Messages

61

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: I Need Suggestions for Photo Book Printers/Binders!

« on: March 08, 2013, 04:31:14 AM »

MyPublisher

...but they don't have an inDesign tool pre se... what you do if inDesign is needed is to make big PDF files of the pages you create in InDesign. Don't know about calibration help. That is a fantastic help from Blurb. I have the ProArt 246 and a color munki so will have to see what blurb can do to help me.

62

Lighting / Inconsistent firing of Strato rcvr by my Odin on a shoot

« on: March 08, 2013, 03:59:34 AM »

I had a little 270 speedlite tucked in the area above a stove for an interior shot of a kitchen. Needed a kick light down on the stove surface. (The articulation of that little head/reflector is a added benefit.) There was some Gorilla tape holding it and the Strato Multi receiver in a corner. Wel, maybe a lot of tape... enough to cover the assemblage. Odin controller was on the top of the camera not far away. Sometimes the 270 would not go off. Sometimes it seemed like it lagged a part of a second behind the flash of the units that had Odin receivers. (I agree that this is hard to judge just by eye...) There are frames with no 270-included flash. Tape the culprit? There's no metal in the tape to act as a shield.

I bought one Strato to try out with the Odins because I usually set up this kind of work with plain old manual settings. I have Vivitars in addition to some Canon speedlites, and these Vivitars are always going to be manual. But I discovered that the Strato will not fire any of the Vivitars. I wrote Phottix to ask why but their first answer shows they are not yet sure what I am asking. I know Stratos are supposed to co-exist with Odins in a complex lighting setup but I wonder if I made a mistake? I need to trigger a Norman studio flash in 9 days for a shoot! (the pack needs a solder connection fixed so have not been able to test it yet.) 

Thoughts?

jonathan7007

63

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Error 30 Experiences? Have you seen this?

« on: March 07, 2013, 11:13:37 PM »

Just bought a second-hand (but one owner) 1DsMk3 and after arrival I tried is with a bunch of my lenses and pixel-peeped to see how it differed from my 5Dmk3. Liked the image at low ISO, which is exactly why I bought it. Oh, and for its great build quality and the long-life shutter.

I have had no other 1-series camera and the shutter on this body sounds sweet to my ears: more mechanical, more authoritative.

But yesterday on a real estate shoot with my 17mm TSE, tethered, I started getting these Error 30 messages on the screen. I believe it told me turn off and on again, too. The body never stopped working, and responded to the power cycle. Shooting tethered I was bringing up the images in Windows Explorer and right clicking to ask them open in ACR... just to check focus and the histogram. But I don't know how tethered operation might have caused -- or highlighted -- whatever is the root cause of the error.

Canon tells me this error is a loose bag of possible shutter issues. I was using an Odin trigger in the shoe but the VA-center tech person said that wasn't likely to be the cause. Ditto tethering, although he asked if I had been in and out of LiveView, which of course I had! I am so bummed. I know these things happen but I *thought* I had purchased this at a reasonable cost and from an enthusiast, not a pro, which meant lower actuation count. No signs of hard use on the body. I believe my cost just went up by $400 (a guess, I admit)

Important shoot on the 16th and despite my CPS fast turn inside the repair operation at Irvine I would have to spend about $100 to go with the fastest shipping service available, and here in rural Hawaii, often, "next day" is not next day either going or coming.

So, given that I MUST have a second body at this important shoot (and that it will be tethered photography of regular folks -- with people and groups stepping in one after the other, I am tempted to wait to send it, explore the body's reaction to all my TSE lenses, try tethered again, to see if there is any recurrence... and still, I guess send it in and pay for whatever repair is necessary at that point. Grrr.

jonathan7007

64

Lighting / Re: Yongnuo vs. Godox battery pack comparison

« on: March 04, 2013, 09:11:28 PM »

Much closer recycle time than I thought, attaching the 550EX and firing at "M, 1/1" with both packs. A little bit longer than a second. Maybe a second and a half.

