Zombies vs Olympus E510+ZD 50mm macro + ZD 2x teleconverter

Written by Gary on May 9th, 2009

I was catching a tram in the city today when a horde (is that the right word?) of Zombies doing a Shuffle descended on the good folk of Melbourne and luckily for me, having left my Canon 1DMIII at home because it was too heavy, but had my Olympus E510 with ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro and ZD EC-20 2x teleconverter with me.

So I thought I would make the most of the photo opportunity and joined the dozens of other photographers and decided to shoot these amateur Zombies.

Here’s a taste:

Zombie with syringe

Check out the rest here:

Melbourne Zombie Shuffle May 9th 2009

Although I love the 50mm plus EC-20 combination, shooting these constantly moving targets (they were far too fast-moving for Zombies!), was a challenge for this combination’s autofocus and the extremely narrow depth of field I was shooting at meant only a few were caught at their sharpest. As I did not have time to loiter and be a bit more persistent, I decided to accept those that I got and move on.

I am sure the E-620 with its additional AF points would make C-AF mode much more useful, but I am still waiting for Olympus to update their 50mm macro lens to include SWD, contrast-detect capability compatible with Micro Four Thirds, and focus range limiters. Please Mr Olympus, get your act in gear, I love this lens so much but I need it to AF better.

 

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Panasonic announce pricing and availability of their GH-1 video Micro Four Thirds camera kit

Written by Gary on May 7th, 2009

Panasonic announce pricing and availability of their GH-1 video Micro Four Thirds camera kit – see here for details.

Availability as kit with Panasonic GH-1 plus Lumix Vario 14-140mm lens – early June 2009 at RRP of $US1499.95 or €1550 (Europe will have choice of red or Champagne gold color while US will only have black at this stage).

It seems RRP for Australia is $A3299 – see here which makes it much more expensive than its G1 camera which is $A1649 for a single kit lens (14-45mm lens) and $A2199 for twin lens kit (14-45mm plus 45-200mm lens). At that price, I don’t think too many will sell in Australia – it’s just ridiculously high even allowing for Australian dollar = $US0.70 and 10% GST (this should make it $A2360 not $A3299!) – but its a unique camera so price may not be so relevant to some.

Perhaps the Australian price may justify a trip to US to buy it there even if we catch the flu over there!

Actual retail prices for the G1 with 14-45mm lens in Australian shops is $A1399 not the RRP $A1649, and the twin lens kit is $A1889 not RRP $A2199, so I would expect the GH-1 to hit the shops at much less than RRP $A3299 but surely, it should be closer to $A2200 if they want to have any chance of selling these.

Comparison Australian pricings are Olympus E620 body $A1169, Olympus 18-180mm lens $A749, Olympus 15-54mm II lens $869, Olympus 50-200mm lens $A1499, E-30 body $A1619, E-3 body $A2099, Nikon D90 body $A1535, Nikon 18-200mm VR lens $A1085.

Panasonic have also announced optional Leica M and Leica R lens adapters for use of these lenses on the Micro Four Thirds cameras.

Panasonic have also announced new Class 10 SDHC memory cards in 4-32Gb sizes and allows 22Mb/sec transfers which will make transferring video files faster.

 

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Olympus announce their 1st revolutionary Micro Four Thirds camera will be available mid 2009

Written by Gary on May 7th, 2009

Olympus has placed a teaser on their websites indicating that their 1st revolutionary Micro Four Thirds camera will be available in the northern hemisphere Summer (mid-2009) and you can sign up to be emailed when it is announced.

Will it be like the Panasonic G1 or video-enabled like the GH-1?

I am willing to bet that unlike the Panasonic’s optical lens-based image stabiliser, it will have a built-in image stabiliser, and it is likely to have the E-620 style flip out LCD and art filters and 12mp sensor.

Will it have the Panasonic electronic viewfinder, or will it have a rangefinder-like optical viewfinder?

How revolutionary will it be given that Panasonic GH-1 is quite revolutionary already being the only still camera with interchangeable lenses which is optimised for video with autofocus – and face recognition to boot?

