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OK, I have to admit, I just purchased another 430 EXII flash in preperation for hummingbird season. I now own a total of 6 speedlights and am currently trying to figure out how to get them all to flash at the same time---Lots of wire and pocket wizards would help. Anyway, This is an effort to try and light everything I want to light at 1/64th of a second and still eliminate outdoor ambient light-----Have I lost my mind?
Bob
Well Bob I know "L" disease is real because I now have it. I didn't know it was possible to OD on flash units. Will you be off the AA or should I say FA meetings.
"Hi my name is Bob and I'm addict"
Can you get a patch to ease your cravings:)?
Right now I'm looking at a 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS on CL... I keep thinking, really, another lens in that range? Trying to 'pack light' for a trip next week, and the 28-300 is lighter than the 24-105 + 70-200 II. Then I think...the 1D X is coming...do I really want to subtract money from the fund right now (the stack of bills is currently taller than the 1D X cost, but not quite taller enough...). Then I think, I have nine L lenses, and that's such an uneven number...Quote:
Originally Posted by Raid
Someone, HELP US! :p
(Enjoy the flash, Bob!)
It is indeed a disease. There is only one treatment--heliotherapy.
I suppose it's a cheaper affliction, but i'm addicted to buying junk off ebay. Sometimes it's good like my Samyang 35/1.4, Takumar 50/1.4, EF 85/1.8 and 100/2, but then I've got every step ring from 37 to 86mm and back down again, every lensbaby accessory and most of the optics (i really should sell that Muse since I bought my Control Freak), a Pentacon Six with 4 Zeiss lenses (including 2x 50mm f/4 Flektogons because the first was a bit soft and hazy) and almost every other Kiev/Arsenal-made variant from the 30mm fisheye to the Jupiter 250/3.5, filters filters and more filters, latest is a Heliopan CPL and an ND400, too many $3 chinese filters like the 4-, 6-, and 8-point star filters and $5 wasn't so much to see how bad a soft-focus filter can look, was it? And now i've got to go buy a $3 pouch to put all those filters in because they don't all fit in my bag in their boxes, maybe i'll pick up another $6 soft-box or two while i'm there, the first one broke kinda quickly and it's cheaper to buy a new one than a tube of glue...
Hi, my name's Doc C and I have a problem...
Nope, just a few greenbacks:cool:.....It's G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).....to resist is futile, you WILL be assimilated.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob williams
There is a 5-step program to help all of you ....
1. Place item in box
2. Drive to Post Office
3. Allow clerk to release box from your grip
4. Mail to Kenosha, WI
5. Go home and repeat the above
Fee free to call me if you need any help getting through all of the steps, I love helping friends in need!!
Very much looking forward to seeing those new hb photos, Bob!!
Yes...you have lost your mind. We know this because we can identify with your problem, it is just that some of us are still in the denial stage and will not admit our problems yet. Telling us about your situation is counterproductive. It is like going to the local bar and trying to get AA help from the patrons. You have to be outside the bar to get real help.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob williams
But...on more of an enabler note. I would think some of the strobist here could tell you how to get this done without a massive daisy chain of 430's. Of course it may involve buying more and better lighting systems. This would of course include lights, triggers, portable power, modifiers and I am sure many other expensive things. ....oh and tell the barkeep to hit me with another shot....
When you get this done we ask you give us a report so we can duplicate what you did. :p
Good Luck
Thanks for all the laughs and and understanding support. To all my fellow addicts, Thanks again for all your support and of course, credit card donations are accepted.
Bob
Really 6 Flashes? All bigger than the hummingbirds themselves...they must feel like big champs in your garden ;) I bet you could simulate football-stadium lighting with them. They will probably work even harder to get in the picture. Those are going to be big shots.
Good luck. I don't know how to technically set it up, but if you're finished, I'd love to see the result :D
Ps: You might need a "always wear eye-protection" sign at your door to avoid photokeratitis:cool:
The only thing I find crazy is that you think you can improve on your HB shots....seriously Bob, give the rest of us a chance to catch up.....
I would love to make a credit card donation...specifically, I'd like to donate my bill.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob williams
Why shoot at 1/64 if you're trying to eliminate ambient? I can understand wanting to get blur on the wings but ... don't you need ambient for that (or some other continuous/long pulse light)?
I dunno.. after some serious soul searching and existential dialogue, I opted to only go with ONE PCB Einstein and a tt5 trigger for my 430 instead of two Einsteins.. in favor of a 60" LED TV. The decision was a staggering one. It never really occurred to me before that my money could be spent on.. things that aren't photography related! (?) I say there's hope for us!
@ChadS - I think Bob is trying to eliminate wing blur. I'm guessing that Bob mis-typed in his post - he didn't mean "1/64th of a second," he meant 1/64 flash power setting. That's the minimum power setting for the flash. Capacitor-driven strobes don't have variable intensities - when they're on, they're on at 100%; when you use lower power, what you're getting is shorter duration of light - that's needed to eliminate the wing blur (the duration of a full-power flash is too long). So, to overcome ambient light but still maintain the shortest possible flash duration, you need more flashes.