65

Lighting / Yongnuo vs. Godox battery pack comparison

« on: March 04, 2013, 07:31:35 PM »

Just received and tried a Yongnuo 8-AA pack. Attached to a 550EX this inexpensive ($45) pack is slower than my Godox 820, which is around $140 delivered where I live (many sellers will not ship such items to Hawaii). Not a scientific test. I used 8 freshly-charged PowerEx AAs right out of a Maha charger. The batteries inside the 550 were also just charged.

Cost difference mitigated somewhat by the necessity of buying eight rechargeable AAs to run the cheaper unit.

One benefit unrelated to speed is that longevity at an event, for instance attached to a balcony over your reception area shooting area. And Yongnuo repeats over and over the need to avoid rapid shooting of 20 or more exposures -- for the danger of overheating.

Perhaps others with both can add to this. I will try my 580 with the Yongnuo in a bit, and  make a more quantitative comparison.

jonathan7007

66

Lighting / Phottix Strato Multi turn out not to work with Vivitar 285HV

« on: March 04, 2013, 05:04:04 AM »

Bummer. Bought a Strato Multi II to test expanding a set of Odin receivers intended for my Canon flashes into my existing batch of Vivitar 285HV units. I had hoped this lower-cost rcvr would fire the Vivitars for those interiors that needed "just one or two more flashes". I am posting to see if anyone here ever tried the Strato successfully with these Vivitar 285's. The Odin rcvr *will* fire the Vivitar. Vivitars offer no TTl feedback. There's just one metal connector in the shoe, and eyeballing that spacing it *does* line up with the Strato's center connector.

The Strato rcvr will not fire the Vivitars with the test button, or a pc cord run from the Vivitar into the 3.5mm receptor at the back of the unit.

This may mean I have to buy a few more Canon flashes. I like the lower cost of the Canon 550EX used, but I already had the Vivitars and hoped to use them mixed with my Canons for a little while.

I had also planned to have the Odin controller tell the Strato to fire a Norman studio pack. That pack needs a quick repair -- in a day or so -- before I can test it, but now I am not to so sure it will work.

67

Lighting / Re: 600EX RT vs AlienBees

« on: February 24, 2013, 02:10:52 PM »

so two-legged lightstand  (photographer) and wheeled cart, support bicycle, wild rig visually... priceless. Wouldn't that be a hoot at a wedding? You'd run over a child for sure. Wearing next-to-nothing would add to the expressions you'd get from the guests.

(Would have arranged the light boxes differently to make the light fall off on one side but the dedication, energy and planning are fantastic. Just a lighting taste issue.)

Thank you for the link!  Some seriously good ideas there.

jonathan7007

68

HDR - High Dynamic Range / Re: Best HDR Software?

« on: February 24, 2013, 04:10:40 AM »

Add a vote for LR-Enfuse, (Enfuse integrated into Lightroom as a menu item) especially for a quick workflow through a shoot full of interiors. I also find that there are few if any color shifts. You can vary the exposure spread to better represent one or another part of the range. Good tripod and shutter release care necessary to preserve alignment. For these setups I use my old aluminum 5-section many-pound Gitzo tele-Studex that must weigh 20+ pounds! I too use this with a 17TSE-often showing lots of windows like the shots above. Love it. Will look for an example to post.

I always wonder about how to get and use the command-line version of Enfuse code. Just curious. Sounds like it would slow down editing a shoot, though.

I tried Photomatix and Nik EfexPro. Liked Efex better, as it has localized control available and there were other ways tones and edges seemed better. I hope the sale of Nik will not stop development.

I loved the suggestion early in this thread to move the HDR file into Lightroom after combination. Will try.

jonathan7007

69

Lighting / Re: 600EX RT vs AlienBees

« on: February 24, 2013, 02:13:45 AM »

RMC33,
Are you hand-holding the lights you describe -- while shooting with the other hand? Or is an assistant carrying the lights by a monopod/pole while another on-camera flash and radio triggers both?

