tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61469354695848799182024-03-13T23:33:57.207-04:00The Jerry Blog!A place for me to blog away about my photography!JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-14632370546412411372015-08-30T20:07:00.000-04:002015-11-29T16:25:15.110-05:00AD-360 Review<div abp="969">
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Before I get on with the review, I want to mention that this page is not going to be completed in it's entirety all at once. As I use the unit and find more things to discuss, I will add them here. For now, let me share with you a bit of my very brief history with it and how it performs for me so far under various conditions. </div>
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So, that said, here is my small review of the AD-360. As mentioned, normally, I don't do many hardware reviews, so before I feel the need to do one, that piece of hardware has to impress me in some manner.</div>
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The Sigma 35mm F/1.4Art lens impressed me with it's incredible sharpness, as well as many other traits.</div>
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I am a big fan of the PW ControlTL units and the AD-360, for a start, impressed me with how well it likes to work with these triggers (amongst other things).</div>
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Before I get to that, let me just give a few first impressions I had of this flash.</div>
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I had been reading about and researching this flash for quite a while, probably over a year, before making the decision to get it. Advertised as a 360W/s flash, in reality, it is something closer to 300W/s (a few internet sites rate it at 307W/s output). Close enough if one is looking for a flash in that power range. I was going to make the purchase late in the 2015 season, likely late fall, early winter, but a couple of events led me to get it a touch earlier.</div>
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First, I found the Godox FT-16 trigger online for about 1/2 price ($15US delivered to my door). Normal local prices for this trigger are in the $40 range. I really did not need this trigger (preferring to use the PW ControlTL units), but it's main advantage is that it lets one control the power settings of the AD-360 wirelessly (this is something the AC3 cannot do as the AD-360 is not a PW supported flash). </div>
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Since I use a lot of softboxes or place the flashes far from me, it is a nice advantage to be able to change the power setting without needing to walk across the room, lower the flash, set the power setting and raise the flash on the lightstand again. So, one can use their trigger of choice, either the FT-16 or one can use 3rd party triggers.</div>
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The 2nd little event that finally pushed me over the edge to get this flash, was that I found the Godox 2-into-1 "Y" cable, again, for a very cheap price ($8Cdn, again, shipped to my door). Normally this cable is in the $20-$25 range. This cable cuts the recycle times by 50%. It links the 2 power ports of the PB-960 and channels them into 1 connector that the AD-360 plugs into. If you have or plan to get this flash, GET THIS CABLE!</div>
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I suppose the final thing that had started me looking in the first place, was the fact that about 20 minutes away from my home was the cheapest place in North America where I could get the Godox AD-360 (at $470+tax, Canadian funds)... so I went and bought myself one to test out and play with.</div>
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First impressions are that it's meaty and taller than a speedlight, but lighter than I had been led to expect via other online reviews. The PB-960 battery... same thing. So, it worked out well, did not die on me during the first week of testing and playing (so that I could get used to it and use it in an upcoming wedding).</div>
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Well, I am not going to bore you all with how well it worked, how it was reliable and lived up to it's 307W/s power output rating. I will say that I had an idea as to the quality of light to expect from the bare bulb experience because I had been playing with a Sunpack 120J, but the AD-360 is just much stronger and better.</div>
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The first thing that I am going to show here, is not the basics, but (oddly enough for some), how it works in bright sunlight and the HyperSync results that one can expect. Let me kind of insert a spoiler here for you... this flash is the best flash (to date), that I have found that gives me excellent HyperSync results.</div>
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The quick way to tell if it is any good with this technology is to shoot at max sync speed (1/250th) and small aperture (typically F/16), set that as the bar for the photograph and then open up the aperture 1 stop and increase shutter speeds by 1 stop (to 1/500th) and then measure the differences between the 2 shots. This difference, if the 2nd (1/500th) shot is darker than the 1/250th shot, is the amount of light lost.</div>
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Traditionally, I would use my light meter, but I found that testing via applications gave me more accurate difference results, mostly when using Lightroom and transitioning back and forth between the 2 photos and raise the exposure on the 1/500th shot until the histogram and what my eyes saw in the two pictures, matched. In the case of the AD-360, well... I saw no loss in light output!</div>
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Let me briefly explain... If I have a good ambient exposure at a certain shutter speed, let's say 1/60th at F/4, by moving to 1/125th and F/2.8, that exposure *should* be the same, and indeed normally it is. However, where flash is concerned, changing shutter speeds will NOT affect the flash side of the exposure... and here is where this rule changes.</div>
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I don't want to get super technical here, but some minor tech-speak is coming... prepare yourself. </div>
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Changing shutter speeds does NOT affect flash exposure... as long as you are at your maximum sync speed OR LESS. Once above your sync speed, your curtain starts chopping off parts of the frame leaving you black bands or heavy gradients. When using supersync or superior technologies (like the adjustable HyperSync), you can eliminate those black bands as long as the flash duration is long enough to stay open long enough to fill that frame. Yes, that means that the flash duration of the AD-360 is looooooooooooooooooong... at full power. This is why it is such a great flash to use with the ControlTL units. That said, when shooting above max sync speeds, under ideal circumstances, a 1-stop increase in shutter speed will drop the flash exposure by 1 stop as well.</div>
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Let me show you the results of my very unscientific methods and results.</div>
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First, let's define the baseline. We need to see what ambient is on a "standard" bright day here where I live in Canada. Using the camera, I "chimped" in a manual setting of ISO 100, 1/250th and F/8. At this setting, I was about a 1/2 stop too bright, but it doesn't matter... close enough for my needs, and just something to keep in mind:</div>
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Moving the settings to what is commonly called "The Sunny-16 Rule", I needed to set the camera and see if the flash was capable of meeting those levels, so here are the results of that shot. You can tell that I am underexposing the ambient by around 2.5 stops:</div>
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Next, I set up the tripod to a distance of 10-12 feet away from the model's position, marked that spot and set flash power to full (1/1). Doing some fast testing on my hand, this was the result... again about a 1/2 stop too bright:</div>
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<a abp="1023" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yxoX_qV5cwo/VeN5Q03eZ_I/AAAAAAAABEo/RS2U_eaGmEI/s1600/3%2B-%2BFlash-F16-1_250th-ISO100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1024" border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yxoX_qV5cwo/VeN5Q03eZ_I/AAAAAAAABEo/RS2U_eaGmEI/s320/3%2B-%2BFlash-F16-1_250th-ISO100.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ok, now I needed a baseline shot of what the flash does at max sync speeds before falling into HyperSync, so I reused the same camera settings of F/16, 1/250th and ISO 100. If anything, I wanted to be consistent, and the subject below is again overexposed by about a 1/2 stop, and here is where things start to get interesting:</div>
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<a abp="1029" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B0-oqY9v4XY/VeN5Rc69rZI/AAAAAAAABEY/RlGHJcJJuJw/s1600/4%2B-%2BFlash-F16-1_250th-ISO100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1030" border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B0-oqY9v4XY/VeN5Rc69rZI/AAAAAAAABEY/RlGHJcJJuJw/s320/4%2B-%2BFlash-F16-1_250th-ISO100.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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My next step would be to move to a shutter speed that is 1 stop above my max sync speed and see just how much light was lost on the "subject". I now set the camera to the following settings... since I increased shutter speed from 1/250th to 1/500th, I want to open the aperture 1 stop. ISO settings stay the same. </div>
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Camera settings were F/11, 1/500th, ISO 100:</div>
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Ok... wow. First off, the exposure did not go down... it went UP! I am about 2-tenths of a stop higher than in the base photo, so right here, the ControlTL units are letting me use a brighter part of the flash than when we were at our max sync speeds! This is a pretty good start, but if I do the same thing again (open up the aperture and increase the shutter speed 1 more stop), do we gain again, lose or stay the same? </div>
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Camera to F/8, 1/1000th and again, use ISO 100:</div>
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Ok, so from what the histogram and my eyes tell me, nothing has changed, we see an exposure that is near identical to the previous photo, which is good! What this means is that so far, we are NOT loosing any light moving in to super-sync speeds... but can I go higher? </div>
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Camera settings now get pushed to F/5.6, 1/2000th, ISO 100.</div>
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<a abp="1054" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A6Mmw10XtUY/VeN5R-vc0EI/AAAAAAAABEI/HG-1_EOqsPM/s1600/7%2B-%2BFlash-F56-1_2000th-ISO100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1055" border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A6Mmw10XtUY/VeN5R-vc0EI/AAAAAAAABEI/HG-1_EOqsPM/s320/7%2B-%2BFlash-F56-1_2000th-ISO100.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Again, from what the histogram and my eyes tell me, nothing has changed, we see an exposure that is near identical to the previous photo, which is good! This means a couple of things... first, my HyperSync settings are pretty much close to perfect (though to be honest with you, all I did was totally GUESS at what I thought the best settings would be), and left it at that. I will discuss what those settings are a bit later in this article. I have only 2 stops higher left to go on my camera to test out, so lets do it! </div>
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Camera settings are changed to F/4, 1/4000th, ISO 100:</div>
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At 1/4000th, F/4 and ISO 100, I again see no changes to the exposure in my frame, this flash and these triggers are just rockin' it! One more to go!</div>
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Camera settings of F/2.8, 1/8000th and ISO 100:</div>
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There are again no evident differences in the exposure and nowhere in the set of pictures from 1/250th to 1/8000 do we see any banding, evidence that the combination of a Nikon D4, PW ControlTL units and the AD-360 are pretty much a match made in heaven. </div>
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So now we know that the AD-360 is a very good match to the PW ControlTL units, but wait, here is another small surprise... it can do HSS too!</div>
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For HyperSync to work well, the flash needs to be at full power, and this flash is powerful enough that there may well be times that we just don't need full power, but may want to get something like 1/500th or 1/1000th shutter speeds in a condition that is not full blown Sunny-16 conditions.</div>
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Ordinarily, if you wanted to use the HSS feature, you would need a 2nd specific Godox trigger (called the Cell II), just to get HSS. What gets me is that the Cell II trigger cannot control the flash output like the FT-16 can, so even then you would need to carry around the FT-16 trigger in your pocket, but this is still a proprietary trigger, and if you are like me, someone that has some 3rd party flashes, but mostly use Nikon speedlights, mixing and matching is a pain, unless you use something like a PW to trigger and control your Nikon speedlights and other flashes and the FT-16 to control the output of your AD-360's.</div>
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So how does it all work, HSS and HyperSync? Quite well, thanks for asking! For those that are ControlTL knowledgeable, you know that you can set the triggers to use the camera HSS tables to trigger all flashes, and if that remote flash happens to be a flash that is not directly supported by PW, one can still get that one remote FlexTT5 to use the HSS timing tables along with a P2 port offset to get things all aligned properly. The results are perfectly lit frames at any shutter speed above max sync speed at all power levels from 1/16th to full power with the AD-360 HSS feature enabled. Massive black banding without it under the same circumstances (except when the flash is on full power, of course!).</div>
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How to do it: At all shutter speeds from 1/320th to 1/8000th where the flash is at any power between 1/16th to 1/1, all one has to do is to activate the HSS feature on the AD-360. This is done by pressing the MODE and SET buttons at the same time. To exit HSS mode, just press the MODE button once by itself. Of course anytime you are in HSS mode, there is a loss of power because the flashes have to be pulsed, and so it drops around 2 stops in output (I will verify exactly what the amount is via my meter once I get a new battery).</div>
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Just a note, HSS mode uses a LOT more battery power, so use sparingly (some say more than full power pops!). It is possible to not only get the flash to fall into thermal protection mode but the battery itself as well, so be careful! Since we are talking about it, just because it is possible to get the flash to recycle in under 3 seconds at full power, that does not mean you should do it over and over without realizing that there are potential consequences. If you want to take care of your equipment, don't be too abusive of it, be that with HSS or straight full power pops. The manual says it can handle around 75 full power pops then mandates a 10 minute rest period. When using HSS, that drops to 45-50 pops before needing a 10 minute break. Here is a better idea... just don't push it that hard, ok?</div>
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Oh, almost forgot to mention!! What were the ControlTL settings that gave me these great results? Easy. On the trigger side, start HSS at 1/320th. On the FlexTT5 remote side, set the P2 port to a setting of 5... that's it, that's all. </div>
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One final comment about HyperSync... How well it works is not just flash dependent, but it is the harmonious combination of PW ControlTL units properly configured, a flash with long durations and a camera with a fast/efficient shutter. I have been very lucky in all my camera choices in that the D200, D700 and D4 all offer me outstanding performance with my equipment. Your results may be different. I make no promises or claim that you will get similar results with your equipment.</div>
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August 20, 2015</h3>
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Interesting... the more I use this flash, the more I tend to like it and want to use it over my speedlights. Maybe because it's so new, maybe because it is just such a lovely quality of light along with a LOT of power for something the size of a speedlight, but no matter what the reason, this is a manual power, non-TTL flash lover's dream!</div>
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In particular, I've been using it (understandably) with my larger modifiers like the 60" umbrella with great success to light large areas, perfect for large groups (samples to come down below). However, it's not just about brute power, but it's ability to work with smaller modifiers and give very pleasing results. Set up properly, this flash give excellent results in my 24"X24" Lastolite Ezybox.</div>
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Let's take a look at a few photos and share a few thoughts, some challenges and how I dealt with them.</div>
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The first time I used this setup, the photo below shows how I had this working. The flash was sitting high in the lightstand adapter and the head of the flash pointed down as far as it went. Because of the barebulb design, one has to choke the umbrella back and up close to the flash head so that when looking sideways at the setup, the edge of the umbrella just covered the bottom of the bare bulb. This assures maximum umbrella fill, giving you the biggest light source (something that a flash simply could never do anywhere near as effectively!).</div>
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Looking at this setup directly from the side, one can tell that the flash is far up from the ideal center point, and now, another option becomes quite obvious... because this huge umbrella is choked up so close to the flash head, it can be tilted only a very small amount, limiting how this setup could be used. Fear not good friends, there is a very good and affordable fix to this dilemma. </div>
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Here is another trait that is a result of the flash head sitting so high, the light is not centered in the middle of the umbrella. Now, when using this setup, you don't see any obvious artifacts on the subjects, neither when close, far or anywhere in between, but the visual proof is there... that there is more light coming out the top of the umbrella than the bottom. This results in something interesting that can work both against you as well as for you. </div>
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Knowing this is everything, and lets you address or take advantage of this trait. This is how I can take advantage of this... when taking photos of groups where the depth is more than 1 or 2 people deep, proper adjusting helps maintain an equal amount of light on all the people in the shot. It can also result in a gentle vignette when used up close darkening gently from top to bottom. This can be nice if you want it, but an issue if you don't want it.</div>
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A clear indicator that this is happening is when you take a photo from the front and you can see the umbrella shafts and shadows:</div>
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<a abp="1118" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ACj9E4OdzvI/Vf9AxIr7HII/AAAAAAAABG8/LMosBXVldZU/s1600/AD-360Tft-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1119" border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ACj9E4OdzvI/Vf9AxIr7HII/AAAAAAAABG8/LMosBXVldZU/s320/AD-360Tft-8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Though this effect is neither good nor bad, it is an effect that once is known about, can be dealt with or used to your advantage. Like I said, it can shoot a more even swath of light over a deeper area or offer you a nice gentle vignette to the shot, but what if you want to minimize this? The answer lies within the design of the AD-360 itself. integrated into the side of the flash head near the top is a 1/4-20 hole, perfect to accept a stud that lets you mount the flash much lower to the center of the umbrella. The effects are obvious (as you will see later) and do address the potentially unwanted vignetting.</div>
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Now, in my setup, I am using a double stud which raises the flash an extra inch or so that is not really needed, but since I don't have a single stud laying around, for these pics and tests, it will just have to do. A more close-up shot shows the location of the stud hole better.</div>
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The results of this show that the light is much closer to the center, as evidenced again by a shot taken from the front:</div>
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One challenge that is still not addressed is the inability of this setup to tilt very much, as evidenced by this following picture. So, what is the fix?:</div>
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This is the fix... the Paul C. Buff Mini-boom. This pushes the umbrella adapter and everything above it forward by 8.5" and gives you a ton of place now to tilt this huge modifier. Challenged resolved!</div>
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So, how does this setup work? Let me show you a photo taken with this setup... recently, my dojo where I practice BJJ at had a very special event, a seminar with Royler Gracie, and I was glad to have been commissioned to be the only person permitted to take photos at the event. Here is a group shot that I took using the AD-360 that was a good 30 feet back, but because it was such a huge light source, the shadows were still slightly diffused and what I really wanted, because the light was bouncing from the front and back, practically lit the entire dojo!:</div>
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Another modifier that I really like using with this flash is the aforementioned Lastolite Ezybox. This modifier, placed up close to the client like when doing head or head/shoulder shots, offers an incredible quality of light on the subject. I recently was asked by my lady to give her portrait shots because where she works, the shots that they gave her were pretty uninspiring to say the least. My setup gave her some great shots for her to use on the website and business cards.</div>
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The fit of the flash to the lollipop adapter works quite well:</div>
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If I was to get all anal and mod anything, it would be to add a small square of black foam core with a round cut-out in the center that would totally block any light from exiting the softbox, however, it fits well enough and blocks things off well enough that it made no detrimental effects in my shooting session:</div>
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Just slap on the Ezybox to the provided lollipop and one is up and running. Add the PCB Miniboom, and you get ridiculous versatility!</div>
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The softbox is filled completely to perfection of course and even though it is not needed, this shot was taken with the dual diffusers in place:</div>
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The effects of this softbox show in the two pictures below, however, this was basically a multi-flash setup, the AD-360 used as the main, a remote snooted SB-900 used as a slight rim/hairlight and an optional 3rd light to add a splash of background colour on the shots when I wanted it:</div>
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August 23, 2015</h3>
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Had the chance to pick up a couple of batteries today for the Sekonic meter, so I guess that means that we can now get some real world numbers as to how strong the AD-360 really is... no fudging with guide numbers, approximate W/s output or any such nonsense... just irrefutable F-stop numbers from a known distance and identical meter settings in all the measurement shots!</div>
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This is the meter I used for the test, it's the Sekonic L-358 and it has the integrated PW/Sekonic RT-32CTL transmitter.</div>
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<a abp="3300" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vd9WdUnmdnY/VgRgNkCXR0I/AAAAAAAABIc/rZnBt2-H54M/s1600/sekonic%2Bzero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="3301" border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vd9WdUnmdnY/VgRgNkCXR0I/AAAAAAAABIc/rZnBt2-H54M/s320/sekonic%2Bzero.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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First let's discuss the parameters of the test:</div>
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1 - As mentioned, I am using the Sekonic L-358 meter. It was set to ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/250th. This was never changed at any time for the duration of the test.</div>
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2 - I decided to add a little spice to the test by testing the numbers of a well known speedlight so we could get some real world comparison numbers between it and the AD-360. The AD-360 obviously has no zoom, we just used a bare bulb with nothing in front of it and also left the factory reflector in place. The SB-900 can zoom, and we tested it at two zoom levels... 24mm and 200mm. This is the flash I decided to use. At full power, the SB-900 has metered out to the same power levels as a few other flashes, like the SB-910, SB-800 and Canon's 580EXII in side-by-side tests using this same meter.</div>
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3 - The distances from either the tip of the bare bulb or the front plastic element of the speedlight were carefully measured out to 10 feet, give or take a 1/16th of an inch. I placed the tape measure on the front of the light source and placed it 10 feet and 1 inch away. Why that added 1 inch? That is the approximate thickness of the Sekonic meter, so there was no way I could get different results in different tests. I just pressed the meter against the far wall and pressed the button to get the light measurements. </div>
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4 - I also took special care to make sure that I placed the meter at the center or brightest part of where the flash would hit the wall, to make sure I got the best possible results and then repeated the results 5 times with each test. If there were any differences in the results, I would post them here... but they were always identical for all 5 retries of all tests. These flashes were surprisingly consistent as long as they are given enough time to fully recycle. I waited about 5 seconds in between full power pops, which is more than enough for either of the light sources used in the test.</div>
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Let's start the test off with the SB-900!</div>
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The first configuration was with the SB-900 in full manual mode, the power set to full (1/1) output and a zoom of 24mm, which is the zoom setting one gets after doing a reset of this flash.</div>
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<a abp="1008" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SlMHYd2xlvI/VgRgI7cV5BI/AAAAAAAABH8/SF-1stZJ_mw/s1600/SB900-24mm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1009" border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SlMHYd2xlvI/VgRgI7cV5BI/AAAAAAAABH8/SF-1stZJ_mw/s320/SB900-24mm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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(SB-900 settings at 24mm zoom)</div>
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At these settings and distances, this one flash performed admirably and gave me a Sekonic meter reading of F/9, which is excellent for this category of speedlight.</div>
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(SB-900 results at 24mm)</div>
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At this point, I zoomed the SB-900 to it's maximum of 200mm because when the flash head is zoomed, there is more light shot into a much narrower and shorter area. </div>
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(SB-900 settings at 200mm zoom)</div>
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The results were an excellent F/14 at the same 10ft distance.</div>
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<a abp="1032" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B2GK-Mx-DKs/VgRgLMmGZxI/AAAAAAAABII/LTJVy3GrRdw/s1600/sekonic%2Bsb900-200mm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1033" border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B2GK-Mx-DKs/VgRgLMmGZxI/AAAAAAAABII/LTJVy3GrRdw/s320/sekonic%2Bsb900-200mm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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(SB-900 results at 200mm)</div>
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Ok, now time for the AD-360. It only has one "zoom setting" since it is a barebulb design with a reflector and I left it with the reflector on and in it's factory setting, no pushing it forward to try to fudge with the numbers. What I got, anyone should be able to get as long as they have a properly working AD-360. It pounded out an amazing F/22!</div>
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<a abp="1039" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-etC_qAbN2dU/VgRgOEDoHcI/AAAAAAAABIg/Lp1b3ZtygRA/s1600/sekonic-ad360.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1040" border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-etC_qAbN2dU/VgRgOEDoHcI/AAAAAAAABIg/Lp1b3ZtygRA/s320/sekonic-ad360.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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(Godox AD-360 results)</div>
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I noted that with this reflector, it covered a noticeably larger area than the flash did at 24mm, and at the SB-900's 24mm level (so we can kinda compare apples to apples), it ended up being a full 2 and 2/3rds stops more powerful than the SB-900, which makes the AD-360 only 1/3rd of a stop short of being as powerful as 8 SB-900's all clumped together!</div>
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Hey, those of you paying attention, saw that I hinted that I could get a higher number... what is that number and what did I do to get it? Well... the AD-360 does kind of have the ability to zoom... well not really but yeah... lol. I first saw this trick on the Sunpack 120J where their reflector and design is actually made to do this (the AD-360 is simply not designed to do it, but it does have a little "in-out" movement). The reflector head can be moved in and out about 3/4" and this slightly causes the light to focus down ever so slightly tighter.</div>
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<a abp="849" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pCntDKmfaPk/VgVJHIbpNcI/AAAAAAAABIs/yEaUKSu9IOI/s1600/AD360unzoomed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="850" border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pCntDKmfaPk/VgVJHIbpNcI/AAAAAAAABIs/yEaUKSu9IOI/s320/AD360unzoomed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
(AD-360 "un-zoomed)<br />
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(AD-360 fully "zoomed")<br />
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So, what does "zooming" the AD-360 head add? It increases the measurements from F/22 all the way up to F/25... an increase of a whole 1/3rd of a stop!</div>
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Granted a 1/3rd stop increase is in most cases not even worth the effort as it will be near invisible in most shots, but it is a consistently measurable increase for those times where the very maximum amount of light output is needed.</div>
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So that's about it for now... as I get more experiences with this flash, I'll be adding more to this blog post, so if this is something that interests you, come back and check for updates now and then.</div>
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Hope you've enjoyed this post!</div>
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JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-57849933732121434562014-09-11T18:25:00.002-04:002014-09-11T18:34:32.534-04:00<strong>ControlTL, MILD to WILD!</strong><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
A project that I have wanted to do for a while. The concept was a short series of videos explaining and demonstrating the features of the Pocket Wizard ControlTL units.<br />
<br />
As it turns out, there is a *crapload* of stuff to talk about when it comes to these top of the line transceivers, and those short videos ended up being quite detailed and long. <br />
<br />
The PW ControlTL units are the most advanced camera triggers on the market and
because of that have a bit of a learning curve before people can get proper
performance out of them, much less start accessing some of the more advanced features from them.<br />
<br />
In the process I am having a bit of fun. First, a few
rules I made... <br />
#1, no retakes. How it comes out, that's how it comes out. <br />
#2, I
try to cover things in at least a semi-logical order and of course the first
video is a bit dry, but covers all the necessary evils that one has to know to
be comfy with before we get to the more fun stuff. <br />
#3, no single video will exceed
30 minutes (man do I ever break that rule... lol), most will be less than that (I hope!). <br />
#4, bloopers, if any, are left in. No one
is paying me to do this, so I may as well have some fun in the process.<br />
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Ok, here we go!</div>
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Video #1, I cover the following:<br />
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- Detailed descriptions of the FlexTT5, MiniTT1 and AC3.</div>
- Where and how
to install batteries with a couple of added hints<br />
- Firmware updates, what
they are and how to make them<br />
- Physical setup<br />
- Proper turn on order<br />
-
How to do a synchronization shot<br />
- Single group TTL (no commander) the
advantages and disadvantages<br />
- Demo of the single TTL group<br />
- Using Flash
exposure compensation and how that fits with the ControlTL units.<br />
<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/zM0f275zX30?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
<span id="goog_819157726"></span><span id="goog_819157727"></span></div>
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Video #2, I cover the following:</div>
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Video #2 is all about the basics of using commanders in the ControlTL world. Where #2 covers the theory with examples, video #3 covers practical
examples and demonstrations of how each commander works in comparison.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/a5hmqTpOwAo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Video #3, I cover the following:</div>
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This is all about fleshing out the basics we discussed in #2. This video is all about using commanders with ControlTL units, and how to take it 1 step further from the single group TTL solution that video #1 ended at. This video covers all the practical side that #2 left out and shows real life examples of the techniques discussed.<br />
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Covered in this video are how to use the following commanders:<br />
- SB-800<br />
- SB-900<br />
- AC3<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zaatcu0R5xo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Video #4, I cover the following:</div>
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</div>
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<br />
Video #4 changes gears. Instead of focusing on one concept and working in the details, in this video we tackle what I feel are the top 10 things you should know about your ControlTL units.<br />
<br />
In this video we don't cover the usual 1-2 topics... but 10! Bring the popcorn, watch, learn and enjoy the following topics:<br />
<br />
1 - Mix and match older PW units with your ControlTL units!<br />
2 - Introduction to the PW config utility<br />
3 - How to change channels in the PW Config utility<br />
4 - Basic and full reset how-to.<br />
5 - Learn Mode: Change channels without the PW Config utility<br />
6 - Two cameras. One ControlTL environment.<br />
7 - Control flash power with off camera MiniTT1 & AC3<br />
8 - Using the ControlTL units with Sekonic meters<br />
9 - SpeedCycle<br />
10 - How to supercharge your camera's max sync speed<br />
<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/GDBweQUkzI0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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.. and we are not done yet, there are at least 2 more videos planned to come in the near future!</div>
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Enjoy!</div>
</div>
JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-65756758608278285162014-09-11T17:55:00.001-04:002014-09-12T09:36:34.876-04:00ControlTL Distance Tests<div style="text-align: justify;">
I was likely the one person that spoke out loudest when talking about the ControlTL units and their functional distance (or lack of it in my humble opinion and experience). I've must have done distance tests at least 3-4 times and the results were pretty much always the same. By around the 150 foot distance mark, reliability started to drop off drastically and by 180 feet, it was spotty. Above that, they basically failed to work. I was more or less forced to stay at the 125-150 foot or less for good reliability at paid gigs. I've never been able to even get close to a 200 foot reliable distance.</div>
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The nice thing was that it was rare that I needed long distances, but in the few times that I was in need of long range, I would just pull out the Pocket Wizard Plus II's and be good for 1600+ feet, if I needed it.</div>
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In the meantime, here I am reading about other people's experiences and how they are pushing long distances successfully with the same units. For example, <a href="https://fstoppers.com/favorites/fstoppers-nikon-pocket-wizard-flextt5-minitt1-and-ac3-review-6144" target="_blank">F-Stoppers did a shoot over 200 feet</a> away using an 800mm lens to do a portrait, <a href="http://www.robgalbraith.com/multi_pagec96b.html?cid=7-10050-10598" target="_blank">Rob Gailbrath shows examples of *over* 700 feet</a> with Canon units!. Pocket Wizard themselves <a href="http://www.pocketwizard.com/products/transmitter_receiver/36/TT1-N/spec/" target="_blank">claim an up to 800 foot range</a> (1200 foot range when used as a basic trigger).</div>
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So what was I doing wrong maxing out my units at under 180 feet? Was I wrong to expect reliable distances that were less than half of what they were rated for? I love the ControlTL units, but was never enamored with what I considered short reliable distances.</div>
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Of course, there are many things that can cut down range. The now famous RF noise spewing 580EXII Canon flashes that absolutely killed distances were the most well known, and though Nikon flashes also do put out RF noise, it is not on the frequencies that the PW units use and also nowhere as high, so had little to no noise interference issues to contend with. Local electrical interference was also a big factor. Playing near power lines, or anything that transmitted anywhere near where the PW units had their working frequencies was a guarantee that your range would drop. Position of the anetnna is also a factor. I've always tested them with the antenna pointing upwards and PW recommends a horizontal orientation. I also have a setup that places the FlexTT5 lower and further away from the flash body thanks to my PW bracket holders and 3rd party SC-28 cables.</div>
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In the last year there have been several firmware changes and there was one aspect that I never tested.... the ControlTL units have 20 channels available, yet in all my tests, the units were always set to channel #1 every time I did a distance test, so this time I devised a different kind of test, one that would let me view the results and range of different channels. The first thing that I did was make sure I was using the latest firmware (version 3.700 at the time of this post), in all ControlTL units.</div>
