Messages

16

Lighting / Re: Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

« on: April 02, 2013, 12:30:55 AM »

I buy the meking brand off ebay (usually about half of what the elinchroms cost), great quality and much better prices
i've got a big octobox and 2 x 6' tall strip lights with grids, with these 2 strips setup sideways I'm pretty sure i could light a whole car with 2 lights

I took a pic of my battery pack wiring i'll email it over, havent had a chance to get hold of the guy i know with bownes heads yet

how much can you get that 750w bowens head for?

I hit the wall with 1 x 400w in midday sun on the weekend, could have used more punch still worked great as fill with a beauty dish (also meking brand bowens mount)

http://stores.ebay.com/Meking-Equipments/_i.html?_nkw=soft box

Thanks for the tip on the Meking modifiers and the battery.

I found a line on some refurb'd Bowens 750 heads for $380 USD. As nice as HSS would be, if I can get enough juice out of the lights, then I can do what I want the old fashioned way with an ND grad filter and a boat load of power

That's got me thinking about the White Lightning 3200s (1320 ws). Precise color temp isn't that critical for my needs, and the WLs have a five year warranty. 

17

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5Dc a good option?

« on: March 31, 2013, 02:19:53 PM »

If I was to buy a 5Dc I may have enough money next year to buy a 5D3 and keep the 5Dc as a backup, also the 5Dc is the cheapest way to get into/practice with full frame.

once you get a 5D3 you wont want to touch the 5DC...even as a backup.

There's a lot of truth to this statement! While I loved my 5DC during its heyday, I'm so spoiled by the 5D3 that I hope I'll never have to touch the Classic again, even as a backup.

18

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Does Canon really have a Flagship Stills Camera?

« on: March 31, 2013, 02:11:24 PM »

***Is the 1DX really the Flagship Stills Camera?***

For the time being, the 1Dx earns this title by default. There really isn't much mystery to Canon's strategy: How frequently it updates certain models in certain consumer segments is directly proportional to consumer demand. In other words, the Rebel line gets updated every week, the xxD line gets updated every other week, the 5D and 1D lines get updated every month, and the 1Ds line gets updated every five years. If this leads you to believe that the studio/landscape crowd that demands a no-holds-barred low ISO performance, high resolution, and DR is in the vast minority, you'd probably be right

It just so happens that within one generation of cameras, entry-level (6D) and mid-tier bodies (5D3) can match and in some metrics exceed the IQ one the prior generation's flagship still body (1Ds3), so Canon can afford to take it's time replacing it's flagship still body. If there's truth to the rumors, Canon is working on a real successor to the 1Ds3, but based on how it's choosing to put it at the bottom of it's priority list, that should give you some indication for the demand and market size for that type of body.   

19

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 6D as a Compliment to 5DMkiii

« on: March 29, 2013, 12:51:27 PM »

But naturally, for tracking moving subjects, especially such as the bride coming down the isle, the 5D3 would do much much better.

I guess I go to boring weddings.  Every one I've ever been to the bride slowly inches her way down the isle.  Hardly a test for any AF system I've ever used.

Same here, nothing but boring weddings for me. It would be much more exciting if the bride sprinted down the aisle and animated her jiggly bits

20

Lighting / Re: Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

« on: March 29, 2013, 12:49:07 PM »

Not sure how much the variable voltage heads play a part, I think it is more the sensitivity of the digital components to brown outs.

Can't remember where I saw the technical paper and details, but after firing, the (and can't remember if it is current) the drop of power is just below the required steady power many of the digital strobes require.  Some may be better than others.

I have also see other people who have tried recycle tests with some of the Elinchroms and while they do o.k. at lower power, once they boost up closer to full power, after firing they will throw E4 errors

With my photogenics, they are designed to discharge when powered off or when the wattage is decreased, so what I would see with the 2500s would be a fire, half charge, discharge, then full charge and they would be ready... in short, they did not like the current drop. 

