My penchant for collecting Vivitar flashes had been fueled by my belief that if I could optically slave them all together, I could light the moon. This bit of whimsey is based on the belief that I could obtain enough inexpensive optical flash triggers, for "slaves", to fire them all.Once upon a time, the highly desirable Wein Peanut Slave was cheap, plentiful, and a plug-and-play proposition with the Vivitar units. Times change, and while the cost of a used 283 or 285 has slowly fallen, the Peanut has held its value, making my dream of simultaneously trigger a dozen flashes more expensive that it used to be.
If you think about it, there are other problems associated with this approach. In addition to triggering the flashes, there the problem of mounting them. With a minimum amount of effort, a serviceable mount for multiple speedlights can be cobbled together, like the one I described here. Made from a single piece of aluminum channel stock, it can be completed with two cold shoes and some assorted 1/4 x 20 hardware. It works well when used with any Nikon speedlight with a built-in optical slave, called the SU-4 mode.
A Chinese company called Selens (click here to see the original e-Bay post) is offering a mount that can handle up to three flashes/speedlights and has a mounting hole for an umbrella (Model SE 31). This seems like a very practical solution, and it is, to some extent. I purchased three through their e-Bay on-line store, and somehow was redirected to their own ordering department. I would have felt much better if the sale was handled through an U.S. distributor, and I'm sure that this device will re-surface under the name of some re-seller. It appears that Selens is trying to promote itself as a manufacturer with some sort of quality control protocols, as there was a small certificate packed with each unit, convincing me that somebody actually inspected it, and that each had passed with flying colors. Unfortunately, the fact that all three were signed identically wasn't re-assuring. Then again, some of you may remember the gold JCII sticker that was prominently displayed on Japanese cameras in the 1960's, a great marketing ploy. Of course, Japan isn't China, and vice versa.
Here's a photo showing three SB-800s, one in each hot shoe, mounted in the Selens unit. I employed my two light stand approach whenever I use an umbrella larger than 40". Here you can see a 7-foot Westcott umbrella mounted in its own bracket and supported by its own light stand. By "choking up" on the shaft, I was able to put the umbrella's center of gravity closer to the axis of the light stand for improved stability. In the foreground, you can see the second light stand and bracket holding the Selens. Notice that the umbrella shaft goes through the hole in the Selens where it is clamped in place. This gives a more rigid mounting and a better distribution of weight, but in the end, you still have to deal with two light stands.
Here's where the Selens unit shines. The version I purchased had a mini-microphone port built in. By attaching some sort of optical slave (In case, a Wein Peanut with a Wein Male-Male adapter with a Pocket Wizard PC/Mini-Microphone adapter) I could fire all three units. Basically, its a three flash/one optical slave setup. And while I used Nikon speedlights for this photo, I could have substituted Vivitar 283 flashes without having to worry about any damage to my camera. I can see attaching an inexpensive e-Bay radio flash trigger, and I surely won't cry when the triggering of 3 Japanese-made, super-high voltage Vivitar 283s fry the remote to a crisp.
Forcing Full Manual Output. I started thinking about triggering multiple flashes in tandem when I needed flash output and couldn't afford a single, really powerful flash. With my limited resources, a variety of flashes might be pressed into service, and usually were. But using automatic flashes could pose a problem if they don't have one or more manual output settings. For instance, the Vivitar 283 has a single manual setting (full power), while the 235 has four (full, half, quarter, and sixteenth). If you have an automatic flash that does not have a manual setting, simply cover the sensor eye with a small piece of gaffer tape, as simulated here. This effectively "blinds" the flash so it can't read any light reflecting back from the subject, and will give you a full flash discharge. It works, but be prepared for very long recycle times.
The Editor In Chief of the newspaper I photograph for received an award from a statewide educational consortium representing the school I teach for. Here was an opportunity to make a photo of my two bosses.
The requirements for shooting events are pretty straight forward. Use flash. Choose a suitable vantage point. Set the camera to a relatively high ISO so that the flash recycle time will be brief. Say something so that the subjects will look your way. Consider your first shot your only shot.
This evening, I opted to aim my SB-800, zoomed to the most narrow beam angle (105mm), at the ceiling behind me so I'd get even front-to-back lighting. Camera was a Nikon D600 with a 24-70 2.8, ISO set to 800. The dining room's white ceilings would make an excellent bounce surface. I attached an SD-8a supplementary battery pack to the speedlight to cut my recycle time. Immediately after the shot is made, I'll usually say, "Hold it!", and make a quick check of the LCD display. If the shot looks reasonable, I'll make eye contact and say, "Thank you!" indicating that they are free to go.
