious ryhme or reason. It didn't seem to involve any buttons or dials that I might have been brushing against, and it continued to flash intermittently after I disconnected the external battery. The exposures were fine, except for a few that were badly over-exposed. I'm not ready to connect the intermittent popping with the over-exposures because all Canon flashes seem to under- or -over-expose from time to time for no obvious reason. From where I had to stand, I was bouncing the flash on camera up into a pretty large chandelier, so that very well may have been the reason for the funky exposures. Still, the intermittent flash popping had me very nervous. Any suggestions? Dirty hot-shoe connection maybe? Did I have something set differently in one of the endless menus?</p>

<p>To cover a lower price point, I'm pulling together a studio sample of one of those peel-and-stick wedding albums from Neil. Basically, I've done the album design in Photoshop and now have to get the 10x10 prints made. I was figuring to just order the prints on basic E-Surface paper and be done with it.<br>

Should I spring for the UV coating for the prints? It's going to be a sample album, so I'm not sure I care if it lasts 100 years. Still, I want to be sure it looks nice after several people have paged through it. The only printed items I've used coating on are business cards and promotional post cards, and they tend to look rather glossy and are prone to smudging and fingerprints when handled. That is certainly not what I'd want for the album sample.<br>

Does anyone know if the big album companies like Leather Craftsman coat their prints?</p>

OK, sorry for the moronic question, but I'm running up to NYC Friday

night on a last-minute business trip and can't find time to research

this any other way. I know B&H is closed from 1 pm Friday through

Saturday. Are any of the other big shops open late Friday or on

Saturday? I'm in the market for a new bag and want to get my hands on

some before I make a decision.

Just a heads-up for those of you using Sandisk Ultra cards and Dazzle

readers. The other day one of my Sandisk cards went belly up on me,

so I contacted the company. Very gracious treatment, and they

promised to replace the card. In the course of my conversation with

the tech guy, however, he noted that Sandisk has seen a dramatic

increase in reports of corrupted Sandisk Ultra cards used in tandem

with Dazzle readers. He couldn't really explain why, just that they

felt it had to be more than a coincidence given the numbers and that

I'd be taking an unacceptable risk by continuing to use the

combination. His advice was to dump the dazzle reader and replace it

with, of course, a Sandisk reader. Actually, he said any other reader

would be fine. Given that a USB reader costs about $15, I'll probably

follow his advice. I also note, with interest, that the Lexar

Jumpshot reader simply does not read anything other than Lexar cards.

Please don't tell me we'll get to the point where I'll need a

different reader for every type of card I own. Sounds a little

sinister.

I, too, have been getting dark prints from my R800... At first I thought it was due to a poorly calibrated monitor -- at the time I compensated simply by boosting the brightness of an image file just prior to printing. But last week I calibrated my LaCie monitor with the Eye1 Display system. While balancing the color, that also seemed to boost the brightness of the monitor even more. As a result, the prints still are too dark, sometimes by a lot. I've been meaning to take another shot at calibrating (perhaps I did something wrong) but haven't gotten around to it. Sorry I don't have an answer for you, David, but we seem to be dealing with the same issue.

Andrew:

Thanks for the advice. The only other output I use is an Epson R800 printer...Is that capable of taking advantage of the wider gamut?

I've been using Mpix for my digital prints for over a year now and

have been very pleased with the quality and service, but just

recently I noticed that they recommend sending files with an sRGB

color space. However, following what seems to be the most common

advice here on Photo.net, I've been setting my 10D to create in Adobe

RGB and Photoshop preferences to display in Adobe RGB. I don't want

to reignite the whole sRGB vs. Adobe RGB debate, but I'd like some

practical advice on dealing with Mpix. Should I keep everything as is

and then simply convert the files to sRGB when I send them to Mpix?

If so, how do I do that. Should I switch everything back to sRGB and

simply deal with some clipped greens and blues, which I'm not sure

I'd notice anyway? I shoot mostly portraits, weddings and events, so

the lion's share of my stuff is people photography. Any wit and

wisdom appreciated.

Mitch:

 

For what it's worth, my money setup for portraits outdoors in open shade is as follows: 10D, EF85 f1.8 lens, 550EX flash... set AV program to f1.8 or 2.5, exposure compensation on flash to -1.5, place subject well away from background, fire away....

Marc...

 

Wow, that's a great-looking bag...may be just what I've been searching for... is that the Delsey Pro Trolley 52?

