Quicky Portable Studio

So I couldn't resist anymore. I wanted a highly portable "studio" setup that I could take outside (if necessary), use for a light tent or macro shooting and not spend a lot of cash or get weighed down with a lot of gear - and dare I say it, proper strobes.

I just picked up:

Photogenic Eclipse 45" white satin umbrella (reflector)
Dot Line tripod flash/umbrella adapter
Wein Hotshoe adapter
Paramount 15' PC sync cord

The plan is to use the 580EX on the camera (probably for fill), attach an old Vivitar 5600 flash to the above (probably as the key)... And shoot! The Vivitar doesn't grok E-TTL anyway so no loss there and it wasn't being used really. Naturally the flash and camera will all be on manual for the best control and harmony.

This should hold me over for a while until I figure out the proper wireless route I want to go (Pocketwizards, eBay triggers, ST-E2) and until I decide to set up a killer 'Bee package w/Vagabond. Bonus is that all of the above fits in one little tripod bag - the rest is already in my camera bag!

I'm making one assumption here - that the hotshoe and PC terminal can both be used at the same time...

Success!

A little fiddling and we're in business. The hotshoe and PC sync terminal work simultaneously. The 580EX atop the camera makes a good fill or further bounce light. Set white balance to custom (via grey card) or just flash works well too.

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I am loving this setup.

With the new light setup and a white reflector for fill the quality of the light is very soft and wrapping. More than I can ever have hoped to pull off with just the flash alone or with the Lumiquest Promax System.

Without getting to fancy or involved I managed to pull off the shot below with just this setup. The backdrop is one of my shirts swung over a tall box for support. Key light to camera right, white reflector camera left. Simple, fast. In retrospect I could've moved the light a little lower so as not to pick up as much of a cast in the color of the light bouncing off the shirt (meh, radiosity). Nevertheless, for a few minutes setup I'm happy...

Here's a shot taken with just the light stand, no fill/reflector other than the surrounding sofa fabric, really... Light above, camera left.

Congrats, DN. Those shots look great. Did you test it with the 580 also? And if you did, how did you setup the 580 (auto/manual mode)?

Thanks!

I did some minimal testing with the 580EX - that's the next step...

With the hotshoe adapter and sync cord, the 580EX can only be used in manual mode as there's no E-TTL. If I wanted that, I'd have to get something like the ST-E2, another 580EX or 430EX. The problem with these is that I don't think the optical pulses will work with the flash at the odd angles and even rear-placement of the flash that I expect to use... I'm not sure. I know the range from side to side (sweep) is 80º. Can anyone expand on this?

Which leaves radio triggers (e.g. Pocketwizards, eBay)... And back to manual mode.

Manual really isn't so bad. Set the ISO, speed and aperture in manual mode (to a baseline) on the camera and just fire away. With the proper exposure it doesn't really matter what's in front of the camera - though you can adjust the aperture as needed.

As for the setup, I may pick up a silver umbrella as well for when I really need more light.

I'm also hoping someone will speak up who has experience with the actual angles at which a 580EX slave will operate, relative to the master. I have a 580EX and I'm thinking of getting a second one for the kind of set-up we're talking about here, but the same question has me hesitating.

Also, since the master communicates with the slave via white light, I'm wondering if a reflector aimed back at the slave would work. Anyone?

I think your asking will the ST E2 " reach the flash units. I have that setup and i find the 2Te2 hasa good range ,even in strong light. You do have to have line of sight from the reciver on the flash though to the camera. The 580 ex head is so "swivelly" though that ive not found it a problem ,, unless im using an imaginery 600mm lens. The other thing thats great about the ST E2 is it allows you control ratio and as you know is ETTL.

tbuddha wrote in post #2159659
I'm also hoping someone will speak up who has experience with the actual angles at which a 580EX slave will operate, relative to the master. I have a 580EX and I'm thinking of getting a second one for the kind of set-up we're talking about here, but the same question has me hesitating.

Also, since the master communicates with the slave via white light, I'm wondering if a reflector aimed back at the slave would work. Anyone?

Yes it works fine, the communication flash doesnt have to be strong, the only problem i saw with it , is that the comms flash tells the model the pic is taken and they close their eye for a second , often during the real flash. Remember if your in master slave on ETTL you will have the comms flash, the ETTL pre flash and the real one. Id get the STE2 if you could afford it, it saves a lot of tooing and froing to the remote flash , saves batteries and all round makes life a touch easier ( e.g controlling ratios ) . Its an expensive add on though, i got mine from an ebay store.

Double negative, i found that set up great , the thing i had to watch was focussing the brolley on the subject well and trying to keep the ISO a little higher than you might expect in order to save battery power. ISO 100 and misfocussed light can eat batteries.

Thanks for all that info, David.

So the ST-E2 just fires a burst to encode the info... That means anything that can see this flash should be able to communicate? Interesting - that makes it more useful than I was thinking. I like the capability of setting ratios. I only have the 580EX right now, so it wouldn't help in my case right now. I was thinking of getting another down the line.

I'm finding that the setup does take a little fiddling to get used to it and how it handles, etc. Unlike a more powerful studio strobe you want to maximize every burst...

