Would these studio lights work with an S3 IS

[LostRogue]

So I have my new S3 IS....my first semi-serious camera. I'm looking for a "cheap" studio light set, and I realize now that I may have shot myself in the foot for not coughing up another $400 and getting an XTi or something with a hot shoe. Over in the Glamour and Nude forum I saw a post that referred to a "Cheap Chinese" lighting set that had 3 strobes, backdrops, stands, reflectors, barn doors etc... for about $300.

Now, I know you get what you pay for, but I'm starting off on the cheap side to see if I even have the talent to do well in photography (I know I have the interest).

Anyway, the strobes fire in 1 of 3 ways....
1) Hook up a remote transmitter to the camera's hot shoe. Fires one strobe which then causes others to fire

2) Hook up a remote tranmitter on 1 strobe to the PC Sync port on the camera and cause "1-then-all" strobes to fire.

3) Use the camera's built in flash to fire the 3 strobes.

OK...on the S3 IS, #3 is the onky option. My question....will it work well? I mean, I know we're talking speed-of-light here, but will the camera "see" all the light that fires at different times in a pleasing way?

Thanks in advance.....

[Jon]

You'll need to get a "digital slave" for them or the pre-flash used to set flash exposure levels will trigger them unless the S2 allows manual control of the flash.

[LostRogue]

Originally Posted by Jon

You'll need to get a "digital slave" for them or the pre-flash used to set flash exposure levels will trigger them unless the S2 allows manual control of the flash.

Well, I'm still new to the camera, but I know I can manually set all of the exposure, aperature, shutter speed and flash output, so I think I'm OK with it.

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by LostRogue

Well, I'm still new to the camera, but I know I can manually set all of the exposure, aperature, shutter speed and flash output, so I think I'm OK with it.

You will need to shoot manaul anyway to get the best out of the studio lights, other wise the camera has trouble metering off light that isn't there
My understanding of the S3, is its like most Canon compacts, when you adjust the flash out put manauly, it disables the preflash.

The biggest issue you might have is, the direct flash from your camera showing in the photo. If you setting up side lighting, direct light from on camera is not usualy wanted.

With some epxerimentation you might find you can trigger the studio lights with the flash at its lowest power setting, and hope that the flash dosn't have enough range to reach the subject, and is also over powered by the studio lights.
Remember that you will only have to trigger one light, that should then trigger the other 2.

Iv had some success shooting in a light tent with my A80, and a 550ex triggered with an optical trigger on the end of the Canon off shoe cord. I was able to hold the optical trigger in front of the A80 flash to block its light.
I wonder if you can try the same thing useing an optical trigger on the end of a long PC sync cord thats connected to one of the lights?

[ib2loud]

not quite as fancy but my S3 with one slave flash works pretty well in manual mode, i just put the flash output as low as it'll go, and it seemed to work pretty well, but i was pretty far from the subject too. this is the best one i've gotten so far

and again, i know it's nothing close to what you're going for

[Circa2000]

Really Nice picture

[MaxZoom]

Just to echo what has already been stated but from my experience.

The S3 does not send out a pre-flash when the camera is set to manual flash, the question of a 'digital slave' does not arise because any optical slave will work just fine in this situation.

When doing studio work you will probably go "full manual". You will use a shutter speed which is slow enough to let all your flashes fire - not a question of the speed of light but how quickly your optical slaves will react. About 1/125 - 1/250 will be just fine in most cases. Going for a slower shutter just lets in more ambient light over which you have little control. Studio work is all about controlled light - and your strobes are your route to success.
Since exposure time is not a variable you will then need to set ISO and f/stop to give your optimum exposure. Usually keeping ISO at 80 or 100 won't be a problem. A limitation on a compact is the inability to set anything smaller than f/8. If your lights are within a few feet of your subject you might have too much light at f/8 in which case you have to move your light further away from your subject. If room does not permit this you may need a ND filter (on an adapter tube) to loose the excess light. I use an ND4 for this purpose and end up working between f/4 and f/8 in a 9ft by 12ft room with 2x 150Ws strobes.

To trigger your optical slaves you will need your camera's flash to be "visible" to one of your slaves, as stated, the others will trigger from this. I use a white business card to deflect my on-camera flash to the rear so its light does not reach the subject but still triggers the slave.
I'm very happy using my S3 for the limited studio work that I do. It was not worth my while to spend x2 the money on a camera just to get a hot-shoe or a PC socket.

Enjoy the learning experience.

[LostRogue]

Thanks to all for the input, it has been very helpful.

ib2loud....wow...really nice picture. If I can learn to get to anything like that I will be very happy.

MaxZoom....your post was especially helpful. In truth, I'm probably a number of months away from buying the lights (the tax man is coming soon, and a vacation with the family to Disney shortly after that will take all of my disposable cash ), but when I do get them, it will be fun to play around with them!