Comments on: 2 point lighting ~ Techniques and strategies revealed

By: damien

damien — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:33:33 +0000

Hi Denz and Chris, I just get used to it. What I really, really want is an OLED very high resolution touch screen. A double click on the zone to zoom into would then be the best ever tool. The new iPhone due out by June will have this for sure so why not a camera costing 5 times as much?

By: Denz

Denz — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:52:29 +0000

Chris, well if the Nikons have the 1:1 zoom quick function – there’s no hope it appearing on my Canon 5D2 due to patents – just like Nikon has a patent with the one-button disable flash.
Even a double-click to zoom 1:1 would help Canon.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:42:22 +0000

on the D3 and i think the D700 you can go into the custom menu function F1 and program the multi selector to zoom the screen to near 100%

By: Denz

Denz — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:09:47 +0000

Isn’t it amazing that there is no 100% view button on the back of our cameras – The amount of time I waste zooming in to check sharpness……

By: JC

JC — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 07:36:29 +0000

Thank you so much for your answer, Damien.

By: damien

damien — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:04:41 +0000

Hi Martin, I just came across your answer as I worked my way up the comments in my admin area. Your comments are my sentiments exactly. All three Arris are about the same price so the choice is best made for suitability of purpose over price. Damien.

By: damien

damien — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:59:59 +0000

Hi JC,
I use the Arri 300 because it gives me ISO 800 1/60th at f/4 at 3 metres working distance on full flood. This means I can integrate the light with existing light sources on location. Perfect for winter weddings. The 650 comes into its own for longer throws or when used with a diffusion material to make an instant soft key. The 150 is perfect for back lights and kick lights. Damien.

By: JC

JC — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:29:18 +0000

Oops, sorry for misaddressed reply, Martin. And thanks a lot again.

By: martin

martin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:28:46 +0000

That wasn’t Damien’s reply he may have a different view

By: JC

JC — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:22:03 +0000

Thank you so much for your answer, Damien. It surely helps me a lot to choose what to consider to my lighting gears.

By: martin

martin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:41:32 +0000

JC: I recently bought a 300w Arri. It is bright enough to use as the key light and will easily give you 1/60th @f/4 even with a reasonable light to subject distance. The 650w is brighter but that’s not necessarily a good thing (uncomfortable for the subject) its also bigger, heavier and I guess more expensive.

The 150 isn’t really bright enough to use as a key unless you know you are always going to be working with the light close, but it would be ideal as a kick or hair light. I’m going to get one of those, in the meantime I use a gelled speedlight in TTL mode alomgside the 300w.

HTH,

Martin

By: JC

JC — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:03:55 +0000

Great job, Damien.

I was wondering about your Arri 300. I found that it is a brilliant idea. Can you kindly tell the reason that you use Arri 300 instead of using Arri 150 or 650 and do you use Arii 300 just inside or ouside as well (does Arri 300 have enough power to be a key light outside)?

Thanks a lot.

By: damien

damien — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:48:14 +0000

Hi Norman, Thanks for your praise. I think you may be like the 90% of SU-800 users that have not found the tiny white switch in the battery compartment that switches the unit from macro mode to normal mode.

The SU-800 is truly brilliant at communicating with Speedlights when it is switched to the right mode and does away with the pre flashes that cause blinks.

Damien.

By: Norman

Norman — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:23:52 +0000

Hi Damien, great stuff and lovin’ your Photo Pro Magazine stuff, too. I’m writing because of your high praise of the SU800.

I’m comfortable with the Nikon flash set-up and have no problem with setting up an SB900 and getting communications and lighting right with 2 x SB-800’s. However, I want to improve my party photos and I’ve always had problems with the 800’s and 900 leaving subjects with sleepy eyes.

I purchased the SU-800 in the hope that this would cut out pre-flashes but the results are disappointing. I expected that, if I take the SB900 off the camera, place it on a bracket, thereby moving it only an inch or two up and to the left of the camera (i.e. same distance from subject) and then place SU800 on the camera, I would get the same results as if the 900 was on the camera. What I get is a 2 to 3 stops difference. I am now nervous to use the SU800 in a party zone for fear of losing control.

Am I missing a trick here. Is the starting point to have the SU800 firing the SB900 to get the same results when there’s no real difference in the actual distance when the SB900 is camera mounted? Or, do you think the 2 stops will remain constant in unstable party conditions?

Thanks again for a great site. Regards, Norman

By: CRAIG

CRAIG — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:55:31 +0000

Thanks so much. Will give it a try.