So far I've just set the old Vivitar 5600 to full power, made sure there was no light spill over the edges... Set the camera to ISO 200, 1/200s @ f/8-11 and fire away. I don't use FEC this way, but use the aperture to control the exposure instead. I'll have to figure something out though, as I want to get up to f/16 at times and the output isn't bright enough. I'll have to move the umbrella closer, increase the ISO and/or get a silver umbrella. Once I play more with the 580EX in this setup I'll know more also.

Thanks for all that info, David.

So the ST-E2 just fires a burst to encode the info... That means anything that can see this flash should be able to communicate?

Yes , but its IR from the STE2 not flash ( unlike a 580ex as master ) so you ( nor the subject ) see anthing other than the normal ETTL and you get both puppies of the camera. I saw a diode somewhere that closes the circuit to fire a flash if it sees a flash burst, they are dirt cheap , so you could also put the Vivitar on that , but it would not be ETTL.

I'm finding that the setup does take a little fiddling to get used to it and how it handles, etc. Unlike a more powerful studio strobe you want to maximize every burst...

I am fortunate in that funds are not an issue so thats how i ended up with the quantum turbos , its really a case of giving yourself battery longevity and if you have it using ambient helps...if you had a long session and it was appropriate / feasible. I havent played with it much as i went onto the bowens stuff. That brolley is very big i think , mine have a shorter diameter and as such are more focussed , again leading to less power required ( thats my hypothesis in any case )

So far I've just set the old Vivitar 5600 to full power, made sure there was no light spill over the edges... Set the camera to ISO 200, 1/200s @ f/8-11 and fire away. I don't use FEC this way, but use the aperture to control the exposure instead. I'll have to figure something out though, as I want to get up to f/16 at times and the output isn't bright enough. I'll have to move the umbrella closer, increase the ISO and/or get a silver umbrella. Once I play more with the 580EX in this setup I'll know more also.

Id be surprised if you get enough out of it, i have silver umbrellas. Fire it looking straight into the brolley.. you wont be overly blinded versus looking into the flash. The small flash head is suddenly becoming a big ( and spread ) light source. I find this setup handy for portable portraits and the likes , it weighs a lot less than my " portable " bowens stuff lol.

If you have a reflector knocking about , it i think is more efficent than the brolley at giving you a nice soft light . I only had a few plays with firing my 580s into it , but the results were encouraging. One of these days id like to rig up some sort of boom to put the flash out in front of the reflector something like a satellite dish, i think it would be an efficent way of carrying soft light around in my backpack especially. The only downside i see is that you have to have your aim spot on..hence the rigid boom. Instinct tells me it oculd be more efficent with battery power but i cant support that with results yet.

DN, since you use the sync cord for the Vivitar, I was wondering if you tried the 580 on camera as fill light. I read one poster mentioned that after camera manual setting was inputed, the 580 could be left in auto with -2 FEC for fill, though I never tried it myself.

As for f16, is your umbrella a convertable one? If it is, the shoot through one could be placed lot closer to the subject.

Lotto wrote in post #2161532
DN, since you use the sync cord for the Vivitar, I was wondering if you tried the 580 on camera as fill light. I read one poster mentioned that after camera manual setting was inputed, the 580 could be left in auto with -2 FEC for fill, though I never tried it myself.

As for f16, is your umbrella a convertable one? If it is, the shoot through one could be placed lot closer to the subject.

I have fiddled somewhat with using the 580EX as a fill light. That was my original plan going in. I'll have to play with it more and see how that works out. The only downside is that it places the flash awfully close to products/macro subjects - for portraits it's not so bad though. And I can use the Lumiquest Promax System so I can apply a white or silver reflector (to force all the light forward) with a diffuser. If I use the 580EX this way, an optical trigger on the 5600 would eliminate the cord...

The umbrella does have a removable black cover and I haven't tried shooting through it yet... Not a bad idea though because you're right, you can get a lot closer... I'll have to give that a go.

I got a bunch of new NiMh batteries finally charged... So I'll be giving the 580EX a workout on this rig now. Still contemplating getting the CP-E3 as well.

I'm making a few adjustments in the setup.

For starters, I'm ordering a 5-in-1 disc reflector and telescoping arm (which will be used on another tripod to keep costs down). This will be useful for a lot of things especially in a one or two light setup. I can use it later on with real studio strobes, so no wasted money there. The kits come with light stands, so I'll be able to move everything right over.

I'm returning the Wein SafeSync hotshoe adapter and Paramount PC->H bits to the local vendor. Way too expensive for what they are and I don't need a SafeSync. Just a plain old PC->hotshoe adapter. Until I get studio strobes, the household (H) cord is not as useful. So I ordered an optical slave (w/PC terminal) and a regular ol' 15' PC M/F extension cord. A little cheaper, a lot more useful. Outdoors or with portraits (as opposed to products/macro) I *should* be able to use the optical slave rather than a PC cord. If not, the adapter is still cheaper than the Wein SafeSync.

I decided to hold off, at least temporarily - on the silver umbrella. I'll likely pick one up though, maybe a gold one as well down the line. I want/need the softness of the white most right now.

Awesome. "The Chameleon" 5-in-1 reflector disc and telescoping holder is just what the doctor ordered. Now I can more easily apply fill/bounce, especially with limited lighting options.

The cheapie optical slave works great - a 580EX on 1/128 power triggers it.

So now I've got two flashes, one umbrella, one multidisc, and both the Lumiquest Promax System and Snoot products.

Time to play.