Using Your Strobes with a "T" Series Canon

One of the issues new students have been running into is difficulty getting their strobes to work with their “T” series Canon camera purchased through the Art Institute.

The tricky issue here is that the Canon “T” series cameras are a consumer grade DSLR and they are not equipped with a PC sync port like the professional and prosumer bodies are. Since the “T” series Canons do not have this PC sync port, they cannot trigger the strobes directly and you have to use a Master/Slave set up.

Most strobes are designed so that if you are using a Speedlite, the strobes will automatically fire when they see the flash of your Speedlite external flash. Now, what I did in my case was I used my Canon Speedlite mounted in the hotshoe on a Canon T3i and then pointed the Speedlite behind me and bounced it off the wall, which in turn fired my strobes without fail.

Hotshoe adapter that adds a PC Sync port to your camera

I know some students have told me that they have tried firing their strobes with their flash and it only works once in a while. I believe the problem here is they are trying to use their Canon’s built in flash, which is not powerful enough to make the strobes fire reliably. I know from my own personal testing in my studio this weekend I was only able to get the strobes to fire once in a while with the Canon’s built in flash, but when using one of my Speedlites, the strobes fired every time.

Strobe end of the Sync port

Now I know you may be saying, “well that’s all fine and good but I don’t have a Speedlite external flash and cannot afford to buy a $300-$600 Speedlite to make my strobes work.” Well, the good news is, you can get the inexpensive Bower External flash at Walmart for like $40-$60 or you can go on Amazon and buy one of the Chinese Yongnuo Speedlites, which are knockoffs of Canon Speedlites and run anywhere from $30-$65, depending on what model you buy.

Another thing I found out from another student, Jessi James is the hotshoe adapter that came with your trigger system, should be able to be used as an add-on PC Sync port. What this means is attach the piece to your Canon’s hotshoe mount and then plug your sync cable’s 1/8” end into the trigger system on your camera and the other, 1/4” end into one of your strobes. I could not personally test this part because all of my sync cables are PC to 1/4”, I have none that are 1/8” on one end and 1/4” on the other. Hopefully this information will help those of you who have had problems with your strobe kits.

One last note that I believe some students are having trouble with. Every camera has a maximum shutter sync speed, this is the fastest you can set your shutter when using flash or strobe lights. Check your owner's manual or Google to find out what the max is for your camera model, some it's 1/160, some it's 1/200. With many of the consumer grade DSLRs if you set the shutter too high it will effect how well your strobes fire. On my old Canon 1D Mark II if I set it too high, it would actually cause the camera snap a photo of the mirror as it moved. Now get out there and shoot those studio assignments.

Comments/Questions

Freezing Motion

One of the coolest things you can do with your photography is to freeze motion of a moving object so that you can capture all the details. There are two ways to freeze motion, the first is to increase your shutter speed and the second is to use a strobe light.

Freezing motion using the shutter is an easy way to stop motion for objects such as cars, planes, humming birds or even water. To stop motion just turn your shutter speed up to at least 1/1000th of a second, but the thing to keep in mind is you need sufficient light to pull this off. When shooting outdoors, it’s easy especially if it’s a nice sunny day but when the light is weak you may need to turn your ISO up higher or use a fast lens such as a F/2 or F/1.4 if you have one. In my example here I used my Canon EF 100mm F/2 Macro lens so freeze the water in my kitchen sink the image is a bit dark but I also shot this at night so all I had were the kitchen lights.

Water frozen using 1/1000th sec shutter

The second method I mentioned for stopping motion or freezing objects is to use a strobe light. Now if you are testing as I am by shooting running water in your house it might not be fun dragging out your studio strobes but you don’t need to. Lest we forget, Speedlites are also strobes, just smaller and they run on double A batteries. Now, grab your Speedlite and set your ISO to as low as possible (I used ISO 50) and then set your shutter speed to the same or slightly faster than your focal length (I used 1/125th of a second since I used a 100mm lens). Aim your Speedlite at the water and snap your image, when the playback shows on your LCD you will see that the water is perfectly frozen in time like my example below.