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I set up a single good quality lightstand (a heavy duty Manfrotto unit) and on it set up 4 FlexTT5 units and set the C1 configuration bank of each unit to 4 different channels (channels 1, 5, 10 and 20) and on top of the Flexes, I placed 4 SB-900 flashes. I randomly chose those 4 channels because it was a nice range, and kept channel 1 because I needed to know if this channel's distances would be repeatable.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pvSIX3Y0pzo/VBIQ0qBC6iI/AAAAAAAAA9s/P-RzEqMdsZw/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pvSIX3Y0pzo/VBIQ0qBC6iI/AAAAAAAAA9s/P-RzEqMdsZw/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-1.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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I also own two MiniTT1's so I set C1 to channel 1 and C2 to channel 5 of one MiniTT1 and on the other one I configured C1 to channel 10 and C2 to channel 20. Lastly, I made sure that I used freshly recharged batteries in the flashes, FlexTT5's and MiniTT1's.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iycYy6PGQL0/VBIQ0o36D0I/AAAAAAAAA9o/nJuaGpivaLw/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iycYy6PGQL0/VBIQ0o36D0I/AAAAAAAAA9o/nJuaGpivaLw/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-2.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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Adding some tape with the configurations saved to each unit made it easier to be sure that things were running as I needed them to for the tests.</div>
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Time to do the tests!</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ollAJwHMX_g/VBITIyujKqI/AAAAAAAABAE/3J0L6n2ywFk/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ollAJwHMX_g/VBITIyujKqI/AAAAAAAABAE/3J0L6n2ywFk/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-3.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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The picture above shows the setup and the measuring wheel that I used to know exactly how far I could go before things stopped working.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rDfkV5DUAds/VBITJTKZa0I/AAAAAAAABAY/Gu9NRNIsNYI/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rDfkV5DUAds/VBITJTKZa0I/AAAAAAAABAY/Gu9NRNIsNYI/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-4.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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A quick press of the shutter showed me that the right flash was going off with the right channel. From left to right, the flashes were set to channels 1, 5, 10, 20. This is channel 1 being triggered.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hiIt-TXAvr8/VBITJQ0lY5I/AAAAAAAABAU/RU0CmzBQmHU/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hiIt-TXAvr8/VBITJQ0lY5I/AAAAAAAABAU/RU0CmzBQmHU/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-5.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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Not wanting to waste a lot of time, I went straight to the 100 foot mark and tested to see if the MiniTT1 would reach the FlexTT5.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y13stczM8X8/VBITKK7ikKI/AAAAAAAABAg/q8p4IGnb3Yw/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y13stczM8X8/VBITKK7ikKI/AAAAAAAABAg/q8p4IGnb3Yw/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-6.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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As evidenced, channel 1 saw the signal and the flash went off. I figured that I would keep increasing the distance until the flash failed to fire, at which point I would test out the other frequencies.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-buQULnmONSI/VBITKN9QVQI/AAAAAAAABAk/LDE-4Tb89FQ/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-buQULnmONSI/VBITKN9QVQI/AAAAAAAABAk/LDE-4Tb89FQ/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-7.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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Moving to the 150 foot range, I was pretty sure it would work... it did in the past, and this was the range around which was the limit of reliable functionality.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OiYkXL-rUcg/VBITKcGBRkI/AAAAAAAABAo/o2g_Q63GLjE/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OiYkXL-rUcg/VBITKcGBRkI/AAAAAAAABAo/o2g_Q63GLjE/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-8.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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The result of the 150 foot test... success.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I9zroaU-pIc/VBITKn4I2bI/AAAAAAAABAs/IBN1-Wzk6js/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I9zroaU-pIc/VBITKn4I2bI/AAAAAAAABAs/IBN1-Wzk6js/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-9.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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I increased the range to 175 feet, and honestly was expecting to get the odd misfire, but...</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QOCJCEiFjm0/VBITDugbpdI/AAAAAAAAA94/t3NNKd4XRF8/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QOCJCEiFjm0/VBITDugbpdI/AAAAAAAAA94/t3NNKd4XRF8/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-10.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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Another successful result.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sefXa0SzElA/VBITD4JVcUI/AAAAAAAAA98/Otxi1hPRs2w/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sefXa0SzElA/VBITD4JVcUI/AAAAAAAAA98/Otxi1hPRs2w/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-11.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ok, I wanted to see a failure, and I knew that in the past, I never got further than 180 feet, so I pushed it to 200 feet, and...</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LEWHMLicpfQ/VBITD4lvMtI/AAAAAAAAA-A/vkjP3VRM7UE/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LEWHMLicpfQ/VBITD4lvMtI/AAAAAAAAA-A/vkjP3VRM7UE/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-12.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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Another successful result. At this point, I took several more shots, just to be sure, I changed position, height and angle (about the width of the street), and each one fired the flash. This is a kind of new personal best for me and the ControlTL units on Channel 1. It also leads me to believe that somewhere along the line, PW must have done something in the firmware to increase distance. I never reached this range before.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oM8n3yyY3fA/VBITENGOISI/AAAAAAAAA-E/uGzUfnSdPz8/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oM8n3yyY3fA/VBITENGOISI/AAAAAAAAA-E/uGzUfnSdPz8/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-13.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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I decided to add another 25 feet to the range, we are now at 225 feet on channel 1.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k7kTW520EKs/VBITEfrmj6I/AAAAAAAABAc/C7MaNT-7XBo/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k7kTW520EKs/VBITEfrmj6I/AAAAAAAABAc/C7MaNT-7XBo/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-14.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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Incredibly, the flash fired again! Again, I took several more shots varying angle, height and position... it fired each and every time!</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PvgjQdWu9uQ/VBITEV-QNEI/AAAAAAAAA-M/ACTFDs5g7rc/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PvgjQdWu9uQ/VBITEV-QNEI/AAAAAAAAA-M/ACTFDs5g7rc/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-15.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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Up to the 250 foot mark... I am ready for more!</div>
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This time... nothing. Changing height or angle also did not help. Time to change channels!</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uye1dDtCMWE/VBITFGoWUSI/AAAAAAAAA-c/ZuppeYZp344/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uye1dDtCMWE/VBITFGoWUSI/AAAAAAAAA-c/ZuppeYZp344/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-17.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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A change to channel 5 and the test resulted in... failure.</div>
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One more try at channel 5... nothing.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VLAMJNLTpaA/VBITFjhByXI/AAAAAAAAA-o/NzHrwAdRheI/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VLAMJNLTpaA/VBITFjhByXI/AAAAAAAAA-o/NzHrwAdRheI/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-19.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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I put in a blank frame here to denote that I changed to the 2nd MiniTT1. I was now ready to play with channels 10 and 20. I will save you a frame by saying that channel 10 did not fire the flash, but when I changed over to channel 20...</div>
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I was surprised to see flash #4 fire off consistently even after 6 more tests!</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iryT-tAuQjs/VBITGctj6-I/AAAAAAAAA_E/AVi2jCtpqzU/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iryT-tAuQjs/VBITGctj6-I/AAAAAAAAA_E/AVi2jCtpqzU/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-22.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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Let's add another 25 feet... we are now are 275 feet as shown by the measuring wheel.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bC8HnG2J-J0/VBITGsIM4kI/AAAAAAAAA_I/Ag1Zo6IW2yI/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bC8HnG2J-J0/VBITGsIM4kI/AAAAAAAAA_I/Ag1Zo6IW2yI/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-23.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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Incredible... another series of successful tests at this range!</div>
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I increased range to 290 feet simply because if I went another 10 feet, I would be in the middle of a cross-street, so I decided to do the test at the 290 foot mark. In my head, I could not see it working anyways, but...</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UHRz79RxHuI/VBITHWHJMlI/AAAAAAAAA_U/Bn62eH1iy8Q/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UHRz79RxHuI/VBITHWHJMlI/AAAAAAAAA_U/Bn62eH1iy8Q/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-25.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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I guess I was wrong. It fired over and over for me at this distance!</div>
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To heck with it... I went to the 300 foot mark, stood in the middle of the damned road, and took the shot, and...</div>
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No freaking way... but the picture does not lie. I took only 3 quick frames as I *was* in the middle of the street and there were cars coming up fast.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FKfs6fzhX20/VBITIZHwWZI/AAAAAAAAA_w/Ex35yu3J_Tc/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FKfs6fzhX20/VBITIZHwWZI/AAAAAAAAA_w/Ex35yu3J_Tc/s1600/ControlTL_Distances-28.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ok, time to max out the distance... I went as far across the street as I could, went past the sidewalk and up on to some guy's grass to be able to reach 350 feet. I took the shoot and...</div>
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Well son of a gun! I again went about 6 feet left, 6 feet right, took shots from knee height and over my head, all were successful and not one misfire!</div>
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So... know what that means? It means that I need to do the test again, but in a location that will give me greater room so I can see where channel 20 reaches it's limit and starts failing.</div>
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Know what? I cannot recall how many times I said that I would be satisfied with reliable 300 foot ranges. If the flash can be triggered from 350 feet consistently, 300 feet is definitely in the reliable range... and I did not run out of range, I ran out of room to move further back, well, maybe if I walked into the guys living room, I would have gained another 50 feet, but I am sure the guy would not have been impressed.</div>
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So... bottom line, I've got nothing more to bitch about, but I am going to make ControlTL channel 20 my new default channel in my setup. Nothing learned is ever lost effort!</div>
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Now... where can I find an area that would give me 800 feet of line of sight to play with in safety? I'll have to research that one and get back to you. Once I do, and re-do this test for the final time, I will post the results here.</div>
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Hope you enjoyed my 2014 ControlTL distance test!</div>
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<br />JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-1125587496050300512013-07-08T08:56:00.000-04:002013-07-08T09:05:08.331-04:00FlexTT5 - Dual TriggeringI saw an interesting point made recently that a FlexTT5 cannot use the P2 port when there is a flash sitting in the hot shoe of that same FlexTT5. It's kind of logical, but at least when it comes to the Nikon versions of this ControlTL unit, there is a way to make the FlextTT5 fire from both the hot shoe and the P2 port simultaneously. <br />
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The trick is to not use a detectable iTTL flash in the FlexTT5's hot shoe. This means either using tape over the TTL connectors or to simply use a non-iTTL flash or an iTTL flash in manual mode in the hot shoe. This then permits the FlexTT5 to send a "fire now!" signal to the flash in the hot shoe and to the flash connected via the P2 port, both at the same time and in sync.<br />
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The proof is in the pudding...<br />
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This is where I physically disabled TTL by putting gaffer tape on to the TTL contacts of the SC-28 cable which is attached to the FlexTT5:</div>
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Here you can see the cable plugged into the P2 port of the FlexTT5. Forgive the slight blur, this was before I had my coffee and shutter speeds were at 1/8th of a second... lol </div>
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The SC-28 cable that is attached to the FlexTT5's hot shoe connector leads to an SB-80DX which is set to manual mode (1/128th). Now at this moment, I did not know that the tape made no difference as long as the flash was in a manual mode, but I wanted to remove that aspect physically for the tests. </div>
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The P2 port sync cable leads to a non-iTTL hot shoe connector and in this test, the SB-800 was the flash used here. It also was set to manual mode and a 1/128th power.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m-RjvSZH7Ys/UdqywukvPzI/AAAAAAAAA14/83-Kvj-Hqgg/s1600/PW+test-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m-RjvSZH7Ys/UdqywukvPzI/AAAAAAAAA14/83-Kvj-Hqgg/s320/PW+test-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Basically, all together, this is how the setup worked. I hit the test button on the FlexTT5 and both flashes fired in all tests (be sure you have disabled stand-by on both flashes!) </div>
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That, however, was not the definitive test... I wanted to see if a MniTT1 could trigger this setup... and indeed, it did perfectly as demonstrated below. </div>
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I then removed the tape from the iTTL connector and switched around the flashes, where the SB-800 was in the hot shoe of the FlexTT5 and the SB-80DX was connected via the P2 port. With the SB-800 in TTL mode, only the P2 port fired, but when I placed the SB-800 into manual mode, both flashes again fired in sync.<br />
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So now that we know what can be done, what cannot be done? Well, as far as the Nikon ControlTL units go, we cannot fire flashes attached to the hot shoe and P2 port of the Flex if the flash that is in the hot shoe is detected as an iTTL capable flash. When this happens, the hot shoe "fire now!" signal is disabled and only the P2 port attached flash fires.<br />
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Here is a small hypothetical situation that this could be used to your advantage... lets say that you have used all your ControlTL units and now need to fire off a couple more studio heads but there is nothing left in your bag except some very basic 3rd party triggers and receivers. <br />
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Well, one could attach a 3rd party transmitter to that Flex and a couple of 3rd party receivers to the studio heads and your on camera MiniTT1 triggers the whole kibosh without hassle!<br />
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This is a nice little tool to add to the chest of tools that the ControlTL units can do. :)<br />
JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-40778312242071729112013-01-26T12:16:00.001-05:002013-01-26T12:16:05.557-05:00Sigma 35mm F/1.4 Review<div style="text-align: justify;">
It is not often that I do lens reviews here, but this new toy that I just picked up really deserved it's own blog entry here. So here we go, my thoughts about this incredible new lens from Sigma.</div>
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I've been researching and scouting this lens out since it's release around
October of last year. Around early December I made the decision to get it, but
demand was so high, that no one in Canada or the USA had them in stock, and that
includes people like B&H and Adorama!<br /><br />I am talking about the Nikon
version of Sigma's latest killer lens, the 35mm F/1.4DG.<br /><br />According to
DX0Mark (yeah, I am not real fan of them, but they do seem to impress some
people... lol), this lens has superior specs to the Nikon 35mm F/1.4G, the Canon
35mm F/1.4 L and even the $2000 Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 lenses!<br /><br />Ever since I got
the D4, I kinda found it fun to make an unboxing video when first getting it
home, and I did want to play with another new toy I bought recently (Avid
Studio, a video editing program), so I put the two together and had some
fun.<br /><br />
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<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/7ZpIM1_P1Ns/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7ZpIM1_P1Ns&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7ZpIM1_P1Ns&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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<br />First
impressions? Well, the first thing that hits you is the weight of this lens. It
is quite heavy, likely a touch heavier than the Sigma 50mm F/1.4 lens! The lens
is long and easy to hand hold with and the barrel is made of metal. The focus
ring is wide and has a really nice firm feel to it. As I mentioned, it is long,
and at least on a D4, balances out very nice with a pro body with integrated
grip, though it is not heavy enough to feel like it would unbalance a
smaller/lighter camera.<br /><br />Sigma has recently revamped their lineup and
divided things into 3 categories, Contemperary, Art and Sports. This model has a
bright silver-chrome inlay with the letter "A" in it, denoting that it comes
from the Art categorie.<br /><br />Looking at the photos, the first thing that hit
me immediately is how sharp this lens is. Even wide open at F/1.4, it is easily
sharper than the Sigma 50mm F/1.4 is at F/2.8, making this a lens that is a
pleasure to use wide open all the time!<br /><br />It has a remarkably pleasant
background blur and handles CA, pin cushioning and other distortions very, very
well. Sometimes though, having a lens that is incredible at everything is not
always a good thing. For example, it handles flare so well, that I cannot use
use it for those times that I want to create one of my signature shots, where I
get flare between the lips of people kissing. This lens just gives me light and
near no flare, a place where the Sigma 50mm F/1.4 is just masterful at this
little "trick".<br /><br />Another area where I feel the lens falls a bit short of
perfection is focus speed. Yes, it nails the focus time after time and it is
quick (faster than for example the Sigma 50mm is), but it's no speed demon like
for example, the Nikkor 24-70 is (that lens just spoils me... lol). Whenever it
does focus, it is very smooth and quiet, doesn't hunt and gets the jo done. It
is a true HSM, meaning that when the lens focuses, the focus ring doesn't move
in your hand, and after it is finished focusing, you can still over-ride the
focus settings manually without needing to slide the focus ring forward like for
example, with the Sigma 105mm F/2.8 Macro lens.<br /><br />Another thing that I feel
Sigma could have done better is weather sealing. The Sigma lens lacks the rubber
ring that Nikon pro lenses have and that insulates it against the elements. No
matter, it is not often that I shoot in a downpour. <br /><br />Sigma
denotes this as a DG lens, meaning it made for digital cameras and has no
aperture ring, so you cannot use it on your old film cameras. Though it is not
something that I woudl miss, some people may. A pity because this lens is far
better than what I feel used to be made in the past, and film users would
appreciate this lens' characteristics if they could but use it.<br /><br />Bottom
line... the 35mm focal length was missing from my kit and I knew it, but I just
could not justify the overpriced Nikon version nor the even more expensive Zeiss
vesion and just decided to wait. I am extremely glad that I did because the
Sigma is:</div>
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<br />- incredibly sharp<br />- handles all manner of dsitortions
surprisingly well<br />- is well balanced<br />- is VERY well made<br />- is 1/3rd the
price lower than the Nikon 35mm F/1.4G (according to Amazon Canada at the time I typed
this post)<br />- outperforms the Nikon, Canon and even the Zeiss lenses on pretty much all levels<br /><br />... so
what is not to like about it? Well, if I could change just ONE thing, it would
be the front element size. This lens uses a 67mm filter ring. I dearly wish they
made it a 77mm lens like the 50mm is so that I could use the 77mm Singh-Ray
Vari-ND filter on it. In the end, though, it is no biggie, because for $5 I can
pick up a step-down ring adapter and still use all my 77mm filters.<br /><br />Sigma
had better ramp up the manufacturing speeds at their plants, because they are
going to be selling a LOT of these lenses!</div>
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Here are a few shots that I took at a Montreal car show on January 2013:</div>
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JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-7821971787716582652012-12-25T15:21:00.003-05:002013-08-18T14:02:19.494-04:00Reikan FoCal Lens adjust system<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>FoCal MA Focus Optimizing System</strong></div>
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A couple of days before Christmas I decided to get myself a new toy for my photography passion. This time, it was the <a href="http://www.reikan.co.uk/focalweb/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Reikan FoCal Automatic Lens Calibrator</a>. I cannot recall ever having had an easier time making a purchase online. Not only was the purchase quick via Paypal, but I received my 2nd email that contained the license within a few seconds after receiving the confirmation email from Paypal (which in itself was about 3 seconds after clicking on the PAY NOW button).</div>
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The install is very easy and I chose the Windows 7 version for my needs. Some Microsoft computers may need to install the Microsoft DotNet 4 frameworks and the install checks for this automatically. After that, I ran the program, copied the key that was sent to my email, pasted it and restarted the program. Next, I connected a long USB cable to my computer and then the D4, turned the camera on and it was seen within a couple of seconds and I was ready to start calibrating my lenses.<br />
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Using the app seems pretty intuitive, though I did read the quick start PDF as I was setting things up. The longest part of this setting up process is making sure that the chart that you print out, is on the same plane as the lens and then placing the camera at the proper distance to the chart (I used the formula of focal length X 50, then divided by 10 to give me the centimeters distance from the chart to the base of the camera... close enough, for example, a 50mm lens is 50mm times 50 = 2500 divided by 10 equals 250 centimeters distance from camera to your printed out chart on the wall ).<br />
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First, as I suspected, doing it manually with a lot of patience can get you close, but not spot on unless you had some luck. Some examples... with two hours of work doing it manually, I deduced that a -10 was needed with my Nikkor 24-70 lens. The FoCal application told me -7 was the proper optimized result. With this tool, it lets you get it right the first time with no effort and no guessing, which basically that is what you are doing when using the manual method. Either you are guessing, or you have some very incredible eyes!<br />
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The one thing that should be noted is that anytime we start playing with micro adjustments, it should be kept in mind that the best distance between the lens and your target is the average distance that you take pictures at normally using that lens. Reikan suggests a certain distance (25-50 times the focal length of the lens), but for my style especially with the shorter lenses, this seemed much too close and could throw off my focus more than help it. Well, as I later learned, that 50X number seems to work really well. How well? Read the rest of this blog post to see!<br />
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The first four that I decided to try were the Sigma 50mm F/1.4, the Sigma 20mm F/1.8, the Nikkor 85mm F/1.4 and the Nikkor 24-70 F/2.8 lenses. I chose them because I had the room in my basement to properly set the distance from chart to camera. Longer lenses require more room, and I will need to find another way to set things up to optimize lenses like my Nikkor 70-200 or Nikkor 135mm F/2 due to space limitations on my end.</div>
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After having used this tool now for these four lenses, I have nothing but praise for it. If you had the chance and bought the top of the line PRO version, you have more tools, amongst them, the Aperture Sharpness testing tool, which is just awesome! </div>
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Now, as an example, I *thought* Ihad a really good idea of what apertures where my Sigma 50mm worked well and where it was previously ok but not great, but after doing the Aperture Sharpness Test, I did not realize just how much of a drop F/1.4 was when compared to something like F/2. </div>
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Though it measured as the least sharp aperture at F/1.4, this lens measured surprisingly excellent between F/2 to F/9 and very good between F/1.6 to F/13... but what surprised me is that the peak is at a surprisingly low F/4. Had someone asked me where the sweet spot for this lens was, I would have sworn all day that it was closer to F/8. <br />
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This is all knowledge that is just great to know!<br />
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With a zoom lens, things become a touch more complex, but my feelings are that one is going to have to compromise and choose at what focal length you shoot the most. In my case, with the 24-70, I am going smack in the middle (at around 46mm), but for the 70-200, I am thinking that I want to be somewhere around the 125mm range. Distances needed are going to be a little beyond my room in the basement at the longer focal ranges, so as mentioned, I may have to do that one in a location that offers me more room. I could do it outside, but this week, it's out of the question, unless I want to shovel a lot of snow out of my way between the camera and computer... LOL.<br />
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The process is not 100% automated with the Nikon D4 like it would be with other cameras, but the only thing I had to do is change the MA adjustment (to a setting the program told me to set it to), several times per lens test, and hit the ENTER key or click the OK button, it did all the rest. The average time to do a lens was about 3-5 minutes.<br />
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So, initial impressions... I am very pleased with it and in the process I learned something new about my equipment and that is something that is NEVER a bad thing.<br />
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Used properly, this software and method deserves my double thumbs up. :-)<br />
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<strong>NOTE</strong>: Just to add, there are a few caveats for proper use... you need to be using Windows 7 (either 64 or 32 bit versions). There is a beta out for the Apple folks. I am not sure how the XP people would fare, I would email Reikan or do some serious research and read what they say on their website before plunking down any money... just in case. </div>
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Anyone care to see a few pictures of shots taken after optimization? Well here you go, because as they say, the "proof is in the pudding"!</div>
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All shots were taken with my Nikon D4 at ISO 1600, and each lens was used wide open at it's largest aperture. Also each photo is shown twice, once the entire picture, and the second a tight crop on the focus point. Zoom settings used varied between 200-350 percent (yes, thats 200-350%), so you can get a real close look at how well the shot focused.</div>
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First lens, the 50mm F/1.4 DC EX by Sigma. Traditionally, I would avoid the F/1.4 aperture as I found it just a little too soft, but as I learned, this was not so much because this lens is soft wide open, as much as it was an issue with the focus being off just a touch. The before and after shots that I saw were easily visible at 100% and there was a nice advantage after calibration. I am not going to post the before and after shots simply because the before shots are not representative of what your same lenses may be doing on your camera, but the "after" shots, should be equal to or sharper, if you have the same lenses calibrated the same way and assuming that your lenses are in proper functioning order.</div>
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Just a note here... when uploading to Blogger, it shrinks the shots that you see on a page (and also likely loses some quality as it resized them for "blog sized usage"), but if you click on the pic, you should see the larger size that I made available. The "full sized" shot is reduced but large enough to give you an idea, and the zoomed in shot is just the 200-350 percent sized zoomed in shot. It should be pretty obvious which is which.</div>
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There was a question that if you calibrated the lenses at distances where you did not normally shoot at, would the lens be optimized at one distance and then be far off at the other end? Well, though we used the "50X" suggestion, and then took the above photos at near minimum focus distance of the lens, that the further away you went, the worse your focus would be. Looking below, it is evident that my shots are still as sharp further away as they are when close, and for me, that was a nice surprise.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gJRqsUtiz4s/UNoBcds07xI/AAAAAAAAAyU/eEUDTT4UDMI/s1600/50mm+Sigma+at+1.4-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gJRqsUtiz4s/UNoBcds07xI/AAAAAAAAAyU/eEUDTT4UDMI/s320/50mm+Sigma+at+1.4-5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The next lens was the 20mm lens, and this one has the ability to focus REALLY close, and so I tested this one both close and then really close, with equally satisfying results after calibration.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5ourLP0SHH8/UNoDX1b2NKI/AAAAAAAAAy8/mj84OdajgPs/s1600/20mm+Sigma+at+1.8-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5ourLP0SHH8/UNoDX1b2NKI/AAAAAAAAAy8/mj84OdajgPs/s320/20mm+Sigma+at+1.8-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The next lens was the Nikkor 85mm F/1.4 and with this lens, I was really interested in seeing how it would focus both near and far after optimization. The first 4 photos are with the lens really pushed to be taken at near minimum focus distance. The last two are of a single shot taken to across the room some 25-30 feet away and I zoomed in quite a bit more to show that at both ends of the spectrum, we have some very clear shots. Again, feel free to click on the pics to see them in their larger states, and especially, the zoomed in ones at their much higher magnification levels.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n9Q9WElM2BQ/UNoEJq1rTcI/AAAAAAAAAzc/xnDfzNjuxto/s1600/85mm+Nikkor+at+1.4-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n9Q9WElM2BQ/UNoEJq1rTcI/AAAAAAAAAzc/xnDfzNjuxto/s320/85mm+Nikkor+at+1.4-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V9Bt30k1p64/UNoESeu-MmI/AAAAAAAAA0E/PC7ye-APErQ/s1600/85mm+Nikkor+at+1.4-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V9Bt30k1p64/UNoESeu-MmI/AAAAAAAAA0E/PC7ye-APErQ/s320/85mm+Nikkor+at+1.4-6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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So, is the Reikan FoCal lens adjustment tool a good investment? For me, it was a MUCH appreciated addition to my kit. A few notes about the system... first, though the version I bought (the PRO version) is listed as 70 pounds (thats British Sterling) on their main site, you can get it for <strong><u><em>1/2 that price</em></u></strong> from their website at <a href="http://www.reikan.co.uk/focal/mbp45/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">THIS WEB ADDRESS</a>. This is where I bought mine from. Note, that I do not know how long this site will be valid, but if you are planning to get it and this site is available... click on that link that I provided above.</div>
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What about those other tools that I mentioned? Well, to add some frosting to the cake, the FoCal software can output all the results for you in PDF format, so you get to see where your camera optimized in terms of it's micro adjustment scale. Other tools include things like checking for AF consistency, aperture sharpness, a cool dust analysis tool, checking focus across multiple points and more.</div>
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Here is a screen capture of a small part of the SEVERAL page PDF file that is created. This one shows the aperture sharpness levels relative to other apertures that your lens has.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PFnuBAO5tkU/UNoJ2W7y2TI/AAAAAAAAA0w/Udn29ytq8po/s1600/FoCal+aperture+test.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PFnuBAO5tkU/UNoJ2W7y2TI/AAAAAAAAA0w/Udn29ytq8po/s320/FoCal+aperture+test.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Bottom line... I love it!<br />
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<strong><u><span style="color: red;">Edit:</span></u></strong> Well, after taking all the time to write this post and upload the pictures and what not, I went back the next day and looked at the photos as they appear on the blog page, and I am a little disappointed. Blogger seems to want to compress all the photos here and indeed there is a disappointing visible drop in quality. <br />
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I wish there was an option somewhere that said "trust me, I want the photos seen at the sizes and resolutions that I have chosen!" mode. So, I have to ask that you not really fully judge the final results as they are displayed here, but to see them in the sizes that I originally wished them to be at on my Flickr page at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerryph/sets/72157632339911224/with/8307961442/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">THIS</a> link. Flickr does some funky stuff to the shots as well, but they are a bit better than I am allowed to show here. <br />
<br />JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-39678733794250889142012-06-06T13:15:00.000-04:002012-06-19T10:06:31.898-04:00HyperSync, the basic How-To<div style="text-align: justify;">
I've been on a bit of a romp about HyperSync lately but before this, it's been since August of last year that I looked at HyperSync results. Back at that point in time, it was with firmware v.2.160, which was very good performing. Since that time, I've upgraded from a D700 to a D4 and the firmware has gone up to v.3.003... but I am testing beta firmware V.3.022 which is really promising, so first off, don't use whatever numbers you see here as gospel as being the best performing for your setup... these are the numbers that worked best for my equipment during the time of these tests.</div>
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The way that I would normally do the test is using the method that would offer me the most control and/or the wides latitude of adjustments so that I could zero in on the settings that give me the best results. That would mean going over to the HyperSync/HSS tab, clicking the "Manual HyperSync For Standard Channels" box and then using the "Manual HyperSync Offset" slider in small increments until the best results displayed themselves.</div>
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Though this is sometimes the best way, it is also the longest way and also and has one downside (one setting for all flashes), the settings where these numbers should be applied would be on the TRANSMITTER, not the RECEIVER, meaning, the unit that goes on the camera is the unit that is affected, so if you had 2 different light sources and wished to use HyperSync, only one light would likely be optimized. Not all that great if you want to HyperSync more than 1 light source and more so if they are different!</div>
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Perhaps a better (and slightly faster) solution is to use the "HyperSync For This FlexTT5 As Receiver" section. In that section, there are only drop-down boxes to select from, the first (AC9Flash) has only 9 possible options and the second drop-down box (P2 HyperSync Flash Duration) has 10 possible choices. So, using this section to make your adjustments with means you place the new settings on the receiver FlexTT5, and that means that you can apply different settings to different light sources, each with a possibly different optimized setting that can give you better final results!</div>
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So how does one go about finding what settings work best? Well, it is a touch arduous, but one does it manually, one setting at a time, one picture at a time, then one analyzes the photos, sees which setting worked best on a specific light source with a specific version of firmware. Yes, PW often makes changes to these settings when coming out with a different firmware version, and yes, you will have to go through this again if you wish to confirm maximum effectiveness or change the settings to the new and possibly more effective setting for best results.</div>
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So, the basic process that I used for this article was:</div>
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- make sure the FlexTT5 was at factory settings</div>
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- make sure the flash (Nikon SB-80dx in this case), was at full power (1/1).</div>
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- jot down the settings somewhere (I used notepad), and take a photo</div>
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- change the settings, flash the FlexTT5, and take another photo.</div>
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<b>Important Note: </b>You should not be placing the flash into the hot shoe of the FlexTT5, the only way this works is if the flash is sitting in a hot shoe adapter and the wire from the adapter connects to the P2 port of the FlexTT5!!</div>
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To start off, I made ONE change in the "P2 HyperSync Flash Duration" section, wrote down the settings, took the photo, and started over. I did this 10 times (starting from a setting of "10 - SLOW" all the way to "1 - FAST".</div>
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Looking at all the photos, I noticed that my flash best liked the "1 - FAST" setting... so we kept that setting and moved on to the next control point, the "AC9Flash" selection, and I again made ONE change , wrote down
the settings, took the photo, and started over. I did this 9 times
(starting from a setting of "AB400" all the way to "ZEUS". Yes, that is a lot of plugging, flashing and unplugging of the FlexTT5, but the info is important if you want to get the best out of the setup.</div>
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The results? Well I discovered that (as I already mentioned), the flash liked the "1 - FAST" setting, it gave me the brightest exposure, but I know from past experience, that one of the other settings is going to be slightly better than the others. The FLASH DURATION section gives me the brunt of the optimization, and the AC9 area is just going to further fine tune it a touch.</div>
