Lencarta Smartflash 2 and Yongnuo 622c TX trigger

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Speedyflash

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Jules
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Hi Everyone

I'm new to the forum and wonder if someone can help.

I have a Canon 5D MKII and a small selection of Canon speedlites as well as a Yongnuo 580EXII, along with some Yongnuo 622c triggers and the 622c TX.
These work fine for me as an enthusiastic amateur playing around taking portraits of friends and family.

The thing is, someone I know who makes wooden furniture has asked me to take some photos of some of the furniture to go onto his new website. Having had a few goes at home I think that the speedlites will be ok but also feel that this might be the time to buy my first studio lights.
He is going to pay me something for my time but I won't be making very much so am looking at something on a tight budget. Hence the Lencarta Smartflash 2 which seem to be favoured on this forum.

So I am thinking of mixing some of my speedlites and maybe 1 or 2 Smartflash lights and here is my question: Can I trigger the Smartflash with the Yongnuo 622c TX?
I accept that I will need to plug a sync cable between the Smartflash and the trigger, and that I probably won't have the ability to dial in the power etc that I can with my speedlites, but will it trigger the Smartflash?

If this works out then I may well buy another Smartflash later and gradually just use these instead of mixing them with the speedlites.

Any thoughts and opinions would be very welcome.
Thanks in advance.

Jules
 
Yes, that will work. Obviously TTL won't work with either this type of shoot or with the SmartFlash, and you won't be using high shutter speeds for this.
If you're going to be photographing wooden cabinet furniture then you'll have reflections to deal with and will need the largest possible softbox, plus a boom arm, to do the job well, it isn't difficult to do but does require more than one flash head.
Which means that you'll be better off financially buying a kit, and with the kit you'll get the Wavesync Commander system, which will both trigger and remotely control the SmartFlash heads.
So, if you go that route, the best way forward will be to fit your 622C receivers to your hotshoe flashguns, fit your 622TX to your camera hotshoe and fit the Wavesync transmitter to the pass through hotshoe of the 622C. You will then have triggering of your hotshoe flashguns, and both triggering and remote control of your SmartFlash heads.
 
The simple answer is...
Yes.
They'll even fire as optical slaves so long as you are just using Manual flash settings, so no need to even bother with a receiver / sync cable.

Complicated answer:
Your speedlights produce enough power for this job, and there's no 'magic output' from a studio light. Studio lights do have 2 distinct and one sorta advantage over speedlights.
1. Recycle time is so much shorter, though as your subject is static that's not much of an advantage.
2. Modelling lights make light placement so much easier.
C. They fit standard light modifiers so much better (though a decent S fit adaptor works a treat for most things)
 
Well, hotshoe flashguns may or may not have enough power for this job, but because they have fixed reflectors they won't work properly in the very large softboxes needed to control the specular reflections created by shiny furniture - unless of course the furniture isn't shiny, in which case large softboxes may not be needed.
 
Thanks very much for your fast responses.
Thats great news that it will work albeit in a limited way.

I do take your point about reflections. Some of the furniture does have a shiny surface and I have considered bouncing a flash off the ceiling which luckily is white.
I also have a large white cloth backdrop which I will light and give a high key look. Most of the furniture is manageable in size, ie chairs, coffee tables, speaker cabinets etc, but he also makes large dining room tables which will really be a challenge and this may well be the reason for purchasing a larger setup..

The thing is, this is really a hobby and not a business, more of a paid favour, so spending any money on large octa's, booms etc will have to be carefully thought about. I think that I will have to make the best of what I have for the first shoot and if this goes well and I am asked to do more I will definately use it as the excuse to start to buy some new kit. Garry, I may well give you a ring at some point to chat about a suitable setup.
 
Yes, please feel free to give me a ring - I've done a lot of furniture photography :)

Bouncing light off of a white ceiling will work up to a point, it will be a massive help with the reflections in the top, although it won't give you any real control of those reflections and it won't solve the problem of reflections on anything other than the top.
This tutorial may be helpful - different subject but identical principles.

BTW, a good solid boom arm (not an attachment) only costs £100
 
Great tutorial Garry, and that boom costs much less than I thought it would. The first shoot is on Wednesday and is really a test to see how things look. At this stage the guy is happy for the pictures not to look like quick snaps taken on a phone in the back garden, but for them to look reasonably good. Of course I want them to look great so hopefully I can come up with something that we can both be pleased with.
 
Have you seen Garry's post about the event next week. It'll be worth its weight in gold to you.
 
Aah just found it. I live in Hampshire so it's a bit far but if there are still spaces I may well travel up. It looks like it would be well worth it though.

Thanks for pointing it out.
 
I've just realised it was last year!!! Oh well I'll watch the video,

Garry will you be having another day like this again?
 
To be honest, even with an overnight stay on the way its a bargain.
 
I flew from Heathrow to Leeds Bradford & Phil kindly picked me up from the airport last year. Worked out the same price as driving!
 
Diving Pete said:
I flew from Heathrow to Leeds Bradford & Phil kindly picked me up from the airport last year. Worked out the same price as driving!
Click to expand...
Except there'll be no free taxi service for Julian as I have a wedding :)
 
Phil V said:
To be honest, even with an overnight stay on the way its a bargain.
Click to expand...
The only downside is that you'll have to put up with me all day...
 
Garry you mentioned about using the largest softbox on a boom arm. I take it that you were refering to the 150cm Profold Octa. Would this be ok with the Smartflash at 200W/s or would you use an ElitePro at 300W/s?
 
My slight concern is DOF. I don't think that most of the items will be a problem, ie a chair or coffee table, but a large dining room table will start to get soft near the back. So I'm thinking higher power to use a higher aperture setting.
 
Speedyflash said:
Garry you mentioned about using the largest softbox on a boom arm. I take it that you were refering to the 150cm Profold Octa. Would this be ok with the Smartflash at 200W/s or would you use an ElitePro at 300W/s?
Click to expand...
Either will do, the ElitePro has half a stop more power and is a bigger unit that looks better, but there isn't much in it performance-wise
Speedyflash said:
My slight concern is DOF. I don't think that most of the items will be a problem, ie a chair or coffee table, but a large dining room table will start to get soft near the back. So I'm thinking higher power to use a higher aperture setting.
Click to expand...
Well, you would have to have a LOT more power to allow a really small aperture to be used, but the obvious solution is to simply set a higher ISO on your camera. In effect, every time you double the ISO setting you also double the effective flash power.
A more complete answer would be to use a tilt/shift lens to control the plane of sharp focus, but they are fiddly to use and expensive, and with a 3 dimensional subject you can expect to cure the problem on the top but create a problem on the front.
 
Garry, please can you add me to your list for the course next week. I've arranged to come up and am really looking forward to meeting you and learning some new skills.
 
Speedyflash said:
Garry, please can you add me to your list for the course next week. I've arranged to come up and am really looking forward to meeting you and learning some new skills.
Click to expand...
No problem. I will post details in this thread nearer the time.
Feel free to put a piece of the furniture in your car, if you've got something suitable, the whole idea of the workshop is that we photography whatever comes through the door. Last time we did it we had a very good range of items, some incredibly easy and some that were more of a challenge..
 
Many thanks. I'll see if I can bring something along.
 
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