I just hope they bring out a wide aperture portrait lens such as a 50mm f/2 macro designed to work with contrast detect AF, as then, that is about all I would need with Panasonic’s 14-140mm and 7-14mm lens, although a sharp 16mm f/2 or f/2.8 lens optimised for street photography (giving 32mm eq. focal length and with easy to read focus distance for zone focusing) would be nice.

The rumours at 43rumors.com suggest the Olympus MFT camera will be 12mp with built-in IS, with Leica m like shape, no built-in flash and a 17mm f/2.8 lens.

 

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Victorian bushfire landscape at 12 weeks with Olympus E510 and ZD 50-200mm lens

Written by Gary on May 4th, 2009

Following on from my previous photo essay blog on the Victorian bushfires at 6 weeks after the fires in Feb 2009, I took another trip yesterday and went bushwalking amongst the burnt rainforests of mountain ash.

It was great to see the forests gradually regenerating, particularly the gullies, although in vast areas of drier forests, there was little signs of new life.

But amongst the devastation, paradoxically, there was beauty to be found.

The following image was taken with the late afternoon sun highlighting the dead orange leaves of the Australian Eucalypts, and contrasting with stark dead trees on the hills behind.

This is a very unusual scene for Australia, as although it may look like a northern hemisphere fall scene, Australian Eucalypt trees are not deciduous and don’t turn orange in the Autumn as they appear to be doing here. All these trees were affected by the bush fires.

The farm pasture has become green – indeed they had returned to green by the 6 week stage, and the farmer has rebuilt his fences.

Please click on this image to view it at larger size.

bushfie landscape

This image was taken hand held with Olympus E510 and the brilliant Olympus ZD 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD lens – I just love this lens except it is a bit big and heavy, but much less so than its Canon or Nikon counterparts.

 

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Mounting strobes to studio lighting accessories

Written by Gary on April 30th, 2009

Finally there are a couple of new products designed for the strobists who which to use their speedlights or flashes and mount them to studio lighting accessories such as beauty dishes, softboxes, etc.

The Interfit Strobies XS is designed to allow one or two strobes to mount a Interfit or Bowens ‘S mount’ lighting accessory whilst allowing a hot shoe for a radio trigger to be mounted.

Interfit Strobies XS

The Westcott Magic Slipper adapter allows one flash and one radio trigger to mount to Westcott studio lighting accessories.

Westcott Magic Slipper

The main problem with these solutions is that, to give a similar quality of light output as a studio light, you really need to place a diffuser over the strobe (such as a Stofen), and this will significantly reduce the light output. Furthermore, perhaps more importantly, the loss of modeling light capability that a studio light offers can be a serious impediment to accurate portrait lighting.

Another potential issue is whether or not they will allow the new style of TTL-capable radio triggers to be mounted such as the Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 and RadioPopper PX.

If you can afford it, a portable studio light with power pack will usually be a better option.

Lastly, if the recession is hitting you, you can resort to a DIY version using bungee cables such as here.

 

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Orbis ring flash + Westcott Apollo umbrella softbox for portraits – first the theory

Written by Gary on April 25th, 2009

Having just purchased the Orbis ring flash accessory for speedlights (flash units), its time to work out how to best use it as a fill-in flash scenario for portraits on location.

My plan is to use a Canon 580EXII speedlight inside an Westcott Apollo umbrella softbox attached to a radio trigger in manual exposure (can’t afford the new TTL capable Pocket Wizard or RadioPoppers..yet..) to act as the key or main light, and a second Canon 580EXII attached to the Orbis and a radio trigger and used around the lens to provide almost shadow-less fill light. The radio transmitter will sit in the hotshoe of either my Canon 1D MIII or my Olympus E510.

If I had an Olympus FL50 flash, this could have been used instead of the 580EXII as the Orbis will fit most modern flash units (but not older flashes such as the Metz 45 series), and any flash could go into the softbox, although preferably be attached to an umbrella clamp.

As mentioned in my earlier blog on fill flash options and the Ray flash and Orbis, The Orbis results in some 6 stops of light loss according to my calculations!

Testing exposure settings:

First, the key light, with the 580EXII set to 1/4 power and zoom set to 50mm, this will result in a metered exposure of f/4, ISO 100 with front of softbox 1.7m from the subject.