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To save you all the excitement, the top 2 settings that gave me the best performance were... #2 was the ULTRA1200 setting and the #1 was the AB1600 setting... but though they were VERY close, the AB1600 edged it out.</div>
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"Hang on, if it was very close... how did you know which one was the best"? Good question... I:</div>
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- made sure the camera took a picture of the same wall at the exact same distances and camera settings throughout all picture taking.</div>
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- loaded the photos in Lightroom 4, made sure the histogram was visible, placed my cursor at the top most center section of the file (darker part of the shot), jotted down the numbers, placed the cursor at the bottom most center section of the file (lightest part of the shot), jotted down the numbers</div>
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... and did the same for all 9 photos, and then just looked at the results, the winner is easy to spot! </div>
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Let me show you a few photos from the tests. First a couple photos of the results from the "P2 HyperSync For Flash Duration" section. Please be aware that I chose a camera setting that overall is underexposed by about a stop so that it is easier to see the differences. I set the camera settings to ISO 100, F/8 and 1/1000th in all the photos here.:</div>
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Factory default settings (7)</div>
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P2 setting set to 5</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-og28peo2F8o/T85FYikeJMI/AAAAAAAAAqw/rO6Bn8bsIzM/s1600/_JPH0002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-og28peo2F8o/T85FYikeJMI/AAAAAAAAAqw/rO6Bn8bsIzM/s320/_JPH0002.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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P2 setting set to3</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vICI7jhY23M/T85FcO0kAvI/AAAAAAAAAq4/y3xBtUUFKm0/s1600/_JPH0003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vICI7jhY23M/T85FcO0kAvI/AAAAAAAAAq4/y3xBtUUFKm0/s320/_JPH0003.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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P2 setting set to1</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O49Ss5ia5hI/T85FfUfOfmI/AAAAAAAAArA/Nx6Deqt5JEw/s1600/_JPH0004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O49Ss5ia5hI/T85FfUfOfmI/AAAAAAAAArA/Nx6Deqt5JEw/s320/_JPH0004.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ok, so the obvious improvement is visible as the exposure increases from one setting to the next. The following section shows the very subtle differences in timing between the different settings of the "AC9 Flash" settings. Again, I have purposely underexposed the photos so that the gradation is more apparent, and under these conditions (a white wall), it will be extremely obvious. With a more natural setting (like anything other than a white wall... lol), and a properly exposed subject, this gradation will be for all intents virtually invisible.</div>
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AB-800</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3ueC1EEqzp0/T893448it8I/AAAAAAAAAtk/5kPWxIsdDmE/s1600/1+-+ab800-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3ueC1EEqzp0/T893448it8I/AAAAAAAAAtk/5kPWxIsdDmE/s320/1+-+ab800-9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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AB-400</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f8xwuiNngww/T8935g3qoFI/AAAAAAAAAts/ZQ1bN_rMYAQ/s1600/2+-+ab400-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f8xwuiNngww/T8935g3qoFI/AAAAAAAAAts/ZQ1bN_rMYAQ/s320/2+-+ab400-8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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AB-1600</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y9FXCFTFEvg/T8936SVJynI/AAAAAAAAAt0/BIcF_BnZxpk/s1600/3+-+ab1600-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y9FXCFTFEvg/T8936SVJynI/AAAAAAAAAt0/BIcF_BnZxpk/s320/3+-+ab1600-7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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ABR-800</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xkfxCDAZfRc/T8936wY_NCI/AAAAAAAAAt8/guLzmI5Gwoc/s1600/4+-+abr800-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xkfxCDAZfRc/T8936wY_NCI/AAAAAAAAAt8/guLzmI5Gwoc/s320/4+-+abr800-6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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X-800</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lZcCIqBEV14/T8937lcrZJI/AAAAAAAAAuE/iczBDH0R-4M/s1600/5+-+x800-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lZcCIqBEV14/T8937lcrZJI/AAAAAAAAAuE/iczBDH0R-4M/s320/5+-+x800-5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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X-1600</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jkn_jaJ8dyE/T8939h0EiLI/AAAAAAAAAuM/Vt-NJdqpmrk/s1600/6+-+x1600-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jkn_jaJ8dyE/T8939h0EiLI/AAAAAAAAAuM/Vt-NJdqpmrk/s320/6+-+x1600-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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X-3200 </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0DOBrjQNBqE/T893-deCDsI/AAAAAAAAAuU/PgdAfQjG4cM/s1600/7+-+x3200-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0DOBrjQNBqE/T893-deCDsI/AAAAAAAAAuU/PgdAfQjG4cM/s320/7+-+x3200-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ultra-1200</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MYdluXTm6lA/T893_HTwO6I/AAAAAAAAAuc/u64UQEKD2LM/s1600/8+-+ultra1200-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MYdluXTm6lA/T893_HTwO6I/AAAAAAAAAuc/u64UQEKD2LM/s320/8+-+ultra1200-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Zeus</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rsf9dSFLg6s/T893_9emGEI/AAAAAAAAAuk/JIzFgkHlXuI/s1600/9+-+zeus-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rsf9dSFLg6s/T893_9emGEI/AAAAAAAAAuk/JIzFgkHlXuI/s320/9+-+zeus-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Oh wow... looks nearly all the same, doesn't it? Fact is, each photo is a little different, but two stand out as being just a little better than the others in terms of amount of light registered and a slight lessening of the gradation</div>
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Here are the numbers that I saw when looking at the same 2 points on the histograms of all photos:<br />
<br />
NAME TOP Bottom<br />
<br />
AB800 58.0 98.0<br />
AB400 59.2 98.0<br />
AB1600 60.8 (#1) 98.6 (#1)<br />
ABR800 58.9 97.6<br />
X800 58.4 96.9<br />
X1600 59.7 98.0<br />
X3200 58.1 96.8<br />
Ultra1200 60.2 (#2) 98.5 (#2)<br />
Zeus 58.1 98.4<br />
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<br />
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I've marked off the top two with the highest numbers representing the ones that gave the most light measured. Again, remember, I am using a beta firmware and real life numbers and results may change once the final firmware is released.</div>
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We see that the winner for most light captured is the AB1600 setting. Though the Ultra1200 is a very close #2 setting, we also see it has a slightly higher gradation. Clear winner... AB1600, with the flash duration set to 1 (fastest).</div>
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Oh, I got these numbers by using Lightroom v.4.1, using the histogram and % of exposure readings, that is where the above numbers came from. I placed my cursor on the same part of the photo for all photos and just recorded the results. Getting some precise info that was is pretty reliable and accurate.</div>
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So let's see some results using this technique in the bright mid day sun:<br />
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Ambient, no flash (ISO 100, F/5, 1/1000th)</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ASnpisIXJV8/T8-KQR1Ef4I/AAAAAAAAAuw/YUBNjjtnxUQ/s1600/outside-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ASnpisIXJV8/T8-KQR1Ef4I/AAAAAAAAAuw/YUBNjjtnxUQ/s320/outside-1.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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Flash turned on, ~6 feet away, zoom set to 80 (ISO 100, F/5, 1/1000th), face of subject blown out by around 1.2 stops, but background dropped by 1 stop.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pP9vO0KcctY/T8-KRRyXVuI/AAAAAAAAAu4/zNdcF7TO4lA/s1600/outside-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pP9vO0KcctY/T8-KRRyXVuI/AAAAAAAAAu4/zNdcF7TO4lA/s320/outside-2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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Flash turned on, ~6 feet away, zoom set to 80 (ISO 100, F/7.1, 1/1000th),face of subject blown out by around 0.2 stops and background lowered by about 2 stops.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dE_feGB9Qac/T8-KSNHd4aI/AAAAAAAAAvA/umEYP2Et9e4/s1600/outside-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dE_feGB9Qac/T8-KSNHd4aI/AAAAAAAAAvA/umEYP2Et9e4/s320/outside-3.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now, this exercise is not in how to create a properly exposed shot, but rather to just make a couple of points. In the real life shots, where there is a background, the gradation is not visible at all. That is simply because there is nothing in that area that is being lit, for example like 5 people in a row all equidistant from the flash. If there were, you would see about a 1 stop change in exposure from right to left for the first 10% of the photo when using a speedlight as the light source. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Second point was, though it takes some work, we can match the power of the sun and if it is not too harsh, beat it by a stop or 2 using a single speedlight with no modifiers, a bit of zoom and getting that off camera flash closer to your subject.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So the bottom line? HyperSync is still not totally perfect, but VERY usable as a tool with speedlights. This method's effectiveness increases when you use higher powered light sources like a studio head with long durations.</div>
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<b>Edit</b>: June 16th the Montreal Strobist club arranged a meeting and I had a chance to play with HyperSync in a more impromptu and real world situation. The day was hot, hot enough that I came home very sunburned in the face, but I had a chance to test out the results of using HyperSync and one Nikon SB-80dx speedlight and the results are very pleasant!</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Photo Info</b>: Nikon D4, Sigma 20mm, single Nikon SB-80dx at full power, ISO 200, F/5.0, <b>1/1,000th</b> via HyperSync. Bare flash about 15 feet back and camera left. </div>
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<a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7074/7395929854_fa35213fcb_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7074/7395929854_fa35213fcb_b.jpg" width="178" /></a></div>
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</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Photo Info</b>: Nikon D4, Sigma 20mm F/1.8 lens, single Nikon SB-80dx at full power, ISO 100, F/4, <b>1/2000th</b> via HyperSync. Bare flash about 15 feet back and camera left.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Photo Info</b>: Nikon D4, Sigma 50mm, single Nikon SB-80dx at full power, ISO 50, F/1.4, <b>1/4000th</b> via HyperSync. Bare flash about 12 feet back and camera left.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
There are times to use an ND filter, there are times to use a tiny aperture and there are times to use HyperSync. I am *very* glad that I am able to have all three tools in my kit!</div>
<br />Enjoy!<br />JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-61252436057574660102012-05-31T15:16:00.003-04:002012-05-31T15:46:33.061-04:00Sunny 16 and PW's Hypersync<div style="text-align: justify;">
Recently, I was fortunate enough to be able to beta test another cool product from PocketWizard. This time it was their newest transmitter module for the Sekonic L-358 meter. The product is called the RT-32CTL and it is called that because it can trigger the latest ControlTL units on channels other than the standard 4... indeed, it can work on all 32 channels, hence the name.</div>
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An amazing tool, it makes precise metering of your subjects a BREEZE except that now your triggers can be the ControlTL units... something that was previously not possible and is quite honestly... wonderful.</div>
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I've wanted to add this small transmitter to my list of tools for quite a while, but since I decided to walk the path of the ControlTL units as my triggers of choice, unfortunately, the original Sekonic transmitters were not compatible and could not speak to the new ControlTL units. Triggering flashes connected to FlexTT5 units via Sekonic meters was not possible... until now.</div>
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Yesterday I received my beta copy of the unit and since I had some testing to do, I decided to have some fun looking over the performance of the latest beta firmware for the ControlTL units (which is needed if you wanted compatibility with this new Sekonic transmitter). The new firmware, besides adding the additional feature of being able to work with the new Sekonic transmitter, also added the D4 to the list of compatible cameras and then a host of other changes.</div>
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Cool... another reason to do some testing and playing!</div>
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So, the scene was set, but let's define a few things. The equipment used was:</div>
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- Nikon D4</div>
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- Nikon SB-80dx (this is my workhorse flash when I want to beat on it at full power. If it dies, better that one then the SB-600, SB-800 or SB-900 in my kit!)</div>
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- Hypersync values were set to -1200 at the remote FlexTT5 (maybe not optimal, but should be close enough)</div>
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- Fixed distance of 10 feet from lightstand to wall (fair distance if someone wanted to do something like roughly a full body shot of 2-4 people</div>
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- Flash head height exactly 5 feet from floor (which places the flash head just underneath my chin level... just a kind of marker becuase in later testing, I shall always place the Sekonic meter under my chin as the starting point. In real life, we always want the light to be coming from a higher angle for more realistic results, but that's not what we want to play with today).</div>
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- Flash head is zoomed to it's widest setting of 24mm and that is without the wide angle diffuser dropped down into place. With that small plastic flap down, light would travel as wide as 17mm, but we would lose some light, so for now, up it stays. Thanks to the limited power of a single flash, it may be more important to zoom in more than wide anyways. Zooming in increases the amount of light by an amount we shall discuss later.</div>
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So this was the basic starting setup to do some tests. The flash was sitting on a hotshoe adapter and connected via standard sync port to 1/4" mono plug sync wire to the P2 port of the FlexTT5. Manual Hypersync settings will not work if the flash is sitting in the hotshoe of the Flex.</div>
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Installing the transmitter module into the Sekonic meter was very simple, just make sure it is turned off, open up the back, remove the protective plastic cover that hides the connectors, carefully pop in the module, set it to the proper channels, then set it to the proper mode and you are ready to use it!</div>
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The Sekonic meter only goes up to 1/1000th in it's settings, but calculating resultant F-stops needed for 1/2000th, 1/4000th and 1/8000th shutter speeds is not very challenging, so it works just fine.</div>
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I also want to answer a few questions such as:</div>
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<br /></div>
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- How much power will a standard umbrella eat in terms of power? </div>
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- How much more power can I get if I use a higher zoom setting, and how is the shot affected if distance between flash and wall remains 10 feet?</div>
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- If I use that plastic diffuser panel and get the zoom to 17mm, how much do I lose and again, how is the shot affected if distance between flash and wall remains 10 feet?</div>
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A couple more factors... I decided to stick to 1/1000th shutter speeds for the tests, and then started thinking... how does this work with the Sunny-16 rule? </div>
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Oh... that rule. This one gave me a bit of a headache.</div>
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You see, the exact specs of what the Sunny-16 rule entail come from the days of film and my research tells me that though shutter speeds and ISO vary quite a bit and no one can tell you what the definitive numbers are, the most common variant of this rule is:</div>
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"On a bright day, one sets their film camera's shutter speeds to 1/125th, apertures to F/16 and ISO to 100."</div>
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Ok, honestly, in today's digital world, it is no big deal if we talked ISO 200 or shutter speeds of 1/250th, but we do need a starting point, so the F/16 - 1/125th - ISO 100 will be our starting point here today for this discussion.</div>
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Right... I bet you guys are all fed up with me by now and are thinking "press the darn button on the meter and tell us what a single flash is capable of already!"... ok so let's do it!</div>
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With the bare flash a measured 10 feet from the wall and 5 feet from the ground, we meter to a very nice F/6.3 at 1/1000th.</div>
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That means that if I wished to shoot at F/4.5, my shutter speeds would be 1/2000th or F/3.2 at 1/4000th or 1/5000th at F/2.8. In real world terms, it also means that I should be able to frame out an area that would let me light 4 people wide at around 6 feet high easily enough. But the real question that everyone that wants to use HyperSync is asking right about now is... is this enough light to be able to be useful on a bright day? If so... by how much?</div>
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Let's look at these numbers. Let's just start off with shutter speeds. The Sunny-16 rule uses a 1/125th shutter speed and we are using a 1/1000th shutter speed for our tests. That is a 3 stop difference (125th>250th>500th>1000th). </div>
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Ah, but our aperture was F/6.3 at 1/1000th... how do the apertures work out? Well, to keep it a little more accurate, we'll stick to 1/3rd stops and see how many stops it is from F/16 to F/6.3... and that is exactly 2-2/3rds stops different. </div>
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In the real world, it is very hard for us to see a 1/3rd stop difference so for all intents and purposes, we have just defined the fact that if I use a single Nikon SB-80dx speedlight at full power, then if current conditions are as the Sunny-16 rule states, we can light up an area big enough to fill flash a group of 4 people, pretty much from head to toe (though not 100% evenly). </div>
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But what if I wished to overpower the sun (which conveniently was just at the Sunny-16 level of strength)? Well, since we cannot make the sun weaker (well, we could by waiting, but let's pretend that you don't have the time to wait, and need to get that shot now), that is out... but we are 10 feet away from our subjects. By placing the flash closer, the light becomes stronger. We also have the flash head zoom and that also can add some extra light to the shot.</div>
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Let's start with the zoom head. At our first test, it was set to 24mm, so in the next tests lets see what happens when we set it to different zoom levels:</div>
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At 24mm we got F/6.3</div>
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At 50mm we got F/9</div>
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At 85mm we got F/10</div>
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At 105mm we got F/10</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That is some valuable info! The design of the SB-80dx gave us the equivalent of 1 full stop of power by going from 24mm to 50mm. Amazing, because that is the equivalent of doubling the flash power!</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
By going from 24mm to 85mm, we gained 1-1/3rd stops and by zooming it all the way to 105mm, we realize that the design of the flash did not offer us anymore power after that.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Just for the sake of comparison, when the Nikon SB-900 flash was measured at different zoom levels, the numbers were:</div>
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At 24mm we got F/6.3</div>
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At 50mm we got F/8</div>
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At 85mm we got F/9</div>
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At 105mm we got F/10</div>
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At 200mm we got F/10</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
... so we see that the SB-80dx stacks up well in the maximum power department, however, it obviously lacks other features that are very important to me, such as iTTL support and ability to act as a commander for 3 groups thanks to CLS.<br />
<br />
OK, back to overpowering the sun... what did zooming give us? Well, by zooming from 24mm to 50mm, we clearly now have the ability to overpower the sun by 1 full stop. That means that if we wished to shoot at F/2.8 for those nice blurred out backgrounds during the day, we would need a shutter speed of 1/5000th, but because we had more light, our subjects would be overexposed by 1 stop, so, we would change aperture to F/4, the entire scene would drop by one stop and our entire background (or anything not lit by the flash) are suddenly 1 stop darker.<br />
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</div>
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We've just overpowered the sun by one stop.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But wait, we have one more tool to play with... distance of flash to subject. Remember, this is all happening at 10 feet apart. What if we decided we wished to do a head and shoulder shot of ONE person or a couple very close together, and moved that flash to a distance of 5 feet? Those that know the Inverse Square Law will likely know how to calculate exactly what the results will be, however, I will do it the manner that strains my brain less, and simply move the lightstand to the 5 foot mark and press a button on the Sekonic meter.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The results were: F/13 at 1/1000th at ISO 100 with the flash set to 24mm. However, we are lighting a much smaller area, and perhaps we don't want a 24mm spread of light... so what happens if one zoomes the head to 85mm? Setting the zoom to 85mm, and the meter reads out a blinding (LITERALLY for your clients!) F/18 at 1/1000 and ISO 100!<br />
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</div>
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From our start of F/6.3, to an impressive F/18... that is an increase of 3 entire stops. Wow!</div>
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<br /></div>
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So, if we are matching the Sunny-16 rule at F/6.3, ISO 100 and 1/1000th, well, now we know that we can overpower the sun by at least 2 stops under very controlled conditions with a single battery powered speedlight that is near 30 years old. However, let's be honest... it won't be very comfortable for the people that are 5 feet away from your flash, and you will be limited to something tighter, like a head or perhaps a head/shoulder shot at most.</div>
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But what if you wanted to shoot at a shallower DOF? Well, if you went to 1/8000th shutter speeds, aperture would drop to F/6.3, but if you used a longer lens and/or increased distance of subject to background, you could achieve a good amount of background blur (though to be honest, that background is going to be at least 2 stops darker!), but the amount of blur is defined in not just one aspect, but five. To understand what those five control points that create background blur are, refer to my article here called "<a href="http://jerryphpics.blogspot.ca/2010/12/dof-to-next-level.html" target="_blank">DOF, The Advanced Look</a>".</div>
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Oh, I almost forgot to mention... adding a standard 43" umbrella to the flash setup ate a full 2 stops. I always thought it was less than that, but that is exactly what my umbrella munched up, as per the meter reading.</div>
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Remember that small plastic flap that increases zoom another few degrees? It dropped the light from F/6.3 down to F/4.5... a drop of one full stop. Now, though it did lose a full stop, it also increased the width of the lit areas a little more than the small increase from 24mm to 17mm would suggest.</div>
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All good info to know!</div>
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Epilog: All the numbers that I used in this article were made available thanks to my Sekonic meter and the new PocketWizard transmitter module. Again, what a great tool... I know that I now have a wonderful new addition to my kit that is going to help me make better metered and balanced lit photos in controlled conditions. Also, because I have hard numbers now, I better understand the limitations and capabilities of speedlights and how they function under very specific conditions.</div>
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Enjoy!</div>JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-13771097905889842472012-05-25T19:02:00.001-04:002012-05-28T08:31:05.797-04:00D4 and Ultra High ISO?<div style="text-align: justify;">
How good (or how bad), is the D4 at higher ISO levels... really? </div>
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I've not seen anyone willing to stick their hand in to the fire and go into any great detail about what this camera is like in real life conditions (like walking into a DARK location, and by dark, I mean 1/60th at ISO 6400 at F/2 as a starting point!), take all shots hand-held, and then showing us how good the files are, and then on top of that, how well do they clean up in post.</div>
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Everyone has seen the few high ISO results from the D4 on the web, but these were taken in a well lit room, and though it was great to see, and gave us some idea about the potential of this camera, it never answered how well it works when not under friendly controlled conditions. So far, I have not seen any hand-held shots at challenging locations where we are left to the mercy of the operator and whatever software they want to use to process the files with later... which is the 2nd part of my discussion.</div>
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Now, any camera at it's highest ISO will look like crap thanks to lots of lost detail information and a much lower dynamic range, but how well is the noise controlled and how high can someone go and still get a good photo... or how about even a usable photo? </div>
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Let's define "a useable photo", ok? I shall define a useable photo as a picture that even for a photographer, they would consider the photo good enough if it was a photo of someone special, of something or someone in a once in a life situation that is now forever gone... something precious. If they looked at it and said, "yeah that's someone that I miss..." when looking at the photo instead of thinking "wow, what is this??", we have a useable photo. Mind you, this is not a photo I would normally sell to a paying client, it is merely a fine photo that shows a special moment in time.</div>
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Where does the D4 draw the line between an acceptable photo and unusable under any conditions? How good or bad are it's files and how well do they clean up? These are all some very valid questions... questions that deserve an answer, especially if you are considering this multi-thousand dollar camera.</div>
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Well, that brings us to another dilemma... there are many options out there that can be used to clean noise from a file, and if anyone wanted to spend a lot of money, they could likely do some very interesting comparisons between all these software, but for the purpose of this blog post, let's just limit ourselves a bit to not the best out there (which I would perhaps say would have to be a plug-in under Photoshop for maximum effectiveness, along with a good mastery of that application to boot), nor the worst, but something right there in the middle. For the purposes of evaluating all photos here, we shall only use whatever Lightroom V.4 can give us in terms of potential for cleaning up the noise from ultra-high ISO files.</div>
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That is another thing I am going to define... "ultra-high ISO" for the sake of the discussion here will mean ISO levels that start off at ISO 12,800 and goes up from there. ISO 6400 on the D4 is pretty much noise free, honestly, there is nothing to clean up, nothing to remove, it is as clean as an ISO level somewhere between 800-1600 on a D700... and that means as clean as you want it to be, even at pixel-peeper levels of 100% viewing. That is why I am not even going to start at ISO 6400. </div>
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Today, that level is now considered "middle of the road" as far as I am concerned, yet it is a level which even one generation of digital cameras back was considered an incredible accomplishment. Times change, things move to a different beat today, so let's roll with it.</div>
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Finally, if we are going to compare, let's compare it to the performance of another camera that I own, a D700. I wish I owned and could compare to a D3s, things would be a lot closer, but one has to play with the cards one is given, and my two cards are these two cameras. </div>
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With that all said, let's have some fun and look at some SOOC (Straight-Out-Of-Camera) files and some files touched up in Lightroom V.4 and see what we learn.</div>
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May 23rd, 2012, I went to one of my favorite locations to shoot some high ISO shots with the D4, this place is the St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal. Those that follow my Flickr stream know that I've often gone there and I know where all the best dark spots and most challenging locations are to really push one's camera if you want to talk about things like focusing in really low light and shooting at high ISO levels.</div>
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The first place after one walks through the main door is a good place to start. ISO 6400 and 1/60th at F/2 on a 20mm wide angle lens. It's a dark location, but we're just warming up (click on the photo to see a larger version):</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RIMeNQIHvIE/T7_6Cj8UjyI/AAAAAAAAAl0/SZvkPCVlI80/s1600/D4+Oratory+Shots-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RIMeNQIHvIE/T7_6Cj8UjyI/AAAAAAAAAl0/SZvkPCVlI80/s400/D4+Oratory+Shots-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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What impressed me with the D4 is the increased dynamic range. I am seeing detail here in this photo that I just do not see in any of the prior photos I have taken of this room, and I like what I see. First off, that is indeed ISO 6400... and that is also ZERO noise reduction. Not bad, but let's get a little more serious with the high ISO on the next one.</div>
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This next one is taken at the very top of the Oratory, in the Basilisk, or top most area. Almost hidden to one side is a stone carving about 20 feet up. These were taken at ISO 12,800 at 1/100th of a second using the Nikkor 135mm F/2dc, and we were at an aperture of F/2, so... it was DARK there.</div>
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In this shot, we can see from the SOOC file that it looks good. In real life, if you were there and then looked at this photo and compare this to what you see in this location, you would say that the camera is registering a photo brighter than your eye sees in this darker location and you would say it looks good. <br />
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Point of fact, I can print out 16X20 files of this photo from the SOOC file, and it would look excellent... no one would say "what is that... is that... noise??". It is not until you go to the Pixel-Peeper levels of 100% that the noise even becomes visible.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6IMbwyAZ0bM/T7_9RVis5lI/AAAAAAAAAmI/F2utAavf5CM/s1600/comparison+at+12800-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6IMbwyAZ0bM/T7_9RVis5lI/AAAAAAAAAmI/F2utAavf5CM/s400/comparison+at+12800-1.jpg" width="386" /></a></div>
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Looking at the same shot as above, but at a 100% crop, we can see from the SOOC file that it does indeed show some noise... though honestly, it is truly minor and in real life, looking at the actual art piece, you would see it has some grain to it as well, though not as much as there is noise in this photo. This is a MORE than usable photo, it has a ton of dynamic range in there, no colour artifacts and quite honestly little to no loss of details. Also, I already see something very interesting... that the noise seems very linear and consistent. This means that lowering or removing this noise is going to be a very easy job for the software. Even so, something this good did not even exist 10 years ago at these ISO levels!</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3lM64tr5GwI/T7_9UHWRkUI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/xdmVhiIWRuQ/s1600/comparison+at+12800-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="387" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3lM64tr5GwI/T7_9UHWRkUI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/xdmVhiIWRuQ/s400/comparison+at+12800-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In this shot, we can see from the LR4 lightly modified file that it looks... wow. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pHjPN_sUVBo/T7_9WA0LsmI/AAAAAAAAAmY/osnX3YLipbU/s1600/comparison+at+12800-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pHjPN_sUVBo/T7_9WA0LsmI/AAAAAAAAAmY/osnX3YLipbU/s400/comparison+at+12800-3.jpg" width="387" /></a></div>
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The noise reduction slider is at the 50% position, and to be very honest, I should not have pushed it that far because what happened was that LR removed all the subtle grain that the art piece had in real life, but I just liked how it ended up looking... it looks more like an etching than what it really is, which is a carved stone homage to the birth of Jesus. Doesn't matter, photographer's prerogative... lol</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o6LKx8sMRmQ/T7_9X74aLgI/AAAAAAAAAmg/Acel2WJroks/s1600/comparison+at+12800-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="387" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o6LKx8sMRmQ/T7_9X74aLgI/AAAAAAAAAmg/Acel2WJroks/s400/comparison+at+12800-4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The 100% crop view of both photos, placed side by side, shows that there really is no appreciable loss of detail at this level, and that is just really impressive, considering we are starting off at ISO 12,800. However a slider level of around 35 or so would have resulted in a photo that more accurately depicts what one sees in real life much more acurately.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hehdHNrwNTs/T7_9OloIYUI/AAAAAAAAAmA/oXqbM-LnlUo/s1600/12800+Compare+at+100pct.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hehdHNrwNTs/T7_9OloIYUI/AAAAAAAAAmA/oXqbM-LnlUo/s400/12800+Compare+at+100pct.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Let's push the D4 as far as it will go and see where it takes us... we are about to go where most fear to tread... lol</div>
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The photo is of the top part of an altar. The location is again dark. How dark? ISO 12,800 at F/2 at 1/60th on the D4 with the Nikkor 135mm F/2dc lens. We are talking very dark. On the left we have the SOOC shot and on the right, we have the same one, but edited in LR4.</div>
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At this point, I am going to stop rambling for the next few photos and just post facts about the photos and let them do all their own talking. Don't forget, clicking on a photo brings up a much larger version of the photo, and clicking anywhere on the black part brings you back here.</div>
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Equipment: Nikon D4, Nikkor 135mm F/2DC lens always set to F/2 in all the 10 photos below.</div>
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Settings: ISO 12,800 Full frame view (LR slider to 30 on edited photo)</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X7ztnZ1aSH4/T8AD_vayUKI/AAAAAAAAApM/Vtzidx4fcjo/s1600/01+-+12800+Compare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X7ztnZ1aSH4/T8AD_vayUKI/AAAAAAAAApM/Vtzidx4fcjo/s400/01+-+12800+Compare.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Settings: ISO 12,800 100% crop view (LR slider to 30 on edited photo)</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T5Qa23KhGwc/T8AEA0TuBZI/AAAAAAAAApU/s85-lNlKDxA/s1600/02+-+12800+Compare+-+100pct.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T5Qa23KhGwc/T8AEA0TuBZI/AAAAAAAAApU/s85-lNlKDxA/s400/02+-+12800+Compare+-+100pct.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Settings: ISO 25,600 Full frame view (LR slider to 40 on edited photo)</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nbv8aRsxTlM/T8AEByvUZgI/AAAAAAAAApc/siWTN8oK0wU/s1600/03+-+25600+Compare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nbv8aRsxTlM/T8AEByvUZgI/AAAAAAAAApc/siWTN8oK0wU/s400/03+-+25600+Compare.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Settings: ISO 25,600 100% crop view (LR slider to 40 on edited photo) </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MWfUUjtoyyg/T8AEDFD4gYI/AAAAAAAAApk/Tol7T0XXTak/s1600/04+-+25600+Compare+-+100pct.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MWfUUjtoyyg/T8AEDFD4gYI/AAAAAAAAApk/Tol7T0XXTak/s400/04+-+25600+Compare+-+100pct.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Settings: ISO 51,200 Full frame view (LR slider to 70 on edited photo)</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fKIFRlwLeNM/T8AEEGBNMII/AAAAAAAAAps/TafGGsfA510/s1600/05+-+51200+Comparepct.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fKIFRlwLeNM/T8AEEGBNMII/AAAAAAAAAps/TafGGsfA510/s400/05+-+51200+Comparepct.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Settings: ISO 51,200 100% cropped view (LR slider to 70 on edited photo)</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0jyfMa4g1Go/T8AELV1t24I/AAAAAAAAAp0/oOIZ6v7anPk/s1600/06+-+51200+Compare+-+100pct.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0jyfMa4g1Go/T8AELV1t24I/AAAAAAAAAp0/oOIZ6v7anPk/s400/06+-+51200+Compare+-+100pct.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Settings: ISO 102,400 Full frame view (LR slider to 80 on edited photo)</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yovbb9IO-pw/T8AENF45l-I/AAAAAAAAAp8/SW2CJovfnSE/s1600/07+-+102400+Compare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yovbb9IO-pw/T8AENF45l-I/AAAAAAAAAp8/SW2CJovfnSE/s400/07+-+102400+Compare.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Settings: ISO 102,400 100% cropped view (LR slider to 80 on edited photo)</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eAytdAXOsYI/T8AEOW7ClZI/AAAAAAAAAqE/_QE-wVmRTIE/s1600/08+-+102400+Compare+-+100pct.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eAytdAXOsYI/T8AEOW7ClZI/AAAAAAAAAqE/_QE-wVmRTIE/s400/08+-+102400+Compare+-+100pct.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Settings: ISO 204,800 Full frame view (LR slider to 80 on edited photo)</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YSF-hGBE--g/T8AEP5dlbeI/AAAAAAAAAqM/7gIbhl477KA/s1600/09+-+204800+Compare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YSF-hGBE--g/T8AEP5dlbeI/AAAAAAAAAqM/7gIbhl477KA/s400/09+-+204800+Compare.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Settings: ISO 204,800 100% cropped view (LR slider to 80 on edited photo)</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C2sFK-XQ-dY/T8AEROUzZiI/AAAAAAAAAqU/TLdeVntqbRY/s1600/10+-+204800+Compare+-+100pct.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C2sFK-XQ-dY/T8AEROUzZiI/AAAAAAAAAqU/TLdeVntqbRY/s400/10+-+204800+Compare+-+100pct.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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As a small aside, let's look at how two worlds collide a little. In the photo below, on the left, we have the D4 with an ISO level of 102,400 and on the right, we have a D700 with the ISO level of 25,600.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_4Znat0lIzU/T8AEaV3LkKI/AAAAAAAAAqc/rEaZn2of_oI/s1600/D4+vs+D700.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_4Znat0lIzU/T8AEaV3LkKI/AAAAAAAAAqc/rEaZn2of_oI/s320/D4+vs+D700.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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They look pretty close, except for 3 small things;</div>
