vincent_armato

<p>Check out the following images using the Fotodiox adapter with an RZ67 100mm lens on a Canon 5D...<br /> <a href=" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2889/9626860864_0932dfcd75.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="500" /></a></p>

<p><a href=" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2827/9623417459_0f29a6ac7a.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="500" /></a></p>

<p>Vince,<br>

I followed the advice and just put in several days reading about the High Speed Sync Hack approach to leverage studio strobe flash duration times to see if I could get them to work across a higher shutter speed faster than the camera sync. I did this my putting my 580EX in HSS mode and attaching a sync cable from the camera to the flash (with Cybersync wireless PC Sync trigger).<br>

I could not get the behavior to act any differently than I would normally expect from the strobe. As I started to increase my shutter speed faster than 1/200 the normal darkened bar indicating the shutter window blocking a portion of the frame started to occur. As I hit 1/500th one half of the frame was not seeing any flash.<br>

Did I do something wrong here? Is my flash duration too fast for this work?</p>

A neutral density filter does indeed sound like a next step. It wouldn't let me go faster than 1/200th shutter speed, but it

would certainly let me reduce the depth of field. Have you done this before? Does it increase the challenge of focusing

with reduced visibility through the lens? Some of these nd filters are as expensive as a 2unit wireless setup.

 

If I did this I would probably get a variable nd filter setup. It could also be beneficial for slow shutter landscape shots. I've

got some nd gels I use for my strobes. Maybe i could try that out to see how it works.

<p>Thanks Matt.<br>

I was not actually aware that the variation of the pulses during HSS did actually change based upon shutter speed. I figured that what HSS fundamentally did was take the power for the single flash and pulse it across a 1/200th or 1/250th range consistently regardless of shutter speed within the camera. I've heard that HSS actually pulses over 10 thousand times per second. I figured if that was consistent it really would not matter what the shutter speed (and ultimately shutter windows size) was.<br>

I've done the monobloc with battery approach. Here's the limitation though. I can't get a shallow depth of field otherwise the ambient light kills me in any reasonable daylight. Also I can't get a fast shutter speed to capture lots of sharpness when the portrait subject is moving quickly within the frame (perhaps jumping for effect). I can close my aperture and use the flash as a shutter to stop the action, but then the aperture outside would have to be very small and it would probably look like they were jumping in the dark.<br>

Another solution I'm thinking about is getting a very long ETTL extension cable, but that will only work with one flash. Sigh.<br>

I may have to go with the Pocket Wizards and just deal with the challenges...or wait until they come out with a version that is not so problematic. :-)</p>

<p>So I've done some shots recently with High Speed Sync outside and I like the effect of lower depth of field and reduced exposure on ambient light. I can't seem to get this combination in daylight without the use of High Speed Sync. I've used strobes outside before but it's sometimes tough to lug them along and the prospect of high shutter speed, with small battery powered units sounds compelling to me.<br>

Anyway, right now I'm triggering two Canon 580's with another on the camera. While distance is not yet a problem for me on the portraits I'm taking, the line of sight issue is. If the flash heads are behind an umbrella or a softbox, the on camera flash can't trigger them....hence the potential need for wireless ETTL solutions.<br>

There appears to be two out there. Pocket Wizard and Radio Poppers. Currently I'm entirely PCB Cybersyncs and am happy with the timing and range of these. I keep reading horror stories about Pocket Wizards and the need for RF shields that may (or may not) be damaging to the 580EX's. They are also rather pricey won't they start adding up since you sometimes need 3-4 of these hotshoe flashes to make a good dent in bright sunshine. The Radio Poppers seems viable as well, but the way they work seems kludgy (stickers blocking IR on the flash and retransmission of the IR that may or may not work so well).<br>

Is there not a better solution than these two products? Are these products actually as good as traditional non-TTL/HSS wireless products?<br>

What I really wonder is why I can't get HSS without a full xTTL connection? While ETTL makes sense since there are pre-flashes and power adjustments involved, why can't I just enable HSS in manual mode and fire it with a traditional pc-sync cord/connection? Why is an ETTL connection required for HSS?</p>

