Disgusted by speedlites

Thread fail. Talk about stupidity flying in the face of overwhelming evidence.

drvnbysound wrote in post #15987980
Or vice versa?

"I could have been a contender!"
- Indeed you could have....

"I could of been a contender!"
- Not with that command of grammar, you couldn't of, er, I mean, couldn't have!

Scrumhalf wrote in post #15988872
"I could have been a contender!"
- Indeed you could have....

"I could of been a contender!"
- Not with that command of grammar, you couldn't of, er, I mean, couldn't have!

I've never seen/heard this before. However, I've heard people use could've that may sound like could of.

drvnbysound wrote in post #15989041
I've never seen/heard this before. However, I've heard people use could've that may sound like could of.

That's exactly right, and I see it written on the Interwebz ALL the time. Could of, would of, should of... basically variants of the same theme. And it seems to be country-independent - have heard it from North Americans, British and Aussies. I guess bad grammar has no borders!

There are a lot of different ways to 'skin the cat' in photography and it seems that speedlights can be a useful tool for a lot of applications.

I don't happen to own any as they simply wouldn't work for what it is that I do.

LostArk wrote in post #15986732
Seems like most photographers sing the praises of speedlites, so what am I missing? I've never used a speedlite and been satisfied by its performance. In my experience:

- the quality of light is about the same as a $5 flash light
- not enough power to be useful
- horrid recycle times
- overheating issues
- questionable "portability"
- questionable cost / benefit ratio

So what's the draw? Does it just boil down to "different strokes"?

This is just annoying.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #15988843
Thread fail. Talk about stupidity flying in the face of overwhelming evidence.

Some people would rather blame their equipment for bad results then admit they just don't know how to use the equipment and that's why they get bad results.

LostArk wrote in post #15986732
Seems like most photographers sing the praises of speedlites, so what am I missing? I've never used a speedlite and been satisfied by its performance. In my experience:

- the quality of light is about the same as a $5 flash light
- not enough power to be useful
- horrid recycle times
- overheating issues

All of those things at different times, but if you're an enthusiast the challenge is to make them appear like a proper flash has been used and then say that proper flashes are not needed. Often, people spend more time and money making them operate like proper flashes than just buying proper flashes in the first place. People who don't have the benefit of knowledge of other lighting have nothing to compare with, for them its a habit, and a hobby.

Manufacturers exploit this trait.

Not so much those things.

There are lists of professional photographers who use speedlites. Manufacturers exploit this trait too, but they don't exclusively use speedlites for exactly the previous reasons you stated and they have proper lighting as well.

Speedlites are portable as long as you don't start adding external batteries to them or concocting mounting systems to make them operate like proper lights.

Speedlites are happy to perform for shooting a wide variety of paid-for subjects as well as family, kids, animals and holidays.. sometimes you have to be careful to keep the requirements, sensibility and applications separate.

PhotographersWorldWide wrote in post #15989213
Speedlites are portable as long as you don't start adding external batteries to them or concocting mounting systems to make them operate like proper lights.

I beg to differ. Even if you get a proper strobe, you need a power source. If you're out and about with no AC outlets, that's a battery pack.

You need a modifier (or none) either way. if it's a softbox you need a speedring either way.

You need a light stand (or not) either way.

So with the battery pack, modifier, and light stand all being moot you look at the head itself. What do you need to get the speedring attached? Okay well in the case of a proper strobe, probably nothing. In the case of a speedlite? Probably nothing again, since you can get speedrings for speedlites that have a bracket to mount your light on. In the case of an umbrella? Okay you got me there. You need a $17 adapter and most strobes can take an umbrella straight.

So we're basically now down to weight, that adapter, and power/recycle times as our differences. Proper strobes are heavy so there's a negative for those. Speedlites are weak and slow so there's two ticks against those. EDIT: Oh, and the battery for the proper strobe probably has to be bigger than the battery for the speedlite to get the same number of flashes. So a tick against the proper strobe (maybe).

