Flash in studio setup

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

Hi,

I can probarbly buy the following from a friend of mine for a good price.

2 umbrella's and 2 Metz flashlights + stands + slave modules.

I have done a test shot with not so fresh batteries but to be honest I see no difference between the on board flash and the help of the two flashes via the umbrella's.

I think mainly because the onboard flash is way to dominant and the reflected light cannot compete with it's power ??? maybe I'm totally wrong.

What can I do ?

Wait untill the batteries are fully charged and try again.
Use another flash on the 10D aimed at the ceiling just to trigger the slave flashes, or something else.

I have read alot about lighting subjects and the basic ideas are allready known to me, the setup is aimed to get the dropshadows out under chin and evenlighting of the face, what I'm looking for however would be a not so harsh shot which is due to internal flash.

Please assist.

Greetings,
Frank

[daveh]

I guess the first question is: have you made sure you've got things set up so the slaves aren't firing on an E-TTL preflash?

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

They are setup in full manual mode.
HOWEVER, I just saw I have the red eye flash enabled on my 10D, can that be the problem ?

I guess it could mean they fire with the red eye flash and are silent when the main flash comes.

Greetings,
Frank

[daveh]

J.A.F. Doorhof wrote:
They are setup in full manual mode.

What is "they" in this context? The slaves don't really matter. Is the onboard flash in manual? I don't recall that even being an option. If not, the slaves need smart slaves (sometimes called digislaves) that can be set to ignore preflashes. Either that or you need a "dumber" flash in your hotshoe. (Or one that can be set that way like a 550EX.)

I suppose the red eye could also be a problem but I don't think that turning it off will be enough.

[deztoys]

You could always see if the PC cable method shows significant improvements as well. This way you can start isolating the source of your problems.

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

Hi,

The slaves are set in full manual mode, they DO flash with the main flash by the way.

I will be doing some more tests over the weekend.

Greetings,
Frank

[jcsorensen]

I was also trying a similar setup and saw no difference, in fact with a total of three flashes going off (on-board flash, and two older flash guns set on manual with non-digi slaves) things seemed under exposed when I thought I should be blowing things out. Then I did a simple test. Reading this post made me decide to do a simple test that I thought might help answer the question.

I took a direct picture of my slave flash that was on, charged, and ready to fire. If things were synching, then the flash should be seen going off in the picture. In all the pictures I took, the slave flash looked like it was not even on, though I know it flashed when I took the picture. I believe what is happening is that the pre-flash on the camera cannot be perceived by me because it is so close to the real flash (light is really fast if you didn't now--so are computers in the camera). The slave flash(es) is(are) triggering, and the E-TTL is reading it's own flash along with that of the slave flashes. The on-board E-TTL flash is then cutting back its own flash so when the picture is taken, the exposure is dropping off.

Of my two external flashes, I tried my Quantaray QTB-7500A with a Canon TTL module set to manual on the hotshoe to test fire against an old Canon AB-46 on manual with non-digi slave peanut. Unfortunately, I could not get the Quantary on the flash shoe to fire (by the way, I'm using a loaner D60 while Canon continues to fix my 10D--the Quantaray works ok on the 10D hotshoe). I would have liked to try the AB-46 on the hot shoe, but the voltage on the AB-46 shoe reads about 113v when I test it with a volt meter and I think Canon discourages the use of older flashes with shoe votages over 6v).

Anyway, this forum continus to teach my many things, and this was a great eye opener--Guess it's time to invest in a 550ex and/or some studio stuff.

Oh, by the way--did I mention I really, really miss my 10D?

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

Hummmm,

So if I understand correctly using 3 flashes is useless because they fire with the pre-flash and after that the photo is taken with only the mainflash on the camera ?

Is there a way to disable the pre-flash ?

Greetings,
Frank

[jcsorensen]

I can't find a way to disable the pre-flash--been through the manual a couple of times last night looking for one. You can buy digital slave peanuts--but the only one I found on-line last night was at BH Photo somewhere in the $60 dollar range--however I did not spend a lot of time looking.

If anyone else knows of a inexpensive digi-slave peanut type device, please chime in.

Grins

[daveh]

The other options are using a PC cord (simple, reliable, and cheap but does mean a wire), or sticking a manual flash on the camera (including an E-TTL flash with manual mode such as the 550EX), or adding some other kind of remote control system.

[scottbergerphoto]

Put the on board flash in the down position. Then you can put an infrared or radiowave transmitter in the hot shoe to fire the flashes. You can then use as many flashes as you want in slave mode. You will need to use a flash meter to set the flash ratios and the camera settings. I use the Pocket Wizard with studio strobes and dedicated flash units.
www.pocketwizard.com
http://www.qtm.com/wireless/freewire.html