paulrumohr

<p>Just wanted to find out if anyone has given up their Turbo/Lumedyne battery packs in the age of high ISO DSLRs like the 5D Mark 2 and Nikon D3.<br>

Or maybe you haven't and still find them extremely useful.<br>

This year, I have decided to leverage the power of both the new 5D and use faster lenses. I normally would never go to an event without a Turbo pack, but as an experiment I recently shot an event on rechargeable AA Batteries.<br>

I have to say I had no problems. I think I switched a AA battery set in the 580EXII about 60% into the event, but that was it.<br>

Thinking about giving up my pack for good. Would like any input from the community for or against, or perhaps a circumstance I am not considering.<br>

Thanks! Paul</p>

<p>Michael,<br>

I don't have a 24 hour solution for you, but in the future you may want to look into PhaseOne's Capture One Pro.<br>

It was designed originally for shooting tethered to commercial digital backs and then later expanded support to Canon DSLR.<br>

It is fast, and works at the same speed you do (no waiting). You can compare images side by side easily. It has a high quality raw processor.<br>

Like I said, not a 24 hour solution, but if you have future assignments that are going to be like this I highly recommend.<br>

Paul</p>

<p>Michael,<br>

I don't have a 24 hour solution for you, but in the future you may want to look into PhaseOne's Capture One Pro.<br>

It was designed originally for shooting tethered to commercial digital backs and then later expanded support to Canon DSLR.<br>

It is fast, and works at the same speed you do (no waiting). You can compare images side by side easily. It has a high quality raw processor.<br>

Like I said, not a 24 hour solution, but if you have future assignments that are going to be like this I highly recommend.<br>

Paul</p>

<p>Trying to set up a studio for my client and recommended a Standard RedWing Boom for an overhead light.<br>

Went to Calumet LA to get it. Hauled it to client, opened it up, and realized it was incredibly - underbuilt- would be generous.<br>

I have an original Redwing Boom, back from the days before Calumet bought it, and everything on it beefy and heavy duty. This Calumet Redwing thing is chincy.<br>

So I thought to myself, maybe they have improved it. Lightweight isn't necessarily a bad thing with an overhead boom.<br>

I put the boom assembly onto the Calumet rolling stand in front of the client. Isn't it cool?, I ask. My client hesitates for a moment and says "Is it my imagination, or is that stand leaning in one direction?"<br>

And lo and behold, it is. Unbelievable. Without a light or sandbags on it, you can see that the shaft of the rolling stand that comes with the package is, in fact, leaning, straining under the "weight" of the bare boom assembly.<br>

Oh, I say hastily, we'll switch out the stand for an original Manfrotto. But isn't this boom great?<br>

So I put a light on one end and then work on counterweighting with sandbags. But they don't fit. The grommets/holes in the sandbags meant for the screws to go through don't match the boom. They are mis- sewn.<br>

My client is not liking this. I rush back to Calumet. I switch out the sandbags with ones from another Redwing boom that fit- barely.<br>

No problem I say! Here we go... I attach the sandbags. I tighten the 4 screws that hold the sandbags in place. I raise the light.<br>

The sandbags slide and don't stay in place. I can't believe it. I look at the mechanism carefully and compare it to my original boom. My original has teflon strips to create friction to stop this sliding. There is nothing to stop the sandbags from sliding on this new design.<br>

In other words, this $500 boom, is utterly useless. Not because I got a manufacturer defect, but simple because it CAN'T work. The counterweight won't stay in place without some kind of friction beyond these 4 screws trying to push against a flat metal surface.<br>

I call Calumet. I complain. I say this boom sucks. They say they know, bring it back. Unbelievable.<br>

Aaarrrghhh. Do not buy this boom in it's current degenerated incarnation! If someone has a suggestion for another paralleogram style boom, please let me know. Better et, if you have an original Redwing Standard Boom from before Calumet f'd with it, I may want to buy it from you.</p>

<p>:-)<br>

Turn off your DSLR Review LCD, don't review your files as you shoot, use an incident lightmeter or spot meter, and only take as many memory cards to give you as many shots as you would have had back in your film days.<br>

PRESTO BAMMO!<br>

You are in the same boat as 10 years ago, a professional photographer once more!</p>

<p>I have been doing a lot of pro table top shoots recently and have been thinking that it would be wonderful if I could get some sort of jib to allow me to do overhead shots directly looking down. My client usualy asks me to take some shots of the products straight in, then maybe from a slightly higher or lower angle, and then the doosey request- hey can you shoot straight down on these?<br>

It would save me time from having to do a set up on the floor and shoot down on it.<br>

Jibs seem to be very expensive because they are used extensively in film, and these units tend to be overbuilt for even beefy 35mm pro DSLR cameras.<br>

I've been thinking about adapting my very nice compact redwing light boom to hold my camera, however, this doesn't lock down into place and can't be remotely operated (ie from the end of the boom near the floor)<br>

Can anyone make a suggestion for a low cost solution (maybe under $1,000) or ideas on how I can get these overhead shots without having to do them on the floor?<br>

Fellow pros please help me out<br>

Paul</p>

It may also just be Canon saved a few bucks on their highest most prestigious top end model, and saddled it with a second

rate (in the real world) performing connection. When I saw the (IMHO) backwards step from Firewire to USB on a camera

going from 16.7 to 21+ Megapixels I hoped for the best- but I'm not shocked the tether over USB is painfully slow.

PhaseOne transfers 22MP files and up with their digital backs- I don't see them moving to USB anytime soon.

Couldn't find an existing thread on this so here I go-

Which solution provides better performance, CR123s or the Lithium ion rechargeable? Is

one solution significantly lighter than the other? And what happened to the 8 AAA grip-

that seems to have disappeared?