On testing the Orbis with the 580EXII set to 1/2 power and zoom set to 105mm (as recommended), the resulting metered exposure is f/2.8, ISO 100 at 1.7m – almost precisely 2 f stops different in light output, and very manageable for my portrait purposes.

  • if I used my Olympus Ring Flash in manual mode instead of the Orbis/580EXII combo, I could set it to 1/4 power for approximately the same exposure setting (f/2.8, ISO 100 at 1.6m), but although MUCH easier to hand hold, and more even light colour and illumination, its flash diameter is 110mm instead of 220mm for the Orbis, and its internal diameter through which to fit a lens is only 72mm vs the 86mm of the Orbis. A further complication of using the Olympus flash is its main unit is ideally mounted on the camera hotshoe, so to use a radio transmitter in the hotshoe, one may need to resort to creative uses such as mounting the main unit on a flash bracket attached to the camera and a flash shoe sync cord adapter (the Olympus ring flash does not have a pc sync connector) at its base to allow a radio trigger assuming the radio trigger does not have its own male and female hotshoes.

If I choose to shoot at f/4, ISO 100 then the above distances will give me 1 stop fill-in and there is room to move to adjust the fill ratio either by moving one or the other in or out from the subject, or adjusting the power settings.

If I choose to shoot at f/8 (2 f stops more light needed) for sharpness and depth of field, I can either:

  • increase ISO to 400
  • increase power by 1 stop (full power on Orbis and 1/2 power on softbox) and increase ISO to 200
  • halve the distances of the flashes – this gives 4x as much light which is 2 f stops

If I choose to shoot at f/2 for shallow depth of field (2 f stops less light needed), I can just power down the flashes by 2 stops – Orbis to 1/8th power and softbox to 1/16th – and in the process reduce battery drain and speed up recycling time.

As we are using manual flash, a flash meter becomes a very useful tool, but if you can’t afford one of these, then you can just use trial and error with your digital cameras.

The Orbis will fit over many lenses including:

  • Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS
  • Canon EF 135mm f/2.0 L
  • Canon EF 85mm f/1.8
  • Olympus ZD 7-14mm f/4 for some really creative imagery

A very BIG advantage of using manual system such as this, is that, not only are the results more repeatable, it is directly transferable to any of your cameras, even old Mamiya TLR film cameras without having to adjust any settings – by the way, the Orbis internal diameter seems big enough to allow BOTH the lenses of a Mamiya although I wonder if there may be some flare as they do not protrude through the Orbis all the way.

If you really can’t cope with manual flash exposures, then you could try the Canon infrared TTL flash and use a TTL cord to the Orbis flash and set it to MASTER group A, set the softbox flash to SLAVE group B and then adjust the light ratios and hope it works. In large rooms or outdoors, or when there is loss of line of sight between the flashes, the softbox flash may not trigger using infrared.

Alternatively, if you are well-heeled and can afford a bit of luxury in a recession or you have them for your pro work, the new and expensive TTL capable radio triggers such as PocketWizard FlexTT5 or RadioPopper PX MAY make your life easier – see my blog on these here.

Lastly, there are some BIG problems with the Orbis you should be aware of in addition to the light loss:

  • catchlights – like all small ring flashes (eg. macro ring flashes), the circular catchlight will be too small too discern as a “beauty” ring catchlight unless the ring flash is VERY close to the subject
  • there is a high probability that you will drop either the Orbis or your flash as they do not lock tight enough together and you must always be hand holding BOTH together as you struggle to take the photo with your other hand – not so great for heavy pro cameras from Canon or Nikon!
    • consider wrapping the TTL cord around the proximal part of the Orbis neck cord to limit the fall of the flash
    • consider using velcro to better secure the flash to the Orbis
    • hopefully Orbis will be marketing a mounting system soon
  • given BOTH of your hands are occupied, you really need to adjust the lens zoom BEFORE you start using the Orbis
  • the top of the image may have a bluer colour cast compared to the bottom (see below) when used at close distances to the subject
  • the Orbis does not fit most lens hoods, so if you need to reduce flare you will have to juggle the Orbis onto your lens, then add the lens hood, just another complexity to increase the likelihood you drop something
  • and a tip: I usually hate camera straps as they increase the likelihood someone will accidentally pull your camera off a table, but in this scenario, a camera strap allows you to take your hands off the camera so you can use them to adjust the Orbis onto the flash, etc.

