Studio Lights, need advice please!

[Orchid]

So I'm looking to set up a very basic studio type area in my garage, and was wondering what lights to use. I have a 350D and 580EX flashgun. From what I gather, the canon flashes are awkward to use off-camera, and I can't afford to get another speedlite. This is gonna be on a budget as it's for playing around and experimenting, but having searched the forum and read the FAQ's, it seems the options I have are:


1. Get some tungsten lights and use them, putting a gel on my flashgun to balance the light

2. Get some very cheap flashguns, and set them up using a PC sync. The popular choice here seem to be Sunpak, looking on ebay (I'm in the UK), there are loads of different types.. Is there any major difference between them? Or will any do? And if I were to do this, can I use the 580 on the hotshoe still?

I have a very old Vivitar 273, but it seems to me like this is unusable because of the voltage it puts out.. Or does that not matter with PC sync?

Any help would be appreceated.. I can't seem to get my head around it.

Cheers!

[Curtis N]

If you can find an old Sunpak with decent power and acceptable trigger voltage at a low price, it will probably serve you well. Off-camera, the most important capability is variable manual power.

To use a PC cord with your 350D, you'll need a hotshoe adapter. Generally these have both a PC socket and a hotshoe on top, to use both camera-mounted flash and remote wired flash simultaneously. But it's a generic hotshoe that won't do E-TTL. If you mount your 580EX to it, you'll need to use manual flash.

The instruction manual for your camera is vague with regard to flash trigger voltage. It's still important when you use a PC cord and adapter, since the voltage is ultimately going through the same terminals on the camera. To be on the safe side, I would stay with units at 6 volts or less. You could buy a Wein Safe-Sync adapter, but I think your money would be put to better use buying a flash unit with a safe voltage to begin with. UK prices may vary, but in the US, the Wein unit is $50 and a Sunpak 383 is only $80.

[Orchid]

If I want to just fire my one 580ex off camera to start with, what would I need for that? Canon off camera adapter.. Or would I be better off in the long run going wireless? Are there any cheap alternatives the the ST-E2?

Also, would any flashgun work with the PC sync setup, within reason? Would the Minolta 2800 AF work for example? Just browsing the local second hand places that's all and wondered.

Thanks a lot for the help, I'm finally trying to understand all this. Thanks!

[Curtis N]

There are no cheap alternatives to the ST-E2, and the Canon Off Camera Shoe Cord is only a few feet long.

A PC cord with a hotshoe adapter on each end will allow you to fire almost any flash unit with your 350D, including your 580EX or sundry pre-owned units available on the used market. You won't get E-TTL metering this way, but don't consider that a disadvantage. You'll benefit greatly from learning to use manual flash.

[Orchid]

If I were to get a hotshoe adapter and stick an optical trigger on it, would this allow me to fire my Vivitar flash as a slave without worry, as it wouldn't technically be connected to the camera?

Would this require a cord from the trigger to the hotshoe as well, as I've seen some pictures here where people have used cords, and some where the trigger is just plugged into the hotshoe.

Appaologies for the ignorant questions, but thanks for your help!

[Curtis N]

If I were to get a hotshoe adapter and stick an optical trigger on it, would this allow me to fire my Vivitar flash as a slave without worry, as it wouldn't technically be connected to the camera?Correct.Would this require a cord from the trigger to the hotshoe as well, as I've seen some pictures here where people have used cords, and some where the trigger is just plugged into the hotshoe.There are many types of slave adapters that connect in different ways. If you want to use a shoe mount flash as a slave, the most logical type of slave adapter is one that has a hotshoe and mounts right on the foot. These typicaly have a threaded hole in the bottom to facilitate use on a tripod or lightstand. Many of them also have a PC socket.

A few of mine are pictured in this post (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=2347963&postcount=10).

[digitaljoe]

Orchid - There is good advice as well and more reviews at the specialist flash site Strobist.



http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/

[Orchid]

Thanks a lot for all the help!

I just ordered a couple of optical triggers, an off camera hotshoe and PC sync cable, as well as a Helios 38 flashgun I picked up from ebay for the pricely sum of £1.82. Hopefully this will get me nicely started.

Thanks again guys