Water frozen using Canon 580 EX II Speedlite

Now how fast you set your shutter depends on what you are trying to stop. 1/1000th of a second is plenty for a car or plane or water but let’s say you want to freeze the flap of a humming bird’s wings and get the best possible detail. I would recommend 1/2000th of a second as it will give you better results. Now, just as in my example you can use a strobe, but how often can you catch a humming bird with a strobe? The ones around my house are too flighty for that, they often won’t stick around if I am even holding my camera, but it has been done. I saw an article on a photography blog where a person used four Speedlites posted around a flower that humming birds were really drawn to and he got a fantastic capture that way so it can be done.

Well now you know how to freeze time or stop motion with your camera. Now get out there and put this new information to use and please, post your results on PSPN.

Comments/Questions

Canon Speedlites, Which One to Choose?

This week I am writing on the topic of Canon Speedlites, I apologize for not covering Nikon as well but I only use Canon as I am a Canon shooter.

As a new photographer, there are literally tons of equipment you will be buying as you work on your degree at AIOPD. Cameras, backdrops, lighting, both strobes and continuous, meters, graycards, the list goes on and on.

When it comes to lighting and especially strobes, which are one of the most popular lighting choices for photographers, you not only have regular strobes like AlienBee, but also their smaller cousin, the Speedlite.

Regular strobes are nice but expensive, especially if you need portability, as you have to buy models that can take battery packs and then the battery packs are not cheap either. The cheaper alternative is Speedlites. A Speedlite, external flash is basically the same thing as a strobe but in a smaller, cheaper package and more portable.

Speedlites, like strobes, come in different models and have different power levels and capabilities. Today, I will be talking about the three most common models of Canon Speedlites, the 270EX, 430EX II and the 580EX II.

The 270EX is Canon’s smallest external, hotshoe mounted flash. You can pick up the 270EX on Amazon used for around $50 or new for around $200. The 270EX is handy as it’s small and it for when you need a discrete flash and your camera either doesn’t have pop-up flash or you need more power. The 270EX is handy for those situations, but other than that, not really worth the money and I never bothered to pick one up as it has limitations. It cannot be turned or used for bouncing and has no zoom. It is strictly a straight forward flash.

The next and best choice for a starting flash is the 430EX II. The 430 is Canon’s slave flash and is an excellent choice for a first flash whether your camera has pop-up or not. The 430EX II is a bounce, zoom flash, so when set for ETTL it will set itself for your lens focal length up to 105mm and it will show the exposure in your camera meter, with the flash factored into the equation. You can swivel the 430EX II to 180 degrees and even tilt the head for bouncing the light off the ceiling or wall behind you. This flash comes in handy for when you need the light of s strobe but don’t want that light to hit the subject head-on. You can get the 430EX II at Best Buy for around $250-$300.

The third and final flash I have here is the Canon 580EX II. This is the most expensive of the Canon Speedlite (although the 600EX RT is out now too). The reason for this is the 580EX II is the Master Speedlite. What that means is the 580EX II has special hardware inside it that let’s is act as the control flash for a multi-flash, wireless set up. You can set the 580EX II to Master mode and then it can control other 580EX IIs or the 430EX IIs as well. This comes in handy for when you need a multi-flash set up and cannot set all the Speedlites in direct, line of sight placement so that all of them flash when the primary one does and you don’t have a Pocket Wizard, or other wireless flash trigger system. The 580EX II will run you from $350-$600, depending on whether you pick up a new or a used one.

As a new photographer, I recommend the 430EX II for most people and most uses as you can pick up a good wireless trigger system for anywhere from $50 to $400 and control the flash units that way instead of buying the much more expensive 580EX II. If you have the money to spare, I recommend the 580EX II as it’s Canon’s best Speedlite, but I would not buy more than one as the 430EX II is a cheaper alternative for slave flash units.
Comments/Questions

What Am I Doing?

