Comments on: Techniques #6 – Off-Camera Non-TTL Flash

By: Carl

Carl — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:08:10 +0000

$20 from Japan, over the web> JIANISI PT-04TM Wireless Flash Trigger (Transmitter) w Receiver ( compare Pocket Wizard)…small & awesome (2 week shipping). Getting me outta difficult scenarios. Love it!

By: Neil Wade

Neil Wade — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:11:51 +0000

No, I got them in the US. I think you have to order them directly from Paul C. Buff.

By: Brent

Brent — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:36:34 +0000

Did you buy your Cybersyncs in Taiwan?

By: Techniques #6.1 - Off Camera Non-TTL « Neil Wade Photography’s Blog

Techniques #6.1 - Off Camera Non-TTL « Neil Wade Photography’s Blog — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:06:33 +0000

[...] #6.1 – Off Camera Non-TTL 7 03 2009 That last post explaining the basics about how to use remote flashes and strobes had a picture in the end that I never fully explained. Shot with two strobes, this is a good one [...]

By: cfimages

cfimages — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:53:08 +0000

Speaking of ISO, I find I use a lot more variety these days, although having usable 6400 in the 5DII helps. Before digital, I would shoot Velvia, Provia, Reala and Tri-X and that was about it. Tried out some 800 print film a few times, and occasionally used Fuji NPH @320 and whatever the Kodak 400 C41 bw film was – I can’t remember the name. So most of the time, I was shooting at 400 or slower. These days, I’m in heaven with high-ISO.

By: Neil Wade

Neil Wade — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:28:56 +0000

Thanks Todd,
This was a long, difficult one!

By: Todd Alperovitz

Todd Alperovitz — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:08:47 +0000

Nice writeup Neil! I haven’t taken my flash out nearly enough lately…

By: Neil Wade

Neil Wade — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:53:50 +0000

Trust me, the pre-digital days had plenty of ISOs! (Although then they were usually called ASAs!) On my SB-800, to change the ISO manually, you do have to go into the custom menus, but it’s not a big deal. Truth is, I don’t ever change it, I just do the math in my head, but I wrote this article for absolute beginners and I thought that would be easiest.

Funny thing is, my old SB-24 is much easier to change. All you have to do is hit the select button until it lights up. I don’t know why Nikon would want to make that harder on the new ones… Another thing that bothers me is that I don’t understand why the flash head has to be pointed directly forward (not sure about Canons on this). If you have the head pointed up, the distance guide doesn’t show. Hmmm….

By: cfimages

cfimages — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:34:58 +0000

The flashes I have were released in the pre-digital days, so ISO would have been a bit more limited. They can “read” the ISO set on the camera if it’s connected via E-TTL, but unless there’s a custom setting buried in the menu that I’ve never found, the scale will not be accurate when set up manually.

By: Neil Wade

Neil Wade — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:23:19 +0000

Thanks Craig,

You definately need to check your cameras User Manual to get the proper flash sync. BUT, many of them can be “pushed” a stop or two also. I often shoot with my D700 and D2x at 1/320 of a sec and it has no effect on the flash. At 1/400th of a sec, a black band will start to creep up if I’m shooting with flashes as my main lights… If I’m mixing a good bit of ambient into the pic, you don’t see that black band and as long as the subject that I want illuminated with the flashes isn’t down there, it’s very usable.

It seems strange that Canon give you a distance scale that would be wrong if you’re shooting at a different ISO… Is it always locked a 100?

And yes, if you’re using flashes off-camera and set manually, you can use any brand. I often use some Sunpak 555s, but left them out of this blog.

Cheers.