How Close Can You Use The Beamer?

[canonloader]

Well, I got to find out tonight. The sun had gone behind the hill and in Av Mode with C.Fn 3 set to 1/250, normal shutter speed was 1/6sec at ISO 200. I had the flash and the Better Beamer on, doing some test shots at about 15 feet or so with the Bigma tapered down to 266mm. Then a Chickadee landed on my post feeder 5 feet away, so not to lose an opportunity, I took this shot.

OK, no big deal. But, When I converted this in ACR, I didn't do anything to any of the sliders. This is uncropped and I didn't even sharpen it. So I guess you can beam them at 5 feet and get away with it.

Of course, this Chickadee now has a Florida tan. :D
http://www.freeassociationblog.com/forumings07/dayshots/5-25-07/chickadeebeamer-9247-052507.jpg

[dancinec]

Looks pretty darn good. I don't think there is a problem with close distance, the ettl should measure that. You have a nice even balance of light, I don't get that with my Sigma. I get a hot spot on the lower half of the shot. Shooting at iso 200 give a nice grain to the shot and the flash should adjust its output depending on the iso. So why not use a low number? I noticed that you shot at f9 rather than wide open. I have not found a large difference in exposure, just in DOF by changing the f-stop. Keep experimenting, I am interested in your results.

[canonloader]

Thanks Dennis.

So why not use a low number? I noticed that you shot at f9 rather than wide open.
This is one of the most frustrating things about this Bigma. The 400L I had before had a sweet spot at f/5.6, wide open. That lens saved me so many shots just because it was sharpest at 5.6. The Bigma, after exhaustive testing, has a sweet spot at f/11. f/9 is pretty good, and f/8 is acceptable, but below that it goes to hell fast. I'm getting use to it, but man, I dearly wish it was sharp at f/5.6 or f/6.3. It just isn't.

[EdV]

I was thinking about this very question this morning when I gave up on the birds and switched over to the 50 1.8 and 12mm Kenko tube and went out in search of some wildflower close-ups (if you are interested, check the Nature forum).

First off, I have been mounting the flash and Beamer every time I go out with the 400. I put it all on the tripod, sling it over my shoulder and away I go. But when I started thinking about close-ups of wildflowers where I might have needed fill flash, I thought the Beamer would be too much so I removed it and went with the flash "naked". I was thinking about picking up a Sto-Fen diffuser for close-up work.

[morehtml]

Would be interesting for someone to do a close up test against a dark wall to see what the beamer does really close. I just don't have the time right now and my MK III is here tomorrow morn!

[canonloader]

Well, I wouldn't have had the Bigma on and the camera would probably be on my bracket with the flash mounted on that if I was shooting anything else but birds. Because the instructions for the Beamer say to use with lenses longer than 300mm, that just makes me assume you wouldn't use it at 5 feet on a bird. :)

I'm kind of surprised the shot didn't look like a useless white blob.

Would be interesting for someone to do a close up test against a dark wall to see what the beamer does really close.
I just happen to have a room with black walls here. :D

[canonloader]

Here's a tougher subject. Black wall, dark walnut piece of wood with one of those fortune telling 8 balls on it. Av Mode, 1/250sec, Bigma at about 50mm, minimum focus distance. In the first two, the flash head, 550ex, was set straight out to the front. In the last one, I depressed it 7% and in all of these, I focused on the near edge of the white spot.

http://www.freeassociationblog.com/forumings07/dayshots/5-25-07/blackflash-9249-052507.jpg

http://www.freeassociationblog.com/forumings07/dayshots/5-25-07/blackflash-9250-052507.jpg

http://www.freeassociationblog.com/forumings07/dayshots/5-25-07/blackflash-9251-052507.jpg

[CountryBoy]

Thanks Dennis.


This is one of the most frustrating things about this Bigma. The 400L I had before had a sweet spot at f/5.6, wide open. That lens saved me so many shots just because it was sharpest at 5.6. The Bigma, after exhaustive testing, has a sweet spot at f/11. f/9 is pretty good, and f/8 is acceptable, but below that it goes to hell fast. I'm getting use to it, but man, I dearly wish it was sharp at f/5.6 or f/6.3. It just isn't.

I think this statement has sold me on the 400mm 5.6L. I was leaning that way over the "Bigma" anyway. But this has made my mind up a 100%. Be about a month, but I'll own it .

Thanks

[canonloader]

I think this statement has sold me on the 400mm 5.6L.
Well, I did say the one I had. I think all lenses are different. When you get one, the first thing you need to do is put it on a tripod and shoot a full range of shots at every f/stop to see which stops are sharp and which aren't. While mine was sharp at f/5.6, wide open, it was also sharp at f/13, 15 and 19, but you can't use those much for birds. F/6.3 and 7.1 were absolutely terrible. But yours could be altogether different.

[CountryBoy]

Thanks for the tip.

[Adi7r]

The Chickadee shot turned out well Mitch.

[canonloader]

Thanks Adi. I was surprised it turned out at all. :)