Hi Bruce - In general we don't work too differently. Yes, I'm controlling two lights. With Pentax I only had a single control. I tried using the contrast control mode with a second flash. It worked, but never i really got it to work well enough. But still, It was usable if you have a lot of patience. I think the Pentax flash system is a good way to get started, but it's more limited than the Nikon.
Since then I switched over to the Nikon world for this type of photography. Nikon does a better job of letting you control multiple flashes. With the just the body you can control two independent groups of lights in the range from -3 to +1. Then, once you are happy with the lighting ratio, you can increase or decrease all of the groups at the same time with flash exposure compensation. Added to that, the regular exposure compensation will change all of the lighting groups together, including ambient. There are enough controls so you can get yourself thoroughly confused if you're not careful. If you want to control 3 groups at the same time you have to add the SU-800 controller for about $250 or so. I haven't had the need to do that. I'm only using two flashes. If I need a third light for a hair light or background light I have a couple of really cheap LCD panels that have worked OK so far. Every so often I wish for a remote control on the hair light, but not often enough to spend money on it. That's a great idea about adding modelling lights with cheap LCD panels and multiple hot shoes. You can find the panels really cheap if you don't care about how well the color is controlled. I've learned that lighting adds an entirely new dimension to spending money on photography. There are more lighting accessories and modifiers than you can shake a stick at. I've been attempting to keep my kit as simple as possible. As I get older I want to carry as little as possible to a shooting location. gs George Sinos -------------------- www.GeorgesPhotos.net www.GeorgeSinos.com On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 11:45 AM, Bruce Walker <bruce.wal...@gmail.com> wrote: > I agree, George, and I used the built-in wireless features for a > couple of years, but I found serious shortcomings and eventually gave > it up. > > You seem to be suggesting that you are able to control two flashes in > P-TTL from the popup. True? I could _never_ get that to work at all. > Either one remote flash would fire or neither. > > Re light adjustment: you're talking about bumping the remote's output > by +1 through -2 stops from the camera's menu, right? But this would > adjust both remote flashes by the same amount. That's almost never > useful for me; individual control is generally what's needed. > > I really hear you about the climbing up to or lowering flashes to > adjust them. It's even worse if they're inside an umbrella-style > softbox: lower stand, rip velcro, reach in and adjust flash, reattach > velcro, raise stand. Ugh. > > But my answer is to start with a basic pose, create the lighting > arrangement, establish the base levels at that point using the flash > meter, then start shooting. I avoid the temptation to make minor light > tweaks until I decide to radically change the pose, say from 3/4 to > silhouette. Any minor light differences from subject movement can be > fixed by dodge/burn in post. Adjusting the lights while shooting is > similar to excessive chimping -- a sure buzzkill. > > A great answer to no modelling light is to use an LED video light. You > can walk around with it handheld until you find the right spot, then > move your flash into that position. Or even mount the LEDs into the > light modifier along with the flash using a double shoe. > > If you are deep into studying subtle lighting variations, you might > want to consider high power CFLs (45 watts and up). With a cheap AC > umbrella adapter they can be used with umbrellas and umbrella-style > softboxes, like the Westcott Apollo. True WYSIWYG and don't get too > hot. > > > On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 10:38 AM, George Sinos <gsi...@gmail.com> wrote: >> I've been working with a two flashes trying to improve my portrait >> skills for a while. I have to say the ability to adjust the flashes >> from the camera position, either in TTL or Manual, is much more than >> a convenience for me. >> >> Since the flash units don't have modeling lights I really like the >> ability to make small changes in the light output to accommodate a >> small pose change. Also, the flash may be high up on a stand with the >> control panel out of reach or out of sight. An adjustment would >> either require climbing a ladder or lowering the light stand then >> trying to return it to the same position. All the while the subject >> is sitting there getting out of the mood. >> >> Using the built-in flash in the 'command only" mode was a brilliant >> design move. That allows amateurs on a budget to slowly move into >> remote flash control without buying extra equipment. I think that >> feature is under appreciated by many. >> >> Nikon works slightly better than Pentax for this, but both work well. >> Canon is just now figuring out that remote flash is valuable and has >> started to put those features into some of their equipment. >> >> Everyone doesn't work the same way, and I wouldn't suggest that they >> should. But for me this method work pretty well. >> >> gs >> >> >> >> >> >> >> George Sinos >> -------------------- >> www.GeorgesPhotos.net >> www.GeorgeSinos.com >> >> >> On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 10:57 PM, Larry Colen <l...@red4est.com> wrote: >>> On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 01:07:23PM +1000, Rob Studdert wrote: >>>> I just got myself a Metz 58 AF-2, it seems up to the task and is very >>>> much more affordable here than the Pentax 540. >>> >>> I'm happy, though not ecstatic with my Metz. A few things are more >>> awkward than they should be, like adjusting power in manual mode. >>> >>> I'm seriously looking at one of those midwest photo lumopros as a >>> manual backup to the Metz. If I'm using multiple strobes I'm not >>> going to be shooting in TTL mode anyways. >>> >>> -- >>> Larry Colen l...@red4est.com http://red4est.com/lrc >>> >>> >>> -- >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> PDML@pdml.net >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>> follow the directions. >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> PDML@pdml.net >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. > > > > -- > -bmw > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
