Better Beamer problems

Is there a trick to using the Better Beamer? I have been using it to photo ducks and geese (In flight and in water) Problem I'm having is bad red eye or the eyes look like bright white lights. Would the problem be solved if I got flash off camera and onto bracket?? I am using it with my 100 -400 on 40d and 580 flash. Anyone know what I should do?? Also during the day with BIF should I use high speed sync and a faster shutter speed than the 250 that the camera defaults to?? Thanks for any help - Paulie

I have my flash and beamer off camera on a flash bracket extender. I was having the same problem until I raised it up 6 to 8". I have the Xsi and as for the sync, I can not get a shutter speed of higher than 1/320 or the flash will not cover the whole frame, any thing less its ok. Dont know about the 40D though.

Stargazer - What bracket do you use? Are the results much better? Thanks

Well I looked at all the high dollar mounts (Wimberly, Jobu, RRS) and such, but I didnt want to spend a fortune to get a set up like that so I ended up making one. I used one of these http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …93_Heavy_Duty_G​imbal.html and I had one of these http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …0_700_Pro_RL_Br​acket.html and made one. Ill take a pic of it tonight and post it here tomorrow. As for the results, it works great. No problem with red eye at all. Set the flash per the instructions on the Better Beamer (50mm max) and raise it to what ever level I want and go for it.

paulie8pointer wrote in post #6232861
Is there a trick to using the Better Beamer? I have been using it to photo ducks and geese (In flight and in water) Problem I'm having is bad red eye or the eyes look like bright white lights. Would the problem be solved if I got flash off camera and onto bracket?? I am using it with my 100 -400 on 40d and 580 flash. Anyone know what I should do?? Also during the day with BIF should I use high speed sync and a faster shutter speed than the 250 that the camera defaults to?? Thanks for any help - Paulie

Since I shoot birds with the camera in Av mode, I always have my flash set to HSS mode so that I won't have to worry about the shutter speed being too slow for the aperture I've selected when using the flash. You do loose about two stops of light in HSS mode (compared to non-HSS mode) but the flash is only being used for fill so that's not really a big deal. Having some light for shadow fill is always better than none.

Thanks guys for the help and Stargazer I'd like to see your setup -

Here ya go. I figured I built this for 250.00 since I had the Stroboframe already. Here are the pieces, the frame came from B&H.

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Neat mod!

This is the first time I've actually seen someone using the 3421 with the camera/lens hanging from the top. How stable is it when used that way, especially with a flash bracket attached to it? Just curious.

Once you get it balanced, works pretty good. I can take my hands off of it and it will stay put, although I have only used it a couple of times so far. Now with a lens that extends as it zooms its a bit tricker but still doable