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1. the D4 has *all* in camera noise reduction completely <u><b>turned off.</b></u></div>
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2. the D700 has in camera noise reduction<u><b> turned on to it's maximum level.</b></u></div>
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3. we can see that the quality of the noise on the D700 shot is nowhere near as linear as the shot made by the D4.</div>
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This makes removing noise a lot less effective. If the D700 in camera noise control was set to the same setting as the D4, that D4 would easily pull a 3 stop (or possibly a little more), advantage over the D700... now THAT is impressive!</div>
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Ok, let's talk about these results. First off, I do not think that
many will dispute that Lightroom V.4 does a more than fair job of controlling noise
at all levels. I never had to go over 80% no matter what ISO, and that
alone says a lot... however, what is more important and very surprising is
that we are getting very good post edited results all the way to ISO
102,400... and remember that "what is the highest ISO possible to get a useable
photo" question? I think we answered it.</div>
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Now, different people have
different standards, but for me, under the circumstances that I outlined
above, I would be unafraid to use ISO 204,800 if the difference between
having that precious memory preserved, or having no memory at all, but
what is very surprising, is that the D4 produces some very useable
photos at ISO 204,800 that when SOOC, are just complete and utter
rubbish, but with some TLC in post, and thanks to the very
characteristics of the noise it produces along the noise controlling
abilities of LR4, we get some useable results, and that means that
for me, I am just tickled pink at how the D4 performs at these ultra-high ISO levels!</div>
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If you've stuck it through another one of my novel-sized blog posts, congratulations for the display of patience... I want to thank you, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it!</div>JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-26491456841991519122012-05-11T13:15:00.000-04:002012-06-02T22:45:10.799-04:00Nikon D4!<div style="text-align: justify;">
May 11, 2012... I am at a client working on a particularly nasty server related issue and I get a call from my camera provider that I have a shiny gold box waiting for me... well, right then and there I make arrangements to complete the task and zip off to pick up the camera. </div>
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I think this had to be the fastest multi-thousand dollar sale that the guy at the counter ever made, because we were in and out of the store all within 5 minutes!</div>
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On the way home, I'm already contemplating whether or not I am going to do the "traditional" un-boxing video, but by the 1/2 way mark home, the choice is made and the un-boxing video is given the go.</div>
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Man, I was really anxious and all kinds of things were running through my head, but mostly I am just ready to burst inside because I am **SO** excited and just want to rip that box apart and start using Nikon's flagship camera right now... lol.<br />
<br />
Some good sense returned long enough for me to make the video with some semblance of sanity and I actually had fun putting the video together, with the special touch that no one has ever done... each part is clearly identified on the screen as they are taken out of the box.</div>
<br />
Anyways, yes, the video was eventually completed, and yes, I placed it on YouTube:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_nNZk3HQab0&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well, after that, I started just playing with the camera, but even before I received the camera, weeks before it came I already downloaded the manuals from Nikon Europe a good 2 weeks before Nikon USA or Canada even had them available and I was reading and already learning about this amazing camera. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When I finally got the camera in my hands, I just tested a few of my lenses on the D4 and the results were awesome right out of the box. The shots seemed sharper and the skin tones were incredible, dynamic range increases were visible with the naked eye and the bokeh (background blur) just seemed much more "creamy" and just wonderful. Of course high ISO performance was out of this world and ISO 12,800 is as useable as ISO 1600 on my D700... just amazing.</div>
Here are a couple of the first shots I took with the D4 using different lenses I own:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
D4 and Sigma 15mm F/2.8 fisheye lens:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pQ7a__fQ1fA/T7Z4vmqtLXI/AAAAAAAAAhw/j462Uqe-wEw/s1600/Sigma15mm_Fisheye-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pQ7a__fQ1fA/T7Z4vmqtLXI/AAAAAAAAAhw/j462Uqe-wEw/s320/Sigma15mm_Fisheye-1.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
D4 and Sigma 105mm F/2.8 macro:</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BCV3JAtvrYs/T7Z4xpxmn9I/AAAAAAAAAh4/f9r6T-L95n4/s1600/Sigma105Macro-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BCV3JAtvrYs/T7Z4xpxmn9I/AAAAAAAAAh4/f9r6T-L95n4/s320/Sigma105Macro-1.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<br />
D4 and Nikkor 45mm PC-E Tilt-Shift lens:</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--Rr-lJSV8AM/T7Z4y0ursRI/AAAAAAAAAiA/9TC2Lpfl6oM/s1600/Tilt-Shift-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--Rr-lJSV8AM/T7Z4y0ursRI/AAAAAAAAAiA/9TC2Lpfl6oM/s320/Tilt-Shift-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
While reading the PDF of the manuals on my iPad2, I knew that one of the first things that I wanted to try was the option of having the camera photos displayed on a wireless setup using an iPad2. Looking up the price of the WT-5 wireless transmitter, I saw the astronomical price of over $900 after taxes and though "wow, there has to be a more affordable way!". Indeed there was, and the answers came from NikonRumors.com, but none of their solutions were near as feature rich as I wanted nor had all the characteristics I would desire. <br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sure, they let you use a battery powered router but my criteria was much more exact. I wanted my setup to do the following:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
- it had to be wireless</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- it had to support the more secure WPA-2</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- it
had to support MAC filtering</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- it had to support 802.11n transfer speeds</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- it had to be
totally battery powered for with a lifespan of at least 12 hours or more</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- it had to not need an existing
wireless network (be it's own Wireless Access Point)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- it had to be something that is small enough to fit on the
belt and was very light</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- the entire project had to all cost under $150 total </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
I found several wireless routers/Access Points, but surprisingly none that
met my criteria and the most difficult being the battery life, so I
split the setup into two parts... the battery powered wireless router and a
small external battery that could charge the router's batteries on the fly,
extending useable time to 12 or more hours.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
The two items that seemed to
best fit my criteria were the:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
The <a href="http://www.sapido.co.id/EN/productmb1132o.htm" rel="nofollow">Sapido</a>
wireless hotspot. This unit acts as a router, firewall, wireless access point,
runs off of two 2200mAh Lithium Ion batteries that have a stand-by life of 20
hours and a runtime life of a stated 6 hours. The manufacturer lists the batteries included as "AA" batteries, they seem much larger.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This unit cost me $84.00
shipped to my door.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now, the battery life did not meet my 12 hour criteria, so I
needed something to power this unit. If 4400mAh (2 X 2200mAh batteries) lasted 6
hours, I needed an external unit that was at least another 4400mAh and the
second item on my list is the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anker-5600mAh-External-Flashlight-Motorola/dp/B005K7192G" rel="nofollow">ANKER</a> 5600mAh external battery. It just seemed to fit the bill
beautifully and the fact that it could also be used to charge my iPhone and iPad
is just an added plus.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I paid $38 for this battery, again, shipped right to my door.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So what else is missing for this to work? </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
An ethernet
cable. Now one could spend about $10-$20 for a cable, or could I use the materials
and knowledge to make my own custom cable made to my exact length that I need for a couple dollars, but I have a nice 6-foot CAT5 cable sitting in my drawer from a previous project that is ready made already and that is what I use, just coil it up and reduced it's size to about 5 feet which is just PERFECT for my needs. Score a price of $0 for this item.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Last item is some kind of pouch or bag that holds this all together
behind me on my belt. The solution to this was no farther than my local Walmart where I found
something pretty nice for a mere $10.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EKKwhqFGTu4/T7Z-TVC97CI/AAAAAAAAAiM/rptSpTm-IYc/s1600/Pouch-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EKKwhqFGTu4/T7Z-TVC97CI/AAAAAAAAAiM/rptSpTm-IYc/s320/Pouch-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yB_Tq0LQcx8/T7Z-Xf8QrxI/AAAAAAAAAic/LENqkxq4YDA/s1600/Pouch-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yB_Tq0LQcx8/T7Z-Xf8QrxI/AAAAAAAAAic/LENqkxq4YDA/s320/Pouch-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4q-YLjHH4bA/T7Z-ZE6_jlI/AAAAAAAAAik/zQw0hmdQywE/s1600/Pouch-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4q-YLjHH4bA/T7Z-ZE6_jlI/AAAAAAAAAik/zQw0hmdQywE/s320/Pouch-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i4kGP7B00FM/T7Z-d1DFSyI/AAAAAAAAAi8/qIH2O3U_6tU/s1600/Pouch-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i4kGP7B00FM/T7Z-d1DFSyI/AAAAAAAAAi8/qIH2O3U_6tU/s320/Pouch-7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sTDBxercDJw/T7Z-fVcR8kI/AAAAAAAAAjE/z__R8y_3qio/s1600/Pouch-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sTDBxercDJw/T7Z-fVcR8kI/AAAAAAAAAjE/z__R8y_3qio/s320/Pouch-8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
So
far, total money invested is well under my $150 budget right at $132 total... but does it all work? Well, the ANKER battery pack can power the router without any batteries in it, but it also charges the existing batteries perfectly, even with the router turned on. Expected total battery life with the internal and external packs together are around the 15 hour run times, so that is excellent. But does the router work and permit me to shoot and have the results shown on the iPad? </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
It sure does, but check out the video to see how well, anyway!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/oDCyh9iwEaQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
The router range is pretty impressive too, at around 50-60 feet, which is excellent considering this is a battery powered unit that is talking 802.11n protocols speeds!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Also, this tool lets me exploit other features like FTP uploading of the files directly to my laptop into a specific folder. What does that do? How about this scenario:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
- as I take photos, they are placed on the cards in the camera</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
- the files are then sent to the laptop that is running an FTP server at around 1000-2000 kb/s transfer speeds</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
- the moment that the files are received, I have Lightroom 4 configured to use the "Watch Folder". </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
The Watch Folder is a feature within LR where it watches a specific folder (in my case, the same folder where all my files from the camera are sent to via FTP), and when something appears in there, LR moves it into another pre-defined folder of my choice and instantly imports them into it's database and is immediately ready to be worked on. This process is very fast with JPG files (a few seconds per file), but takes longer if you are using the much larger NEF RAW files from the D4 (about 30-45 seconds per photo). </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
The Watch Folder feature will not work without setting up an FTP server, and this is the most complicated part of the project, for someone not used to playing with networking at this level, IMHO. As easy as it was to make this thing work via HTTP, the FTP functionality
was a bit of a bear to make work smoothly, but it worked eventually. It turned out that it was more of an issue with
getting my 32-bit shareware FTP server application to work on Windows 7 Home
64-bit and set everything up (One could use IIS, but my laptop is WIN7
Home edition).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Ok, I know I may have just jumped into Techo-Geek warp talk for some of you... but bear with me... lol.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
How about another feature... the ability to remotely and wirelessly control all video and photo taking aspects of the D4 camera? Yup... all built-in right into the D4 and I can use my iPad, iPhone or laptop's browsers to do this as well!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Amazingly, a perfectly functioning wireless tethering and remote control solution all for under $150 instead of paying over $900 for the Nikon solution!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
The only thing is that there is a CAT5 wire going from the camera down your arm to your waist area and to the router that is in a small belt pack on the small of my back. I thought it would be an issue, but that CAT5 wire is not as intrusive as you may think (though it does take a little getting used to). Nothing drags on the ground and the wire doesn't stick out and it is actually challenging to try to get caught on anything during normal use. Sitting or laying on the ground poses no issues that I can see so far.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Something that surprised me is how stable this all is and how well it works. At one point, I turned off the camera and closed the lid of the laptop, placing it in hibernate mode. Five minutes later I opened the camera, took some shots, opened the laptop back up, continued shooting and as soon as the camera detected that the FTP server was "alive" again, it just started sending all the files I had taken during this time period by itself without further prodding. If it lost the connection for whatever reason, it politely resumed the process once it was reconnected.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So... what's next? <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well, I'd love to be able to have some way to hold my iPad2 to a lightstand securely and though that sounds easy enough, things get a little complicated when that same iPad2 is protected by a Griffin Survivor case, which makes it 3-4 times thicker, rendering most holders pretty much useless.</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I have a little something coming from the Orient that may offer me a nice solution (an iPad2 holder made to hold an iPad to the back of a car seat) and this may offer me the option of working with a little DIY work.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A friend from the "D4 Professionals" Flickr discussion group offered a really smart alternative... a music stand. Now, it's not as portable as a lightstand solution, but for strength, it just cannot be beat (thanks Shepherd!) and there are some that fold up just like a lightstand.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Other than that, in the YouTube video about the wireless setup, I mention that out of the box, the D4 camera and Sapido Router/WAP settings are not as secure as it could be and mention some things that should be done so that no one can "attach" to your D4 and fire it, change settings, take video or photos or see your shots. So I will be adding another video on how to do things like change the SSID (your wireless network's name), how to encrypt the communication between the router and your iPad or laptop and overall, just make it a lot more secure.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Just a quick note, if you get the Sapido MB-1132 router, the default language that it comes in is CHINESE (Mandarin unless I miss my guess?)... everything is in that language, and I had to reference the manual on how to change the default language... I was freaking out there for 2 seconds until I found it, but this is one of those first things that I should show you in that future video.</div>
<br />
<b>MAY 17, 2012</b>: <br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well, my little item from Hong Kong came in... it was an iPad2 holder for car seats and I was looking for ways to DIY a mount and get it on to a light stand. No such luck... the critical part where the ball head attaches to the stand is held in place by a custom piece that just does not fit. I need to look at other options. The good news is that this thing was adjustable in terms of how thick something was, and it did hold my iPad2 with the Griffin Survivor case easily... too bad there is no way to attach it securely to a lightstand.</div>
<br />
<b>MAY 19, 2012:</b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I was looking around on Amazon when I found a stand that had the bottom of a lightstand and the top of an iPad holder... it looked really nice, but the cost was $50US plus shipping and what not... a bit high, but it looked really nice:</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
(click on the photo to go to the link on Amazon where I found this stand)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Tripod-Presentation-Music-Stand/dp/B006U0AKTK/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337435157&sr=1-6" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8QRX42zmbSc/T7exbszOp5I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/hqrF-2mD9Eg/s1600/418BmLqWvRL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
I then looked at another photo that showed the actual iPad holder in a little more detail:<br />
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g1wwggXyfs4/T7ex8AKRUdI/AAAAAAAAAjY/SWw8IhgQPEo/s1600/41AboGmo80L._AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g1wwggXyfs4/T7ex8AKRUdI/AAAAAAAAAjY/SWw8IhgQPEo/s1600/41AboGmo80L._AA300_.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This darn thing looked EXACTLY like what I received from the Orient, but with the back part that holds the whole thing to the car seat removed... I started thinking but put things away for a time.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Fate sometimes has a funny way of tapping on our shoulder, and it was about 2 hours later that a possibility just might have presented itself in my head.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
About a year ago, I bought my niece a microphone stand and microphone so that she could place it closer to her piano and more easily record herself sing as she played. Well, she did not outgrow the piano or singing, but about a month ago, she outgrew recording her songs, so her mom (my sister), asked me if I wanted the microphone stand back before she placed it in a garage sale, and I said sure! As soon as I recalled having this stand mixed in on the shelf with all my other light stands, I pulled it out for a little look. It had potential!</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ybgCsAVbwAY/T7e1Lpt-RvI/AAAAAAAAAjk/MP7gdcWiSb0/s1600/stand-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ybgCsAVbwAY/T7e1Lpt-RvI/AAAAAAAAAjk/MP7gdcWiSb0/s320/stand-5.jpg" width="156" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I liked the fact that it had a bit of counter-weight, it had a metal base and had some heft to it. </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r2zFhrsMllE/T7e1PCItsTI/AAAAAAAAAjs/eUjPNMsrhl8/s1600/stand-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r2zFhrsMllE/T7e1PCItsTI/AAAAAAAAAjs/eUjPNMsrhl8/s320/stand-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is the top of the stand where I took out the microphone clip... things were churning in my head and the start of an idea was beginning.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nJNwl4syQVk/T7e1QvtRGNI/AAAAAAAAAj0/Xo4McXSYpCI/s1600/stand-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nJNwl4syQVk/T7e1QvtRGNI/AAAAAAAAAj0/Xo4McXSYpCI/s320/stand-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The base was nice and wide, well strong enough to support an iPad2. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hScSSGI87OY/T7e1SPTXGdI/AAAAAAAAAj8/CAvE7_aWrks/s1600/stand-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hScSSGI87OY/T7e1SPTXGdI/AAAAAAAAAj8/CAvE7_aWrks/s320/stand-2.jpg" width="176" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now, a plan took shape... what if I took that top piece and filed down that part so that it was flat, and used some strong contact cement to hold the adapter that the ballhead of the iPad2 holder used? This *just* might work!</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8TUpQkowj_o/T7e1UVNhOEI/AAAAAAAAAkE/En89Oim7P_Q/s1600/stand-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8TUpQkowj_o/T7e1UVNhOEI/AAAAAAAAAkE/En89Oim7P_Q/s320/stand-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
The part above is the piece that has to be cemented to the filed down stand, and from there, just screw on the plastic ballhead and attach the rest of the iPad2 holder... and voila, a custom iPad2 stand! Just to let you know, this part was inside the portion of the iPad holder that attached to the section that clamps on to the headrest, so that part had to be unscrewed and taken apart so I could get to it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
BTW, some are curious as to how much I paid for the iPad2 holder for car seats with delivery... very little... $11 shipped to my door. The microphone stand initially cost me $15. So, total cost, $26.</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Next step, I cut off the top using a hand saw, it comes out looking like this.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HW5oeaSEs48/T7ghr5m3W6I/AAAAAAAAAkU/SerxtJg5L9M/s1600/stand-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HW5oeaSEs48/T7ghr5m3W6I/AAAAAAAAAkU/SerxtJg5L9M/s320/stand-5.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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Needs some work, so I file down one end with the dremel in just a few seconds.</div>
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Then the next, and it comes out looking nice and flat.</div>
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Next, I use contact cement to bond the adapter for the ballhead on the end. Pardon the slight blur, I was lightly bumped just as I took this shot and did not notice until it was too late. I may retake this shot later, but you guys get the idea, right?</div>
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Time to let the glue dry overnight. That may be overkill to wait that long, but I was quite generous with the amount of glue and want to make sure it is completed cured before I test it out.</div>
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<b>MAY 24, 2012:</b><br />
Well, it took me 2 tries to find the best way to attach that section to the stand. The first one was just not cutting it in the strength department, so the new winner was... clear automotive epoxy. It works really well and is strong, but it did add $9.02 cents to the overall cost, which was fine. </div>
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<b>May 26, 2012:</b> <br />
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And the final part of this small project is completed! I've just finished uploading the video on how to secure the connection between your iPad (or laptop or whatever) of the wireless network created by the Sapido router to your Nikon D4 camera. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/BcP0F9on9Lc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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The video covers the following:<br />
1 - Change display language from the default Chinese to English<br />2 - Change the SSID (wireless network name)<br />3 - Select the proper time zone<br />4 - Change the default router password<br />5 - Encrypt the data with the WPA2 protocol<br />6 - Enter the MAC addresses of the entities you wish to give access to<br />the wireless network (D4, iPad and possibly your laptop, for example)<br />
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The video is best viewed full screen, for most detail.<br /><br />
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That's about it for now. As my love affair evolves with the D4 and I play and find other things to add here, rest assured that I will expand on this post and continue to offer you my thoughts and ideas.</div>
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ENJOY!</div>
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<br /></div>JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comMontreal, QC, Canada45.5086699 -73.553992545.3306269 -73.8698495 45.6867129 -73.238135500000013tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-17510274874730923132012-04-22T22:08:00.001-04:002012-04-23T13:52:29.645-04:00Bounce Card V.4.0!The history of my bounce cards... and below, I show how to make them! <br />
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Over the last couple of years, I've been using the bounce card in one manner or another and after looking at some designs on the internet, decided to make my own. After all, I found it quite ridiculous to pay $50, $100 or more for a piece of glorified plastic tupperware that really did not do all that much in the end... except eat the little light a speedlight already had as well as chew up precious battery power by making your flash work harder, as well as spray light in places where my camera would never see it... like behind me.</div>
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So I spent about $10 for some foam core sheets and started off small for the first project. This one would cost you about 25 cents to make and took all of maybe 5 minutes to make.</div>
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This was what I call V.0.1 beta:</div>
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It worked about as well as the bounce card that was integrated into some flashes, and I saw that this material was perfect for this application. It was super light, very cheap and practically unbreakable, so that was cool... but bigger is better, right? On to V.1.0!</div>
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Version 1.0 was not much larger, but now had a black backing to prevent the small amount of back-spill and was a little rounder. It was also big enough that when placed side to side, worked a little better than the initial beta and was just the right size to use for on camera flash too. This one costs about 50 cents and took me all of 10 minutes to make.</div>
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This is V.1.0:</div>
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Again, even though V.1.0 was a little bigger, I felt I was not maximizing the full 8.5 X 11 inch page of foam core, and that is where V.2.0 was born. Still 2 sided (black on the back side), 2 layers, VERY light and again, placed side by side against the V.1.0 gave me a better quality of light. Time to create this one was not much more than V.1.0, maybe 15 minutes each and cost rose to about $5 because of the velcro. Today this is the one that is always on my camera whenever I use on camera flash, and the improvement over straight flash that is on camera and blasting you is very obvious. I saw tremendous improvements in the quality of the light . When space is very limited, and I need to get the shot... THIS is the tool to I reach for first and must have!</div>
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This is V.2.0:</div>
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I used V.2.0 pretty much everywhere, even on light stands in off camera flash situations, and realized that here, was even more potential for improvement.</div>
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I needed something bigger yet again, so V.3.0 was born. This version had to be not only bigger, but stronger and stiffer. I looked around for larger pieces of foam core, but could not find any, so I took two sheets of foam core, used gaffer's tape and joined them together to make one larger bounce card and V.3.0 was about to be born. I realized that I needed a stronger base and something to stiffen it up, so for the base, I used a combination of 2 inch gaffer's tape along with a plastic mesh used in sewing applications that anyone can pick up at near any Walmart in the hobby and crafts section. I also thought up a way to reduce upwards bounce and focus a little more light forward, by inserting small slits in the design, and this let me bend the top of the card forward a lot more... and by using velcro, I also had the choice of leaving the bounce card "open" where light would bounce upwards and give me some beautiful fill, or the choice to close things down a little and focus the light forward and minimize any upward bounce.</div>
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This card served me for over two years and many hundreds of events. With this size and weight, it is now a little too big and heavy for on camera flash use, but it was PERFECT for use if you placed a flash on a light stand. This one became my standard that I carried everywhere.</div>
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This is V.3.0:</div>
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(in open upward "bounce" configuration)</div>
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(in the more closed configuration)</div>
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Not to be outdone, I had to make one more final version... V.4.0... the version that was bigger, the most functional, the strongest, the one that gave me the BEST results and still was light enough to be attached to a flash. I had previously looked around for sources of bigger sheets of black and white foam core, but was unsuccessful. On the internet, someone mentioned that Walmart had these large foam core sheets around 12 X 18 inches... perfect! I rushed over to the local Walmart and... nothing, they never even heard of it, so the project just fell to the back of my mind and I continued to use V.3.0 happily.</div>
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About a year later, the Walmart store closed and was moved to a new mall a lot closer to my home, and so we went with the family to check it out. Nothing much interesting until I hit the hobby and crafts section... and there it was... a collection of 12 foam core sheets in 11.8 X 17.7 inch size, and not just that but that plastic mesh was in the same section, and they had a bigger too! The package of <b>Elmer's Foam Sheets</b> was $10 and had, amongst other colours, two black and two white sheets... perfect for my needs. The plastic mesh was an affordable $1.50 each and I bought two, since I now had the materials needed to create two of the biggest bounce cards that I would ever need.</div>
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Here now starts the part of the blog which I am sure many people come here for.. to see how I made my biggest bounce card yet.</div>
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<u><b>How to make the BIGGEST BOUNCE CARD you'll ever need!</b></u></div>
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<u><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Note: Click on any photo to see it larger... hit ESC (escape) to return to the blog.</b></span></u></div>
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This is how I make my bounce cards...</div>
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I start off with a general design. The form that I initially decided on was like this, using one of the green sheets of 11.8 X 17.7 inch foam core:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t8QzMsyybtc/T5SmTFK25aI/AAAAAAAAAdc/UeyUIM5zFO8/s1600/Bounce_v4-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t8QzMsyybtc/T5SmTFK25aI/AAAAAAAAAdc/UeyUIM5zFO8/s320/Bounce_v4-1.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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You may see that I later made a small change in the bottom part of the bounce card's design. This design served two purposes:</div>
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- it increased the overall strength of the design and removed a potential weak area.</div>
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- it curved the bounce card more, increasing it's diffusional effectiveness.</div>
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The plastic mesh that I bought was also more than big enough to serve as the inner support structure of my best bounce card to date. The mesh was very light and strong and the perfect part for this design.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gNb0MceobWY/T5SnPmmwA2I/AAAAAAAAAdk/WqqYH3FqL6E/s1600/Bounce_v4-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gNb0MceobWY/T5SnPmmwA2I/AAAAAAAAAdk/WqqYH3FqL6E/s320/Bounce_v4-2.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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Here is a close-up of the plastic mesh:</div>
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Once I had the design the way I wanted with the green foam core, I transferred the design to the black and white ones, and cut them out to match, taking the time to make two bounce cards, if I so wished.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F-2o3UCqHj0/T5SoGvqL_DI/AAAAAAAAAd0/pQEYCgMsV_I/s1600/Bounce_v4-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F-2o3UCqHj0/T5SoGvqL_DI/AAAAAAAAAd0/pQEYCgMsV_I/s320/Bounce_v4-5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here you can see the size increase, as I layed down the V.3.0 card on top of the cut out pieces of the V.4.0 foam core:</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--XI1zW0Wm5k/T5SoXsnUu2I/AAAAAAAAAd8/_JvCDNYLfEQ/s1600/Bounce_v4-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--XI1zW0Wm5k/T5SoXsnUu2I/AAAAAAAAAd8/_JvCDNYLfEQ/s320/Bounce_v4-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Next, I cut out the same shapes in the plastic mesh material:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GBImoL28aaU/T5SoptLameI/AAAAAAAAAeE/QBeD7oRIgLs/s1600/Bounce_v4-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GBImoL28aaU/T5SoptLameI/AAAAAAAAAeE/QBeD7oRIgLs/s320/Bounce_v4-7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The next step, I could have done in the first place, but I was more comfortable doing it in 2 steps. The next step was where I cut down the plastic mesh further, so that it was smaller than the foam core pieces. This is important for a couple of reasons;</div>
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- the completed bounce card bends easier</div>
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- it lasts longer by not rubbing anywhere inside</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fUtKA4naBO8/T5Spk1NaEJI/AAAAAAAAAeM/bBnKE5Q7mdQ/s1600/Bounce_v4-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fUtKA4naBO8/T5Spk1NaEJI/AAAAAAAAAeM/bBnKE5Q7mdQ/s320/Bounce_v4-8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The next step is one of the reasons my design of the bounce card works so well and offers me the choice of bouncing light off the ceiling (done sometimes when the ceiling is white and low/available)... and that is to insert the slits that will permit me to bend and fold over the top of my bounce card:</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ngN8zuZnL1w/T5SqjVGAzUI/AAAAAAAAAec/jy2ShuXK4-A/s1600/Bounce_v4-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ngN8zuZnL1w/T5SqjVGAzUI/AAAAAAAAAec/jy2ShuXK4-A/s320/Bounce_v4-10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The next part of the project is not difficult at all, but it is the longest part to complete... and it is also very important for durability and longevity. This is where we add gaffer's tape to all the edges of both the black and white pieces of foam core. This step alone took me about an hour to do while watching a little TV at the same time (about 15 minutes each side, and I covered 2 big bounce cards). Make sure that you tape both sides of both halves (black and white).</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4MiayGIPf3k/T5SrQdeGk9I/AAAAAAAAAek/eJpaWJ-ucRI/s1600/Bounce_v4-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4MiayGIPf3k/T5SrQdeGk9I/AAAAAAAAAek/eJpaWJ-ucRI/s320/Bounce_v4-11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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With the biggest part of the job now done, the rest goes a little quicker and you are about 5-10 minutes away from completing the card. The next part involves opening up the slits that permit the top of the card to open on the plastic mesh section. Make the openings bigger so that again, there is no rubbing or pressing. If you make them the same size, your card will distort and not sit properly. It doesn't matter if the cuts aren't 100% perfect, no one will ever see this part of the card.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PY07Qy2jyw0/T5SsIzvrh4I/AAAAAAAAAe0/afRSTyvlZiw/s1600/Bounce_v4-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PY07Qy2jyw0/T5SsIzvrh4I/AAAAAAAAAe0/afRSTyvlZiw/s320/Bounce_v4-13.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Because the plastic mesh is smaller than the 2 halves, it is important that we take some way to keep it from moving around inside. Gaffer's tape to the rescue again. A couple of small strips of tape here and there make sure the plastic mesh never moves.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wcsH3ElrRG0/T5SshgiU8HI/AAAAAAAAAe8/eXkjSi0SSw0/s1600/Bounce_v4-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wcsH3ElrRG0/T5SshgiU8HI/AAAAAAAAAe8/eXkjSi0SSw0/s320/Bounce_v4-14.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now comes the time that we bind the two halves together. Some people used glue, some people used tape... I used staples. For me, this seems to work very well.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9RI3NKvV1S4/T5Ss4AHMJYI/AAAAAAAAAfE/OH6f2ayvEJ0/s1600/Bounce_v4-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9RI3NKvV1S4/T5Ss4AHMJYI/AAAAAAAAAfE/OH6f2ayvEJ0/s320/Bounce_v4-15.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Next I took a piece of two inch wide gaffer's tape and sealed the opening along the bottom.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-158VIk8Hc7Q/T5StSR5Z6lI/AAAAAAAAAfM/s2Ef47riNpU/s1600/Bounce_v4-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-158VIk8Hc7Q/T5StSR5Z6lI/AAAAAAAAAfM/s2Ef47riNpU/s320/Bounce_v4-16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now the base is stronger... and ready for the two inch wide strip of industrial velcro (loop side).<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SVjH66JMlbA/T5StjQbX8fI/AAAAAAAAAfU/iNF_s7KMxXQ/s1600/Bounce_v4-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SVjH66JMlbA/T5StjQbX8fI/AAAAAAAAAfU/iNF_s7KMxXQ/s320/Bounce_v4-17.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Next was 2 strips of the hook side of the velcro.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KQmd5yZhniM/T5St3BxBN2I/AAAAAAAAAfc/Oeu9iTtFD70/s1600/Bounce_v4-18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KQmd5yZhniM/T5St3BxBN2I/AAAAAAAAAfc/Oeu9iTtFD70/s320/Bounce_v4-18.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Next, industrial velcro is placed on both the inside and outside of the bounce card. Please note the proper placement of where the velcro is placed... on the back side it is placed at the BOTTOM of the slits. On the white side, it is placed at the TOP of the slits.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9ofmfoy0ZeA/T5SuZaXd8gI/AAAAAAAAAfk/QptOOupiZxg/s1600/Bounce_v4-19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9ofmfoy0ZeA/T5SuZaXd8gI/AAAAAAAAAfk/QptOOupiZxg/s320/Bounce_v4-19.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zQ-sZkoKHCk/T5Sua5j8FzI/AAAAAAAAAfs/qGGwSSR5OB0/s1600/Bounce_v4-20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zQ-sZkoKHCk/T5Sua5j8FzI/AAAAAAAAAfs/qGGwSSR5OB0/s320/Bounce_v4-20.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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That's it... you are all done and ready to use your new bounce card! So how does it look? Well, it looks just like this!</div>
