I am currently running a little competition between three lenses:
Canon 18-200
Sigma 18-200
Tamron 18-270
They are all really great lenses, through I have determined a few differences which I will be outlining in my review. Here is a sample shot from last night, I was diggin the shadows on the wall and wanted to include them, yet still get a nice flash flare:
Canon 7D , Settings were 1/30, f4.0 ISO 640, Sigma 18-200 , Michael Andrew Paintballer Pro Presets , which takes almost no time at all to get this signature look.
In terms of lighting, it was just 2 Canon Speedlites , set on Manual (both at 1/32 I believe) and triggered with an- ST-E2 Transmitter:
The real trick on this is using a Fill Card to convert the close Speedlite into a Large light source to get a nice, soft light on our model. The mistake would be to aim this Speedlite directly at the model, which would produce long, harsh shadows around the nose and eyes. I talk about the benefits of a large light source, and how to bounce on the Canon Speedlite Crash Course DVD–
Here is the set up shot:
if you are holding the camera what is holding the fill card
Oh ya…Camera in right hand, fill card in left. 🙂
Great shot! I love the paintballer action set.
Nice work, love the flare on the rear flash. Is that a water fountain in the back were you placed the flash?, hehe…
Hmmm, Since you were using the 7d I thought you could trigger the flashes to go off without using an external transmitter. Is this true? Just curious why you used the st-e2 transmitter if the camera can do the job. That is one reason I wanted to get the 7d because I thought it could trigger flashes not mounted on the camera wirelessly/remotely. Thx!
Yes, the 7D will trigger the Speedlites- The reason I sometimes prefer to use the ST-E2 is because the little flash on the 7D still fires when using it, even as a transmitter only. I cannot stand the look of a small light source coming directly above the lens. Best wishes!
Thanks Michael, I had no idea that you actually had to use the built in flash as well when triggering a remote flash. That is good info, it was one of the reasons I wanted to upgrade from the 40d but now that reason is negated. It sounds like I might want the st-e2 regardless of the camera…
Hey, Just found this link which makes it appear that you can fire the external flashes WITHOUT firing the on camera flash. These are apparently from Canon. If I know something about a camera that Michael doesn’t I am writing this day down… LOL
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E7D/ZWFC.JPG
Thanks Tom- I am familiar with the information that Canon has provided, unfortunately the truth of the matter is…the flash still fires. A simple way to test this is to set the settings as they recommend, and take a picture in a mirror. While they claim it is only the pre-flash that fires, it also fires during the exposure as well. While you can turn it down a little (exposure compensation) you cannot turn it off completely. Its been a while since I’ve tested this, but it was something I looked into when it first came out and was a little disappointed with. Here is the original post: http://www.michaelthemaven.com/index.cfm?postID=1150&admin=EC55BE7C-0E6F-49A5-A68571B51DD0DA56
Yes that is a total bummer. I read another similar site today that said you could use it in infared mode only but it didn’t say how. I am calling canon support about this. I hope you are wrong although I doubt it but if by chance canon gives me good news I’ll post it here. Until then I’ll be bumming that it doesn’t work as advertised.
I agree, its a little misleading and I really do wish I was wrong on this one. I think functionally though, it is possible to negate most of it, especially if you subject is far away, but I typically just like to remove it from consideration altogether and slap that ST-E2 on there.