john e v bailey

<p>It's all about *relative* size of the light to subject as has already been said, so a big light far away is small relative to the subject, just like a small light up close. For hard light a small softbox is better than a big softbox assuming they're both at the same distance....but for hard light you probably don't want a softbox at all. Honeycombs help control the direction of light better as do barndoors.</p>

<p>Depth of field is primarily to do with your camera aperture, the problem you are having is a large aperture to give you shallow depth of field lets more light in - so if your strobe power stayed constant the scene would get brighter as you opened up the aperture to make the depth of field shallower...take a few shots and observe. Your methodology seems to be you adjust your aperture until you get the brightness you want - then seem surprised you now have a larger depth of field than you wanted (but this is to be expected, because you are reducing your aperture - even tho the f number gets bigger - which lets less light in but also increases depth of field).</p>

<p>The key here really is establishing a depth of field you'd like in your portrait first by setting your camera aperture, then if this is overexposing reducing the power output from your strobes using the methods listed above, but leave your camera alone! Yes moving the lights further away reduces their power which will stop your overexposure but makes them now seem smaller compared to where they were, thus changing the *quality* of light from soft to harder and more directional.</p>

<p>I hope that makes sense, but you should certainly be able to light what you want with the lights,...is the room you shoot in white? If you can't turn their power down and you don't have room to move the lights back you could fire them away from the subject at the wall(s)/ceiling....you then turn the wall into a big light source to bounce light onto the subject and you'll lose some of the power in the process if you are struggling to reduce the power in your strobes (which should be first priority). I'm sure someone else will help out if I've made any mistakes in trying to summarise things. Good luck - John</p>

<p>This is HDR of mine which I don't think is massively over the top and cartoonish (even though the plane might be!). It allowed me to keep the nice sky and backlight without having a completely black plane:<br>

Let me know if you think it's over the top, I don't do a lot of HDR.</p>

<p>Yes it was on BBC4 first time around I believe, I'll probably watch it again though as I found it pretty enjoyable.</p>

<p>No ETTL, simply takes the "fire" signal from your camera, throws it to the receievers on the flash via radio and tells it to fire. Not even pro-gear like Skyports or Pocket Wizards transmit ETTL data...RadioPoppers do make (or are making) a set that handles ETTL for Nikon & Canon....they will cost considerably more.</p>

<p>Beware of some of the photographers tours, someone I know took a guide book with a friend and drove round in a car and at lots of points this same bus would turn up after them. They spoke to some people on the bus and they had paid $$$ to go on a special photographers tour that "took them to the best photographic spots that aren't in the guide books"....but it seemed that particular photographic bus tour was in fact straight out of a guide book! <br>

Personally, depending on time, I think the convenience of not having to organise things for yourself can be worth paying for, just don't necessarily assume you are getting anything you couldn't get any other way.</p>

<p>The 580EXII is the best flash Canon make, if you simply want to plump for the best then that's the one. It doesn't sound like you're worried about the price and don't really know much about what they do, so just buy it and don't worry about any compromises in specification (between I & II) since you didn't make any ;) and then learn to use it!</p>

I've seen wedding photographers do it with blinks in group shots, or shots that were otherwise nice apart from

the blink. I don't think you should feel bad, they see open eyes they won't think twice (as long is you make it

look convincing)..they see closed eyes or staring off distractingly they will probably go "oh a shame about the

eyes" ...or maybe they won't even care either way because it's photos of their kids and they'll love them anyway!

I remember the wedding couple who received the album the photographer actually told them they had cloned a set of

open eyes on the bridesmaid and they actually thought it was really clever!..first thing is to decide whether to

do it, second is whether to tell about it....do whatever doesn't lose you sleep at night ;)

I figured my camo Tamrac Adventure 9 didn't look too much like a camera bag:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Tamrac-5549-Adventure-Laptop-Backpack/dp/B000KBO2X0

 

there are also the Crumpler brand who make "different" looking bags but their bright colours probably attract enough attention whether they look like a camera bag or not!

 

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/brand/?crumpler&eng=google&cmp=Bags_-_Rucksacks&adg=Crumpler_Generic&kw=crumpler+bags+B&campaign=g-Bags_-_Rucksacks&ms=Latitude&utm_source=Latitude_Google&utm_medium=Warehouse_Express_Bags_and_Tripods&utm_campaign=Crumpler_Generic&utm_term=crumpler+bags+Broad

9/12 but I wouldn't say any of them are actually easy! but I think once you start getting into more complex/detail and larger scenes" rather than objects then it would be easier to tell the difference between CG and photography..