Here is an image of the Orbis firing (via a reflection from my double-glazed windows hence the double image) which seems to show not only a light output difference but a colour difference from the top and bottom sections:

Orbis in action

In practice this does not seem to make much difference to your image – here is a shot of a white door (under-exposed intentionally) taken with the Orbis attached to an Olympus E510 with ZD 7-14mm lens set at 7mm focal length (14mm in 35mm terms) and taken from just 10″ from the door – no PS corrections. (NB. the 7-14mm lens is very well corrected for distortion but at such close distances the corrections are not as good and there is some barrel distortion).

Bear in mind, this is extreme wide angle, and few flashes would be expected to provide coverage across the full frame – nevertheless, I suspect there is a subtle difference in colour from top to bottom. The highlights above the door handle are reflections of flourescent spot lights which should not have an effect on the remainder of the image.

Orbis on door

and to show how beautiful the images can be from a ring flash, here is the Orbis attached to a Canon EF 135mm L lens at f/2.0 at about 1.2m, again no PS – my TV remote never looked so good:

Orbis on135mm lens

Examples of photos taken using the Orbis on Flickr.com

 

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Images of the wildfire in South Carolina

Written by Gary on April 25th, 2009

Following on from Victoria’s devasting bushfires in Feb 2009, the worst wild fires in 30 years have hit South Carolina – images of it can be seen here.

Hopefully they will not have the loss of human life that we had here in Australia this year, but still there will be the heartache of losses of irreplaceable possessions and property as well as the loss to wild life.

 

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Ring flash and TTL remote key flash – what options for portraits?

Written by Gary on April 21st, 2009

Most portraits are lit by at least 2 light sources:

  • a main or key light which is usually off-axis to the camera – for example 45 deg from the subject’s nose and above eye level, or directly in front of the subject’s nose and above eye level.
  • and a fill-in light which ideally should not cast distracting shadows, and thus should either be a very broad light from behind the camera (eg. bounced flash off a wall), or on-axis flash such as a ring flash. Furthermore, we need to use ratio control so that the fill-in effect can be automatically adjusted to our liking.

For the purposes of this thought exercise, let’s say we would like to create some type of ring flash effect and have a remote TTL flash/speedlight/strobe as the main key light.

You could buy a camera manufacturer’s macro ring flash, but in general, they are expensive and have a small internal diameter restricting size of lenses which can be used. The Olympus ring flash does not allow remote TTL flash for a second flash and has limited lens compatibilities (an upgrade must be coming soon). The Canon ring flash does allow remote TTL flash but is not a complete ring and has adapters for 52mm, 58mm and 72mm filter threads. Nikon do not make a ring flash. If you already have a couple of speedlights, then a ring flash adapter for one of these may be an affordable option.

What if you do not wish to buy a true Ring flash but use a Ring Flash attachment to your flash?

The first ring flash attachment was the Ray Flash which clips onto your speedlight with your speedlight sitting in the camera hotshoe but unfortunately, this design precludes use of ratio TTL because the Ring Flash accessory obstructs the main flash infrared wireless TTL control system, and currently, there appears to be no version which would allow the accessory to fit a speedlight mounted on a FlexTT5 or MiniTT1 unit which is in the camera hotshoe – of course you could try hand holding it using an off-camera TTL cord but this Ring Flash accessory was not designed for ease of handholding. Furthermore, this design requires a different version for each camera-flash combination – see here.

The Orbis, a newer ring flash accessory looks to be more versatile as it should fit most camera-flash combinations (except older flashes such as Metz 45 series) and you can use ratio control TTL either by:

  • infrared TTL from the flash – as long as you don’t cover it up with your hand, or
  • RadioPopper PX attached to the flashes with off-camera TTL cord, or,
  • off-camera TTL cord from a FlexTT5 or MiniTT1 sitting in the camera hotshoe

The main downside with the Orbis is the need to hand hold it (at least until they release their camera mounting kit later this year), but the great thing is that it will work with most brands including Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Pentax, Panasonic Micro Four Thirds, etc, and the internal diameter of the ring is 85mm (actual ~86-87mm) which means my version fits on my Olympus ZD 7-14mm super wide angle to get some unique creative shots.

