Recent content by David Bell

Hi all, I am pleased to announce a Winter Wedding Workshop being run by myself and Iain Gomes: Date: 8th December 2013 + tentatively 26th Jan 2014 Venue: Eltham Lodge (Royal Blackheath GC, Court Road Eltham, London, SE9 5AF) Time: 9am start and finish at 5pm Cost: £275 including a light lunch...

Your 430ex will struggle. They are around 2/3 to 1 stop weaker than the 580EX flashguns. With the right technique you can get by, just about, with one flashgun in bright sunshine but of course what can be achieved is nothing like using a much bigger light like those offered by Elinchrom, Jinbei...

Kris I wouldn't compare any RF triggers to an ST-E2, which is like comparing a Porsche to a donkey cart, ha ha.

Line of sight in a field, I could only get around 25 meters versus 130 or so with the Odins. The frequency they operate at isn't a good choice, especially since it is so close to the noise emitted by the Canon flashguns (more so a problem with the USA frequencies). They have all sorts of advice...

Any triggers operating at 433MHz are generally up against it because of the much larger antenna size needed to perform well, versus the other systems operating at 2.4GHz (most of them). The PW Mini/Flex triggers have very poor range and I switched to the Odins because of that and also the lack...

Radio transmission don't radiate 360 degrees unless the antenna is truly omnidirectional. There is very likely to be some directivity to the radiation pattern, but it should be fairly omnidirectional. The location of the flash is significant as range can be drastically reduced if placed behind...

Kris, What sort of range do you achieve with the YN622 triggers? Line of sight, and also if you have the trigger behind the subjects or other objects, roughly...?

The 622 triggers seem very popular & cheap and allow full control of the flashgun from the camera. Just check that your flashguns are supported - I am sure they are.

I would agree with the rules in the OP, particularly for shots closer to the subject. Shooting a close-up full length portrait with a 35mm lens with the camera at head height will result in a very distorted picture (short stumpy legs). That's an extreme example. Shooting at waist height with a...