So pick your poison...heavy, powerful, fast strobe or light, weak, slow speedlite. I call that a wash. Your needs dictate your choice.

In other words it's not a no-brainer and it's not ridiculous to make a speedlite act like a strobe.

I use to have a small business, the only way I actually did photography "Professionally" (other than gallery shows of my wildlife stuff) where local artists would pay me to photograph their paintings, and use the images for their own gallery advertising, prints etc.

On some occasions we would luck out and the sun would be our light. These were perfect photo shoots, but rare. Most times the art couldn't be moved outdoors, or the weather would not comply. (but let me tell you it's hard to beat the sun for good even lighting when it behaves!)

On most occasions, I used my two 580ex with umbrellas (shoot through) on stands.
This also worked perfectly, and talk about portable and easy to set up. And of course, pretty cheap Very cheap considering the only pricey part (the speedlite) was already paid for as part of my birding rig. It never felt under powered., and at the pace I shoot, I never even knew they could overheat. (kind of amazed I haven't had this happen when using them for wildlife?)

I've yet to see an Alien Bee or JTL mounted on a supertelephoto for birding.

gremlin75 wrote in post #15989199
Some people would rather blame their equipment for bad results then admit they just don't know how to use the equipment and that's why they get bad results.

Some people would just blame the poster as a noob instead of considering the possibility that the poster might do a different type of photography where speedlites doesn't do well.

cdifoto wrote in post #15989656
In other words it's not a no-brainer and it's not ridiculous to make a speedlite act like a strobe.

I understand owning ONE speedlite for shooting events while it's ON CAMERA

But when I see setups with four stands, umbrellas and softboxes with CANON flashes in manual mode, I'm questioning the choices.

Why not use non-dedicated vivitars?
Why not use a proper powerpack? You're already lugging around a box of flashes and four lightstands. Adding an extra box with proper lights which are designed for it is not going to make the whole setup any bulkier.

I've seen people shoot TWO canon speedlites into one umbrella.

You can get an elinchrom ranger for the same money!

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #15989706
I understand owning ONE speedlite for shooting events while it's ON CAMERA

But when I see setups with four stands, umbrellas and softboxes with CANON flashes in manual mode, I'm questioning the choices.

Why not use non-dedicated vivitars?
Why not use a proper powerpack? You're already lugging around a box of flashes and four lightstands. Adding an extra box with proper lights which are designed for it is not going to make the whole setup any bulkier.

I've seen people shoot TWO canon speedlites into one umbrella.

You can get an elinchrom ranger for the same money!

Speedlite generally is used to refer to hot shoe flashes anymore, not Canon branded units specifically. I do use the cheaper Vivitars/YongNuos, etc. The difference in weight and bulk between a speedlite and a proper strobe is more significant than you realize. Which one can you put 4-6 of in your backpack? I can take the speedlites into a location or venue with one trip along with my other stuff. Proper strobes mean extra cases and extra cases mean more trips back and forth and/or assistants. Assistants mean more expense so you're now looking at an even larger cost discrepancy.

cdifoto wrote in post #15989656
I beg to differ. Even if you get a proper strobe, you need a power source.

Of course you do!

So, you disagree with me saying that I disagree that speedlites have - "questionable portability" my point being - they have portability - until you start adding.. batteries.. cables.. stands.. speedrings.. adapters, LIKE PROPER LIGHTS. In which case USE proper lights.

One, two, three Speedlites in your camera bag are portable, combine that with three stands, three connecting cables, three batteries, three swivel adapters (plus modifiers), then suddenly your "portability" disappears and the advantage of having a Speedlite flash consisting of a self-contained unit utilising 4 AA's is beaten down by paraphernalia.

Speedlites are portable until you start using them like proper lights - in that case - their portability is of no consequence so use proper lights that have none of the disadvantages.

if you are not getting good results...you are not using it correctly.