I read that the 1.4 was pretty much optically invisible, obviously you lose an f/stop, but I thought you retained image quality with this combination of lens and extender. I had read that it was the 2x convertor that most notably degraded image quality. I'd be interested to hear whether other people think this is normal as I have been considering the 1.4x on the basis it wouldn't affect the image quality of my 70-200 IS F2.8. You'd perhaps need to post a couple of example pics....

I'll just chime in with a point about the 8GB card and the cliche about all your eggs in one basket, William W suggests splitting that down to 2x4gb...and I personally have ended up with 5x2gb (I know 10gb not 8!).

 

On a 40D shooting full RAW I think you get around the 150 pics mark on a 2gb card, which is still a lto to lose if the card gremlins get you, but imagine 8gb going in one incident (dropped down a drain, anything).

There is no built in radio and as you recognise you need triggers. The Ebay triggers are fine if you're not depending on them for the shot, and are so much cheaper than PW (ﾣ15 for trigger and reciever set, compared to 2xPWs at ﾣ200+) and neither carry ETTL.

 

A good resource to search upon is the strobist group on flickr, people have done mods and things to make them more reliable and have longer range etc. They are commonly referred to as Poverty Wizards, Cactus (various versions V1, V2, V2s I think) and I believe are mainly made main by a company called Gadget Infinity.

 

I have not modified mine and they have never failed me (I have had occasional misfires, and failed-to-fire but this was all in a controlled situation so taking more shots wasn't a problem and so I came away with the shots I wanted, I've used them with a combination of different cannon flashes inc Canon 430EX, 580EX, 580EXII and a Vivitar 3500).

 

If you need reliability over long range the PWs are the pro choice (although there are others above) and with it being the pro choice it's very expensive in comparison, it's down to you as to whether you can justify and afford the cost.

Do you mean the specific Prova brand, or that type of speedlite ringflash? I've seen one like that, don't

remember the brand. I chose to make my own ridiculous creation powered by a 580EX and radio trigger which has

become a bit of a running joke, but I love the results...

<BR><BR>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rollasoc/2446148780/in/set-72157604759964695/

<BR><BR>

<BR><BR>

and to keep things on track, same place, here's one like you linked to above in use (but on Nikon)...

<BR><BR>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rollasoc/2446142386/in/set-72157604759964695/

As stated I'm pretty sure this is all down to the aspect ratio of your camera being a different ratio to the print size....I've seen this most recently with my folks camera, all fine on the display, took them into a lab for prints, and suddenly space around the edges is shrinking, to the extent that heads have been chopped!...for the reasons outlined above.

 

I think when you shoot originally you need to be mindful in your composition as to what final print height by width proportions will be used and to frame accordingly leaving extra "dead" space around the edges as a cropping/ printing "sacrifice".

 

I need to look into this myself - up til now I've done all my own printing on an R1800 where I've designed the page layouts too so I handle any non-standard sizes in a layout that fits on to an A3+ page print....however I am shooting for some friends in a couple of months and they'll be doing all the printing (through a shop) - so I think it's a case of allowing for this at shooting time....I'd be happy to hear if this isn't the only answer.

I'm sometimes a bit hit and miss like it sounded you were before you got to a result you liked, care to post a before and after of your handiwork?

I'll just concur that it also happens for me on FireFox 3 and windows vista64....and it's really annoying when it does...so I tend to use the unified view of my chosen forums for the most part when I check in here...

Do you need zoom? Do you need 2.8? ("I realize that f/2.8 is a must,")...if you answer yes to these then you're pretty much there aren't you?

 

I'll just say as others have noted, there are times when f/4 won't cut it and you aren't in nicely lit D1 gyms (I've been there f2.8, ISO3200, 1/200)...how happy would you be packing your kit away whilst someone with a 2.8 can cover the action? I would rather have the shots to pixel peep later (not that IQ has ever spoiled a shot for me) than have no shots to obsess over the sharpness on ;)

Hello everyone - following comments here and from my brother I left it to dry for a week solid but not in the plastic bag and I'm happy to say it performed without problem yesterday. I'd like to think I've gotten away with it!

Mark - yep I knew it wasn't properly weather proof, I was just overconfident in how much it could take!

 

Sarah you're scaring me now! ;) I will leave it drying out for as long as I can, is there not a risk that warmth will encourage mould growth? Guess I don't have much choice since stuff will grow at room temperature anyway and I'm not going to keep it in a freezer!

 

I was using the 70-200 f2.8 L IS USM at the time, with a UV filter and lens hood, so the weak link was the 40D, well if I'm honest...the weak link was me! lol. The rain was not particularly heavy but it was persistent, I covered the camera at times but I was out and about for say 3 hours. Thanks for all the advice, I'll never let myself get in this situation again.