My guess with the Elinchrom power and why it is more expensive, it has a larger and better power inverter as well as not sure if the added in some capacitors, or just maintain more current and thus have a lower drop from a firing

More great info. Thanks for educating me

21

Lighting / Re: Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

« on: March 29, 2013, 12:48:19 PM »

bowens are good because the modifiers are cheaper, i buy elinchrom to bowens adapters so i can use cheaper bowens modifiers (elinchrom stuff is a bit spendy)

Just curious where I can find good deals on Bowens light modifiers? Looking at the B&H site, a lot of the Bowens stuff is just as expensive and sometimes more expensive that the Elinchrom modifiers. Standard general purpose Bowens reflectors runs $60-$80, whereas similar Elinchrom reflectors run $40-$50. The $240 Bowens charges for a set of barndoors seems little silly, too.

I was leaning toward Bowens, but not too sure anymore.

22

Lighting / Re: Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

« on: March 28, 2013, 11:22:12 AM »

You might have to go with the Elinchrom power supplies.  Not sure which you are looking at, most I see from them are digital and if you are looking at the Vagabond Lithium Mini, it may not work for you as you think.

The Lithium Mini is really designed for analog monolights and because of the way it recycles, it creates issues with digital lights.  As an example, I cannot run my Photogenic PL2500DR or PL2500DRR off of the Mini... even just a single light, which technically the Vagabond should handle.

I can, however BARELY use the Vagabond with my PL1250DR, so only 500W/S versus 1000 W/S and even there only single light.

Now if I was using the PL1250 (Analog version) I should be able to power 2 fine. 

This is something to do with the inverter, the voltage drops during the recycle and the stable power needed by the lights.  The digital lights for the most part have a slightly higher requirement and at the bottom of the curve, the Vagabond is too low and "brownout" can be harmful to the digital components

You also notice all the Paul C Buff are analog.  Not a coincidence. 

Would be nicer if the Lithium had a little higher curve, but it is optimized for their line.

I hadn't considered the digital vs. analog issue, but I am now. Lots of people have experienced compatibility issues between newer variable voltage heads and the Vagabonds. The way I understand it, since heads like the Elinchrom 500 BXRi and Bowens Gemini Pros are designed to work with both 120v and 240v power outlets, the Vagabonds might have a hard time keeping up with the variations in voltage while the lights are recycling. The SE version of the Tronix Explorer battery pack was designed to address this issue, so that's probably what I'd go with if opting for the Elinchroms. Either that, or make a battery pack like wickidwombat's

23

Lighting / Re: Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

« on: March 27, 2013, 11:08:01 PM »

I found a pretty sweet deal on some Bowens 750ws heads, so the new question is whether or not they'll work with the Odins in HSS

hmmm i might know someone with some bowens heads give me a few days I'll see if i can test it out
bowens are good because the modifiers are cheaper, i buy elinchrom to bowens adapters so i can use cheaper bowens modifiers (elinchrom stuff is a bit spendy)

750ws ! thats some serious punch to be honest if i need that much power i'll just ganglight my 4 x 400ws ones
(never actually tried it but the ganglight concept should be the same as with speedlights, just a bit of trial and error to work out the optimal spacing)

Man, if you could test out the Bowens/Odin combo that would be awesome. I'd owe you a big-time e-favor Another appealing aspect of the Bowens 750 head is that it has a slow 1/650 flash duration at full power. I know that's the exact opposite of what most people are looking for in a flash head, since the goal is usually to freeze action, but the slower flash duration would work more favorably for hyper-syncing purposes when shooting static subjects.

Alternately, since my 550EXs don't have a sync port, I could try the "manual hack" method with one of these sync cords:

www.phottix.com/en/flash-accessories/phottix-duo-ttl-flash-remote-cord.html 

The idea would be mounting one end of the cord along with a 550EX on top of the camera hot shoe, and then mounting the Odin on the other end of the cord. With the 550EX in master and HSS mode, the Odin transmitter should then be able to intercept the HSS signal between the Speedlite and the camera body and relay that signal to the Odin receivers, thereby triggering the monolights right before the shutter opens. At least that's the theory, and some people with the old school PocketWizards (MultiMax) claim that it actually works Even if it works, I'd much rather have a less ghetto solution