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Here it is in the full open position. This permits full upward light as well as forward.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fS2_v_rj8zU/T5Su8IcxKRI/AAAAAAAAAf0/3dWRUxc8O44/s1600/Bounce_v4-21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fS2_v_rj8zU/T5Su8IcxKRI/AAAAAAAAAf0/3dWRUxc8O44/s320/Bounce_v4-21.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dl3w3y9rOr0/T5Su9gF4W7I/AAAAAAAAAf8/HjQz7_4QApg/s1600/Bounce_v4-22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dl3w3y9rOr0/T5Su9gF4W7I/AAAAAAAAAf8/HjQz7_4QApg/s320/Bounce_v4-22.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jN4RHKx1jzY/T5Su_SVMWbI/AAAAAAAAAgE/tbkppFus_lA/s1600/Bounce_v4-23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jN4RHKx1jzY/T5Su_SVMWbI/AAAAAAAAAgE/tbkppFus_lA/s320/Bounce_v4-23.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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Here it is with the top lip "closed". In this position a small amount of light is blocked (about 40%)<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bLFdxMwFCgo/T5SvA3KVUhI/AAAAAAAAAgM/zyiB61aVijA/s1600/Bounce_v4-24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bLFdxMwFCgo/T5SvA3KVUhI/AAAAAAAAAgM/zyiB61aVijA/s320/Bounce_v4-24.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cug8Cq_WTV0/T5SvCAOWZgI/AAAAAAAAAgU/x_2hnj_G9dA/s1600/Bounce_v4-25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cug8Cq_WTV0/T5SvCAOWZgI/AAAAAAAAAgU/x_2hnj_G9dA/s320/Bounce_v4-25.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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Here it is with the two sections "closed". In this position more amount of light is blocked (about 80% of upward cast light is blocked) </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-675b2mJu7lY/T5SvDWJ-joI/AAAAAAAAAgc/6b8xAWCyQtk/s1600/Bounce_v4-26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-675b2mJu7lY/T5SvDWJ-joI/AAAAAAAAAgc/6b8xAWCyQtk/s320/Bounce_v4-26.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FP5sA_5B7qI/T5SvElT2UYI/AAAAAAAAAgk/KEF3-aINGIo/s1600/Bounce_v4-27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FP5sA_5B7qI/T5SvElT2UYI/AAAAAAAAAgk/KEF3-aINGIo/s320/Bounce_v4-27.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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In the future, I will be adding a small bill (like a baseball cap has) to it,that one can add or remove, thanks to velcro, and that will permit me to close off near 100% of the upward light, giving me a lot of control.</div>
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So... how well does it work, is this thing any good?</div>
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Actually, it is AWESOME at how well it does it's job. We use light modifiers to soften and diffuse the light and the more learned and/or knowledgeable photographers will know that it is the apparent size of the light that makes it soft. The bigger the light source, the softer.</div>
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A bare speedlight that is like 1 X 3 inches in size, is the harshest source of light that I know, so using this tool dramatically changes the size and the results. Let me give you two examples... first is in how the light is spread out more versus a bare speedlight.</div>
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In the following four photos below, the location and distance of the SB-900 speedlight that I used, is always unchanged. It is sitting in a plastic support on the dining room table 8-9 feet from a small wall. The only differences in the next two photos is that in the first photo it is just a bare bulb and in the second it is with the bounce card installed.</div>
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Here you can see what pattern the bare speedlight throws against the wall from about 8-9 feet away, note how uneven the pattern is from bottom to top.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1LZaGV7EAk/T5Sx-aEhiDI/AAAAAAAAAg0/jnq1zqbTOno/s1600/Bounce_v4-32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1LZaGV7EAk/T5Sx-aEhiDI/AAAAAAAAAg0/jnq1zqbTOno/s320/Bounce_v4-32.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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Here now is the same speedlight at the same distance, but with the bounce card installed. The light reaches all the way to the ceiling evenly... and this is with the bounce card in the "closed" position.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-00gkIXT6kwg/T5SyOAqP2-I/AAAAAAAAAg8/lXRIcbfkUqQ/s1600/Bounce_v4-29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-00gkIXT6kwg/T5SyOAqP2-I/AAAAAAAAAg8/lXRIcbfkUqQ/s320/Bounce_v4-29.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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Many people may say "cool, it spreads the light more, but it does nothing to truly diffuse or soften the light", and here they would be very mistaken.</div>
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Let's take a zoomed in look of the above two photos and focus our attention to the shadows on the wall caused by the light passing by the floral basket. In the first one, we can tell that the shadows are hard and well defined. Definitely a product of straight flash!</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5saQTJ70jQw/T5SzL63SemI/AAAAAAAAAhE/DTx8Sly4btI/s1600/Bounce_v4-31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5saQTJ70jQw/T5SzL63SemI/AAAAAAAAAhE/DTx8Sly4btI/s320/Bounce_v4-31.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now, let's look at that same shadow, but with the bounce card installed. Yes, of course it is still there, but look at how diffused the edges are, how much less prominent the shadow is. Where above that shadow is near black, this one is clearly lighter grey, and the area of diffused to dark is clearly a much larger transitional distance. This shadow is clearly much softer. Oh, that black mass in the bottom right of the photo below, that is the actual bounce card that crept into the shot. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HsZ9MepI8CU/T5Szv2mo-EI/AAAAAAAAAhM/IEGh0GHUX8k/s1600/Bounce_v4-30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HsZ9MepI8CU/T5Szv2mo-EI/AAAAAAAAAhM/IEGh0GHUX8k/s320/Bounce_v4-30.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ok, let's be clear about something... this modifier is nowhere near as soft as a softbox, or even an umbrella, but it is better than a straight flash by leaps and bounds and it is the perfect tool in tight locations or when high mobility is a factor.</div>
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I cannot imagine myself walking around at a wedding reception with an umbrella or a soft box taking shots from table to table... yet a small light stand, a single flash and this modifier are the most effective tools in this environment... and I have used it as such for years now. It takes a brutally harsh light and makes it into not a soft light, but a crisp light... a light with edges that are not so harsh, shadows that are not as cuttingly sharp as they would be without it... and this is why it is one of my favorite... and CHEAPEST light modifiers.</div>
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Enjoy!<br />
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<br />JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-36476691243739902682012-04-07T19:17:00.006-04:002012-04-07T19:38:05.646-04:00ControlTL and Plus II - Together!Receiving a post at a popular photography forum that I visited, one user was having issues getting his ControlTL and Plus II units to work together, so I decided to address it and use this as the topic of my next blog entry.<br />
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First one needs to know that the ControlTL units are the most advanced and feature rich units on the market today and because of that, they have a very steep initial learning curve as well as their own idiosyncrasies. These are not the plug-n-play triggers that the Plus II or the Plus III'S units are!<br />
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That said, the process to get the MiniTT1 to be able to trigger both a FlexTT5 and a Plus II is very easy. Basically all one has to do is make sure that all the settings are as they were from the factory. A MiniTT1 or a FlexTT5 simultaneously can and do transmit on both standard and ControlTL and can therefore trigger a FlexTT5 and Plus II at the same time.<br />
Make no mistake, though, because even though these units can transmit on both of these channels at the same time, a FlexTT5, used as a receiver, can only listen to ONE of these channels at a time. This is why it is easy to get a MiniTT1 or FlexTT5 to trigger a Plus II, but it is a lot more difficult to get a Plus II to trigger a FlexTT5.<br />
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The process to set this up is very easy. As I said, a good place to start is from a well known good configuration and the best one is the original factory settings. So, the process starts thus:<br />
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- Do the 10 second factory reset on all your FlexTT5 and MiniTT1 units and when you turn them on, use only configuration C1 (I will touch on different channels a little later).<br />
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- Be sure to set your Plus II to channel 1<br />
- Install a MiniTT1 on your camera<br />
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- Install a flash into the hot shoe of your FlexTT5<br />
- Connect your other flash to the Plus II in the manner you usually do (either by inserting a sync cable into the sync port of your flash if it has one, or by placing the flash into a hot shoe adapter and plugging this adapter into the proper socket in the Plus II).<br />
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Let's test the first part, the ControlTL aspect. To do this:<br />
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First, turn on all units in the proper order. This order should be:<br />
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- Remote flash (make sure it is set to TTL mode!)<br />
- Remote FlexTT5<br />
- MiniTT1 on camera<br />
- The camera itself<br />
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Basically... remote units, top to bottom and on the the camera end, again, top to bottom. <br />
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If you do not follow this order, you may be asking for inconsistencies!<br />
Now that you have activated the ControlTL side of the equation, test it before moving on, by taking a few shots. The flash should be firing, and because we are not using any commander in the on camera MiniTT1, we should be seeing multiple flashes from our speedlight, as the system at this point can only be used in iTTL mode.<br />
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For us to now add the ability to trigger the flash plugged into the Plus II, we:<br />
- Turn on the PW Plus II, again confirm it is set to channel 1<br />
- Turn on the flash and make sure it is set to MANUAL mode and set to a lower power to not blind you.<br />
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You are now ready to test everything out, so go back to the camera and squeeze off a few more photos and this time, both flashes should fire, but remember, the flash on the FlexTT5 is firing off pre-flashes and flashes because it is in iTTL mode and the flash in the Plus II is firing off single flashes at the power setting you have set (let's hope you heeded my advice and set it to something like 1/128th).<br />
That's it, that's all, you now have a completely functional setup that works with ControlTL units and Plus II units at the same time!<br />
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I've made a small YouTube video of under 3 minutes in length that restates the above for those people that are visual and just won't grasp things until they see it done.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/eyDaRKwq6y0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Now, I said earlier that I would discuss channels, and basically out of the box, one can use either channel 1 or channel 2 on the Plus II unit without changing anything on the ControlTL units except moving from configuration C1 to C2. On the ControlTL units, when set to factory settings, C1 uses both ControlTL and standard channel 1 and C2 uses both ControlTL and standard channel 2.<br />
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If one wished to use channel 3 or channel 4 of the Plus II's, this is also very possible, however, you will need to set your ControlTL units to that same channel used by the Plus II's, and the only way to do this is to use the Pocket Wizard Configuration Utility that is downloadable from the pocketwizard.com website and connect your ControlTL units to a computer via USB cable and reconfigure them via this software.<br />
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Also, I want to make a little note here. In this article and the video, we used a speedlight connected to the Plus II. That could be almost any other kind of light source with a sync cable, be it 3rd party flashes or even studio strobes. One could also connect a 3rd party flash or studio strobe to the FlexTT5, however you should connect it via the P2 port and of course functionality such as iTTL and other ControlTL features are disabled for all light sources not on the compatibility list over at PW.<br />
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For more information, visit the Pocket Wizard website at:<br />
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<a href="http://www.pocketwizard.com/">http://www.pocketwizard.com</a><br />
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Another great location for information on the PW site is their WIKI, don't forget to go there and go through all the info they have to offer at that location. The address is:<br />
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<a href="http://wiki.pocketwizard.com/index.php?title=Main_Page">http://wiki.pocketwizard.com/index.php?title=Main_Page</a><br />
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That's it for this post... enjoy!<br />
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<img height="77" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="filter: alpha(opacity=30); left: 525px; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 1807px;" width="96" />JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-8447646513194427922012-02-04T19:40:00.021-05:002012-02-11T14:13:40.272-05:00Overpowering the SunFirst off, what is this? <br />
Well, in a nutshell, this is basically the act of taking a photo in very bright sunny conditions and via camera settings lowering the exposure to underexpose the ambient and then using a strong light source to properly light your subject.<br />
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That's all well and good, but can I do this with my speedlight?<br />
If conditions are not overly bright and you place your speedlight very close to your subject (close as in 4 feet or less), do not use a light modifier and set the speedlight to full power, it is possible, but this is very limiting.<br />
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Is there another more effective way?<br />
There are basically two ways to do this, and the primary way that I used to do it was via very high shutter speeds and HyperSync (thanks to the Pocket Wizards). This always resulted in pretty good quality results, but when things were really bright, it was challenging to get the shots lit properly, because the tail end of the flash lost a little bit of power using the HyperSync method and therefore was not quite as bright.<br />
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The second way would be to use an ND filter or neutral density filter on the camera's lens and set the camera to the settings you needed (ie: if ambient was brutally high, such as F/16 at ISO 100 @ 1/250th), with that 1,000 W/s head, you *could* do it a little more effectively as shutter speeds would be under your maximum sync speeds and the full output of the flash would be used.<br />
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One of the main reasons this is desirable is I really am not an F/16 kinda guy. I much prefer the shallower depth of field, and this method is the best way to be able to shoot at wide open apertures on the brightest of days.<br />
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Last week I ordered one of the finest quality ND filters on the market, the Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter. This filter has the ability to change the amount of light that comes into your lens with the twist of it's front element and give you an infinite number of possibilities that range anywhere from 2 to 8 stops of light. At 2 stops, you already notice it, but, WOW, at 8 stops of reduction, you basically turn the brightest of days into night. In fact, it gets so dark that viewing a very bright day through the viewfinder is very difficult and very dark, so dark, that I had issues making out what was in front of my camera! My D700 thankfully had zero issues focusing and locked in even if I had trouble seeing enough to get a proper composition at times. My solution was to back off on the filter to a drop of somewhere around 5-6 stops of light.<br />
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So, what do results look like? Well, I wanted to stress the setup a good amount, but though I gave it a good try, I am sure there was at least 2-4 more stops in there above and beyond what I did with it today, but I was satisfied with the results.<br />
<br />
The location: The middle of a field covered in perfectly white fresh granular snow... each grain it's own mirror.<br />
<br />
The conditions: a few errant clouds in the sky off in the distance, none even in the same general vicinity of the sun. It was so bright that even to the naked eye, the sky was quite white. My Sekonic meter told me it was F/16 @ ISO 100 and 1/250th of a second shutter speeds.<br />
<br />
That is very bright, and most knowledgeable photographers would be out there running around looking for shaded areas, but I placed my highly paid models (actually they were my parents...lol), right out there in the middle of this photographically brutal environment.<br />
<br />
My camera settings:<br />
I just brought it down to F/4 @ ISO 200 and 1/250th and played with the filter and chimped until I got what I *thought* was a good exposure via the LCD on the back of my camera. Now, I normally know better than to trust that LCD, and in the future, I will use the histogram along with the LCD, because though they looked nice on the camera LCD, by the time I got home, I was a minimum of 1 stop too bright on all my shots (it was so bright that looking at the LCD was tough). Most were in the 1.2 to 1.5 stops too bright. Since I shot in RAW, this was no biggie to bring down in post, but in the future, I will get it closer to "correct" in camera before starting to take any shots. <br />
<br />
To set the scene a little, it was February 4th in Montreal and on that day, though it was not very cold, it was a chilly -10C, and I did not wish to subject my parents to these temperatures anymore than they needed to. I was lucky to have them there with me in the first place, so I limited my time at this location to no more than perhaps 15 minutes total, including setup, testing, taking a few shots and tearing down the equipment and getting back into that nice and still warm car <br />
<br />
As a reward for being great models, I took them out for lunch, as being a model, is apparently quite taxing... lol<br />
<br />
Anyways, here are a few photos of the day... I had a great time playing and learning about both the Vari-ND filter and my gridded beauty dish that I received for Christmas, so I was pleased with the performance of both very much.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">The basic setup. In this shot, they are about 10 feet from the light source. Right after this shot, I ask them to take 2 steps back, so all the later shots are at about 12 feet from the light. I am using a Photogenic PL2500-DR studio head (1,000 W/s at full power) and it is being charged by a Vagabond II battery pack (which also makes a great "sandbag", as this thing weighs around 20 pounds).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JROQSDOwHas/Ty3IQ6LXtYI/AAAAAAAAAcM/mMMqQhOSoBM/s1600/BDandND-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JROQSDOwHas/Ty3IQ6LXtYI/AAAAAAAAAcM/mMMqQhOSoBM/s320/BDandND-14.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">You will notice that my dad's eyes are all scrunched up. Yeah, it was pretty bright out there even when you were not facing into the sun, but that's all good, as long as one is having fun, right?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a0NvNTL-E3w/Ty3JXKpdTKI/AAAAAAAAAcU/XtsW-Yu7btI/s1600/BDandND-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a0NvNTL-E3w/Ty3JXKpdTKI/AAAAAAAAAcU/XtsW-Yu7btI/s320/BDandND-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">F/4 at 200mm gives a very pretty blurred out background.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a8Vjgw_OsS0/Ty3J0ud0G-I/AAAAAAAAAcc/OTrHPIpPDws/s1600/BDandND-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a8Vjgw_OsS0/Ty3J0ud0G-I/AAAAAAAAAcc/OTrHPIpPDws/s320/BDandND-7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">On this shot, I pumped up the power to full and dropped the background down by around 2-3 stops. At these settings that bright day started to look like late afternoon. It's hard to believe that the photos above were taken within seconds of each other and all I did was change my position, ND filter settings and flash power, so that the light was stronger and on camera right instead of on camera left like all the above photos.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qyew3D1zKwk/Ty3KxHq5A7I/AAAAAAAAAck/ImRLKRJbeso/s1600/BDandND-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qyew3D1zKwk/Ty3KxHq5A7I/AAAAAAAAAck/ImRLKRJbeso/s320/BDandND-17.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Changing angles again and zooming out to around 70mm increased my depth of field and showed a little more of the fairly desolately white location. By seeing the direction of the shadows, you can tell I am about 45 degrees from the sun. Thanks to the ND filter I am seeing a beautifully saturated blue sky and thanks to the light source, we are seeing well lit subjects.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-32Up5yCLs7I/Ty3LzwoGyyI/AAAAAAAAAcs/fmykJ0Bwf5Q/s1600/BDandND-26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-32Up5yCLs7I/Ty3LzwoGyyI/AAAAAAAAAcs/fmykJ0Bwf5Q/s320/BDandND-26.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Using the sun as a rim light and by shooting from a low position and pointing upwards, adding that sun into the shot as a compositional element (and also adding a ton of lens flare on the bottom right of the shot), we complete this set of photos.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gihHsQrrREg/Ty3NikKbxNI/AAAAAAAAAc0/zuN14TfjNqs/s1600/BDandND-30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gihHsQrrREg/Ty3NikKbxNI/AAAAAAAAAc0/zuN14TfjNqs/s320/BDandND-30.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
In here I learned:<br />
<br />
- to not trust the LCD (as if I did not know that already... lol), but use the histograms as well.<br />
<br />
- it takes some practice using an ND filter properly, but its not terribly hard.<br />
<br />
- that having a powerful light source is FUN to use outside to overpower the sun.<br />
<br />
- If I was at full power already, what could I have done to gain a little more power? Remove the grid.<br />
<br />
- If I wanted another 1-1.5 stops on top of that? Replace the beauty dish with the base reflector, but lose some edge softness, no biggie, the beauty dish is not known as being super soft. BTW, my beauty dish is silver, not white. Most people want white because they think it takes the "edge" off the crispness that a silver beauty dish has. I would never do that, I love that crisp feel and benefit from the higher efficiency that silver offers over white, but that is a totally personal decision that not everyone would agree with. To each their own. <br />
<br />
- As a last resort, if I needed even more flash power? Bring the light source even closer to the subjects. Remember, they were 12 feet away from the light stand. Bringing in the light 6 feet closer would add about another stop.<br />
<br />
- that I never again will hesitate to shoot in extremely, brutally bright conditions anywhere.<br />
<br />
- by how much was I actually overpowering the sun? Well, ambient was F/16 at 1/250th and ISO 100. I went from F/16 to F/4, that's 4 stops, but then I went from ISO 100 to ISO 200, so in the end, I was not overpowering ambient very much in these examples (maybe a stop or 2?), but I did lower ambient by 3 full stops and open up the aperture by 4 stops. Lowering the background was not the main goal... it was to use wide apertures in brutally bright conditions. I could have seen an easy 3-5 stops killed by this setup, though... it would be quite simple to do.<br />
<br />
- A small trick that the higher range of Nikon dSLR cameras have... a LiveView feature with auto gain. Meaning that when using the ND filter at 6 stops or higher, the viewfinder gets dark quite fast, making using these levels of cutting down the ambient, very difficult. With LV, it gets dark as well, but the auto gain brings it up and it is easy to push the filter even further. I did not know this at the time that I made this blog post initially, but learned later. For sure, this is something that I will use, now that I know of it! <br />
<br />
- that one can choose settings in a more logical manner that maximizes the effectiveness of your hardware. Things like using ISO 100 instead of 200, using a smaller aperture (F/5.6 for example at 200mm instead of F/4, though I did love the shallow DOF, and starting from shutter speeds of maybe 1/125th instead of 1/250th as base settings and take it from there.<br />
<br />
- that the grid in the beauty dish made a more pronounced effect than I first noticed and next time using it with 2 or more people, to remove the grid, but still be aware that the area covered by this modifier is very specific.<br />
<br />
- and finally, that it *is* possible to use wide open apertures in very bright conditions with the right tools (yes, I knew this before too, but hey, its nice to confirm these things, right? lol)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I hope you liked the shots and enjoyed this blog post!<br />
<br />
.JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-42148340056931166172012-01-31T16:56:00.002-05:002012-02-15T15:38:35.025-05:001 FlexTT5, Multiple Flashes?The question has come up whether it is possible to have multiple flashes triggered successfully using the FlexTT5. Obviously, the design is such that only one flash can be attached to a FlexTT5, however, I have had an even number of people tell me that:<br />
<br />
1 - Yes it is possible<br />
2 - No it doesn't work, plus if you try it, you will damage your flashes (like the ones someone told me they already apparently killed)<br />
<br />
This is one of the things that I enjoy playing with and was curious to find out myself, so last month I ordered several SC-28 cables from Hong Kong. I've been using these same brand/makes/models individually on my setup for over a year without issues.<br />
<br />
Quality is good, connectors are solid and I really do prefer to place my FlexTT5's both lower from the flash and attach them in such a manner that there is zero pressure on the plastic foot of these units.<br />
<br />
Today I took 3 of those cables and created a single "Y" splitter to see if it would work. I was extra careful to make sure all connections were cleanly soldered, shrink-wrapped and tested several times to make sure each wire matched the proper location.<br />
<br />
For guinea pigs, I used my two least costly flashes, the SB-600s, just in case anything went egregiously wrong. <br />
<br />
Now, let me make clear an important point. Obviously because I am using SB-600s, and SC-28 cables (a Nikon part number), I am testing this on an all Nikon setup. My results have nothing to do with the Canon counterpart... someone else will have to risk their flashes on their Canon setup to see if it works or not... lol<br />
<br />
I started out by testing one flash at a time on each side, and this worked successfully. I was triggering the flash via an off camera MiniTT1 and AC3. Power was initially set to the lowest setting, 1/64th and I powered up and down the range to make sure that the flash responded properly. I then did the same thing on the other side of the "Y", it also worked properly.<br />
<br />
Time to test them both out.<br />
<br />
First bad sign was that the usual single preflash to indicate readiness was replaced by a series of 3 preflashes on one side, then 3 on the other side, completed by 3 more on the first side. <br />
<br />
Second bad sign was that even with the AC3 still set to the 1/64th power, both flashes pumped out full power dumps. There was no way to do anything else no matter what settings I used on the AC3. Removing the AC3 resulted in full power pops as well. Hitting the test button on the FlexTT5 that was attached to the SB-600s also resulted in a full power dump.<br />
<br />
I tried various combinations of starting and stopping the units to see if perhaps a specific combination would make it all work, but unfortunately, it never did.<br />
<br />
So, all that said, I can now tell you from personal experience that <b>you cannot activate more than one Nikon iTTL flash per Nikon version of the FlexTT5 at a time</b>. One FlexTT5 per flash is the rule.<br />
<br />
That does not mean that if you use the P2 connector of the FlexTT5, you cannot trigger more than one flash in full manual mode. One can also use non-TTL flashes with this cable, so this cable is not totally wasted.<br />
<br />
Using the P2 port of a FlexTT5, I have done up to 2 flashes per unit successfully (a simple mono jack split into 2 mono to sync connectors does the trick), just like it works on a PW Plus II setup. <br />
<br />
It may support more, I do not know, never tried and PW did not recommend one use more than 1 splitter for the Plus II units, so I just applied that guideline to the FlexTT5. Since I also own 5 Plus II units, this is not something that I foresee ever needing.<br />
<br />
BTW, my SB-600s are none the worse for wear, and live to serve me again another day. Oh well, it was a nice way to spend a lunch break!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6797359423_0ed6c7e147_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6797359423_0ed6c7e147_o.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6797359189_43be501147_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6797359189_43be501147_o.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6797359561_b0e2028ae0_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6797359561_b0e2028ae0_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-63572362102823729582012-01-13T18:55:00.001-05:002012-01-13T19:10:24.656-05:00PW Part Deux, The Replacements are in!First off, <u><b style="color: red;">Happy New Year</b></u>! Ok, it's a little past new year now, it is actually like January 13, 2012... more precisely Friday the 13th, not that I am superstitious, mind you.. uhhmmm, yeah. <br />
<br />
I'm not really sure how we quite fell on it, but last week I was sending off another beta test report through to the PW beta program, just letting them know how I am getting along with the ControlTL units and discussing an issue that came up for me.<br />
<br />
I suppose at one point, I either had an issue that other PW owners had, that PW themselves could not reproduce, or I could not replicate issues that others had, and in a reply to one of my messages, Ian Ray (my main contact there at PW, and an all around super-nice guy,) asks me for a detailed list of my equipment along with hardware and build serial numbers. It was very easy to hook up each unit and do a screen capture of all the relevant info that he needed, and off went that email.<br />
<br />
The return email was a little surprising... apparently, I somehow had several beta ControlTL units in my possession that were not even supposed to have ever been released to the public!<br />
<br />
Now, I know how maybe <b>one</b> of the units that I own could have been such a beta unit (I might have received it directly from PW when I started to be one of their beta testers last year), but I have absolutely no idea how the other beta units got into my possession, or how they ever even got out. I bought my first pair of TT5s from "The Camera Store" out in Alberta (only place that had them in stock around this time last year!), and all the other units came from right here in Montreal from a place called Photoservice (highly recommended, BTW!). <br />
<br />
Well, Ian suggested that we swap out the units for current full release production units, and I happily agreed. In typical PW customer service fashion (which for me means they always do their best to try to go above and beyond), not only did they kindly replace those beta units for me, but just to be on the safe side, went and replaced <b>all</b> my FlexTT5 units, <b>all</b> my MiniTT1 units and even went as far as replacing <b>all</b> my AC3 units. I would be walking around with the latest and greatest and all brand spanking new!<br />
<br />
Yesterday, I receive a box from LPA and took them out for a quick look over... sure look the same to me! Tonight I took each unit out, and checked the firmware and hardware revisions and they all had the latest hardware builds and the latest firmware already installed, so the only thing that I did, was to do a factory reset using the PW Configuration Utility amd made sure they all had the same settings for when I do some testing tomorrow, and put away the boxes they came in for future use if and when needed.<br />
<br />
<u><b style="color: red;">Please note</b></u>, normally, when you do firmware updates, your old settings are saved and you can reload them, but not so in the case of when upgrading to v.3.003. <br />
<br />
If you are upgrading from a previous version of the software over to v.3.003, you need to write down all your settings, that are different from the factory default, on a piece of paper, because the PW Config Utility does NOT save your old settings when doing this update... it automatically resets everything to factory default... so, you have been warned. :)<br />
<br />
Now, my last tests were done back in August 2011 and that with the v.2.160 beta software. Since then, there were many changes and improvements, and the latest and greatest firmware at the time of this posting, as mentioned, is now v.3.003.<br />
<br />
One of the many things that was changed/improved was the Automated HyperSync settings. The different values in the firmware changed pretty much all previous settings where HyperSync was concerned, and so the settings that I documented to get those clean frames with my studio head back in August no longer work as well, therefore, I need to redo the tests and get the values that will give me the cleanest frames possible again at the different power levels and shutter speeds that I need.<br />
<br />
Not only that, but I need to play a little more with the new things that I did not get a chance to use all that much like flash power control without a camera and SpeedCycle (now *that* feature I already know where and how I want to use it this summer for a special photo shoot!). <br />
<br />
Certainly one of the things that I am sure that changed was the results of the Automated HyperSyc, and I was quite eager to see how that works now with my collection of supported Nikon OEM and unsupported Nikon and other 3rd party flashes as well as my very well liked Photogenic PL-2500DR studio head.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">The new replacement units sent to me by PW: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jkJAI3mE9D8/TxDBVF8RuJI/AAAAAAAAAb8/k6dCQ8mWaZg/s1600/Part_Deux-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jkJAI3mE9D8/TxDBVF8RuJI/AAAAAAAAAb8/k6dCQ8mWaZg/s320/Part_Deux-1.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Five FlexTT5, two MiniTT1 and two AC3 units...<br />
this is my preferred setup with my twin Nikon D700 cameras! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YoLXKfFdh0w/TxDBWMELv6I/AAAAAAAAAcE/rTkUVA1Cd2E/s1600/Part_Deux-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="64" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YoLXKfFdh0w/TxDBWMELv6I/AAAAAAAAAcE/rTkUVA1Cd2E/s320/Part_Deux-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Anyway, I just wanted to bring people up to speed, and want to let you all know that I will be doing some new tests very soon with these new units and their newer firmware, and of course reporting the results right here on this blog.. <br />
<br />
Stay tuned for some new results, new photos and more info about these units!JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-15824518178962184072011-08-20T19:43:00.008-04:002012-03-19T08:42:10.630-04:00Hyersync tests - 08-20-2011With the release of the Pocket Wizard v.2.160 beta firmware, I was curious to document another test of their Hypersync capabilities and note any changes. There were definitely some improvements since the last time!<br />
<br />
The equipment used was again my trusty Photogenic PL-2500DR, Nikon D700 and PW ControlTL units in the form of an on camera MiniTT1 and strobe triggered FlexTT5. All adjustments were done to the receiver TT5 unit connected to the Photogenic head via the TT5's P2 port. The obvious advantage to this is that if other light sources were to be used in an all Hypersync setup, each one could be adjusted for optimum performance. It also still permits the possibility of mixing and matching speedlights in either manual or iTTL into the equation. <br />
<br />
This time, it was both a little more involved and at the same time, quick and dirty. What I did was go middle of the road for shutter speed and flash power settings but went through all the possible P2 settings and variations to find what settings worked best. Camera shutter speed never varied from 1/4,000th and studio head power never changed from 500W/s, unless clearly specified.<br />
<br />
I chose the shutter speed as it was very fast and would give a great baseline. The 500W/s power setting was also perfect. Due to the way the Photogenic head works, it is right in the middle of it's pulse duration range and an increase or decrease in power would not greatly affect the quality of the shot much, if any..<br />
<br />
<br />
For the sake of conversation in this post, I shall define "banding" as being a black strip along the complete bottom of a photo in landscape mode or on the complete right side in portrait mode that can occupy anywhere from 5% to 100% of the frame.<br />
<br />
Gradation shall be described as a being a dark to light transitional strip that does not occupy the entire bottom or left side as apparently as banding does. Gradations for *me* should not exceed 15% of the width of a frame, it does not occupy the entire width from side to side or length from bottom to top, depending on the orientation of the camera.<br />
<br />
<br />
So why do I go into such detail about a term that is basically a variant of the same effect? Simple... I would not rate a photo with banding as being easily usable, however, a photo with gradations is easily usable under most conditions. Under the most extreme of gradation conditions, a simple very light crop and it is easily removed.<br />
<br />
<br />
So, let's take a look at the results, but before we do, we needed to see a baseline of what a shot will look like at normal speeds and then with the "old guard". This means a 2nd baseline photo using the original way we used to do it, with the Nikon High Speed Hack Trick using a pair of PW Plus II units triggered from the sync connector of either the on camera or on flash sync connectors.<br />
<br />
Here is our starting point.<br />
<br />
Pic #1 - The Baseline sub-maximum sync speed photo<br />
ControlTL P2 settings: Factory default<br />
<br />
D700 Shutter speed at 1/160th, F/22<br />
Photogenic power down to 31 W/s (lowest power level)<br />
Banding: Zero - Gradations: Zero.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iwCVqGClysA/Tk-6-IffYoI/AAAAAAAAAb4/upcQNtpEap0/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iwCVqGClysA/Tk-6-IffYoI/AAAAAAAAAb4/upcQNtpEap0/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-12.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
Pic #2 - Plus II to Plus II - The Nikon HSFP Hack Sync Trick<br />
D700 - F/22 - 1/4000th<br />
Photogenic PL-2500DR at 500 W/s <br />
Banding: Zero - Gradation - Bottom left corner - minor<br />
<br />
I never got any banding with the HSFP hack trick, but as you can see, I do get a very gentle gradation along the right-side bottom half edge of the photo when in portrait mode.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NYdkORm8eeA/Tk-1bnMI9QI/AAAAAAAAAbM/2hzD-5F7EiQ/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NYdkORm8eeA/Tk-1bnMI9QI/AAAAAAAAAbM/2hzD-5F7EiQ/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-1.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
