Testosterone-induced solution in search of a problem

[Curtis N]

Necessity isn't always the mother of invention. Sometimes it's testosterone combined with reruns of "Home Improvement" and perhaps a bit of alcohol. This is what happens when you have one camera, three flash units, two slave adapters and a bachelor's degree in redneck engineering.

By my calculations, this outfit has a combined guide number of 162 feet at 100 ISO and will cover a 35mm lens (22mm lens on my 300D).

Now that I have this setup, I don't really know what to do with it. So I need everyone's help to find problems for this solution so my wife doesn't think I'm an idiot. I think I could use it without the tripod, as long as my arm strength holds out.

Also, I need to borrow some batteries.

What would be some situations where this would come in handy? Let's have some fun with this.

[GyRob]

a very long dark tunnel lol
Rob

[Vetteography]

1) Late night home-invasion, non-lethal device for stunning (and, coincidentally, blinding for life) a masked neer-do-well!

2) Spot-lighting deer.

3) Guiding in lost aircraft

4) Impromptu Flouroscope device (if used from behind a skinny person)

5) Heating your Microwave Pizza if the oven is broken

6) ..... :D

[arpi]

hey! that could be the beginning of a truck rack mounted flash unit (or a bicycle). get a remote control cable and all set. how about a police nightlight handle to control the flash and camera attached to the driver window so that you can shoot from the vehicle?

only kidding ;) :p

[JaertX]

how about photos of the pile-o-beer cans?

[Skip Souza]

That is the perfect set-up for hunting Vampires.

[Carzee]

1. Late tonight, say about 11pm, fire it off at the western sky and I'll tell you if I see anything.

2. Get a new bathroom mirror.

[allanc]

That could be useful in photographing caves. I routinely use flashbulbs that have guide numbers of over 400 at 100 ISO. I often use three of these big flashbulbs to light up one shot.

[pjd83]

You'd better not take any photos at night near roads. Don't want you causing pile ups!

[Belmondo]

You could loan it to a shipyard for welding supertanker hulls.

[tim]

Loan it to an observatory so they can get a better photo of distant planets.

[aam1234]

Aurora borealis on demand.

[DocFrankenstein]

Give the pro wedding photog a heart attack

How do you press the shutter on that thing?

[Curtis N]

Get a new bathroom mirror.
Hey! It's just a little dirty, that's all. Redneck engineers like me are way too busy applying for patents to worry about such mundane chores as mirror cleaning. Keen observation, though! At first I thought my sensor was dirty!

DocF - Your suggestion is the best so far! I can only imagine what would go through a wedding photog's head if he saw optical slaves where he was shooting.

To answer your question: I press the shutter with, um, with a remote.:)
This is just the first prototype. I'll have to work on the whole "ease of use" issue. I also need to move the slaves forward a few inches because at their current location they don't see the main flash and won't fire outdoors.