Thanks for your kind words. The question you pose is a common one and many photographers struggle with the concept. Let me explain here as best I can:

1. Using Pocket Wizard TTL units to control Speedlights enables any shutter speed, aperture combination.
2. Above 1/250th second the available flash power drops off at the same rate as the ambient exposure due to technical reasons.
3. TTL will always try and deliver a correctly exposed burst of flash whatever aperture and shutter speed settings you choose to use.

So if you want to shoot in daylight and make the flash dominate the picture you can use any of these typical settings:
ISO 200, 1/200th second at f/16
ISO 200, 1/4000th second at f/4
ISO 100, 1/4000th second at f/2.8

All three settings will render the ambient about two to three stops under and the flash will be working flat out to give you a perfect exposure.

I hope this helps.

Damien.

Thanks again for a superb training dvd.

Thanks for your comments I am aware of all the facts you mention but the big fact remains that Sony have virtually no penetration into the professional photography market. They are doing well in the keen amateur market. They are popular among camera clubs etc because of their features versus price point loss leader advantage. As soon as Sony make inroads into the pro market I will be ready to provide training and support. It will be a new market for me so I am keen to see it happen. Pentax with their 645 digital will win over quite a few pros and so will Leica with it’s S2. Both of those companies have gone USP in order to win customers. Sony doesn’t have a USP – Yet. Sony seems to be a mid market brand across it’s product lines at the moment. From TVs to Walkmans the leading brand has relinquished its market position. I do believe though that Sony wants to become the leading brand in the imaging market. They have stiff competition though and missed the HD video DSLR trick that Canon stole from under their noses with their 5Dmk2. The future will be interesting.

Well Sony are not yet mainstream. They want to be but there are a few issues that are holding back them back in the pro market. It’s probably only a matter of time. When the likes of Pocket Wizard make decent flash systems for Sony cameras then they can be taken seriously as professional solutions. The support that Canon and Nikon professional services plus the thousands of repair and accessory dealers around the globe offer photographers using Canon and Nikon cameras is in another league. The gap is narrowing with the likes of Samsung, Olympus, Pentax, Leica and Panasonic all in the race too to become the third pro supplier. Interesting times ahead.

Kindest regards,

Damien.

You can buy regular Plus2 Pocket wizards, however the new Flex TT5s for Nikon are due out in under 2 months. They will do everything that the Plus 2′s do and they will work with the Nikon flashes in full TTL mode too. But there is a snag, they are not the cheapest solution for your needs. It will be quite an investment and I’m expecting your budget is limited so why not try using these.

What the best way to remotely fire a metz and couple of vivitar flashguns (all will be on stands and in maual mode) from my Nikon D40.

Thanks

Any chance of a workshop here in the north of England? Would love to do a off camera flash / urban portraits / street fashion day course.

To add to your article. If users don’t have the ST-E2 or SU-800 cheap radio triggers can also be used as an alternative to Pocket Wizards. Being in manual mode the flashguns will be limited by their sync-speed regardless of radio trigger used.

However as word of caution; I tried a cheap trigger off eBay and it didn’t work on my Canon cameras as it randomly triggered the flash. Having the trigger on a TTL cable did resolve this. My friend was able to use these on his Nikon with no problems though. This is going back two years, so this issue will almost definitely be fixed now – but buyer beware.

I now use the ST-E2 but the cheap trigger was a great way to try things out before splashing out a lot of money. The trigger is now used in my studio and works absolutely fine

Can’t wait for the DVD….