Pic #3 - Default settings with both ControlTL receiver and trasmitter<br />
ControlTL P2 settings: Factory default<br />
<br />
D700 Shutter speed at 1/4000th, F/22<br />
Photogenic power at 500 W/s<br />
Banding: Very obvious and intrusive<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VunVYGcChAE/Tk-1oJ8QogI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/_avTXYQdub4/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VunVYGcChAE/Tk-1oJ8QogI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/_avTXYQdub4/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-2.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
Out of the box, the ControlTL units do not play very nice with my Photogenic studio head, and that banding is very obvious. This photo to me, is unusable.<br />
<br />
However, the software has specific settings for the Alien Bee AB400, AB800, AB1600, ABR800, X800, X1600, X3200, Ultra1200 and Zeus lines. Since the Photogenic is not directly supported (one day I hope they do!), I took a look at EACH category and will show you the best results from each section and the settings needed to attain this photo.<br />
<br />
Now, one thing that was important to me, was consistency, so I took 20 photos at each setting and looked for differences. After doing it like this with the AB400, AB800 and AB1600 flash settings and seeing No differences in between the same shots, I limited myself to 1 photo per setting and then showing here the photo that gave me the best results in each category.<br />
<br />
Pic #4<br />
ControlTL P2 settings: AB400 - 6<br />
D700 - F/22 - 1/4000th<br />
Photogenic PL-2500DR at 500 W/s <br />
Banding: Zero - Gradation: for all intents, are as close to zero as you can get without actually being zero!<br />
<br />
Better performance than when using the HSFP hack trick with the Plus II units. Gradations are near invisible and would be completely undetectable in any shot short of a photo of a clean white wall.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-baYEKIqzgyc/Tk-2Fmn8GHI/AAAAAAAAAbU/-y2-YBwG4Ls/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-baYEKIqzgyc/Tk-2Fmn8GHI/AAAAAAAAAbU/-y2-YBwG4Ls/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-3.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Pic #5<br />
ControlTL P2 settings: AB800 - 5<br />
D700 - F/22 - 1/4000th<br />
Photogenic PL-2500DR at 500 W/s <br />
Banding: Zero - Gradation: A touch more than the previous setting<br />
<br />
<br />
Near identical performance to using the HSFP hack trick with the Plus II units.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bn97K2cwO7U/Tk-2QRrD-XI/AAAAAAAAAbY/9AGdJD7wqfE/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bn97K2cwO7U/Tk-2QRrD-XI/AAAAAAAAAbY/9AGdJD7wqfE/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-4.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Pic #6<br />
ControlTL P2 settings: AB1600 - 6<br />
D700 - F/22 - 1/4000th<br />
Photogenic PL-2500DR at 500 W/s <br />
Banding: Zero - Gradation: clearly visible on bottom right of the photo.<br />
<br />
<br />
Lower performance compared to using the HSFP hack trick with the Plus II units.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gpmpcpGSjIk/Tk-2rs3ndEI/AAAAAAAAAbc/DQLoqzjdezE/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gpmpcpGSjIk/Tk-2rs3ndEI/AAAAAAAAAbc/DQLoqzjdezE/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-5.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
Pic #7<br />
ControlTL P2 settings: ABR800 - 5<br />
D700 - F/22 - 1/4000th<br />
Photogenic PL-2500DR at 500 W/s <br />
Banding: Zero - Gradation: A touch more than the previous setting<br />
<br />
<br />
Near identical performance to using the HSFP hack trick with the Plus II units but more light output over any of the other photos here. Visible in the histogram as something between 1/3rd to 1/2 a stop more of light.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ICn4rOYrd3M/Tk-20gmX2bI/AAAAAAAAAbg/tYIdNVzBIFk/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ICn4rOYrd3M/Tk-20gmX2bI/AAAAAAAAAbg/tYIdNVzBIFk/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-6.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Pic #8<br />
ControlTL P2 settings: X800 - 6<br />
D700 - F/22 - 1/4000th<br />
Photogenic PL-2500DR at 500 W/s <br />
Banding: Zero - Gradation: very minor, hard to see unless you really look for it.<br />
<br />
<br />
Better performance than when using the HSFP hack trick with the Plus II units. Gradations are hard to see unless you are looking for it..<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RlaNDN195Dg/Tk-28cXk4ZI/AAAAAAAAAbk/TjZRcdqVb6k/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RlaNDN195Dg/Tk-28cXk4ZI/AAAAAAAAAbk/TjZRcdqVb6k/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-7.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
pic #9<br />
ControlTL P2 settings: X1600 - 5<br />
D700 - F/22 - 1/4000th<br />
Photogenic PL-2500DR at 500 W/s <br />
Banding: Zero - Gradation: Evident but nothing major<br />
<br />
<br />
Again, near identical performance to using the HSFP hack trick with the Plus II units.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZWsLAGX34zA/Tk-3Hp9SaJI/AAAAAAAAAbo/V3Ln7mh4yS0/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZWsLAGX34zA/Tk-3Hp9SaJI/AAAAAAAAAbo/V3Ln7mh4yS0/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-8.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Pic #10<br />
ControlTL P2 settings: X3200 - 5<br />
D700 - F/22 - 1/4000th<br />
Photogenic PL-2500DR at 500 W/s <br />
Banding: Zero - Gradation: Evident but nothing major<br />
<br />
<br />
Again, about the same performance compared to using the HSFP hack trick with the Plus II units.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DRMmFy-vSUY/Tk-3T3WgPfI/AAAAAAAAAbs/zgzeyxLBKBk/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DRMmFy-vSUY/Tk-3T3WgPfI/AAAAAAAAAbs/zgzeyxLBKBk/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-9.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Pic #11<br />
ControlTL P2 settings: ULTRA1200 - 5<br />
D700 - F/22 - 1/4000th<br />
Photogenic PL-2500DR at 500 W/s <br />
<br />
Banding: Zero - Gradation: Evident but nothing major<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Another example where you get about the same performance compared to using the HSFP hack trick with the Plus II units.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r8qKH1HTdII/Tk-3rIqKAsI/AAAAAAAAAbw/uJY07lvcAd8/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r8qKH1HTdII/Tk-3rIqKAsI/AAAAAAAAAbw/uJY07lvcAd8/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-10.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
Pic #12<br />
ControlTL P2 settings: Zeus - 8<br />
D700 - F/22 - 1/4000th<br />
Photogenic PL-2500DR at 500 W/s <br />
<br />
Banding: Zero - Gradation: Evident but nothing major<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Slightly better performance than when compared to using the HSFP hack trick with the Plus II units.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A5qNWV4TjvA/Tk-3x3O_tqI/AAAAAAAAAb0/rYA4EmPLSbA/s1600/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A5qNWV4TjvA/Tk-3x3O_tqI/AAAAAAAAAb0/rYA4EmPLSbA/s320/Hypersync+and+v.2.146-11.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
Final thoughts:<br />
The value changes between the settings have to be very subtle, but obvious. We can choose some minor gradations with slight increases in exposure or get a very clean frame with negligible to no banding or gradation.<br />
<br />
My personal choice is to get the completely clean frame at the expense of a small amount of exposure. With the amount of light that a 1,000 W/s studio head can give, the loss is very small. How small? So small that you can see only tiny changes in the histogram comparing it to the highest one of the bunch.<br />
<br />
So which setting works best for me? The AB400-6 was incredible, though the X800-6 setting was really, really close. They both had, for all intents and purposes, no banding and no gradations and pretty much did the job for me. The most "powerful" was the AB800-5. It gave me the most light for the minimal gradations it produced. <br />
<br />
So, those were the results of my tests. I hope it encourages you to do the same with your setup and see what settings are optimal for your needs.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
EDIT: This test was done a while ago and since then, PW have released newer firmware updates. These updates changed the Hypersync timing, so for me to get similar results, I would need to do this test again and see what settings would work best at what power settings.JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-23153055306056423442011-08-02T22:44:00.004-04:002011-08-02T23:26:53.331-04:0003 - Firmware Updates for your ControlTL unitsOne of the very first tasks one should do shortly after taking out the unit from it's package and installing the batteries, is updating the firmware. Since it is the most feature rich and the least problematic, I highly suggest that all Nikon users update their firmware to the latest BETA firmware available from Pocket Wizard. Normally, I do not condone the installation of beta software, bcause it may install or create a problem that you did not have before, but so far, Pocket Wizard have been really good about it and not released a beta with any major issues... in fact, so far, the betas have been much better than the public releases.<br />
<br />
So, how is it done? I've made a short video detailing the process on a FlexTT5. The process is identical when updating a MiniTT1.<br />
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Be aware that you need to install the PW Configuration Utility which you can download from PW for free. The latest version at the time of the making of this video was v.1.35. <a href="http://www.pocketwizard.com/support/downloads/">HERE</a> is the link to that page from where you may download this software.<br />
<br />
This site did not let me upload a very high quality video, and actually shrank it quite a bit. Though only marginally better, the YouTube version is a touch better. If you have reeeeeeally good eyes, view it here, else just double click it to get to the YOUTUBE site and once there, if you again doule click it, get it in full screen mode, which, though its not great is of good enough quality to be able to let you see what you need to do the upgrade process.<br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/34qCh-N-wv0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
A final note... PW suggests that you upgrade all your units at the same time. I will suggest that if you have more than 2 units, that you upgrade only 2 at first, and test them to be sure that the new firmware doesn't introduce any new challenges. If your tests are successful, upgrade all your units to the same firmware version. This is one of the small concessions one must make when playing with beta software.<br />
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<br />
Next page: A more detailed look at the PW configuration software<br />
Last Page: <a href="http://jerryphpics.blogspot.com/2011/08/02-lets-talk-batteries.html">Let's Talk Batteries</a>JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-58983430642776403752011-08-02T16:18:00.003-04:002014-08-11T16:31:28.890-04:0002 - Let's Talk BatteriesLet's talk about batteries!<br />
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Batteries are the life juice of the ControlTL units. We want to have good quality batteries in there and when you are not using them for more than a few days, take out the batteries. Do this religiously, as the last thing you want, is to one day have a battery leak acid into your units rendering them useless and costing you grief and money for nothing.<br />
<br />
Let me repeat... get those batteries out of there when you are not using them. I *always* remove the batteries after each gig when I get home, usually at the same time while I am copying the files from the CF cards to the computer. For me, there is no reason to leave batteries in there unless they are going to be used within 24 hours.<br />
<br />
The choice of batteries for the FlexTT5 was a logical one. This unit uses common "AA" batteries. For primary (non-rechargeable) battery users, I highly recommend the very popular and long lasting copper top friend, the Duracell brand of battery. However, I am a very adamant user of rechargeable batteries and use either NiMH Duracell 2650mAh batteries or PowerEx 2700mAh batteries. These are very durable, recharge quickly and last a long time. The last time I bought batteries was 2 years ago, and most of my batteries have gone through the charger a couple hundred times and still perform as good as new.<br />
<br />
For the MiniTT1, Pocket Wizard chose a CR-2450 coin style battery. Frankly, I hate this battery because of several reasons. First it is expensive... local prices vary from $10 to $15, which is honestly, ridiculous. Secondly, they are often difficult to find and not stocked everywhere.<br />
<br />
However, the MiniTT1 does have a power saving mode (which the FlexTT5 does <b>not</b> have). If the unit is removed from a camera, the camera is turned off, or if the camera is not used for a period of time, the unit goes into a power saving stand-by mode and this does extend battery life.<br />
<br />
Even the power saving feature of the MiniTT1 was not enough to make the unit very attractive to me. I really honestly preferred the "AA" format that the FlexTT5 used, and I did not purchase a MniTT1 for a a while, wishing that instead of the coin battery, Pocket Wizard chose the "AAA" format instead.<br />
<br />
Last February, I had a destination engagement party to cover, and I felt that I would be needing another FlexTT5 to act as a 2nd trigger on my dual camera style of shooting. I shopped around and none were in stock anywhere, however, one place had the MniTT1 in stock, so I was kinda forced to purchase one. I figured the battery should be good for one event of about 5 hours if used half the time, as the 2nd camera used a FlexTT5, so I just picked it up.<br />
<br />
After using it, I kinda liked the smaller footprint better, but after the destination event, I used it 2 more times and the battery wore out. I replaced that battery and that one wore out within 2 weddings. After that, I did not bother replacing the batteries for this unit and picked up a 5th FlexTT5 so that I would be using only rechargeable AA batteries at an event.<br />
<br />
The thing is, I really... REALLY hated using batteries that are hard to find and when you do find them, are expensive. People told me about some of the deals on eBay where one could purchase blocks of 15 to 50 CR2450 batteries for a lot less, and it was an alternative, but then again, once used, you had to toss them away, and that is just not good for the environment.<br />
<br />
If only they made a rechargeable solution, I would have been quite happy!<br />
<br />
Well, a long hard look all around the internet at the time told me that there was no such animal available anywhere, and some people told me that even if they did make it, they might not be very viable on the MiniTT1, even if it did manage to somehow work, so I put the MiniTT1 away in my photography cabinet, thinking it was in for a forgotten and lonely life.<br />
<br />
Five months later, I am again thinking about the MiniTT1 and how I liked it's shape on the camera, but how there were no rechargeable batteries around for it. I looked all over the internet, doing searches for several hours, and at a point very close to again giving up, I stumbled upon an eBay seller of a very recently released rechargeable version of the CR2450 battery called a LIR-2450 (<b>L</b>ithium <b>I</b>on <b>R</b>echargeable). A small charger and four batteries was well under $30 shipped to my door. I quickly made the purchase. Three weeks later, it arrived in my mailbox. During my wait, again, people told me it was a waste of money, that even if it did work, it would not be very reliable nor last very long.<br />
<br />
I installed the charger, pulled out one battery and placed it in the charger, to be left there until it was fully charged. In the meantime, I was wondering what would the standards be of what I would consider a reliable and useful life and came up with the following numbers; if it lasted for 2000 photos, that would be cool, but not really useful for my needs full time. If it lasted 2500 shutter presses, that would be a thumbs up for part time sessiosn like E-sessions and short photoshoots, but if the battery lasted in the MniTT1 for 3500 shutter activations done over several days, *this* would be the double thumbs up for me.<br />
<br />
So, how to test this out? Certainly, I would never test this out at a wedding or anything that involved possibly jeopardizing a shot, so I had to find out some other way.<br />
<br />
What I ended up doing was installing the MiniTT1 with the LIR2450 battery on my Nikon D200 and set up a light stand holding a FlexTT5 and a SB-600 and set it to it's lowest power setting, and then I just gave it hell over 3-4 days any time I had a some time available. During that time, I was mostly in the same room as the flash, but I often moved as far away as 75 feet and 2 stories down or even further a couple of times as I went outside and down the street to get my mail. <br />
<br />
At the end of the test, my D200 took the brunt of 3,593 shutter releases, and I stopped well before the LIR2450 battery did, as it was not even dropping distance after that many uses, nor going into the yellow warning mode yet. I predict it can do a good 4000 or more flashes per charge, and that is good enough for me.<br />
<br />
People asked me why I don't get regular CR2450 batteries, as for them it apparently lasted 6 months. I do not know what they shoot, but I can pretty much drain a CR2450 in under a couple of weddings so, thats 2 weeks for me... also, when it dies, it is fairly sudden, and in the heat of a day covering a wedding, I don't have time to watch for yellow warning signals from my triggers or receivers, nor do I wish to dedicate the time to swap batteries even if I did. I also won't live with the uncertainty of if this battery will last the day or not, not when there are very important and once in a lifetime moments happening all around me.<br />
<br />
I recharge all my batteries the day before an event, so recharging 1 or 2 more is nothing, but I will have the confidence that on the day of, I will be more than fine. It's not like one doesn't have enough to worry about when covering the most important day of a newly married couple's lives... the additional need to stress about battery life is just so unnecessary!<br />
<br />
Oh, just a small note I want to make... I take every aspect of my responsability as a wedding photographer very seriously. One way I do this is that I constantly practice and always try to better myself, my photography and having the best gear possible. By me saying the best gear possible, that includes quality rechargeable batteries and yes, even higher end intelligent battery chargers.<br />
<br />
I use nothing but Duracell 2650 mAh or PowerEx 2700 mAh batteries. I never quick charge my batteries, but only use the slow/soft charging modes, and the battery chargers of choice for me are a couple of MAHA MC-808 8-cell intelligent chargers.<br />
<br />
The LIR coin cell charger is probably not a slow charger, but its not a fast charger either, as it takes about 2 hours to charge up a coin cell to a full state, which will not burn out the battery prematurely, shorten it's life nor ability to retain the maximum charge over time. Nothing lasts forever, but if it lasts me more than a month, it's already paid for itself in savings, and I expect it to last at least 2-3 years.<br />
<br />
Before ending this section, I would like to share a hint with you, a hint that I learned a few years ago.<br />
<br />
I have a nice collection of watches, most are battery powered, and those that are, the batteries require replacement about once a year. Well, I learned that the battery life of my watches more than doubles if I do not touch the batteries with my fingers when installing. When I install those coin style batteries, I use either plastic tweezers (picked up 2 at the dollar store for a buck), or I use latex gloves, the kind that doctors wear. One could also go to any local pharmacy and purchase those latex rubber fingers (look like little finger condoms... lol). They cost a couple dollars and you get pretty much a lifetime supply if you re-use them.<br />
<br />
My battery life is increased by not directly touching coin cell batteries (for my watches, I now replace them once every 2 years or so and thats a big difference), and this technique I will continue to use with the MiniTT1.<br />
<br /><br />
EDIT: August 11, 2014: The *first* of my LIR2540's finally gave out, it can only hold enough juice to do about 1/2 a wedding or 1200 photos and when placed in the charger, is shown with a status of RED meaning, not fully charged. When I picked up these rechargeable coin cell batteries, I did not think that they would last for 3 years and put up with all my many recharges and usages. That is some EXCELLENT results for the price, and if I do the calculations, they've paid for themselves about 198 times over... that's a savings of ($5 each X 198 events) <strong>$990 over 3 years</strong>!<br />
<br /><br />
No one can convince me that at even at 1/10th this capacity, that the LIR2450's are not worth it.<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
<br />
Next up: <a href="http://jerryphpics.blogspot.com/2011/08/03-firmware-updates-for-your-controltl.html">How to: Firmware updates</a><br />
Last page: <a href="http://jerryphpics.blogspot.com/2011/08/01-description-of-controltl-units.html">Description of the units</a>JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-16223384630612606382011-08-02T11:24:00.004-04:002011-08-03T17:20:25.046-04:0001 - Description of ControlTL unitsThe ControlTL units are quite smartly designed. Made to be not too big and not too small, I find that they have a nice feel to them, stronger than some other camera triggers that come from, for example, the orient. The buttons are all easy to use even by people with large fingers. Both battery covers can be removed easily enough without any tools, using just a fingernail.<br />
<br />
The FlexTT5, especially with the batteries installed, has a feeling of weight that a quality product has.<br />
<br />
I have seen a FlexTT5 hit a cement floor from a height of about 4-5 feet, and though it came apart at the battery door and bottom battery compartment cover, and sent the batteries across the room, the unit was surprisingly not damaged and after 5 minutes of playing with assembly, and re-installing the batteries, was as good as new, minus a couple scratches. The look of relief the owner had was nice to see, and I am sure an oriental until would not have survived the same fall with as little damage.<br />
<br />
Let's take a little closer look at the units, starting with the...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><u style="color: red;"><b>Pocket Wizard FlexTT5</b></u></div><br />
The FlexTT5 is a transceiver and can be used to trigger remote flashes when placed on camera, as well as used to receiver signals from a remote transmitter and set off flashes connected to either it's hot shoe or P2 port via a sync cable. When set upon a camera, the hot shoe may contain a flash for front fill and/or a suitable commander such as a SB-700, SB-800, SB-900, SU-800 or Pocket Wizard's AC-3 to control the output of up to 3 groups of flashes.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jAM8c_WByHA/Tjcb3a405cI/AAAAAAAAAaY/k02DicrxDdA/s1600/ControlTL_Description-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jAM8c_WByHA/Tjcb3a405cI/AAAAAAAAAaY/k02DicrxDdA/s320/ControlTL_Description-1.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
From the top, one can see the hotshoe where one can install the flash on to. On the left, we see the 3 main switches, the top most to set which of 3 possible zones the installed flash will be set to (A, B or C), the OFF/C2/C1 switch is the switch that turns on the unit to one of 2 preconfigured set of settings (C1 or C2).<br />
<br />
Under that is the Test/Learn button, used to do a test fire of the flash, do partial or full resets or complete learn procedures with.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YTHuAovB70s/TjcgCI8_yVI/AAAAAAAAAag/j7KyuEond1A/s1600/ControlTL_Description-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YTHuAovB70s/TjcgCI8_yVI/AAAAAAAAAag/j7KyuEond1A/s320/ControlTL_Description-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Above we have a better view of the 3 switches.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cwhd7pXSl_w/TjccyECyWzI/AAAAAAAAAac/ZzZejtAo8KE/s1600/ControlTL_Description-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cwhd7pXSl_w/TjccyECyWzI/AAAAAAAAAac/ZzZejtAo8KE/s320/ControlTL_Description-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
On the rear side of the FlexTT5, we have the P1, P2 ports and the status LED. The P2 port is a 1/8th inch (or 3.5mm), mini-jack, used to connect the FlexTT5 to other flash units like older non-TTL flashes or studio heads. The P1 port is the same size as the P2 port, and is used to connect the FlexTT5 to your camera via a special cable and used for remote triggering of the camera (as opposed to remote triggering of flashes). Both ports utilize a mono (not a stereo), plug.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">The Status LED shows several things:</div><div style="text-align: left;">- it blips for displaying transmission and reception communications</div><div style="text-align: left;">- regular blips to show it is active</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- it blips to show the completion of partial or full unit resets</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- it shows battery health status... green meaning good battery condition, yellow meaning a low battery condition is detected, change it very soon and red meaning that the battery is critically low and immediate change of batteries is demanded.</div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bcbo0IuF3eg/TjcgnaTf1FI/AAAAAAAAAak/PcOziE4oZ64/s1600/ControlTL_Description-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bcbo0IuF3eg/TjcgnaTf1FI/AAAAAAAAAak/PcOziE4oZ64/s320/ControlTL_Description-5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
At the front of the units is the antenna. When in use, it is always recommended to raise the antenna. Also, right behind the raised antenna, one can see the mini-USB port, to which one connects the supplied USB cable for firmware updates and new setting changes.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yd59mhoxYGw/TjchMrybPMI/AAAAAAAAAao/HsCCrSmfOUo/s1600/ControlTL_Description-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yd59mhoxYGw/TjchMrybPMI/AAAAAAAAAao/HsCCrSmfOUo/s320/ControlTL_Description-6.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
On the bottom of the FlexTTT5, we see the hot shoe connector, the 1/4-20 female socket and the sticker that identifies if the unit is for Canon or Nikon use and the serial number.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FTQ0rhtA-9k/TjchuNe80VI/AAAAAAAAAas/XqIujEMR1oQ/s1600/ControlTL_Description-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yKV5L7TMNmc/TjchurWUfTI/AAAAAAAAAaw/MQhr6Jp8WYY/s1600/ControlTL_Description-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yKV5L7TMNmc/TjchurWUfTI/AAAAAAAAAaw/MQhr6Jp8WYY/s320/ControlTL_Description-9.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the right side of the unit is the door that opens to reveal the battery compartment. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FTQ0rhtA-9k/TjchuNe80VI/AAAAAAAAAas/XqIujEMR1oQ/s1600/ControlTL_Description-10.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FTQ0rhtA-9k/TjchuNe80VI/AAAAAAAAAas/XqIujEMR1oQ/s1600/ControlTL_Description-10.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FTQ0rhtA-9k/TjchuNe80VI/AAAAAAAAAas/XqIujEMR1oQ/s320/ControlTL_Description-10.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FTQ0rhtA-9k/TjchuNe80VI/AAAAAAAAAas/XqIujEMR1oQ/s1600/ControlTL_Description-10.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><br />
Please note that this is the proper orientation to install the "AA" sized batteries, which the unit needs to function.<br />
<br />
<br />
Next, lets look at the:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><u style="color: red;"><b>Pocket Wizard </b></u><u style="color: red;"><b>MiniTT1</b></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7vensRZ_b7g/TjcoMW7p4sI/AAAAAAAAAa0/WbiJfYVQwPs/s1600/ControlTL_Description-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7vensRZ_b7g/TjcoMW7p4sI/AAAAAAAAAa0/WbiJfYVQwPs/s320/ControlTL_Description-13.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span><span style="color: red;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The MiniTT1 is a transmitter only, and has a smaller "footprint" than the FlexTT5, which is a transmitter/receiver, or "transceiver". The MniTT1 has the antenna built into the unit and therefore has nothing sticking out f it. As you can see, it also has a hot shoe built in to the top of the unit. This is so that </span></span>the hot shoe may contain a flash for front fill and/or a suitable commander such as a SB-700, SB-800, SB-900, SU-900 or Pocket Wizard's AC-3. Any of these units may control the output of up to 3 groups of flashes (excepton being the SB-700 which can control only 2 groups of flashes). </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"> The MiniTT1 has no P1 or P2 ports in it, so it cannot be used to trigger other flashes, nor can it be used as a remote trigger for your camera. It's sole function is a transmitter and receptacle for an on board flash or commander.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dHaKuRrRcA0/TjcwM26WovI/AAAAAAAAAa8/SoW2cLg6gzs/s1600/ControlTL_Description-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dHaKuRrRcA0/TjcwM26WovI/AAAAAAAAAa8/SoW2cLg6gzs/s320/ControlTL_Description-14.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XYMdGpFKvYo/TjcwBa8SD3I/AAAAAAAAAa4/OYc7WPynqFA/s1600/ControlTL_Description-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div style="text-align: left;">The MiniTT1 does have 2 switches on it's side, the OFF/C1/C2 switch and a Test/Learn button and a status LCD. The OFF/C2/C1 switch is the switch that turns on the unit to one of 2 preconfigured set of settings (C1 or C2) and the Test/Learn button, used to do a test fire of the flash, do partial or full resets or complete learn procedures with.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>The Status LED shows several things:<br />
- it blips for displaying transmission and reception communications<br />
- regular blips to show it is active<br />
- it blips to show the completion of partial or full unit resets<br />
- it shows battery health status... green meaning good battery condition, yellow meaning a low battery condition is detected, change it very soon and red meaning that the battery is critically low and immediate change of batteries is demanded.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VEDgazg2ALs/Tjcw9SdvVDI/AAAAAAAAAbA/1SBRGmL5ZZE/s1600/ControlTL_Description-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VEDgazg2ALs/Tjcw9SdvVDI/AAAAAAAAAbA/1SBRGmL5ZZE/s320/ControlTL_Description-11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"> On the right side of the MiniTT1 is a small rubber door that hides the mini-USB port. This is where you plug in the provided USB cable to update firmware or to make configuration changes.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EWpfUXfzcjs/TjcxYdPCyUI/AAAAAAAAAbE/okNpLPyyAko/s1600/ControlTL_Description-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EWpfUXfzcjs/TjcxYdPCyUI/AAAAAAAAAbE/okNpLPyyAko/s320/ControlTL_Description-12.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Underneath the MiniTT1 is the hot shoe connector and the battery door. The MiniTT1 uses a CR-2450 coin style battery and the orientation is shown... for clarity, the POSITIVE side is always up and the NEGATIVE side is placed down. Right now you see the battery held to the lid of the MniTT1's battery door, because there is a small piece of sticky rubber used to press the battery securely on the battery connectors of the MiniTT1.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Let's wind up the descriptions with the:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><u style="color: red;"><b>Pocket Wizard AC-3</b></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pLBXPzyiIyo/TjczFx6ZhZI/AAAAAAAAAbI/AnG2s5trAhk/s1600/ControlTL_Description-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pLBXPzyiIyo/TjczFx6ZhZI/AAAAAAAAAbI/AnG2s5trAhk/s320/ControlTL_Description-7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"> The AC3 is Pocket Wizard's commander unit. It is tiny, very light, has no power supply of it's own (it uses the power from the unit underneath it and can be used on either a FlexTT5 or MiniTT1). It is also very simple and easy to use. It has three 3-position switches on it and 3 dials. Each switch/dial controls one of the 3 groups of lights it can control (groups A, B or C). Let's start off with an explanation of the 3-position switch. It's 3 positions are:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">- 0 (zero).</div><div style="text-align: left;">- M This stands for MANUAL control</div><div style="text-align: left;">- A. This stands for AUTO or TTL control</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>The controls are split into 2 main areas, switches and rotary dials. Each is duplicated so as to be able to control 3 separate zones. The 3-position switch has the following settings: "0" or "zero" to turn off that zone entirely, "M" for manual power control settings. "A" is for automatic or TTL enabled control mode for that zone.<br />
<br />
The rotary dials lower or raise light output for that particular zone in 1/3rd of a stop increments. These dials work differently depending on if you are in "M" mode or "A" mode.<br />
<br />
We'll get more in depth with the AC3 in a future post.<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Next up: <a href="http://jerryphpics.blogspot.com/2011/08/02-lets-talk-batteries.html">Let's talk batteries!</a><br />
Last page: <a href="http://jerryphpics.blogspot.com/2011/08/00-controltl-for-nikon-users.html">Introduction</a> </div>JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-58653500195179866572011-08-01T13:35:00.007-04:002011-08-04T18:37:07.153-04:0000 - ControlTL for Nikon UsersHey there!<br />
<br />
This is a new section on my blog, focused on Pocket Wizard triggers. Mostly all about the latest version called ControlTL (or "Control The Light"), but I also will touch on the Plus II versions a bit.<br />
<br />
I know that in other places on this blog I discuss my initial preview and impression of the units days after they were released to the public as well as some other things about them, however, here, I want to present a more structured base of information. Don't forget, this site is more for me than others, its just a place for me to have some fun blogging about things I like to talk about. If it helps others, thats cool, but that is not the primary goal of anything that I place here.<br />
<br />
Just a small note... I am a Nikon shooter, the aspect from which these posts are based on, will be from that aspect, so though a lot of this is applicable to all versions, some of the information may not apply to Canon users.<br />
<br />
I want to start at the beginning, from the very basics to the more advanced features. My goal is to speak of my experiences, what I learn and the features of the ControlTL units from my own personal experiences. I don't want to make the definitive site about ControlTL units... for that, you can go to <a href="http://www.pocketwizard.com/">www.PocketWizard.com</a>, they will always have more information there than I.<br />
<br />
This is currently a work in progress and I will add more info as I work on this section of the blog.<br />
<br />
My basic layout at this time will be the following set of articles, however, I will more than likely add, change or re-order to suit a logical advancement of knowledge concerning these units over time. Here is my predicted content that I will add:<br />
<br />
- Basic description<br />
- Batteries... primary and rechargeable<br />
- How to: Firmware updates<br />
- A more detailed look at the Configuration Software<br />
- How to: Factory Resets, partial and complete<br />
- Basic use, 1 MiniTT1 and 1 FlexTT5<br />
- Controlling flashes with an SB-800 or SB-900 as the commander<br />
- Controlling flashes with the AC3 commander<br />
- The Nikon High Speed Sync hack trick with the Plus II units<br />
- The Nikon High Speed Sync hack trick with the ControlTL units<br />
- Hypersync... what is it and what are the advantages of using it? <br />
- How to: Hypersync with speedlights<br />
- How to: Hypersync with studio heads (monolights)<br />
- Speedcycler with the AC3 and 3 speedlights<br />
- How to: Mix and match TTL and manual controls<br />
- How to: Mix and match speedlights and studio heads (monolights)<br />
<br />
If you have any comments (good or bad), questions about anything I have written here or something you might want me to add, feel free to contact me: jerryph@gmail.com.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
Jerry P.H.<br />
<br />
Next: <a href="http://jerryphpics.blogspot.com/2011/08/01-description-of-controltl-units.html">Description of the ControlTL Units</a>JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-44538604011037845532011-01-11T11:10:00.067-05:002011-02-15T12:41:57.172-05:00Pocket Wizard AC3 for Nikon<div style="text-align: justify;">January 5th, 2011... 7:40am. I receive an email from Jim Clark asking me if I would be interested in being part of the beta team for the coming PocketWizard product called the AC3 Zone Controller for Nikon cameras.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of course I knew what the AC3 was (and to be honest, I knew who Jim Clark V.P. of LPA Designs was... as would anyone that knows who created the PocketWizard line of products), and since I was amongst the slew of many who had recently ordered and received their new FlexTT5 for Nikon product, I was like "heck yeah, I'd love to!".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr. Clark then took steps to make arrangements for me to receive one of the beta AC3 units and make me a part of the team. He was also generous enough to send me an extra FlexTT5 unit (since I had only 2 units of my own at the time), for reasons I shall later explain. Suffice to say that the man is a gentleman!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit: Updated info as of January 12, 2011</span> - I am now a beta tester for LPA Designs and wish to thank them for the opportunity of being able to be a small part of the process that helps them. I have signed a NDA but will continue to share things that I am permitted to. For the AC3, since it has been available for the Canon users for a while now, nothing here that I write is counter to our mutual agreement, and I have been granted a good amount of leeway to discuss functionality. Of course, I know nothing of release dates, future projects or features, nor am I the person to contact in the event you are having support issues... I am just a guy that was given the opportunity to test a few of their products... and through that, have a heck of a lot of fun!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">For those that do not know, the AC3 is something very simple, yet profound. It does one thing... it gives you total control over your off camera flashes all from the top of your camera. Your lights can be at the other side of the room 13 feet in the air and if you needed to change the power output, you just flip a switch or rotate a small dial that sits on the controller that is slid into the hot shoe connector of your FlexTT5 or MiniTT1 that is sitting on top of your camera.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, I said it does something simple, but that does not mean that the unit cannot aid in helping you accomplish some pretty impressive and complex tasks!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Before we get into the intricacies of this product, let's take a look at it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">What does an AC3 Zone Controller look like? </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The unit is nicely boxed in typical PW manner, meaning tight, attractive and well designed.</div><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyraTHjdXI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/88axgNqFz80/s1600/Beta_AC3-1008.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561008108192626034" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyraTHjdXI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/88axgNqFz80/s320/Beta_AC3-1008.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyraiW61LI/AAAAAAAAAWY/vDiKpS6vj1w/s1600/Beta_AC3-1009.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561008112283604146" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyraiW61LI/AAAAAAAAAWY/vDiKpS6vj1w/s320/Beta_AC3-1009.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyraiW61LI/AAAAAAAAAWY/vDiKpS6vj1w/s1600/Beta_AC3-1009.jpg"><br />
</a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">My first impression was of how small it was in real life. It was a touch smaller than I had envisioned it to be, as I had seen the Canon equivalent versions of this device online. The ergonomics, though, are excellent and I can see people of any sized fingers being able to easily control all the dials and switches without difficulty, and within a very short time, without even looking, which is something that I as a wedding photographer, value very highly.</div><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyrr383zUI/AAAAAAAAAWg/QjPNuzh3Pwo/s1600/Beta_AC3-1010.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561008410137709890" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyrr383zUI/AAAAAAAAAWg/QjPNuzh3Pwo/s320/Beta_AC3-1010.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