So for combination of price and versatility, my vote currently goes to the Orbis and perhaps the Pocket Wizards as the remote TTL device – although if you can get adequate line of sight, infrared remote TTL may be adequate for your needs.

I shall be putting my order in – may be I will need to work out a way of not accidentally dropping either the Orbis or the flash as there is a significant risk if trying to juggle those two plus your camera and adjust settings and take the photo.

post-script:

bought the Orbis, but no wonder they seemed coy about the degree of light reduction – it seems you lose 5-6 stops!!

Testing it with a Canon 580EXII on full manual and on maximum zoom 105mm as recommended by Orbis, gives a flash meter reading at 2m and ISO 100 of f/2.5. Without the Orbis using same settings on the flash, gave me ~f/19. No wonder they recommend using ISO 400!

I will do more testing.

 

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Radio triggers without the hastles and expense of TTL flash

Written by Gary on April 17th, 2009

From my last post on Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 and RadioPopper PX radio triggers which both have remote TTL and HSS flash capability for remote flash trigger with certain Canon or Nikon dSLRs and flashes, you may come to the conclusion that perhaps the complexity and expense and perhaps reliability issues is just not worth it for you, or perhaps you would also like to use it on your other cameras and your film cameras, and anyway, you would prefer to have full manual control over your flashes, so what options does that leave us with?

Most amateurs would probably opt for the cheap Chinese models on Ebay made by YongNuo. Pre-2008, these models tended to have a poor reputation for inconsistent shooting and poor range, but reports of the newer models seem much more positive and range is said to be 30-50m outdoors.

The newer models include:

  • RF-602TX – 2.4GHz, 16 channel, Canon, Nikon or studio flash trigger, wireless shutter trigger. Apparently RF interference with digital sensors is not an issue with this model.
  • PT-04 CN low profile model which has 4 channels and will sync to 1/320th sec if the camera-flash combination allows it, and you can purchase an optional PL-04C receiver which has a 6.5mm plug to connect to studio flashes.
  • PT-04 TM CTR-01 which is a low profile version of the PT-04 TM but not compatible with it. It is 4 channel and has an added optical trigger mode
  • PT-04 TM which has 4 channels but no optical trigger mode
  • Cactus V4 which has 16 channels and an external antenna but you can’t mount a flash on the transmitter, and receiver can be connected to high voltage flashes such as old Metz 45CT-1’s, although some flashes such as SB-600 have trouble mounting on its hotshoe due to the pins of the flash – see here. Some have suggested that RF interference may introduce image artifacts in some digital cameras with certain transmitters including Cactus V4.

Another option is the South Korean My Slave 100 triggers:

  • 10 channels, sync 1/180th sec, 433MHz, distance up to 50m
  • receivers look similar to older Pocket Wizards

More models sold on B&H Photo include:

    • Dot Line Corporation’s RS-RT03K:
      • 4-Channel Flash Trigger Kit w/ Hot Shoe & Umbrella Mount, receiver has a PC outlet and a mono synch jack for studio flash units along with an adapter for 3.5mm synch flash units.
      • The wireless signal from the transmitter is encoded to help protect the unit from radio frequency interference, ensuring that your flash unit fires only when you want them to. Range 85 feet.

RS-RT03K

    • Seculine TwinLink T2D:
      • 16 channel radio transmitter and receiver which use a combination of both 2.4GHz radio and IR technology to allow a range of up to 150′ (45.72 m) indoors and 600′ (182.88 m) outdoors
      • receiver has a built in flash hot shoe so that it can be used to attach and trigger your standard camera flashgun, allowing a way to creative lighting, especially with its facility to be mounted directly onto a tripod head. It also can be attached magnetically to the housing of a studio flash head and has 3.5mm jack and a 6.5mm connector suitable for most studio flashes.
      • transmitter is also equipped with an intuitive LCD display which shows operation modes and system status information and can use PC sync

T2D

    • Impact PowerSync10:
      • A 10-channel selector on its underside keys into the corresponding dial on the receiver to trigger the connected flash or camera without interference from other devices. Range to 200 feet at max. sync 1/180th sec.
      • receiver has hotshoe, tripod mount, 3.5mm mini as well as a PC jack.

