TTL cable + umbrella stand = disaster

akhi

akhi

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Benjamin
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This is probably the most ridiculous question anyone has ever asked but as you all know by now I'm a complete nooby at this sort of thing and do like to have things clarified by you seasoned veterans when possible. Well, here's the issue.

I just bought a nice "lastolite professional" umbrella kit to use with my new sb700. My camera (d3100) can't act as a commander so I've bought a TTL cable. The cable is supposed to be 3 meter, but as it's coiled up when I pull my camera anything over a meter away the stand, umbrella, speedlight and all will tumble down. Am I doing something obviously wrong or should I just create some makeshift sandbag type things to secure it?

Expecting some tl;dr comments, but thought I'd try and make it clear. Thanks a lot and sorry for my foolishness.
 
Im never a great fan of cables. Any way of going wireless?
I always get the legs of the stand as wide as possible, plus weights if needed. Argos sell some Velcro weights for keep fit that work well and are easily portable.
 
just get some radio triggers and put your flash on manual.

Or buy a longer TTL cord - the short coiled ones are really meant for essentially using the flash near the camera, eg on a bracket.
 
I bought a cheap 5m cable from ebay a while back. Its not coiled so doesnt spring like yours, but it has worked perfectly every time and I havent managed to cause the stands to come crashing down yet (it will happen at some point knowing me!)

Sam
 
Or if you want to use ttl get the new Pocket wizards.

If you pull the cable it will stretch out a bit. You could always get a second cable and link them together.
 
On softer ground a better method of securing your tripod than weights is to use a dog lead auger. These are like overgrown corkscrews that you can buy from a pet shop for a couple of quid. They normally secure dog leads in an open field or somesuch.

For our purposes, you screw this deep in the ground then get a thin luggage strap and tension it between the auger and the hook (assuming you have one) on the bottom of the tripod centre column. This can give you many Kgs of downforce without any weight to lug around. Solid as a rock.

It's even possible to put the tripod sticking out at an angle on a very steep slope this way too so you can get otherwise impossible viewpoints.

But for flash etc - yes, go wireless.
 
Benjamin, I think using a coiled cable for what you want to do is a bit of a non-starter. A straight cable that can drop to the floor and run along it without causing a trip hazard seems a far wiser option than a coiled cable stretched in mid air under tension. You could split the cable you have and wire in a length of extension. If you do it right you could have a setup that would allow you to re-join the original parts so that you can go back to a shortish (coiled) cable whenever you need to. Have a look here....

http://www.diyphotography.net/the-strobist-corner-extending-your-ttl-flash-cord

for some ideas.
 
tdodd said:
Benjamin, I think using a coiled cable for what you want to do is a bit of a non-starter. A straight cable that can drop to the floor and run along it without causing a trip hazard seems a far wiser option than a coiled cable stretched in mid air under tension. You could split the cable you have and wire in a length of extension. If you do it right you could have a setup that would allow you to re-join the original parts so that you can go back to a shortish (coiled) cable whenever you need to. Have a look here....

http://www.diyphotography.net/the-strobist-corner-extending-your-ttl-flash-cord

for some ideas.
Click to expand...

Amazing read, thank you very much. I'm now um-ing and ar-ing whether to try this or not, as I'll probably destroy my cable in the process :( I'm going to take a look for some sort of video tutorial, as I'd probably have a slightly higher chance of succeeding this way.

Thanks again everyone.
 
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