 

It was an *interesting* day out shall we say! hehe, haven't gone through all the shots yet, not sure I even got any good ones, but this was a photo opp I didn't expect to get!

So by the looks of things this really could have gone either way, and I appear to have been very fortunate for it to have gone my way this time considering my actions continued to risk the circuitry! (thanks for highlighting that Jim! heh - and also info on a repair situation). I will take a lot more care in the rain next time, and if somehow I'm stupid enough to end up in the same situation I will be a lot more cautious in my approach to getting things running again (thanks for the very thorough guidance Sarah).

 

Thank you all for your input on this, given timings Michael's post was the one I read before I went to bed - with my 40D in a plastic bag in the same room - cheers for such a quick response Michael. Keen to see if it worked I woke up this morning and turned it on (having now since logged in and read Sarah & Jim's post I cringe thinking I was tempting another fry-up!). So I would say about 10 hours between last failed attempt to work and trying it this morning, 18 hours post-rain total.

 

Alas everything seems to be back to normal, and I'm one happy puppy who is staying inside in the dry today!

Hello Folks,

 

I am hoping someone might have suggestions for me to try before I concede I

"killed" my 40D in the rain at an airfield today :(

 

All of a sudden it stopped auto focusing and wouldn't shoot, switched to manual

and it continued to shoot but the review screen was black. Top LCD was fine,

shots remaining was counting down and I could continue to change all settings

via both wheels, but I could not get the screen up via any of the buttons - it

was like having a manual focus film camera I guess!

 

6 hours later in the dry it exhibits the following behaviour:

 

WITH LENS attached (EF or EF-S) - back screen will not work except for when you

switch 40D off it shows the sensor cleaning animation. Cannot shoot with lens

set to autofocus, but the camera shoots when set to manual and the pictures are

taken and written to CF card. Cannot turn on Live View.

 

WITHOUT LENS attached (so can see mirror). It will take shots and the back

screen works as normal, you can press the buttons, get into all the menus and

review any shots taken - obviously they're not much good without a lens ;) but

can see the manual ones shot previously...so the screen is not completely broken.

 

ATTEMPTS TO RECTIFY....I have tried the following:

 

- Different lenses, all allow shots to be taken in MF but not AF (screen does

not work either way)

- Changed battery

- Taken out internal coin battery for an hour and put back in - with a lens on

this fired up and prompted me for date setup, eureka I thought, but once I had

entered the date the screen refused to work again, but camera continued to fire

when lens switched to manual.

- Reset all camera settings

- Cleaned contacts, the whole AF issue would suggest problem with contacts...any

advice on making sure I cleaned them properly?

- The inbuilt flash still fires.

 

I have NOT tried a firmware update yet, still on the 1.0.3 it shipped with - is

it worth a stab before sending it back or will they have a way of telling I

flashed it and thus refuse to work on it? is there any point?

 

If indeed it's a problem caused by moisture, is this something that might just

rectify itself as it dries out? As I've said the screen does work, just not when

a lens is attached, and it won't take shots when lens set to AF.

 

Any help gladly received, it's a bad time for me to screw up, I have shoots the

next 2 weekends coming so it's back to the 350D if I can't get this turned

around....what turn around time could I expect from Canon (UK)?

 

Thanks,

 

John

Not sure which brand mine is, but I just couldn't face the cost of the official one for what it is...the only downside is that it doesn't have an off switch so you have to take the batteries out if you're not going to use it for awhile...not a big deal, I keep mine taped to the outside.

I'm in the midlands and we have a midlands strobist group on flickr (as well as other strobist groups) set-up recently and we've had 2 meets so far this year - about 12-15 togs at each meet and about 5 models, great fun! Next one should be in the works...

Sorry you've probably done this, but have you tried with AA batteries instead of a battery pack just to ensure the fault is the flash and not the pack? I have connected a switched on wireless receiver to a switched on 580EXII which caused a flash, but with no ill-effects....but with it being a battery pack in this case it doesn't sound healthy :/

Do you need to be wireless or would cable be OK? For a component like that I would suggest ebay for equivalents to Canons official releases as they are very expensive for what they are (about 60 pounds difference). I have an equivalent of the TC-80N3 on my 40D which works as a wired shutter release inc bulb, but also allows you to program in a defined number of shots of definable length exposure and interval. I believe the 1ds, XXD and 5D all have the same connector, at least that's what they indicate on ebay but I only checked for 40D...you can get the wireless trigger as well but I don't believe that will do intervals.