Pwersync10

Elinchrom provide another option – their Elinchrom EL Skyport trigger set:

  • 8 channels and 4 work groups, distance up to 50m in studio and 120m outdoors

The above units are just flash trigger ONLY, but are extremely simple to use and cheap – just ensure the channel switches are the same, place the transmitter into your camera’s hotshoe, and attach a receiver to your flash (either hotshoe or PC sync connection). Of course, adjusting the manual outputs on the flash units is up to you to do – so you might need a flash meter, or do a bit of trial and error exposure adjustment.

Radiopopper has announced their new JRX radio triggers which add more range and the ability to adjust the manual output of up to 3 groups of compatible flashes such as Alien Bees, White Lightning and Canon or Nikon flashes, and they have compatibility with the PX system so that you could potentially fire studio flashes in HSS mode when used with a PX transmitter.

The Pocket Wizard fans will still love the range and reliability of their 4 channel Plus II transceivers which are still compatible with the FlexTT5 but just not in TTL, hyper-sync or HSS modes.

In addition, the top of the range Pocket wizard manual triggers is the 32 channel, 4 zone, Multimax which has some extra-ordinary capabilities mentioned in the last blog.

Lastly, you CAN use a PocketWizard FlexTT5 or MiniTT1 in basic manual mode as above with almost any camera and flash combinations – but you will need to set this mode using a laptop – this is the only option which allows placing a flash on the transmitter.

For instance you could place a FlexTT5 on an Olympus dSLR and place the Olympus macro flash controller on it, use the Olympus Ring Flash in manual mode as a fill in, while the PocketWizard triggers a Metz flash in a Westcott Apollo softbox to give a nice portable portrait lighting solution.

Whatever you buy, make sure it is the correct frequency for your country (eg. 433MHz for Europe and Australia; 340.00 to 354.00 MHz FCC/US and 315.50 – 317.00 MHz for Japan).

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

The brilliant CyberSync system as previously discussed in a much earlier blog.

This system which operates on the 2.4GHz radio band is primarily designed for controlling Alien Bees, White Lightning, Zeus, Einstein studio lights and mixing with any strobe/speedlight.

It is quite unique in that it has a built-in flash meter and can display a number of features on the CyberCommander transmitter including the f-aperture exposure of each studio light or strobe, and can even do so using modeling lamps to provide perhaps the best studio control set up there is (if your studio lights are compatible), and allows your camera’s high speed sync.

And now at last, Alien Bees will be manufactured for global distribution with voltages not only the US standard, and thus this system may become a very versatile one even for us here in Australia. In particular, the new Alien Bees Max monolights allow use of low cost AC-inverters – see here.

 

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Pocket wizard FlexTT5’s – will they suit your needs?

Written by Gary on April 16th, 2009

This is not a review or preview of the product (they are not available in Australia until May 2009), but rather my analysis of information provided by the manufacturer from their website and from their manual (always read manuals BEFORE you buy expensive products as they often hide some nasty gotchas or limitations).

I have written a blog on these potentially wonderful new radio trigger devices for Canon and Nikon here, but now its time to see if they would actually suit my needs and are worth the cost ($US219 each or around $A450 each in Australia).

Historically, the MAIN reason pros bought non-TTL Pocket Wizard Plus II units were their reliability, particularly when compared to pre-2008 cheap Chinese radio trigger devices, and their extended range compared to the limited line-of-sight range of infrared triggering as in the speedlights themselves.

Now, the main reason to consider buying the new FlexTT5 version is extending the range of remote TTL auto flash with HSS focal plane mode capability plus their new hypersync flash capability which may allow full flash output sync at 1/500th sec shutter speeds to give greater capability in sunlight.