<p>I use the Paul C Buff Cybersyncs with my 580's. They work great!</p>

<p>Mark is right. Although it shouldn't have to work this way. Sometimes I find that I can only produce so much life with my hotshoe flashes, so I set them at full power in a dim or overly sunlit situation and wish I could adjust the light meter to the f/stop I'm looking for and then adjust the flash as opposed to the other direction.<br>

It almost seems like this is a feature that is missing.</p>

 

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<p>I'm enjoying the use of my Mamiya RZ67 kit even though I also use a digital SLR. I have a love affair with film - particular high contrast rich color slide film that I just don't get with digital. The downsides are the cost for film and developing and the waiting for it to be done. However with film I really give my shots a lot more thought than with digital and the result shows it.</p>

<p>I've been collecting some of the Mamiya RZ lenses recently and would like to try them with a Canon EOS camera. I understand that mechanically it might be possible, but since the Mamiyz RZ has bellows focusing that the Canon camera could not focus with it. Is there such a thing as an adaptor to allow this attachment to work and allow some sort of bellows focusing with these lenses?</p>

<p>I too have this lens on a 5DII. It is a great lens. Before this lens I was always purchasing f2.8 lenses and felt the f4 wouldn't carry the situations I needed. With the ISO handling ability of the 5DII I find it is more than enough for most situations. At f4 it's sharp.<br>

I also have the 35mmf/1.4. Also a very good lens on the 5D. Together they make a good all around combination. You will miss the longer zoom capabilities but other than that most situations should have good coverage.</p>

<p>Yes, I thought about an off-camera cord, but then that limits the distance that the master flash can be from the camera. I guess I could only use the master flash on the hotshoe as a master without the flash bulb enabled and then have the two slaves being the flashes, but then that prevents a three light setup. The other option of course is for me to purchase two more wireless receivers, but then I lose the full master/slave ratio and setting synch capabilities.<br>

- Vince</p>

<p>I have owned a 580EX I and recently decided to add two more 580EX IIs to take advantage of the built in wireless features. For some reason I not able to use it in my intended wireless configuration.<br>

Here's what works:<br>

1. When a 580EX II set to master is on the hotshoe of my Canon SLR, it is able to control wirelessly as expected in all modes (Manual, ETTL, etc.).<br>

2. When I trigger the master flash on the hotshoe via triggering the shutter or pushing the test button it works with the slaves wirelessly.<br>

Here's what doesn't work:<br>

1. When I take the master flash off the hotshoe and don't change any settings it works....sort of.<br>

2. When I do the test button on the master flash the other flashes fire.<br>

3. When I hook up a synch cable from my camera or wireless synch to the pc synch connector on the master, the master flash fires but the other slaves DO NOT FIRE.<br>

What's up with this? Is this some sort of cripple feature from Canon that I can't use the master to slave wireless feature if I am triggering the master through the sync cable connector as opposed to the hotshoe connector?<br>

- Vince</p>

Yea, yea....I know. I've read the responses already and we shouldn't whine about it any longer, but jeez. Why do we keep seeing upgrades through the Rebel, 20D, 1D lines but the 5D line have been essentially left out to pasture? Maybe Canon is simply retiring the low-end pro camera unit to protect their pricepoints in the 1D pro line? Perhaps we will NEVER see the 5D replacement. Maybe internally at Canon they view the 5D as a mistake to release due to interference with their pro model sales. It's all one big conspiracy! Maybe I've been drinking too much coffee. :-)

 

Oh well, I'm content with my 30D and I will simply continue to wait. While many have mentioned that the 5D is a very nice camera (I'm sure it is), I just can't buy technology that is that old (2-3 yrs) and the used ones seem to be either retaining too much value or are limited since those owners won't part with them as long as the 5D replacement hasn't been released.

I would have to agree with Frans. I purchased the PrintFIX Pro Suite with the printer profiler. While I was happy with the Spyder 2 monitor callibration unit, the print profile created with PrintFIX was actually created a worse rendition in the final print than the profile provided from Canon for the printer and paper combination. On top of this, creating a print profile TAKES TIME. Even after the profile is created, the work you do to validate that it is performing as well or better than the manufacturer's profile is simply not worth it.

 

Here's my advice. Save your money on the print profiling. Go with the manufacturer's profile. If that's not good enough or you want to do prints outside the closed loop of printer and paper manufacturer the same, then send off a sample print to a callibration service where they will use top class equipment and automation to create the best profile possible for your purpose.