 

For what it's worth, I follow the pack-by-function approach. My cameras, lenses, on-camera flashes, cards, etc. are all in one large Tamrac shoulder bag; my Q-Flashes, batteries, PocketWizards, synch cords, light meter, etc. are in a Porter rolling case; my Alien Bees (which I use mainly to light larger ballrooms) are in a Lowe-Pro backpack and stay in the trunk unless I know I'll need them, and my tripod, monopod, light stands and umbrellas are in a Lightware case. Works for me.

These are really nice...good move picking up the Q-Flash. Given the lighting equipment you now own, I suggest that your next step is to use the Q-Flash and 550EX in tandem for a basic, two-light setup. You'll need a PocketWizard transmitter and receiver to synch the two together, plus a stand for the Q-flash, preferrably one with wheels. Set the Q-Flash on auto F5.6 and the 550 on your hotshoe at -1 or -1.5 compensation. Set your camera to manual, F5.6, 60th of a second. Now, either you or your assistance can roll the Q-Flash around...try to place it at roughly a 45-degree angle from your subjects, and if the ceiling is white and not too high, bounce it. I use this setup all the time, and it produces beautiful images. Good luck.

I place my hair light just out of the frame pointing toward the camera. no problem...gives a more feathered effect anyway

Lanon, what else could it be?

The question for you, Zoran, is whether you need all of those features. I use the Pocket Wizard Plus units, thanks to a recommendation by Ellis years ago, and have never found myself needing more than what they offer in terms of features and reliability. I've also found that many other pros use them here in the Washington area, which makes it easy to swap/loan during jobs and piggyback on lighting setups.

Alien Bees, the B800, two of them can be had for roughly $580... that's the best bang for the buck out there, in my opinion. I've used these to light very large hotel ballrooms...no problem.. for small group portraits, you'll never need more than two bees and maybe a hair light or rim light, especially if you're shooting digital where too much light is more often the problem...I wouldn't get too wrapped up in the "light quality" issue...that's mostly a marketing myth, again especially if you're using digital equipment... good luck..

Just wondering about the most-effective auto-focusing technique for

capturing images of an approaching bride, or an approaching anything

for that matter. With my Canon EOS cameras, I've relied on repeated

pressing of the back-button focus feature, and that's worked pretty

well, I guess. But of course you need to trip the shutter pretty

quickly after that because the bride is walking out of your focal

plane. I'm wondering if the Al Servo function would work better to

track focus, in that it continually follows the subject. I almost

never use that feature, so I don't know how reliable it is. Or maybe

there's another technique that hasn't occurred to me. Anyone?

Roberto:

 

I have both the Lexar 40X (512 and 1 gig) and the Sandisk Ultra and Ultra II... they all are rated highly for speed by Galbraith for my camera (Canon 10D) and I recommend them highly... I don't think they cost a whole lot more than the lower-speed cards. I have a few Lexar 12x cards and they do seem a bit slower to me. Plus, if you're doing portraits professionally (which, I assume, is what you mean by your "bread and butter"), writing speed most certainly is an issue. When the expressions are working, you want to be able to shoot as quickly as possible. Waiting for images to write to a slow card while the smiles of toddlers are fading would drive me insane. Bottom line, if you get paid to do this, buy the best cards. As for the size of the cards, if you're shooting raw, buy a 1 gig, if you shoot large JPG (and there's nothing wrong with that, far as I can tell) I'd suggest getting two 512s. With digital images, I like having fewer eggs in one basket.

So, is my best bet now to simply go back to the forum and repost the question?

On May 28 I posted a question on the digital darkroom forum about my

monitor/printer interface entitled "Severe mismatch in monitor to

print images"ﾅ there were a few early responses that seemed

promising, but they didn't solve the problem. I was not able to check

back after a day or so to see if there were more suggestions. On

Monday I couldn't find the thread and assume it's been deleted. I

never received an email containing the responses, event though I

checked that box when I posted the question. I'm certainly not

challenging the decision to delete the thread, but I'm hoping someone

may still have a copy of the responses in some wastebasket folder

somewhere. I contacted the forum moderator, who was very prompt and

professional in responding, but sadly not able to help. Any idea what

may have gone wrong?

Profiles for Epson papers come with the US versions of this printer and, as mentioned in the above post, are available online. I have a related question. I'm a rank amatuer when it comes to using ICC profiles, so please be kind. I like the Ilford Smooth Pearl paper, but there's no profile available on the Ilford Website for the R800. Does anyone know if the profiles on the Ilford site for the other Epson printers that use UltraChrome inks -- I think the 6700 and another one -- would work on the R800?