You do realize you can view your pictures on your new TV? It isn’t a total loss….Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocco
Sorry to burst your bubble, but your 7D has an HDMI output port, and your new TV has an HDMI input port, so it IS photography related....Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocco
Or here is a thought and suggestion for Bob. He could build a shade structure over his feeder to cut out the ambient light. Or perhaps he has already done this.Quote:
Originally Posted by neuroanatomist
Or a wildly radical approach to capture a hummingbird with no wing blur:
http://www.stuffedark.com/images/hummingbird.jpg
So.. I don't know if you knew.. but I work for Microsoft.. I was totally on a conference call with some big wigs when I peeked at this.. they were discussing our numbers and wondering what went wrong. I laughed! Most. Uncomfortable. Silence. EVER.Quote:
Originally Posted by neuroanatomist
Thanks Neuro that makes total sense to me. (it would help to know that one of the projects I'm working on is imaging 10 micron particles moving at 100 m/s with micron resolution). What's the time frame of a full strobe? How repeatable is the interval at 1/64 does anyone know? I ask because LEDs can be switched at 1-10 microsecond speeds quite easily (1-10/1,000,000). An array of them soft-box-sized and aimed at the feeder should do the trick. The trick is getting them all to turn on (and off) at the same time. However, this is not really that hard to do.Quote:
Originally Posted by neuroanatomist
No idea for the 430EX II. I ran across this table for the 580EX some time back:Quote:
Originally Posted by ChadS
Courtesy of photosbykev, the flash durations of a 580EX are:
full power = 1/1000 s
1/2 power = 1/2000 s
1/4 power = 1/4000 s
1/8 power = 1/9000 s
1/16 power = 1/15000 s
1/32 power = 1/21000 s
1/64 power = 1/30000 s
1/128 power = 1/35000 s
LOL. Sorry, Rocco. My bad. But...that's what you get for peeking at a forum while you're supposed to be working (typed John on one Mac as he occasionally glances at an Interwise presentation on his other Mac while he listens to the conference audio on a cordless earpiece on mute, while chewing his lunch...). :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Rocco
Bob, when's hummingbird season? If 1/128 power is 28 microseconds then we've got a ton of room to play with in terms of freezing wing flight - 5 microsecond pulses are quite easy (I just looked up that a signal generator we build into one of our instruments makes 10 ns pulse trains using LEDs). Granted, high-speed LEDs are expensive - maybe $0.10 each? Of course, we're talking all manual flash - no TTL metering. Send me a pm if you're interested. This could be a fun side project.
This thread started out with Bob’s 430 ex II addiction. But I see with other people it is already exposing other types of addictions as well. These problems might run deeper than they first appear.....:rolleyes:
Of course, I'm reading the thread while sipping on my 4th cup of coffee, too...Quote:
Originally Posted by HDNitehawk
@Sean is 4 cups of coffee considered a lot? Uh oh...
That was exactly what was going through my mind...different address of course. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by ddt0725
Ps: You might need a "always wear eye-protection" sign at your door to avoid photokeratitis:cool:
LOL
Ps: You might need a "always wear eye-protection" sign at your door to avoid photokeratitis:cool: LOL
I'm pretty sure there are support groups for compulsive flashers.
The Flashers Anonymouse of Tennessee (F.A.T.) Mid-State Chapter meets the 1st and 3rd Mondays of every month. Er, so I've heard...Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve U
I stopped drinking alcohol(sports-related:o) for a week or so now and as I read and replied to this thread I was cooking tonights dinner....a nice stew made with ... beer. "Leffe Bruin" is now officially not only a very nice beer to drink...it's also a very nice beer to cook with. Just so everyone knows, I don't mind sharing tips;)Quote:
Originally Posted by HDNitehawk
Strobist? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Steve U
On topic, though, you could get 3 YN560s for the price of one 430EX II, and since you're using manual anyway it seems like a good deal. 1/20,000 is their claim at 1/128 power.
Certainly, but what kind?....According to the FBI dictionairy:Quote:
Originally Posted by PositronStrobist? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Steve U
Strobist; a person who uses one or multiple flashunits off camera on a crimescene
Serial Flasher; a person who uses one or more flashunits in different non-related crimescenes
Mass Flasher; a person who uses one or more flashunits in different related crimescenes
Spreeflasher; a person who uses one or multiple flashunits on a randomly picked crimescene
It seems that the term strobist incorporates the other terms. They seem to be more detailed explainations of the specific types of strobist.
If I'd have to say so, I'd consider Bob to be a Mass Flasher. If you "google" on the terms(HINT: not advisable:p) you'll see that he's a lone wolf in a well represented pack. There are really a lot of strobists out there(quite disturbing thought I guess), but if you search for a more specific type of strobist you'll see that Mass Flashers and Spreeflashers are less common than Serial Flashers who are very well represented. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not:confused:
And that...Quote:
Originally Posted by Positron
Great idea, I wasn't familiar with these flashes but they certainly seem to fit the bill and are just what I am looking for. Does anyone have any experience with these units?Quote:
On topic, though, you could get 3 YN560s for the price of one 430EX II, and since you're using manual anyway it seems like a good deal. 1/20,000 is their claim at 1/128 power.
@Bob for such short exposures how are you ensuring that they're all pulsing at the same time? Do you have a photodiode and a 'scope?
Chad, at the momment I can fire 5 flashes with 3 pocket wizards. One Mini TTL camera mounted, one flash on each of two TTL5s and then I have the other two flashes sitting on hot shoes that are wired to the flash port of the pocket wizards. These hot shoes can also be daisy chained where you can wire two or more together and fire them from one PW. But you do have to be careful, if you wire more than three, then the pw's firing circuit may not have enough power to fire all of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by ChadS
@Bob check your PMs.
Now there’s an interesting idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by Positron
A new dealer offers an addict a cheaper fix… so he buy more. We all know that this is just going to end badly.
Probably with a spate of hummingbird-related fires.