But, as we shall see, there is a price to pay for this – not only monetary – but complexity, incompatibility (eg. not compatible with Canon 5DMII at present), loss of some functions (eg. flash exposure bracketing, stroboscopic flash, model lights, rear curtain sync), decreased range and reliability (due to RF noise from certain speedlights interfering with them) and potentially the need to bring along your laptop to make it all work.

What do we need to make this work?

To make all this worthwhile, for most purposes such as weddings, model photography, etc, you will be needing:

  • two or more Canon speedlights (eg. 580EXII or 430EXII)
  • a FlexTT5 unit for each speedlight,
  • a master transmitter to sit on your camera (either a FlexTT5, or the smaller transmitter-only, but similarly priced MiniTT1)
  • to get ratio control, you also need to have a Canon ST-E2 transmitter sitting on the master transmitter (but ONLY 2 zones for ratio control), or preferably, a Canon 580EX II sitting on the master transmitter (allows 3 zones for ratio control as well as allowing manual power control of remote units).
  • a laptop to program it or change certain functions
  • if you wish to have a FlexTT5 trigger the camera shutter, then also the optional PocketWizard Canon N3 control accessory cable

Ratio control TTL with Canon speedlights:
This is the MAIN reason for buying this equipment for most people so let’s have a look at how it all works:

Basic out-of-the-box shooting:

  • ensure you have fresh AA batteries in each FlexTT5 unit – they last about 60hrs
  • Connect FlexTT5 or MiniTT1 (the “transmitter””) to camera (with camera and all other FlexTT5’s and flashes turned OFF) and attach the ST-E2 or 580EXII (ensure its mode has been set to MASTER BEFORE attaching it) to the transmitter’s hot shoe
  • Turn on the transmitter (select C1 or c2 which are your 2 channel options), then turn on the camera, then turn on the attached flash
  • Get your Canon speedlight instruction manual out (unless you shoot everyday, you WILL need instructions with you to adjust settings on the canon flashes), and work out how to set the speedlight to control slave groups – allocated to zone B and C
  • Set the remote FlexTT5 units to a zone (A,B,C) to match the Canon slave group, then attach the Canon speedlight to the remote FlexTT5 units and turn on (they must NOT be in Master or Slave mode as for usual Canon infrared wireless use but normal ETTL mode) – ensure you have taken steps to minimise RF noise interference from the speedlights if there are known issues – eg. surround a 580EX II with RF noise filtering material and earth it to the hotshoe)
  • adjust light ratios using the master Canon 580EXII or the ST-E2 on the transmitter
  • take a test shot or two to ensure the system is calibrated
  • if you wish to use HSS or hypersync flash when you choose a fast shutter speed, ensure the master flash is set to HSS mode
  • NB. setting the flash exposure compensation on the flash will be ignored – use the camera to do this
  • now you are ready to go

Now some gotchas:

  • the system will ONLY work with certain flashes and cameras (EXCLUDES Canon5DMII at present), and only for the one brand (at this stage only Canon or Nikon will be offered), and the units need to be the same frequency (a US unit will not trigger a EU European/Australian unit)
  • RF noise interference is a major problem with certain speedlights including the 580EXII which reduces range and may cause failure of trigger or inconsistent results when RF is borderline such as people walking between transmitter and receiver, usage near the ground, etc, although steps can be taken to improve this – eg. RF noise filtering material wrapped around the speedlight and earthed to the hotshoe
  • you need a laptop to configure the channels and various other settings
    • imagine turning up and someone else is also using a PocketWizard which happens to be the same channel you are using – you may be lucky and will have pre-programmed C2 to a different channel, but if both are being used by other photographers, you will need to resort to your laptop to program in a new channel, then have the transmitter “teach” the remotes
    • if you decide to use your Pocket Wizard on your non-Canon camera (in manual mode only of course as TTL and hypersync are not possible), you will need the laptop to program this and then program it again when you want to go back to TTL mode on your Canon
    • if you want to use the FlexTT5 to trigger your camera shutter but not fire any flashes, you need the laptop to set BottomShoe = disabled
    • if you want to tune hypersync to work accurately with your camera and flash, you will need the laptop to adjust the hypersync setting – and do it again each time you change to a different camera
  • as mentioned earlier, there are a number of Canon flash functions NOT available at present:
    • flash exposure bracketing
    • modeling light
    • stroboscopic flash
    • rear curtain sync
    • flash exposure compensation on the speedlight – must use camera setting
    • some camera menu settings for flash do not function
  • you cannot trigger camera motor drive and trigger flash at same time, but you can trigger single shots and flash at same time
  • if you wish to use manual flash instead of ETTL, you need to set both the master flash and the remote speedlights to MANUAL not ETTL mode
  • if you decide to not use the PocketWizard and resort to normal Canon infrared wireless mode, you will need to configure each remote speedlight to SLAVE mode and set the appropriate slave group (A,B,C)
  • use of non-Canon flashes requires one FlexTT5 or PlusII per flash – cannot sync multiple flashes as risk of voltage damage – although can trigger other manual flashes via optical triggers, but then these will be fired in TTL pre-flash when used in conjunction with Canon TTL flash modes
  • there is a risk that if the camera manufacturer substantially changes their flash system in new models of cameras or flashes, then the FlexTT5 and MiniTT1 will become useless for new models if firmware upgrades are not able to manage the changes
  • to resolve the RF noise interference issues, it may require new version of the units with RF noise filtering circuitry – a firmware solution is unlikely to help
  • if you want to use a Ring Flash for shadow-less fill-in flash in TTL modewith a remote key light, then you need to resort to either:
    • MiniTT1 or FlexTT5 with either ST-E2 or speedlight on camera to control ratio flash + FlexTT5 attached to Canon Ring Flash on a separate flash holder attached
    • MiniTT1 or FlexTT5 with speedlight and Orbis ring flash attachment or similar
  • it does not have some functions that are available with a Pocket Wizard Multimax radio trigger such as:
    • intervalometer
    • RF noise meter
    • 4th zone instead of just A,B,C
    • ability to disable a zone from the transmitter
    • rear curtain sync
    • multi-pop shooting – allows your flash to be fired up to 10,000 times on the same exposure while waiting for a user programmed recycle time, from 1/100th to 10 minutes, between pops
    • SpeedCycler – Perform sequential triggering for up to 4 cameras or 4 electronic flash units.
    • Lag Time Equalizer Software – Measures reaction time between camera trigger signal to shutter firing. This lag time is used to synchronize single or multiple cameras and strobes to fire in unison, with measurable accuracy to 1/10,000th of a second.
    • no need for laptop to change settings on the Multimax

What I am trying to work out now, is if this system can be mounted on a Westcott Magic Slipper Adapter and thus allow mounting of Canon speedlights to studio soft boxes and beauty dishes in a more stable manner.

Would you be better off buying the new PX series of Radio Poppers?

  • you would miss out on some nice features such as hypersync, ability to trigger the camera shutter remotely, ability to not have a flash or ST-E2 on the camera which may free up a flash (but no ratio control), ability to use on any camera or flash in manual mode and the features of the Multimax
  • but you will retain all Canon or Nikon functionality and potentially have better reliability and range as the RadioPoppers do not appear to have the same RF issues
  • and you could use the same RadioPopper units for both Canon and Nikon and with less incompatibility issues
  • you can manually dial in power output of up to 3 groups of certain studio flashes such as Alien Bees – although FlexTT5 can control new Bowens Gemini R units with optional PW module
  • and you don’t need a laptop to program the channels
  • there is no obvious reason why the RadioPopper PX’s could not get a firmware update that would allow other camera brand functionality such as Olympus
  • BUT the RadioPopper PX has some of its own issues:
    • RadioPopper PX is only compatible with Canon ST-E2, 550EX, 580EX, 580EXII, 420EX, 430EX, Nikon SB-900, SB-800, SB-600 and SU-800 (and maybe similar flashes) and has a battery life of 25hrs not 60hrs as for FlexTT5
    • the units need to be mounted to the flash units in a way that their optical sensor detects the flash IR signal
    • PX receiver must be mounted so that the IR sensor on the slave flash must not be able to “see” the IR signals of the master flash
 

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