Handheld off camera flash, but no sync cord?

Hey Guys,

Gonna be shooting a buddies band (metal music) and wanted some advice. I have shot them before, but that was when I first got a Speedlite. I was firing on camera flash, and it would always make them super bright and the background dark. Not too bad as I can adjust for that but i am thinking of doing it differently this time around.

I dont have a sync cord, however I am going to use my remote RF trigger and reciver and jsut hold the flash in my hand. The last time the lighting was harsh and flat (of course). So this time I am gonna bring the light from the left a bit, and manually adjust the speelite. The setup will be:

Speedlight + reciever + Mini softbox on the flash, all hand held and manually controlled.

Anyone ever do this? What do you think? I cannot get a tripod to mount my other speedlites in there unfortunately so handheld it will be if I want to get even a little depth to the light.

Mike

Been there done that. Sure it can be done without a problem. Also if you don't need to extend your arm all the way, if your receiver have the thread on the bottom. You can make bracket

Mike,
If you attach your speedlight to a monopod, you can easily get it out quite some distance from your camera, and it's all hand-holdable by yourself while you shoot.

george m w wrote in post #12391400
Mike,
If you attach your speedlight to a monopod, you can easily get it out quite some distance from your camera, and it's all hand-holdable by yourself while you shoot.

not a bad idea, but I am gonna be having to manuever around drunk head bangers while I run around But awesome Idea!

It works, but its not as easy as it seems. Using the camera with any sort of large lens one handed isnt as simple as you might think. Concentrating on aiming the light and the camera together is something that takes some practice.

gonzogolf wrote in post #12391503
It works, but its not as easy as it seems. Using the camera with any sort of large lens one handed isnt as simple as you might think. Concentrating on aiming the light and the camera together is something that takes some practice.

Ya I hear that, Ill be using my 85 1.8 or 24-105L depening on how close I am.

The key word there is practice. Also, making your "light on a stick" as light as possible is a huge plus. Attached photo shows this setup on a manfrotto monopod that is actually quite heavy. I since found a little cheapy monopod that I won as a door prize one time, and I'm using it. It's too flimsy to use as a real monopod, but it works great for this, because it weighs almost nothing. Not shown in this pic is a PC Buff "brolly box" that I've used for this. Again it's light and easy to handle. The trick is to cradle the monopod across the front of your body using essentially both arms to support and aim it, leaving both hands to operate the camera as normal. Hope that makes sense. Set it up and play with it and you'll come up with something that works for you.

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Thats awesome, I might actually go this route, I have the same head/umbrella adapters!!!

Have you tried the ETTL capability of the 7D? Works well indoors.

Titus213 wrote in post #12392440
Have you tried the ETTL capability of the 7D? Works well indoors.

With how ****ty the lighting will be at this place, and If i want to expose any of the background I am gonna have to use the 5DmKII for the 6400+ ISO capability

Like Titus said about ETTL. I shot these (about a month ago) in that mode and camera on manual, IS0 1600, 1/125, F4. Had my flash on a bracket. Just tweaked the FEC as needed. Had a few bright ones but got a lot of decent shots.