July 11, 2011

Cheap(er) Macro Options

House Fly - Front

Wanted to share a recent discovery I made with my fellow photogs…

If you’ve ever been interested in macro/close-up photography, then you know how expensive it can be to get a good dedicated macro lens.  They definitely work great, but are usually limited to 1:1 reproduction ratio and most people don’t shoot enough macro photos to warrant the acquisition cost.  I made this mistake myself, but fortunately  inflation worked to my favor and I was able to sell my 105mm f/2.8 VR for more than what I paid 4 years ago (lucked out!).

So for those who like to shoot on a budget (like me), there is a cheap and fun way to get into macro photography. 

June 7, 2011

Multi Flash with the JrX Receivers

Close Up of Tethering
As promised, here are some additional photos of my multi flash setup configurations.  This is a tri-flash bracket retrofitted with 3 AS-E900 hotshoes (one converted to a DIY RPcube).  The JrX receiver is connected to the DIY RPcube, which is tethered to AS-E900 #2, with the TTL signal terminating at AS-E900 #3. More images after the jump

June 4, 2011

Going Wireless... Part Deux.

DIY Interconnects and RPcube

I recently picked up a new remote triggering solution to augment my SU-800. The SU-800 and CLS system work wonderfully in my little home studio, unfortunately I have bumped into limitations due to line-of-sight issues when shooting on location. This issue can be remedied by a number of different methods, and the simplest and most cost effective would have been to simply slip a flash with commander functionality into the hotshoe. The trade off would be losing a flash that can otherwise be used off camera. Another reason for not going this route, like many other strobists, I shoot a mix between nikon speedlights and Alien Bees strobes. The optical slave on the alien bees is great for triggering, but unfortunately I'm unable to make power adjustments from the camera via my current triggering solution (SU-800 + optical slave). At least not until now!