I want to do multi-light event work, so was visualizing your arrangement. The hard part is covering the cost of the two-legged light stand out of the fee if the customer has been price-sensitive.

jonathan7007

70

Lenses / Re: Sigma 120 400 vs sigma 120 300 os 2012 + 1.4tc

« on: February 18, 2013, 05:12:04 AM »

I recently bought a used 300mmf4L Canon which is sharp and light. $700. I tried a friend's Canon 100-400L and it's nice to have the flexibility and the extra 100mm past 300, but for my purposes (people) I will be too far away with 400 to direct what is happening. the f4 at 300 is nice and sharper than I thought it would be.

Yes, an old lens design. Focus is OK though. Has IS.

Can you live without zoom? I sometimes reach for the non-existant zoom ring...(I have a 70-200)

jonathan7007

71

Lighting / Re: Batteries to speedlites

« on: February 18, 2013, 04:25:53 AM »

I have just started using a Godox BP820. It was great at the last event. With ETTL exposures it appeared that there was 0 recycle -- which I know is not the case but it seemed so. I ordered a YongNuo battery pack that has a tray for 8 AAs. I knew at some events or shoots I'd need a second flash to be ready as quickly as the first and the YongNuo was less. We'll see it it's good enough. Hope so.

PWP, I used Quantums some years ago (late 80's) and they were good then but not perfect. Glad to hear they improved. In those days they were just an add-on pack for existing speedlites like Vivitar, others.

72

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: WFT-E6 bluetooth compatibility

« on: February 15, 2013, 03:30:58 AM »

mcw,
You don't need the add-on to tether to an Android application called "DSLR Controller". Look it up and see if the 1Dx is a compatible body. I use it with the 5D bodies. Uses a USB connection so your tablet needs a USB fitting, which the ASUS "Transformer" units put in their keyboard attachment. Asus also makes an adapter for USB to attach to the tablet all by itself, if for any reason you don't want to use the keyboard.

I have no experience using the app to begin geo-tagging each image, though. And the images aren't stored on the tablet... your card continues to be the storage location. But they might have incorporated changes since I last looked, as many people wanted the dev to allow off-camera storage.

jonathan7007

73

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Will Lightroom/Canon tether with incoming images from a WFT-5 ethernet adapter?

« on: February 15, 2013, 03:23:36 AM »

Don,
Thanks for those suggestions. I already have a solution for USB that seems to work OK: A "Tripp" brand USB cord with ahub with a signal -- what? -- repeater? amplifier? I think I have a couple of the twenty-five footers, and they work in tandem as extensions to a USB-to-miniUSB needed to connect to the body.

I was wondering if I find a WiFi unit at a reasonable cost if my tethering can work over Ethernet (cat5e cable). There would be other problems WiFi would solve, like impossible cable situations. "docHoliday" here has described some uses of WiFi, no cables, for staff to watch the images coming across in an adjacent room. Clients love this stuff!

jonathan7007

74

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Will Lightroom/Canon tether with incoming images from a WFT-5 ethernet adapter?

« on: February 12, 2013, 10:10:42 PM »

Lightroom or Canon EOS Utility tethering is always described as a USB cable attachment. There's always the issue of the signal weakened or corrupted by an overly long USB cable...

But what about the [overpriced, I know] WTF-5 adapter? (This piece should be renamed "WTF", given that it costs new what some lenses cost.) I saw one on eBay at $400 and thought I could start watching for a more reasonable unit to use with a 1DsMk3 I hope to buy soon. Architecture, studio, other tethered scenarios. So far I have come up with a pretty reliable cabling but maybe an alternative is a good idea.

So can at least EOS Utility receive images over a CAT5 pipe?

jonathan7007

75

Lighting / Re: battery pack for 600EX-RT.. any recommendations?

« on: February 11, 2013, 02:23:13 AM »

Shot one event with a new Godox BP820 and I performed well plugged into a Canon 580EX. Several hundred shots over the night and no apparent loss of charge based on array of "status" lights. (ETTL and manual)

jonathan7007