The Lithium ion rechargeable battery and charger runs about $370 together- you can get

generic CR123s on eBay for $1/piece ($3 per battery full replacement). You would

probably want to get two rechargeable batteries which would kick the cost up closer to

$580 for the rechargeable power option.

Which would you do? If it's based on actual experience, that would be even better!

Do you think you will have to maually cock the lens shutter each time you fire? Or will the

adapter somehow do it for you?

Apparently the lens mount on the H1 is only electronic. How will the leaf shutter reset/

reopen after it closes?

Any information on an adapter to use the V-series lenses you already own with the H1

Body?

I saw some speculation in the photo.net original review of the camera, but have seen

nothing else.

I would get the IKlear iK-5 5oz spray pump bottle.

You should also ask them about their microfiber terrycloth. It's not on the website, but it's

amazing on LCD screens. It's a kind of "off the menu" item that's just great.

Because it's microfiber it's lint free and non abrasive. But at the same time it has this

terrycloth texture that seems to do a better job lifting the guck off my Viewsonic 19" LCD

than my regular microfiber cloths.

Didn't clean my LCD for two years until I discovered this stuff. After using the product

your screen will look brand new.

I clean my screen weekly by lightly spraying directly to my screen and wiping the stuff off.

I have had absolutely no damage.

iKlear.com

Good enough for the movie studios here in LA and Apple.

If you're working with higher res images, or want to work with PS and your web browser,

email app, iTunes and others running at the same time, i recommend getting an extra 1GB

of RAM.

I worked with a dual 1.42 for a year like this and recently upgraded to 2GB RAM. I have

noticed a definite improvement in overall system performance.

You SHOULD shell out $50 for Martin Evening's Adobe Photoshop CS for Photographers

that WILL tell you how to optimize and maintain your system. If you take the time to read

the book and follow his suggestions, you should become a super user pretty quickly.

Need a bigger display- I use Colorvision Optical to calibrate my monitors.

Love the form factor of the new Aluminum 23" Cinema Display but am wondering if the

calibration feaures of the Artisan will really make a difference in the color quality of the

jobs that get sent out for repro.

Also wanted to ask if you have to do anything to the Cinema Display (ie adjust the strength

of the backlight display to a certain level) before profiling with Colorvision Optical- and if

so, where are the controls physically located on the Cinema Display.

Thanks!

Well, my shoot went well. I did a fashion story with 6 set ups that basically went all day.

The Dynalite XP1100 performed flawlessly.

The only strange thing was that near the end of the day, when I went for my backup

battery, it was already half discharged. I know I charged both of my batteries for the

recommended time, and when I left the house the 8 light LED indicators were reading full

power on both.

The backup battery was sitting in my Jeep in the desert, but I had the windows cracked

open to allow for ventilation. I don't think it got too hot in there, but I'm sure it was fairly

warm.

My assistant thinks the discharge is due to an increase in entropy from the heat. However,

I can't believe I lost 1/2 the battery charge in just a few hours (down to 3 LED lights from 8

right off the bat!)

Anyone out there with experience about heat and it's effects on a 12V DC battery?

I wished I could have charged the DC battery directly from my car's running engine, but I

didn't have any kind of charger (Dynalite doesn't currently make one). I'm wondering if I

can just go to Radioshack and get a cigarette lighter to alligator clips adapter.

My only concern would be if this battery requires some special charger because of

charging timing issues (it rapid charges for 2 hours to 80% capacity, and then tricke

charges the last 20% over the next 8 hours).

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Got mine yesterday with an extra battery. Will be shooting in a desert location tomorrow

with it and really putting the screws to it (heat, sand, dust and extended firing).

I tested it with my White Lightning X1600 (660 Watt/Seconds) in my studio last night. A

fully charged battery gave me 300 full power pops at 2 second recycle, 50 additional with

slightly labored recycling, and 50 more sluggish performance pops- but still at full power!

What can I say. I've been waiting for something like this for a long long time.

The tech at Dynalite told me these are amazing next generation batteries. They are

designed to deep cycle and provide ultra clean power for any device, even computers.

They can retain most of their full charge, with very little discharging for up to 3 months. I

believe you can recharge the batteries something like 700 times, and they're only about

$135 a piece.

The only thing missing I think for a true location pack is dual voltage 110/220.

Other than that, this thing is AMZAZING. I was so close to getting a Pro 7b, and I've saved

a ton of cash. Assuming it holds up tomorrow, I will consider this one of the best $/

performance value in my location kit.

I upgraded from Photocal to Master Spectro Suite.

I am sorry I didn't buy the Eye-One System. It is a better product than my Color Vision

product.

The Qflash T4D has a flash duration of something like 1/320 sec at manual full power.

Since Hassy lenses sync at 1/500, the shutter isn't open for the entire flash at this setting.

Using my light meter, I notice that going between 1/2 and full power on the QFlash

doesn't yield a whole stop when the shutter speed is set to 1/500 on the meter.

I'm suspecting that the net effect is just simply a less effective flash. I don't believe there

would be any difference in the action stopping effect for moving subjects.

But would there be some strang kind of vignetting? My first instinct would be to say no,

because of the shape of the iris as the leaf shutter closes down (relatively round).

I'm planning to test it out today, but any predictions? Any other ill effects I'm not

considering?

The accessories are EVERYHING. They are what turn the basic flash unit into a USEFUL

tool.

Would you but a drill set with one drill bit?

Cathy,

You might like to know that while the Apple displays have great design, they are not the

highest spec displays ie the brightest, highest contrast, widest viewing angle available for

your money.

This may or may not matter to you. For me, I work on a brighter LCD (non-Apple)

everyday looking at images in Photoshop and it is.

The new displays will probably be higher spec, and better for imaging.