As the recipients received their plaques, they "instinctively" turned to face the camera, something that public figures are used to doing. They usually give great smiles, and are patient enough to wait for the flash to go off, a simple indication that the shot was taken. Sure, one shot is really all you need, but what if it sports some minor flaw?
Now here's the spoiler alert: Plaques tend to be highly reflective metal.
The shot to the left required a retake. Our honoree inadvertently tipped his award up slightly, creating a perfect reflection of the light bouncing off the ceiling behind me. This can be a problem with ceiling bounce because the bounced light source covers is so very large.
When I glanced at the image in the LCD display, I saw what went wrong, and said, "One more, please!" and proceeded to make a second shot. (I know how to say, "Uno Mas" too!).
Now you can simple tell your subject that the award must be tipped forward slightly, assuming that the s/he can actually hear you, or as is the case with some of my subjects, understands English. So when words fail me, I shift to Plan B and channel my inner Marcel Marceau and demonstrate, with my hands, exactly what I want my subject to do. In this case, my subject immediately got the idea, so I made the shot and gave a "thumbs up" sign, a sign that we were finished.
So after a bit of correction, I made a second shot.Unfortunately for me, the subjects actually changed. Sure, I now had the plaque properly rendered, but my main subject's smile turned into a smirk, and I lost eye contact with the presenter on the left.I sent both of the images to my Editor in Chief and asked him to choose. Which would you have gone with: Good Facial Expression, or Well Rendered Plaque?*
I took this shot of an award recipient and his sponsoring teacher. In this case, the ambient lighting was so low I gave up on it. By shooting at a slightly lower angle, I was able to get get the ceiling lights in the background. I bounced the flash off of a wall behind me. I sent a copy to the student's school principal for anyone to use, since the the student didn't live in our service area and wouldn't be printed.
Lest We Forget: Remember that you really don't have a lot of time to make adjustments, and my making the second shot was an act of desperation. Also, if you flub it, a dining room with 300 guests will be there to witness it. And finally, like it or not, the picket fence really was the shot you were sent to get.
This photo of award recipients from a Mock Trial shows that I learned my lesson. A generally pleasing photo where I nearly got all of the "legs" properly positioned. A good shot otherwise, with everyone, save one, looking directly into the camera.
*My Editor chose the Well Rendered Plaque.
My penchant for collecting Vivitar flashes had been fueled by my belief that if I could optically slave them all together, I could light the moon. This bit of whimsey is based on the belief that I could obtain enough inexpensive optical flash triggers, for "slaves", to fire them all.Once upon a time, the highly desirable Wein Peanut Slave was cheap, plentiful, and a plug-and-play proposition with the Vivitar units. Times change, and while the cost of a used 283 or 285 has slowly fallen, the Peanut has held its value, making my dream of simultaneously trigger a dozen flashes more expensive that it used to be.
Here's where the Selens unit shines. The version I purchased had a mini-microphone port built in. By attaching some sort of optical slave (In case, a Wein Peanut with a Wein Male-Male adapter with a Pocket Wizard PC/Mini-Microphone adapter) I could fire all three units. Basically, its a three flash/one optical slave setup. And while I used Nikon speedlights for this photo, I could have substituted Vivitar 283 flashes without having to worry about any damage to my camera. I can see attaching an inexpensive e-Bay radio flash trigger, and I surely won't cry when the triggering of 3 Japanese-made, super-high voltage Vivitar 283s fry the remote to a crisp.
Forcing Full Manual Output. I started thinking about triggering multiple flashes in tandem when I needed flash output and couldn't afford a single, really powerful flash. With my limited resources, a variety of flashes might be pressed into service, and usually were. But using automatic flashes could pose a problem if they don't have one or more manual output settings. For instance, the Vivitar 283 has a single manual setting (full power), while the 235 has four (full, half, quarter, and sixteenth). If you have an automatic flash that does not have a manual setting, simply cover the sensor eye with a small piece of gaffer tape, as simulated here. This effectively "blinds" the flash so it can't read any light reflecting back from the subject, and will give you a full flash discharge. It works, but be prepared for very long recycle times.