24

Lighting / Re: Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

« on: March 27, 2013, 09:50:13 PM »

I found a pretty sweet deal on some Bowens 750ws heads, so the new question is whether or not they'll work with the Odins in HSS

25

Lighting / Re: Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

« on: March 27, 2013, 07:57:08 AM »

i built my own power pack

2 SLA golf buggy batteries in a lowepro nova 200 AW bag with a 1000W pure sign wave inverter and a power board. modified a set of jumper leads to wire it all upused decent quality auto terminals and electrical heat shrink to make it neat and tidy, good for a couple of hundred pops of 2 flashes at full power,  cost about $400 including a trickle charger to keep the batteries full and healthy when not being used.

That's awesome. Sent you a PM

Has anyone tried one of these Tronix Explorer XT battery packs before? They're supposedly good for 400-480 pops at 500ws.

www.innovatronix.com/index.php/webshop/portable-battery-packs/tronix-explorer-xt-se-115v-60hz-detail

26

Lighting / Re: Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

« on: March 27, 2013, 12:58:55 AM »

I need to study up on the Elinchrom product line. Ideally I'd like more power than the D-Lite 400s, but then again, with HSS i could kill the ambient much more easily, which means I could open up the aperture more, which means I wouldn't need as much power in the first place. Hmmm.... The RX 600 heads are too expensive for my budget,  but very appealing.

I'd be tempted to try to run these off a Vagabond since the Elinchrom power supplies are so costly.

27

Lighting / Re: Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

« on: March 26, 2013, 10:37:56 PM »

if you do grab a stratto 2 reciever and a 3.5mm audio splitter cable to fire them and save the spendy odin recievers for your speedlights which you can still mix in.

i've been meaning to do a detailed tutorial on this since it comes up quite alot but just havent had time

That's a great money-saving tip. I wonder why HSS will work with Elinchrom lights but not the Bees. Weird. I'm spoiled by the money/performance ratio you get from the Bees, so the Elinchroms are really going to hurt my wallet.

28

Lighting / Re: Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

« on: March 26, 2013, 10:20:46 PM »

works great with my elinchroms
I got a couple of these kits, 400w per head is fine for my needs and with 4 of them i can do pretty much anything i want now.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/906651-REG/elinchrom_el_20852kit_d_lite_rx_4_400w.html

Thanks for the info! The good news is that the Odins and HSS works with Elinchroms. The bad news is that I might have to get a new set of Elinchroms. Damn you

29

Lighting / Re: Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

« on: March 25, 2013, 12:24:39 PM »

The Phottix don't work with certain Canon cameras, but of course they don't tell you that when you buy them. 

That blows. I assume the 5D3 is one of those Canon bodies I'll try the "manual hack" method to see if I can get the Bees to sync up.

30

Lighting / Re: 600EX RT vs AlienBees

« on: March 23, 2013, 08:12:03 PM »

A great benefit of the clean high ISO ability of modern cameras that rarely gets discussed is how far they allow you to push the output of a Speedlite. It takes a lot of juice to light up a car, but at ISO 800 - 1600 it can be done, even stopped down to f/8 or f/11.










The big catch, however, is that when used in such a fashion, Speedlites give off some nasty, disgusting light. They're a PITA to use for shots like this, and are extremely finicky in terms of getting your angles just right. If not, you get hot spots galore. 

Aside from the output advantage, IMHO monolights yield a much more pleasing light quality with far superior fall-off characteristics. They're much more forgiving if your light positioning isn't spot on, too.

As for differences in power, this was shot with two 550EX's at ISO 800 at f/8. I was very difficult to light the rear quarter-panel without the front fender being dark, and vice-versa.



I took a similar shot of the car with some AB800s, and the additional power allowed stopping down to f/11 at ISO 400 with the monolights in the 1/2 to 3/4 power range. More importantly, the light quality is sooooo much better with the monolights.

It's not to say that Speedlites are junk. In fact, I use them far more often than monolights. Even so, just because you can make them work, through sheer will power, in situations they aren't well suited for doesn't mean they're the ideal tool for the job in those situations.