It clicked in with a satisfying firmness into the locking pin hole and sits nicely on top of my FlexTT5.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSysFH0iQ_I/AAAAAAAAAWo/b2Eq0gTaozY/s1600/Beta_AC3-1011.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561008843894440946" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSysFH0iQ_I/AAAAAAAAAWo/b2Eq0gTaozY/s320/Beta_AC3-1011.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">For myself, I have decided to use all FlexTT5 units in my setup, since every FlexTT5 is a transceiver and I did not want to get into the minor hassle of needing to carry anything else other than rechargeable AA batteries with me. The MiniTT1 uses a 3 volt Lithium battery (CR2450), or a Lithium coin cell battery (CR2354). All FlexTT5 units use simple rechargeable AA batteries, which is just how I like it.<br />
<br />
On camera, the FlexTT5/AC3 combo has no wobble and is very stable, and the AC3 is as light as a feather (it requires no battery, and takes it's power, I *believe* from the unit underneath it . I would have to guess it cannot draw a lot anyways, with the biggest drain coming only from the AC3's status LED, from what little electrical knowledge that I possess).<br />
<br />
The combined weight of the FlexTT5 and AC3 is minor, and one of the main reasons I prefer this setup over the Radio Poppers (that force you to carry the weight of a full flash and their transmitter on top of your camera. Sorry, but my D700 with battery grip and a nice 70-200mm lens are already heavy enough, no need for even more weight if I do not have to!).<br />
<br />
Another reason I do not like on camera flash (besides the flat lighting), is that many Nikon D700 users that place the SB-900 on camera regularly, over time develop an issue where the camera's hot shoe becomes loose or damaged, causing random flash firings and possible camera/flash damage. Repair is done by Nikon on your dime. This is NOT an issue with the FlexTT5/AC3 thanks to their lighter weight and no need for an on camera flash!</div><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyy7sCqY7I/AAAAAAAAAXQ/_rF6ms5dfnU/s1600/Beta_AC3-1006.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561016378400072626" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyy7sCqY7I/AAAAAAAAAXQ/_rF6ms5dfnU/s320/Beta_AC3-1006.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyy7SmbvWI/AAAAAAAAAXI/ntqi2EV0X4E/s1600/Beta_AC3-1005.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561016371570785634" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyy7SmbvWI/AAAAAAAAAXI/ntqi2EV0X4E/s320/Beta_AC3-1005.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyy7NNdNfI/AAAAAAAAAXA/YxJ61G6-GoY/s1600/Beta_AC3-1004.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561016370123847154" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyy7NNdNfI/AAAAAAAAAXA/YxJ61G6-GoY/s320/Beta_AC3-1004.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyy6hTHDEI/AAAAAAAAAW4/7BqFNAgHfsw/s1600/Beta_AC3-1003.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561016358336400450" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyy6hTHDEI/AAAAAAAAAW4/7BqFNAgHfsw/s320/Beta_AC3-1003.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyy6pg9MRI/AAAAAAAAAWw/3eM5zUMQPJU/s1600/Beta_AC3-1002.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561016360541958418" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyy6pg9MRI/AAAAAAAAAWw/3eM5zUMQPJU/s320/Beta_AC3-1002.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyzHzH0KgI/AAAAAAAAAXY/y95NfDDPj1Q/s1600/Beta_AC3-1007.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561016586459163138" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSyzHzH0KgI/AAAAAAAAAXY/y95NfDDPj1Q/s320/Beta_AC3-1007.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">So, how does it work and exactly what can an AC3 Zone Controller do? </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The controls are split into 2 main areas, switches and rotary dials. Each is duplicated so as to be able to control 3 separate zones. The 3-position switch has the following settings: "0" or "zero" to turn off that zone entirely, "M" for manual power control settings. "A" is for automatic or TTL enabled control mode for that zone.<br />
<br />
The rotary dials lower or raise light output for that particular zone in 1/3rd of a stop increments. These dials work differently depending on if you are in "M" mode or "A" mode.<br />
<br />
In "0" mode, the dials have no function, as every flash that is in the zone with this setting is disabled.<br />
<br />
In "A" or automatic/TTL mode the dial adjusts the power in 1/3rd stop increments anywhere from -3 stops to + 3 stops over or under whatever TTL setting the camera says you need. Think of this as a sort of exposure compensation mode.<br />
<br />
In "M" or manual mode one can use the dial to adjust power from full power, or 1/1, if you will, to 1/64th for that zone. The black background 3 (or -3), sets the flash power to 1/64th,. The +3 (or white background), sets it to 1/1 or full power and again, you can go anywhere in between in 1/3rd of a stop increments. Quite impressive!<br />
<br />
</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSy502AgUSI/AAAAAAAAAXg/bKFG-fttfjY/s1600/Beta_AC3-1012.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561023957397688610" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSy502AgUSI/AAAAAAAAAXg/bKFG-fttfjY/s320/Beta_AC3-1012.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>To clarify this, depending on the mode used, the meanings change. In "0" or "Zero" mode, the flash zone is disabled and the dials have no relevancy. In TTL or "A" mode, it serves more like an exposure compensation dial and the values are thus:</div><br />
Black background and white letter values:<br />
3 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">TTL power setting minus 3 stops of light</span><br />
2/.7 -- TTL power setting minus a 2-2/3rds of a stop<br />
2/.3 -- TTL power setting minus a 2-1/3rds of a stop <br />
2 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">TTL power setting </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> minus 2 stops of light</span><br />
1/.7 -- TTL power setting minus a 1-2/3rds of a stop <br />
1/.3 -- TTL power setting minus a 1-1/3rds of a stop <br />
1 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">TTL power setting </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> minus 1 stop of light</span><br />
0/.7 -- TTL power setting minus a 2/3rds of a stop <br />
0/.3 -- TTL power setting minus a 1/3rds of a stop <br />
0 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">TTL power setting, no changes added or removed</span><br />
<br />
White background and black letter values:<br />
0/.3 -- TTL power setting plus 1/3rd of a stop<br />
0/.7 -- TTL power setting plus 2/3rds of a stop<br />
1 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">TTL power setting </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> plus 1 stop of light</span><br />
1/.3 -- TTL power setting plus 1-1/3rds of a stop<br />
1/.7 -- TTL power setting plus 1-2/3rds of a stop<br />
2 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">TTL power setting </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> plus 2 stops of light</span><br />
2/.3 -- TTL power setting plus 2-1/3rds of a stop<br />
2/.7 -- TTL power setting plus 2-2/3rds of a stop <br />
3 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">TTL power setting </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> plus 3 stops of light</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
In manual mode, the numbers visually do not change on the dials, but their values as to what the flash is putting out is different. Manual mode users will have to use their thinking caps a little because here is how it works... on the left we have the AC3 settings as they appear on the dials and then we have the equivalent flash power output as represented by a fraction of it's maximum output (ie: 1/2 means half power, 1/1 means full power, etc...). In this mode, the values mean something totally different, as indicated:</div><br />
Black background and white letter values:<br />
3 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">1/64th power</span><br />
2/.7 -- 1/32nd - 2/3rds of a stop of power<br />
2/.3 -- 1/32nd - 1/3rd of a stop of power<br />
2 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">1/32nd power</span><br />
1/.7 -- 1/16th - 2/3rds of a stop of power<br />
1/.3 --1/16th - 1/3rd of a stop of power<br />
1 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">1/16th power</span><br />
0/.7 -- 1/8th - 2/3rds of a stop of power<br />
0/.3 -- 1/8th - 1/3rd of a stop of power<br />
0 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">1/8th power</span><br />
<br />
White background and black letter values:<br />
0/.3 -- 1/8th + 1/3rd of a stop of power<br />
0/.7 -- 1/8th + 2/3rds of a stop of power<br />
1 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">1/4th power</span><br />
1/.3 -- 1/4th + 1/3rd of a stop of power<br />
1/.7 -- 1/4th + 2/3rds of a stop of power<br />
2 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">1/2 power</span><br />
2/.3 -- 1/2 + 1/3rd of a stop of power<br />
2/.7 -- 1/2 + 2/3rds of a stop of power<br />
3 ----- <span style="font-weight: bold;">1/1 power</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold;">full power)</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Because this is likely where I will be 95% of the time, a fast way for me to remember where I am on the scale is that a setting of 0 on the rotary dials is 1/8th power. A short while of using this and you will be able to look at the numbers and know immediately what the power output of your flash is set to without thinking about it.</div><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">How do you control what flash belongs in what zone?<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">On the remote FlexTT5 that you place a flash on, you have a switch that selects what group it is a member of, either A, B or C. You are then able to control all flashes that are a member of a particular group from the AC3. You are not limited to 1 flash per group, you can have as many flashes in a group as you wish, and all will respond to the commands of the AC3.</div><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSzHtFnCFnI/AAAAAAAAAXo/xeq-9qXvncc/s1600/Beta_AC3-1013.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561039217309652594" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSzHtFnCFnI/AAAAAAAAAXo/xeq-9qXvncc/s320/Beta_AC3-1013.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">If your name just happens to be Joe McNally and you have 50 SB-900s and 50 FlexTT5's at your disposal, you could place 10 in zone-A, 15 in zone-B and 25 in zone-C or any combination you could dream up, and control each zone with perfect precision!<br />
<br />
Here is a nice little touch... the three zones <span style="font-weight: bold;">do not</span> need to all be set identically!<br />
<br />
This means that one can mix and match any of the 3 modes on any zone in any way, so if I wanted to, I can have zone-A set to "M" or manual control, zone-B to "A" or TTL mode and zone-C turned off or (again), any combination thereof.<br />
<br />
Another feature to be aware of is the results of using the Test/Learn button on your MiniTT1/FlexTT5. Pressing it will only fire the flashes that your AC3 settings permit. If you have all 3 groups turned off, no flash will fire. when the test button is pressed (which is logical).<br />
<br />
Placing a group in M or A mode will fire off all flashes in that group. Also, if your AC3 group is set to manual, pressing the Test/Learn button fires off the remote flash at the power setting that your AC3 is telling it to fire at. As a general rule, you don't want to be firing off test flashes at full power, so be aware of this.<br />
<br />
<br />
The AC3 is amazingly flexible in terms of possibilities.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Ok, enough marketing... does the AC3 work?</span><br />
<br />
YES! It is an amazing tool that I think every ControlTL user should have. However, I am currently testing the AC3 for the Nikon and have not done all the tests I would like to do.<br />
<br />
This is why I am honored to be on the beta team, to push this little unit and report back my results both to you and directly to the creators of this marvelous accessory. I have a small battery of tests that I plan to do, and the results will be reported.<br />
<br />
Here is a list of tests that I have already done:<br />
<br />
The basics as done via all FlexTT5 units (no MiniTT1 units here), one on camera with the AC3 in place, and 1 or more units for off camera use.<br />
<br />
- All flex units upgraded to the latest beta software<br />
- Units set to factory standard C1 and C2 configurations unless so indicated.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">January 11, 2011</span>:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">Test 1a</span> - FlexTT5 / AC3 on camera, One FlexTT5 with a <span style="font-style: italic;">bare <span style="font-weight: bold;">SB-900</span></span> as the remote flash.<br />
Goal is to test the basic 0-M-A functionality. Test location was my living-room indoors.<br />
<br />
The "0" setting effectively disables the flash in whatever zone you wish. It is effective in turning on or off the flashes in all 3 zones in all possible combinations, until another setting is chosen (either M or A).<span style="color: #333399;"> </span><span style="color: #333399; font-weight: bold;">Let's give this a PASS.</span><br />
<br />
The "M" setting places all flashes in this zone to a fixed manual setting. The black 3 (or -3) equals the 1/64th setting, and all settings up to and including +3 or full power are functional. I have not taken a light meter and measured the accuracy of the 1/3rd steps up or down, however, the 1 step drops or raises of the same subject seem very accurate according to the camera histogram. <span style="color: #333399; font-weight: bold;">Let's give this a PASS.</span><br />
<br />
The "A" setting places all flashes in this zone to an iTTL setting. Self adjustment of the same subject at different apertures does give me very similar histograms as long as ambient light is not contributing, to be able to give accurate test results. <span style="color: #333399;"> </span><span style="color: #333399; font-weight: bold;">Let's give this a PASS.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">Test 1b</span> - FlexTT5 / AC3 on camera, One FlexTT5 with a <span style="font-style: italic;">bare <span style="font-weight: bold;">SB-800</span></span> as the remote flash. <span style="color: #333399; font-weight: bold;">Let's give this a PASS.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">Test 1c</span> - FlexTT5 / AC3 on camera, One FlexTT5 with a<span style="font-style: italic;"> bare <span style="font-weight: bold;">SB-600</span></span> as the remote flash. <span style="color: #333399; font-weight: bold;">Let's give this a PASS.</span><br />
<br />
All tests were repeated 3 times in each of the possible flash zones (A-B-C). Test results were identical in each zone (no deviations or changes of performance were noted).<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">January 13, 2011</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Goal: Ability of the AC3 and FlexTT5 to match speed performance of the Nikon CLS system.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">First baseline, using the following Nikon CLS setup:</span><br />
SB-900 as on camera commander<br />
- on camera flash set to -- (no contribution)<br />
- Group A set to manual flash and 1/32nd power<br />
<br />
- Set D700 to CL (Continuous Low speed firing, 3 fps) - All frames exposed properly<br />
- Set D700 to CH (Continuous High speed firing, 5 fps) - All frames exposed properly<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">Second baseline, using the following Nikon CLS setup:</span><br />
SB-900 as on camera commander<br />
- on camera flash set to -- (no contribution)<br />
- Group A set to Aperture priority<br />
<br />
- Set D700 to CL (Continuous Low speed firing, 3 fps) - All frames exposed properly<br />
- Set D700 to CH (Continuous High speed firing, 5 fps) - All frames exposed properly<br />
<br />
In CH setting the FPS audibly dropped to about 4 fps due to time needed for TTL to meter in between shots, but all frames exposed properly.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Important note #1</span>: maximum fps of camera is not exploited when using EN-EL3e battery as opposed to the EN-EL4a, however, when the EN-EL4a battery is used, maximum FPS rises to 8 fps.<br />
<br />
The change in Aperture Priority mode then drops from 8fps to around 6-7 fps. This is normal due to the time needed for the TTL to verify exposure in between frames.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Important note #2</span>: To regain maximum speed of 8fps in Aperture Priority Mode, you can lock in the exposure using the FV LOCK option and maximum FPS speeds are regained.<br />
<br />
------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: 130%; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">PocketWizard Test Results</span><br />
<br />
Repeating the same test, but using a FlexTT5 on camera with AC3 in place, and the remote flashes were two SB-900s, one set to group-A, second SB-900 set to group-B for the initial setup.<br />
<br />
I manually set the AC3 to "M" mode for all groups and flash power set to a (-2) value, that equates to the same 1/32nd power as in the CLS tests and fired off a test shot. The single frame exposed identically to all the above frames under the Nikon baseline tests.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">First baseline, using the following setup:</span><br />
<br />
- Set D700 to CL (Continuous Low speed firing, 3 fps) - All frames exposed properly<br />
- Set D700 to CH (Continuous High speed firing, 5 fps) - All frames exposed properly<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">Second baseline, using the following setup:</span><br />
AC3 mode changed from "M" to "A" in all 3 groups.<br />
<br />
- Set D700 to CL (Continuous Low speed firing, 3 fps) - All frames exposed properly<br />
- Set D700 to CH (Continuous High speed firing, 5 fps) - All frames exposed properly<br />
<br />
In CH setting the FPS audibly dropped to about 4 fps due to time needed for TTL to meter in between shots.but all frames exposed properly.<br />
<br />
<br />
Important note #1: maximum FPS of camera is not exploited due to using EN-EL3e battery as opposed to the EN-EL4a, however, when EN-EL4a battery is used, maximum FPS rises to 8 fps. The drop in Aperture Priority mode then drops from 8fps to around 6. This is normal due to the time needed for the TTL to verify exposure in between frames.<br />
<br />
Important note #2: To regain maximum speed of 8fps in Aperture Priority Mode, you can lock in the exposure using the FV LOCK option and maximum FPS speeds are regained.<br />
<br />
In all continuous shooting modes of Low and High, a minimum of 20 frames per test were used each time.<br />
<br />
This test was a complete success where the AC3 /Flex setup matched all the performance results of the Nikon CLS setup.<br />
<br />
I then repeated the above tests using group B and then group C separately on the AC3.<br />
<br />
The next variation of tests was done with 2 sets of speedlights in groups A-B, then A-C and B-C. I then repeated the entire series of tests with a pair of SB-600s in place of the SB-900s and the tests were identical in terms of positive results.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333399; font-weight: bold;">Chalk-up another PASS</span> for the Flex/Flex/AC3 combo on my D700, along with 2 SB-900 and 2 SB-600 flashes used in this test.<br />
<br />
<br />
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">January 14, 2011</span><br />
<br />
<div style="color: red;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Goal: Answer the question of if CLS and ControlTL can be used at the same time.</span></div><br />
I should have known the answer to this test before doing it, but I went through the motions of using 2 SB-900s for the remote flashes. One SB-900 was configured to be a CLS client, on group A, channel 1. The second SB-900 was set to pure TTL mode and the Flex was set to a factory default Configuration 1 and channel B.<br />
<br />
The answer is... <span style="font-weight: bold;">no you cannot use both CLS and ControlTL at the same time</span>. The reason why not, I believe, is a simple one... ControlTL technology squelches preflashes (which the speedlight set to be the remote CLS client needs to know what settings to use and when to trigger), the trade offs are faster recycle times, more pops per battery charge, less blinkers thanks to the missing pre-flashes.<br />
<br />
</div><br />
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">January 15, 2011</span><br />
<br />
<div style="color: red;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Goal: A little real world testing.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There was to be a strobist meeting today that was unfortunately canceled, so my friend Kris generously let me invade his photo session he had set up to give me a few minutes to play. This was close to the way I would do a real session, however without any pressure for me to deliver, I just set up the equipment in a small room and fired off a few test shots here and there.<br />
<br />
Initially, I was having stability problems as if it could not establish good communications, then with the AC3 in any mode except "0", all presses of the test/learn button resulted in either no response or a full power dump of the remote flash. Changing modes on the AC3 made no difference. I had to turn off all the equipment (camera, flashes, flex units), and did the following:<br />
<br />
- turned on one remote flash<br />
- made sure the antenna of the FlexTT5 unit was raised<br />
- set the group button of the FlexTT5 under it to the group that I wanted<br />
- did the 10-second reset of the FlexTT5 unit, ending with it being turned on<br />
- moved on to the next remote flash and repeated the above<br />
- once all remote flashes were completed, I re-seated the on camera flex and AC3 as well<br />
- I then did the 10-second reset of the FlexTT5 that was on camera<br />
- waited a good 10 seconds and did a couple of test photos<br />
<br />
At that point, the stability and functionality of the setup returned and I proceeded to quickly test the AC3 functionality in both M and A modes successfully. I will admit that I had a blond moment where I reversed the settings between groups A and B, and then was scratching my head wondering what was up.<br />
<br />
One of the things that I think is very important, is to practice with your units several times before actually using them in situations where results are critical. The fluidity of the setup, one's mindset and workflow changes a lot if you are used to using just CLS or an all manual setup.<br />
<br />
Get real comfy using the Flex/AC3 combo before going out there on a paid shoot... it could be a very frustrating moment to be in a time sensitive situation and needing to reset all the units.</div><br />
<br />
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">January 18, 2011</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<div style="color: red;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Goal: Mixed environment, studio heads/Plus II and speedlights/FlexTT5... does it work?</span></div><br />
Today's little test was to see if one could mix/match studio heads with Plus II triggers and speedlights with the FlexTT5 triggers and have it work together harmoniously.<br />
<br />
The fast answer is yes, if you have a Flex or Mini in the hot shoe of your camera. As I mentioned before, the Flex/Mini transmits on both standard and ControlTL channels at the same time and these channels are completely configurable in the PW Configuration Utility software.<br />
<br />
On top of that, I was able to easily exploit 1/320th shutter speeds on both the studio heads with the Plus II units as well as the Nikon speedlights (in this case, a pair of SB-900s), all thanks to perfect factory settings of Hypersync.<br />
<br />
Obviously the studio head's power settings had to be set manually at the flash head, but the Nikon units were easily configurable from the AC3 zone controller.<br />
<br />
It was a very interesting test to mix and match manual studio heads to TTL settings. While I would mostly use manual settings normally for all my lights, it can be a time saver to set the studio head for the rim light or an overhead circle on the ground of the subjects and the speedlights adjust themselves automatically via the "A" mode setting. If any adjustments were needed, they could easily be done on the AC3 controller, of course.<br />
<br />
One thing that I noted, was that in factory default setup, the ControlTL clients seamlessly moved from Hypersync speeds to HS FP speeds at which point the Plus II controlled units just stopped working. In a perfect world, perhaps we could just move into the Nikon High Speed Hack and I would be able to use the Flex/Plus II combo and move all the way up to 1/8000th of a second shutter speeds like when using 2 Plus II units on my studio head.<br />
<br />
Maybe in a future firmware release? Only time will tell.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">From left to right: Photogenic PL2500DR, SB-900, SB-600 at 1/250th, F/16, ISO 800</div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TTYJkVg7GtI/AAAAAAAAAXw/HA-UOIcaV_8/s1600/_JPH0184.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563644909518002898" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TTYJkVg7GtI/AAAAAAAAAXw/HA-UOIcaV_8/s320/_JPH0184.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">From left to right: Photogenic PL2500DR, SB-900, SB-600 at 1/320th, F/16, ISO 800</div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TTYJkiOPyrI/AAAAAAAAAX4/dVjxPjiTe_0/s1600/_JPH0185.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563644912929327794" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TTYJkiOPyrI/AAAAAAAAAX4/dVjxPjiTe_0/s320/_JPH0185.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Chalk up another PASS for the FlexTT5!<br />
<br />
<b>Note</b>: Updated the firmware to v.2.100<br />
<br />
<br />
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">February 15, 2011</span><br />
<br />
<div style="color: red; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Goal: SU-800 issue, does it exist with the AC3?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With a Flextt5 as transmitter and an SU800 as controller. it was found that if you have everything powered up an running and then push the test button on the Flex, the SU-800 becomes unresponsive. If you turn off the SU-800 and then turn it on again, then everything works fine again. These conditions are repeatable and all FlexTT5 units have the most recent firmware (v.2.100). I was asked if the same thing happens with my beta AC3 unit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Here is what I tested:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nikon D700, FlexTT5 and AC3 unit on camera, FlexTT5 and SB-800 and SB-900 as remote flashes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Turned on a SB-900 ( set to group A), SB-800(set to group B), all controlled with Flex units. On camera Flex and AC3. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">AC3 controls set groups to "M" or manual and power set to 1/8th.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Turned off all groups except A, then:</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- pressed the test, SB-900 went off</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- took a picture with the SB-900, photo was good</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- pressed the test, SB-900 went off</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- took a picture with the SB-900, photo was good</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Turned off group A, turned on group B</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- pressed the test, SB-800 went off</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- took a picture with the SB-800, photo was good</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- pressed the test, SB-800 went off</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- took a picture with the SB-800, photo was good</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Turned on groups A and B</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- pressed the test, both flashes went off</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- took a picture with the SB-800 and SB-900, photo was good, both flashes went off</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- pressed the test, both flashes went off</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- took a picture with the SB-800 and SB-900, photo was good, both flashes went off</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then did the exact same test again all over but the AC3 was set to Auto modes for groups A and B.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">At no point did I experience any issues or lack of responsiveness.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Addendum: I quickly tried the test with a MiniTT1 as well doing the complete series of tests and the results were identical, meaning, no loss of responsiveness, everything worked as it should. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">---------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><div style="color: purple; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-style: italic;">End of tests done at this time.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">---------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Have a test that you would want me to try using the AC3, 3 FlexTT5, SB600/800/900? Shoot me an email to info "at" jerryph "dot" com and I'll see what I can do!</div>JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-27469281206948169902011-01-03T17:18:00.043-05:002011-07-18T18:50:21.083-04:00Jeeze, do I really need to spend over $18,000?<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Story:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a recent post on the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157625438789023/">strobist club</a>, someone posted a video made by Dave Black making some outstanding shots of surfers. <a href="http://strobist.blogspot.com/2010/12/hangin-eight-with-dave-black.html">HERE</a> is a link to that strobist article, complete with the matching youtube video.</div><br />
The list of equipment that Mr Black used to create those shots was:<br />
<br />
- $5200 for one Nikon D3s camera<br />
- $5800 for the 200-400 F/4 Nikkor lens<br />
- $4500 for eight SB-900s<br />
- $800 for Radio Popper receivers (2) and transmitter (1)<br />
- $800 for 2 Radio Popper channel splitters from Michael Bass<br />
- $706 for the 2 Four-Square brackets for the flash<br />
- $250 for an SU-800<br />
- $500 for monopod and custom handle<br />
<br />
<b>Total of $18,556 </b><br />
<br />
Not included in the above price are:<br />
38 batteries to power all those flashes and triggers<br />
Battery chargers to charge all those batteries<br />
All shipping costs<br />
All local taxes<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The very first thing that hit me like a baseball bat was that it seemed like a terribly costly amount to spend to get those pics, and in my mind, I immediately found myself making calculations, figuring the inverse square law distances, light, exposure and possibilities. I've also shot my Photogenic 2500DR studio head out in the open before and had a pretty good idea of it's capabilities and how much light that thing puts out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Well, I spent the next couple of days enjoying the conversation in that thread, and during this time received my Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 units, so naturally one of the things I did with it was the Nikon high-speed FP hack trick, and I found that it was just nowhere near as powerful as when I did the same thing with the PW Plus II's, to the point of causing me to lose a good 2.5 stops of light.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, I don't know why, but that combo of a Photogenic 2500DR, D200 or D700 and a pair of Pocket Wizard Plus II's were a lot stronger (likely because the timing was just that much more precise with the Plus II's, perhaps?).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I found out exactly how strong when just after testing the FlexTT5 units, redid the test with the same camera/studio flash settings and just changed the triggers. Here is what I saw:</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">FlexTT5 trigger EXIF info:<br />
D700, F/5.6, 1/2000th, ISO 800.</div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJPkDZrvZI/AAAAAAAAAUo/ZV91WzWYFsI/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1001.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558092370935528850" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJPkDZrvZI/AAAAAAAAAUo/ZV91WzWYFsI/s320/DaveBlackTests-1001.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Plus II trigger EXIF info:<br />
D700, F/5.6, 1/2000th, ISO 800.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJR6HtRWII/AAAAAAAAAU4/XkmDaIqtXtk/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1002.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558094949071804546" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJR6HtRWII/AAAAAAAAAU4/XkmDaIqtXtk/s320/DaveBlackTests-1002.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Same camera and flash settings... but *way* different results between the two triggers as evidenced by the mostly blown out 2nd photo. I had to drop the exposure 2.6 stops in LightRoom before they would compare to about the same visual levels of exposure.</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJPkDZrvZI/AAAAAAAAAUo/ZV91WzWYFsI/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1001.jpg"><br />
</a>Well "1+1" kinda clicked in my head and I started to wonder that if this was the results others were seeing when they did this trick, no wonder they may stick to speedlights, as it was not all that much stronger thanks to that huge amount of light lost, but I was not getting those results, and I was sure as heck not going to give up without doing some kind of test. So today, in -10C Canadian January winter temps, I took a fast 10 minutes, froze my hands holding camera and moving lightstands outside and me and my father tried the tests.</div><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Test:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My equipment was certainly not cheap, but all together was likely less than a third of the price of the Dave Black setup:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Nikon D700</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Nikkor 70-200 F/2.8 VR lens</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 2X Pocket Wizard Plus II's</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- SB-600 on camera flash</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Vagabond II battery pack</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Photogenic PL2500DR head, standard reflector it came with</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Light stand for the studio head</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thats it... thats all.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So what were my results? Well, before I show you the results, let's quantify a little something... the **only** thing that I am discussing is exposure, not composition, not colours, not surfers (because the chances of me finding one tonight on our iced roads was a tad slim), just ugly brute power while in high-speed sync mode (in this case shutter speeds over 1/250th).</div><br />
Ok, that said, here are the results (I can almost hear all of you groaning "FINALLY!!" ha-ha!)<br />
<br />
Lets look at the setup:<br />
<br />
Camera settings:<br />
Shutter was 1/2000th<br />
Aperture was F/5.6<br />
Focal Length was 82mm<br />
ISO was 1600 (1/3rd of a stop less than Dave's ISO 2000)<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Photogenic 2500DR flash was measured out to a distance of 50 feet away from the subject and I stood beside the flash. Flash strength was an indicated 500 W/s or 1/2 power.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Base photo without flash:</div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJVVGemZrI/AAAAAAAAAVA/jHiTWHZLB9U/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1003.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558098711133185714" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJVVGemZrI/AAAAAAAAAVA/jHiTWHZLB9U/s320/DaveBlackTests-1003.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">I wanted to be sure that I had a bit of ambient sky and the subject in a clear silhouette, just like Dave Black demonstrated in his shots. As you can see, this was clearly accomplished.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">With the flash on:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJVzT4-FMI/AAAAAAAAAVI/hambAJHZLLg/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1004.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558099230129525954" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJVzT4-FMI/AAAAAAAAAVI/hambAJHZLLg/s320/DaveBlackTests-1004.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>There is no fudging with the exposures in post, this is how it looked on the LCD of my camera with the settings as indicated! The face is perfectly exposed, and we have a FINE exposure. In my humble opinion, right now, at this moment, in my mind, there is **no** doubt, we can duplicate the shots without needing to sell a kidney... <span style="font-weight: bold;">yay!!!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I took a few steps back, feathered the DR2500 a little to the right, zoomed the lens to 70mm turned to portrait orientation and nothing more, and this was the result:</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJWwK75YGI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/vMbCSEEUc7U/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1005.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558100275697901666" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJWwK75YGI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/vMbCSEEUc7U/s320/DaveBlackTests-1005.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 213px;" /></a><br />
Here I just zoomed in to 200mm.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJXa1vM5MI/AAAAAAAAAVY/gHO4WYWTztg/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1006.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558101008741885122" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJXa1vM5MI/AAAAAAAAAVY/gHO4WYWTztg/s320/DaveBlackTests-1006.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 213px;" /></a>If I was going to nit pick, I would say that I could drop the exposure a third or a half a stop, thanks to the slightly hot specular highlights on the face.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But we're not quite done... let's move that light back to a true 100 feet, take that "no flash" test shot, and do a few more fast tests... my bare hands are starting to get darned cold by now!</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Ok, we are at 99 feet 11 inches, but the lightstand is just behind the Lufkin, so I am not cheating... lol</div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJYfxI_OjI/AAAAAAAAAVg/8woZfPyHE4Q/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1007.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558102192918837810" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJYfxI_OjI/AAAAAAAAAVg/8woZfPyHE4Q/s320/DaveBlackTests-1007.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJZ44wSUuI/AAAAAAAAAV4/ve6pLhSJYP4/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1012.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558103723971072738" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJZ44wSUuI/AAAAAAAAAV4/ve6pLhSJYP4/s320/DaveBlackTests-1012.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
As you can tell, ambient was falling fast, but I moved the lightstand 100 feet back and zoomed to 200mm, the one and only settings change that I made was to raise the power to 1,000 W/s or full power on the studio head... and... BOOM! (hey, like my Dave Black impersonation? ha-ha!)</div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJZbGMeqKI/AAAAAAAAAVo/SsUrLsTAHms/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1008.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558103212182907042" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJZbGMeqKI/AAAAAAAAAVo/SsUrLsTAHms/s320/DaveBlackTests-1008.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 213px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">I was loosing the ambient, and I could have dropped shutter speed, but instead I chose to raise the aperture up a stop and went to F/4, and these were the results:</div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJaq7y3tBI/AAAAAAAAAWA/r26OmD-sDIU/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1010.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558104583780676626" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJaq7y3tBI/AAAAAAAAAWA/r26OmD-sDIU/s320/DaveBlackTests-1010.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 213px;" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJbAkGqkfI/AAAAAAAAAWI/7EfMiEsD4yM/s1600/DaveBlackTests-1011.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558104955378373106" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TSJbAkGqkfI/AAAAAAAAAWI/7EfMiEsD4yM/s320/DaveBlackTests-1011.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>Well, thats about it. I had a great time and now know a few more things.<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 - I know I could recreate his exposure levels easily using my current equipment and save tens of thousands of dollars over buying/using his equipment (not that I would mind having his setup, mind you... lol).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2 - If I wanted to improve on the quality (not the amount of the light), I would want a narrower beam. That standard reflector at 100 feet away will light the entire width of my street (both lanes a good 24 feet wide!), if I did not feather it over to one side, which also is pretty obvious by looking at the photos, that I am loosing about a stop of light on my dad's face on top of it all..</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3 - If I wanted to increase that lit distance from 100 feet to 130 feet without changing camera settings, all it would take is one more 2500DR, or I could go up to ISO 3200 or change aperture to F/2.8, all of which is very workable.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4 - <span style="font-weight: bold;">A BIG</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">THANKS</span> to my dad for braving the cold out there with me, he was a real trooper!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, in my mind, I've proven that I don't need over $18 G's worth of hardware to duplicate his exposure levels, however, just like Dave Black's setup, to be able to duplicate these results, my setup was also very specific in terms of equipment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now please, don't think that this info and my tests results are meant to take away anything from Dave Black's accomplishments or abilities The man is a wealth of info, experience and talent and I give all respect to him. I did this all for my own personal pleasure and had no ulterior motives other than answering to my own curiosity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another point... from the small tests I saw someone else do via their post online, other camera/light/trigger combinations may not put out the same amount of light and therefore, likely not be able to do the same, just like in the example of me changing triggers to the FlexTT5 units and getting *much* poorer results. YMMV (your mileage may vary) depending on your setup, so "try before you buy".</div><br />
<b>February 15, 2011 - Addendum:</b><br />
There is some preliminary testing being done by me, but I am seeing some very interesting results with the Flex units and high shutter speeds (like 1/1000th and up). Seems that the Flex units are maybe going to be able to outperform even the impressive performance of the Plus II units, if you can believe that... as already the Plus II units on Nikon cameras were way outperforming Canon cameras under the same conditions by a good 1.5 stops or more. It looks like that small 3/4 to 1 stop of light lost using the PW Plus II units and the Nikon High Speed Hack trick, by moving from max sync speed to higher, may, in the future, be completely regained... and on top of it, you may not even need that on camera flash! <br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Can you imagine a scenario where there is basically little to no light lost by moving from maximum sync speed to super-sync speeds? Meaning, that if you had a manual flash at a fixed power and went from 1/125th to 1/250th, you lost one stop, but as you went from 1/250th to 1/500th, you lost approximately 2 stops (with Nikon units and specific flashes using the hack... Canon cameras seem to be loosing about 3-4 stops under these conditions!).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the future, you *may* only see a normal 1 stop drop for every 1 stop increase in shutter speed... now, to me that is just some amazing efficiency I never dreamed even possible! I'll have more tests and photos to do once things warm up and the snow goes away. For now, I am just excited to contemplate having access to this very advanced but valuable tool.</div><br />
Anyway, this is my story, and I am sticking to it.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!! :-))JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-55488912035675012592011-01-01T16:34:00.051-05:002013-01-23T17:38:00.529-05:00Pocket Wizard Flextt5 for Nikon<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well, these came in on December 31, 2010 just in time for me to have a day off and play with these new toys. There is a lot to like about the new Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 transceivers and a couple of disappointments, but in the very short time that I have had a chance to play with them, I've been both pleased and disappointed.<br />
<br />
Here are a few shots of the freshly received units and the un-boxing ceremony:</div>
<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5126/5312310939_99ae0576f9_z.jpg"><br />
</a><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5126/5312310939_99ae0576f9.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5126/5312310939_99ae0576f9.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5164/5312900694_5985cc15e0.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5164/5312900694_5985cc15e0.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5285/5312311115_f304455a9a.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5285/5312311115_f304455a9a.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5124/5312311157_f042cd3c02.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5124/5312311157_f042cd3c02.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5129/5312900936_cf166b11aa.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5129/5312900936_cf166b11aa.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5204/5312312115_35e0a00d42.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5204/5312312115_35e0a00d42.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5206/5312900984_63891dfedb.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5206/5312900984_63891dfedb.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5085/5312901274_aee41570fa.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5085/5312901274_aee41570fa.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5007/5312901324_9c4c8e49c8.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5007/5312901324_9c4c8e49c8.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5166/5312901370_a7f9b1631b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5166/5312901370_a7f9b1631b.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5122/5312311835_cef67490e3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5122/5312311835_cef67490e3.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Pocket Wizards are traditionally well known as the distance kings in the remote camera flash department and are touted as having a range of over 1500 feet, and I have pushed 800 feet several times with the Plus II units and they never broke a sweat or given me a misfire.<br />
<br />
These new units because there is so much more info being transmitted, (pre-flashes, TTL info, multiple groups, and so on...), receive an appropriate dropped rating of 800 feet. Other pros in the industry mention a 600 foot max distance.<br />
<br />
Let me first drop the bomb... this is one of the areas that I was disappointed in. In line-of-sight testing, there is nowhere *near* 600 feet of range. I was hoping for about 300 reliable feet, and though I did manage to trigger it a few times from as far as 320 feet, it was with a lot of misfires and total unreliability. Before we get into the actual info, let's look at the setup.<br />
<br />
We started with the following; A FlexTT5 underneath a Nikon SB-900 on a light stand and a calibrated Lufkin rolling distance measuring unit (distances measured in feet and inches). So what is the reliable range? Let's check it out:</div>
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-m5qo4tSI/AAAAAAAAASo/V2yepl8CcuY/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-1001.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557343974827013410" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-m5qo4tSI/AAAAAAAAASo/V2yepl8CcuY/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-1001.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 213px;" /></a><br />
... and start by doing a reset the distance meter to zero it out:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-nJbf8E1I/AAAAAAAAASw/UFjDmA4GsmM/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-1002.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557344245640860498" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-nJbf8E1I/AAAAAAAAASw/UFjDmA4GsmM/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-1002.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
... then walked out to 50 feet, turned and tested successfully:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-nj_p_vuI/AAAAAAAAAS4/SxF0R8Z_ADg/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-1003.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557344702023319266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-nj_p_vuI/AAAAAAAAAS4/SxF0R8Z_ADg/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-1003.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-nkFu1ORI/AAAAAAAAATA/6maC7WVeV0U/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-1004.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557344703654213906" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-nkFu1ORI/AAAAAAAAATA/6maC7WVeV0U/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-1004.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
... walked out to 100 feet, turned and that fired successfully:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-n-fXWUoI/AAAAAAAAATQ/54aYKGNanDg/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-1005.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557345157211640450" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-n-fXWUoI/AAAAAAAAATQ/54aYKGNanDg/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-1005.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-n-YeD-9I/AAAAAAAAATI/ehegTg7oj_0/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-1006.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557345155360750546" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-n-YeD-9I/AAAAAAAAATI/ehegTg7oj_0/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-1006.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
... walked up to 150 feet, turned and that fired successfully yet again:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-o75WFj3I/AAAAAAAAATg/_rVfj6SKXbA/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-1007.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557346212157689714" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-o75WFj3I/AAAAAAAAATg/_rVfj6SKXbA/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-1007.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-o7_o5N-I/AAAAAAAAATY/QwiKFiKKED0/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-1008.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557346213847185378" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-o7_o5N-I/AAAAAAAAATY/QwiKFiKKED0/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-1008.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
... walked out to 200 feet, turned and fired and... nothing! I tried again, and after moving sideways some got a hit, but, it was far from reliable. So I tried from 190 feet... nothing again! Walked forward to 180 feet.. and...</div>
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-piRKvssI/AAAAAAAAATw/lbWnA1CRNiI/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-1009.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557346871387599554" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-piRKvssI/AAAAAAAAATw/lbWnA1CRNiI/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-1009.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-piCk5UOI/AAAAAAAAATo/cn4uJjqaoJ0/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-1010.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557346867470749922" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR-piCk5UOI/AAAAAAAAATo/cn4uJjqaoJ0/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-1010.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>... we got every test working well at 180 feet except the last two pops that failed, however, I *think* we were doing full power dumps and I may not have given the needed 3-4 seconds to recycle or it just did not give me 100% reliability at 180 feet (which I am pretty sure I waited more than enough between pops), but the point was made... the FlexTT5 units are nowhere near the distance champs and bullet-proof reliability of the Plus II units and they fall far short of their rated distances of 800 feet (or of the 600 ft mark as per what Rob Galbraith said they were able to do). I'd **love** to know what he did to be able to get 600 foot ranges, because that would mean that my 300 foot shots would be rock solid reliable and I could live with that.<br />
<br />
I am sorry to say that this did not come close to happening.<br />
<br />
Ok, so they cannot trigger a flash from 65 miles away... so, what do I like about these units?<br />
<br />
- iTTL functionality. You have to love it, and for me, being able to meter on fast moving and distance changing subjects and still get at least close to perfect exposures is important to me in wedding environments (this is single group iTTL, no in camera FEC and no manual power control. For those features you need a commander).<br />
<br />
- HYPER-SYNC! Ok, its only 1/3rd of a stop more on FX bodies from 1/250th up to 1/320th on my D700, but I have already come across a couple situations and wished I had that 1/320th, but did not at the time. Now I do, and even when using a Nikon flash and a plus II receiver, I still get that fully lit frame at 1/320th... sweeeet!<br />
<br />
- High-speed Focal Plane Flash sync speeds. Being able to sync specific Nikon flashes to shutter speeds up to 1/8000th is just awesome for those times you want to control ambient and shoot at wide open apertures. It adds *so much* control to your shots and is something that I see myself using often, matter of fact, any chance I can get, you bet I am going to use it!<br />
<br />
- The ability to control the flash power from the camera (in either TTL or manual or mixed iTTL/manual environments at the same time), either via a heavy SB-800, SB-900 or SU-800... or via the as yet unreleased (as of January 1, 2011), Pocket Wizard AC-3... which will definitely be *my* preferred method. A huge flash on the camera adds way too much weight especially if you are like me and use something like a D700, battery grip and long lenses like a Nikkor 70-200. Adding that behemoth SB-900 to that recepie is a back breaker in a very short time, and honestly, the plastic foot of the FlexTT5 does not give me much confidence in the strength department (which if you think about it a moment is a *good* thing. Better to replace the foot of the Flex than replace a flash or need to send in the camera for repairs in the event you break something and the weakest denominator cracks).<br />
<br />
However, that, my friends, is control!<br />
<br />
No more need for me to run across the room, lower that 13-foot lightstand, adjust flash power, raise the flash back up again, it can all be done from anywhere I happen to be standing in the room via going no further than what is sitting in the hot shoe of my camera... whoo-hooo! :)<br />
<br />
But I digress... I will make a separate post just for the AC-3 when it becomes available to us, and I am looking forward to it as much as I looked forward to receiving the actual FlexTT5 units themselves! (Edit: As of January 11, 2011, I am on the Beta team for the AC3, you can <a href="http://jerryphpics.blogspot.com/2011/01/pocket-wizard-ac3-for-nikon.html">check out my posting on it HERE</a>!)<br />
<br />
- Squelched pre-flash communications, means faster transfer of data between flash and camera as well as reduced iTTL power usages thanks to the flash not needing to fire that communication signal. Also, no preflash in a manual power controlled setup is just plain sweet and means fewer blinkers, which was a very serious and huge deterrent in wanting to use TTL ever!<br />
<br />
So, is there anything that I don't like?<br />
<br />
Well, besides the very disappointing reliable triggering distances (I would have *loved * rock solid 300 foot performance), there were a few things that I was not pleased with.<br />
<br />
- The PW firmware update utility software is for all intents UNUSABLE on my ASUS EEE netbook using it's native 1024X600 resolution, the software loads but does not show the full screens... in other words, no changes are accessible thanks to the clipped pages without scroll bars. Someone there forgot to integrate a SCROLL BAR into that application.<br />
<br />
A bad programming move and should be relatively easy to avoid... c'mon LPA Designs software programmer, since I cannot change channels on the Flex/Mini units themselves, at least let me use the smallest laptop around to do so, and by that not force me to have a laptop with a minimum 1280X1024 screen just to be able to use the software to make important configuration changes like channel number changes, Hypersync modifications, and so on!<br />
<br />
- <a href="http://jerryphpics.blogspot.com/2009/04/something-little-interesting-that-i-was.html">The Nikon FP HSS hack</a> that works so awesomely on the PW Plus II's does NOT work with the flex units when using 1 flex on camera and a Plus II is at the studio head (though it works great with 2 Plus II's). Using 2 Flex units it does work, however, it is nowhere near as efficient. (<b>ADDENDUM February 23, 2011 - Sorry, we can take this one off the list. As of the last firmware, these things not only work 100% all the way to 1/8000th perfectly in an all ControlTL setup, but because they are adjustable, you can eek out <u><span style="color: red;">MORE</span></u> power than using the Plus II's!!</b>)<br />
<br />
With the Plus II units. While I lose about 2/3-1 stop from my Photogenic 2500DR studio head going from 1/250th to 1/500th with the Plus II units at both ends, when using the Flex units, I lose a good 2-2.5 stops... thats a TON of lost light for basically nothing.<br />
<br />
<br />
So, thats it, that's my 2 cents and initial impressions on these new units after playing with them for only one day. However, I am working on something that will *possibly* get me a little extra increased triggering distance... I don't know for sure, and I am not saying what it is until I can test it out, so, stay tuned and check in on this site now and then to see what the results of my tests will be once I get in my secret "stuff" in.<br />
<br />
I also have something that I want to do to increase those lighting situations where you need that little extra light in really bright conditions and still be able to sync at high shutter speeds.<br />
<br />
I am being cryptic on purpose, but hey... thats how I roll... lol.<br />
<br />
I'll leave you here with a few shots of my father (who is always up for helping me out, God bless him!), taken using a 135mm F/2 Nikkor lens on my D700 at higher shutter speeds.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
The "Before Shot", no flash. 1/100th shutter speed, F/8, ISO 200 :</div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR_BQElM5pI/AAAAAAAAAT4/ItaJwkRk0rU/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-1011.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557372947050325650" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR_BQElM5pI/AAAAAAAAAT4/ItaJwkRk0rU/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-1011.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 213px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
The "After Shot #1", 1/800th, F/3.2, ISO 200</div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR_FQaRVlLI/AAAAAAAAAUg/_lqHZ1-49AE/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-2001.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557377350919099570" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR_FQaRVlLI/AAAAAAAAAUg/_lqHZ1-49AE/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-2001.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 213px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
The "After Shot #2", F/2.0, 1/2000th, ISO 200</div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR_FP7LnHtI/AAAAAAAAAUY/uPGoK7TIdjA/s1600/PW_FLEX_Tests-2002.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557377342573584082" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MT9icBRzKoQ/TR_FP7LnHtI/AAAAAAAAAUY/uPGoK7TIdjA/s320/PW_FLEX_Tests-2002.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 213px;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Addendum - January 16, 2011:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I just wanted to add a couple of points that I feel will aid in the experience of using the FlexTT5 units.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- Before every session, make sure you are using freshly recharged batteries. It makes a difference, especially when distances start to get long.</div>
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<br /></div>
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- Make sure the group settings are set on the remote flash before you turn on the FlexTT5 of the remote flash.</div>
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- When turning on the units, do so in a "top to bottom" order. Start off with the remote flashes before the unit on the camera.</div>
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<br /></div>
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- Raise the antenna on ALL your FlexTT5 units, leave them up.</div>
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- If you are using the AC3, make sure it is in place before you turn on the FlexTT5 that is in the hot shoe of your camera. If using a flash, make sure it is in place before you turn on the Flex that is in the camera hot shoe.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- There is a lag time of several seconds before communications is established before first use. A little patience here helps. Once established, you should be good to go. To avoid this lag, leave the camera, and all FlexTT5 units turned ON in between moments that you are not shooting. If you change from one preset configuration to another, this lag time will come into play before things stabilize. You will know when the new configuration lag time is past when you press the Learn/Test button on the FlexTT5 unit on top of the camera and flashes fire properly.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- Be aware that the Test/Learn button will only fire the flashes that your AC3 settings permit. If you have all 3 groups turned off, no flash will fire. Placing a group in M or A will fire off all flashes in that group. Also, if your AC3 group is set to manual, pressing the Test/Learn button fires off the remote flash at the power setting that your AC3 is telling it to fire at.</div>
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<br /></div>
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If the setup is acting up, do the 10-second reset on all the flex and mini units, turn EVERYTHING off and turn on in the proper order:</div>
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<br /></div>
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Starting at the remote flashes:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- turn things on from a top down manner, meaning, the flash that is in the flex first, THEN the flex.</div>
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<br /></div>
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- Proceed to the other remote flashes before the camera</div>
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<br /></div>
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At the camera end make sure everything is turned off. Assuming you have a camera with a flex or mini in the camera hot shoe and a flash in the hot shoe of the flex or mini:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- turn on the flash</div>
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- turn on the flex or mini</div>
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- turn on the camera</div>
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<br /></div>
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Everything then should work nicely again, if not make sure all the antenna are up on all flex units.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">CAUTION</span>: When shooting TTL, the camera sets flash power. Make sure that you are not popping out continuous full power flashes! With SB-600/800 flashes you will likely damage them. With SB-700-900s you will push them into thermal overload and and they will likely shut down.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This is one of the main reasons I shoot in manual. Knowing what the flash is doing at all times is important.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Addendum - January 23, 2011:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The "audible beeps" that let the photographer know that the remote flash is recycled do not work on remote flashes controlled by the FlexTT5. This is because the PW Flex emulates the local camera environment to the remote flash and in the Nikon firmware, if a flash is on camera, it does not beep, even if the option is activated in the menuing system. LPA Designs is aware of this but I have no idea of if they will even be able to do anything about it.<br />
<br />
Personally, I never used this feature much anyways... anything that takes power away from my batteries to power the flash is not really an obligatory feature for me. I shoot mostly in manual mode, know what power I am using and know how long to want for the flash to be able to recycle.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Addendum - January 26, 2011:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: red; text-align: justify;">
<b>Challenge:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Place a flash (like the SB-600 for example), in the hot shoe of the FlexTT5, set the power control of the flash to MANUAL instead of TTL and have it work.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="color: red; text-align: justify;">
<b>Solution:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One cannot place a Nikon TTL flash in the hot shoe of the Flex and still use manual control settings via the flash. Doing so results in nothing but full power dumps from the flash, no matter what settings you set the flash to.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
To regain on flash manual control, you must plug in a hot shoe adapter into the appropriate socket on the flex and this makes the flash into a "basic trigger mode only" flash and you can then regulate the power on the back of the flash.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Of course, the coming AC3 Zone Controller kinda trumps this and you will be able to control power manually on the SB-600 flash (and all other approved flashes) via the AC3 controller.</div>
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<b>Addendum - January 26, 2011</b>:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="color: red; text-align: justify;">
<b>Challenge:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Use the PW Control TL Units in an environment as a professional photographer.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Solution:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The units worked well at my last session doing an engagement party. The location was very dark and maximum distances were under 50 feet. In all manual control, the flashes all worked, there were no misfires and the performance was rock solid. When using the key light on TTL or "Auto" mode, the exposures were inconsistent. I need to do further testing in this mode to see if the inconsistent results are reproduceable or random.</div>
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Results of the evening can be viewed <a href="http://www.jerryph.com/?p=1047">here</a> >> <a href="http://www.jerryph.com/?p=1047">http://www.jerryph.com/?p=1047</a></div>
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<b>Addendum - February 9, 2011</b>:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I know... I said that I would not purchase a MiniTT1 because I wanted to stay all AA battery and have the advantage of possible additional distance by staying all FlexTT5s, but I caved and bought a MiniTT1 today. </div>
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<br /></div>
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First impressions are that it is smaller and convenient to have on camera, and no antenna to be in the way, and the AC3 fits a lot snugger and without movement than when placed in the FlexTT5 units. I need to find a cheap source for quality coin batteries and later on, maybe some chargers and rechargeable batteries for this unit <u><i><b>if</b></i></u> I can find some good quality batteries and chargers.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Addendum - February 12, 2011</b>:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: red; text-align: justify;">
<b>Challenge:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Use the D700 <u><b>in</b></u> camera AF assist light with the Mini/Flex.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="color: red; text-align: justify;">
<b>Solution:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When the Mini/Flex is on the camera, the camera believes that there is a flash on it and disables the <u><b>in</b></u> camera AF assist light because it would be using the AF assist light from the flash (SB-800 SB-900 only, as far as I know).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you absolutely need an AF assist light on the D700, you are going to need to use a flash on top of the Mini/Flex. This is not so bad, because the AF assist light from the flash is way more powerful, reaches further and is not obstructed the way the <u><b>in</b></u> camera AF assist light is by most lenses anyway. Since you are going to have the SB-800 or SB-900 on top of the camera, you then also have a commander at the same time and do not need the AC3 for this purpose.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Please note:</b> For this to work you will need firmware V.2.100 or later else the in flash AF assist light will not work.</div>
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That's it for now. I will add more when I again have something to add.</div>
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Until next time... enjoy!</div>
JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-5200732124053611312010-12-19T15:02:00.007-05:002011-08-02T11:02:01.633-04:00DOF to the next levelA little something that I wrote for you guys and gals that want to take your understanding of DOF to the next level.<br />
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Depth of field, one of those things we learn about at the beginning of our photographic apprenticeship, is both a very simple concept, yet when you *really* understand it, can be made into an interesting and more advanced topic with some very complex overtones.<br />
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I am going to try to take most, if not all of you through the journey of surprising you. It is a concept that is obvious, yet little known because it is little understood.<br />
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Let me start off by showing you two photographs, one taken at F/1.4 and the other taken at F/2.8. Your job is to NOT look below at the answer for a few seconds, but take a look at the two photos and tell me which photo is taken at what aperture.<br />
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PICTURE #1<br />
<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/4630057973_08ed667486.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/4630057973_08ed667486.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 431px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><br />
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PICTURE #2<br />
<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4049/4630658404_71e701c647.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4049/4630658404_71e701c647.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 414px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;" /></a><br />
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Important hints:<br />
- I did not change focus points<br />
- I did not change physical distance<br />
- I used NO photoshop magic to change the blur on either photo<br />
- I used the same camera for both photos.<br />
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.Hey no peeking!!<br />
.Go back up and look again at those photos again!!<br />
.Make your choice before moving down!!<br />
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Ok, so let me first give the answer and then do a brief discussion about DOF that explains what I did and how. :)<br />
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The answer to the question of which photo was taken at F/1.4 and which was at F/2.8 is... <span style="font-weight: bold;">photo #1 was at F/1.4 and photo #2 was at F/2.8!</span><br />
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All that chose #1 were correct, but we will say that all people that chose #2, were a little bit unfairly tricked. I've posted this on 4 other forums just to get some reactions and numbers. The facts are that if you were the same as the other forums, 80-85% of you made the wrong choice. :)<br />
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Kinda backwards, huh?<br />
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Let's look at this a little... how do we control this DOF (or blurred background) thingie? Well to know that, we have to understand the control points of what produces a blurred background.<br />
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These <span style="font-weight: bold;">five</span> items are:<br />
- Ratio of distance from camera to subject vs distance of camera to background (thats two)<br />
- aperture<br />
- focal length<br />
- sensor size<br />
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Everyone seems to know about the aperture, some knew about the focal lengths and some knew about getting close, but apparently, very few people know all 5 control aspects of how to blur the background.<br />
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Ok, so if you asked me to blur the background, what would be the 5 ways I could do it?<br />
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Well...<br />
- First is to get closer to your subject. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Closer = shallower DOF</span>.<br />
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- Second is get your subject and the background farther apart. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Further background from subject = </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">shallower DOF.</span><br />
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- Third is aperture. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bigger aperture (smaller numerically) = </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">shallower DOF</span>.<br />
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- Fourth is focal length. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Longer focal length = </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">shallower DOF</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span><br />
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- Sensor size. The bigger the sensor, the shallower the DOF will be for any of the 4 above given constraints. An FX sensor will have shallower DOF than a DX... and a 4X5 camera will have a shallower DOF than a FX sensor, etc... <b>The bigger the sensor, the shallower the DOF.</b><br />
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Obviously, if you want LESS background blur or a greater depth of field, just reverse any of the above 5 points.<br />
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The trick that I did for this shot was very simple (and yeah, I admit it was a trick... lol), I increased focal length (but stayed at the same physical distance from the subject) and used a F/2.8 lens. I went from the 85mm F/1.4 to the 200mm F/2.8.<br />
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"But, but... the aperture is bigger!", you say?<br />
Yes it was, and here-in lies my trick... I was the same PHYSICAL distance from the subject in both cases but since I was at 200mm instead of at 85mm, my *APPARENT* distance decreased drastically, I was a LOT closer thanks to the higher levels of magnification the 200mm gave me vs the 85mm.<br />
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"But, but... if you did that, the whole photo won't fit on one picture!", you say?<br />
Right again, so, what I did was take 24 shots instead of one... basically using the shallower DOF of the longer lens and then stitching the 24 shots together into 1 shot, and then cropped the shot so that it was framed similar to photo #1.<br />
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The result? A photo with the <span style="font-weight: bold;">apparent</span> focal length of an 85mm lens, but at apertures something closer to a DOF of F/1.0... lol<br />
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You guys can see now that I did not change focus points, did not change physical distance and use NO photoshop magic to further blur the F/2.8 image, it was literally all done in camera except for the stitching (which had no bearing on how much blur there was in the photo)!<br />
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No fair you say? I agree, it wasn't but it was fun to learn about and at the same time, I introduced a concept and technique that is very interesting to you in a manner that anyone with even rudimentary photography skills can understand, and even use! :D<br />
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Now, you all know how to take your F/2.8 lenses... and turn them into F/1.0 lenses (if only in terms of DOF blur, NOT low light performance)! :D<br />
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I hope you had as much fun learning this as I had presenting it.JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6146935469584879918.post-28657768152104419712010-01-04T11:15:00.003-05:002010-01-04T11:20:57.801-05:00Trap FocusTrap focus is where you prefocus on a fixed physical location, and the camera refuses to fire (even with the shutter pressed all the way down), until the camera recognizes something that is in a particular bracket as being in focus, before it fires.<br /><br />Different cameras may have different setups to accomplish this, but for a Nikon D700, you can mimic "Trap Focus" with the following settings:<br /><br />1. Set custom setting #A5 to AF-ON ONLY<br /><br />2. Set the focus mode to SINGLE SERVO<br /><br />3. Set Auto focus area mode to SINGLE POINT (9 point, 21 point, 51 point or 51 point 3-D will all work)<br /><br />4. If your lens has an A/M switch, make sure it is set to A for autofocus mode.<br /><br />5. Pre-focus the lens for a particular distance. Don't forget that a more convenient way to use this trick is to pre-focus using not the shutter button, but the FOCUS button on the back of the camera can be used. I find this easier and more effective.<br /><br />6. Press and hold the shutter release ALL the way down, the camera shoots only when the selected focus bracket is in focus.<br /><br />"Trap Focus" is only effective if you know exactly where your moving object will stop and you yourself do not move or change position from (for example, a baseball player running towards a specific baseball plate or a branch where you expect a bird to land are good examples (but don't forget the hint that having a deeper DOF is also a strong consideration when very close to the subject, this gives you some extra leeway for getting a better shot!).<br /><br />Another place where "Trap Focus" comes in handy, and not many people know or use it with, is with hand held macro shots. If you are using the trap focus method, you focus on a particular area, are ready to take a shot, breathe perhaps a little, the scene goes ever so slightly out of focus, the camera will refuse to take the shot until you adjust position, camera focuses and the shot is sharp. In this case, "Trap Focus" saved you from taking a blurry picture.<br /><br />However, it is not very good for use where we want to capture a moving object and we do not know the exact location where it will stop, or in cases where an object moves from sensor backet to sensor backet.<br /><br />In these cases, continual focus or continuous servo, as Nikon calls it (in conjunction with a Dynamic AF setting and a SINGLE FOCUS AREA ), gives me far more keepers than using "Trap Focus" (ie: bride and groom are moving down the isle and you are moving to keep up with them), as I choose the STARTING focus point and as they move (I may want to recompose the shot on the fly), the focus remains on the subject that I initially set the starting focus point on. It does this because the lens is continually trying to focus as long as I have the shutter pressed instead of waiting on that one point/distance where focus is achieved and the shutter trips to take the shot, and if they move to another sensor, focus tracking is in place and focus is continually modified and locked.<br /><br />Trap Focus has caused me to lose or miss the moment many times in the past before I learned to understand the D700 focus and exposure system and how it works in detail and when to use each of the proper settings to best effect.<br /><br />Try them out and see what works best for you under what circumstances!<br /><br />Enjoy!JerryPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658949057986232991noreply@blogger.com