Greetings fellow shooters! Tuesday Ambassador Stanley, here welcoming you to another Tuesday.  It has been a good six, maybe seven, weeks since I started writing Tuesday blogs and I think it is about time to let my readers know what I have been up to lately in school. As I am nearing the end of another set of courses, I will be met with new classes to which I am sure will take its toll on me in the coming weeks. So what classes will I be leaving within the week you ask? Well Studio Photography and Marketing are the two classes I will be departing from and to be quite honest, I did not find those classes to be quite as hard or time consuming as I had been told by many. However, I guess not having a full-time job can leave a person to have boat loads of time to do whatever they desire.

Yes, I know I should have taken Studio Photography earlier in my studies but having financial stress prevented me from taking that class in the order recommended by The Art Institute. The out of order class did not stop me from continuing with my studies though, so that is one big plus on my part. However, that is the story of my life. Usually when something does not go right I just have pay not mind to it and move on to the next. If the opportunity arises again then I should know what to do for the next time. Right?

With that said, I am sure you are itching to see some photos of my prior work in Studio Photography. Keep in strict mind that I am a person that has to learn to crawl before walking as you can clearly see in my photos. You will see how much different these images have changed over the course of five and half weeks. Now these assignments were basically exercises for our final project, which by the way will be posted by the time the course ends. For the last shot in this series you will see a multi light scenario where we had to initially freeze our subject and move it all in the same frame. It’s a very cool technique that I am sure I will exploit later on in my career.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3
 

Week 3

Week 4

Week 4

Week 5

In a previous blog of mine I mentioned the need to test your equipment and make sure everything is working as intended in order to prevent any unfortunate circumstances with school. What I did not mention is that it if you do test your equipment, not only do you prevent situations that could bar you from class, but you prevent unfortunate situations when it comes to your job, if you have one, even yourself. I figure that if you are in school for something that you enjoy doing, then it should help to drive that passion even further. So the next time you receive that sexy piece of glass, or a boat load of lights, maybe literally, then test that equipment out that you love so much! I know I do. And as always, thanks for reading.

- Tues. Amb. Stanley

Oh ya, my next classes will be Editorial Photography and Portraiture I. Now I do not have a good feeling about timelines with these classes. Let's hope I can keep up with the blogs in the coming weeks. 0_0 Please leave any questions and

comments below.

Got the Camera! What's Next?

Hello Everyone, welcome to another Terrific Tuesday! 

Last week I talked a little about buying a new camera, including some stuff that everyone should be aware when doing it.  As I was reading my own blog I realized that the requirements from the school when it pertains to the equipment needed might have changed in the last few years.  True enough, there have been some changes since I started, so this blog is going to be like a continuation from last week.

Having a camera with video capabilities is now a requirement that starts with your first photography class!  So, if you haven't done so yet, plan ahead and know that down the line there is a class called Time-Based Media where you will not be able to complete the class without meeting that requirement.

Done.  Good!  But what is down the road in your studies, you might be wondering.

PH 136 (Lighting) - You will need a tungsten light kit with at least two lights with a minimum of 500 watts each.  Sounds like a lot, and it is, they are very bright.  Shop around and get a good set, you will be using it several times throughout the rest of your studies!  Now that you have the lights, you will also need a light meter, and again there are several models to choose from, just be sure that it measures ambient light as well as flash lighting and can be set for reflective readings.  If you buy one that is not ready for recording and measuring flash or strobe lighting, you will need to get one for the Studio Photography class!  Prices vary, but these two items will run about $600 for both of them, again depending what you go with, and as always...research!

PH 212 (Studio Photography) - This was the class that I considered being the one that I spent the most time and money.  You will need at least (yes, I said at least) a 2-light strobe kit capable of 320ws - 500ws for each monolight.  I said at least because after the class, you might find out that you need more than two, I currently have 6!  BE AWARE, when shopping for the sets, go to reputable source such as B & H Photography.  You might find sets out there on other sites that would announce a 3-light set 600ws for a specific price.  If you do not research, you could be in trouble because for some sites that means 3 lights at 200ws each for a total of 600ws, remember the requirement is 320-500 EACH!  Of course, now that you have the lights, you will also need some light modifiers, background, background support system, a table and other requirements.  All in all expect to budget over 1K for the equipment.  Don't be cheap, get the equipment that you need now that will help you and stay with you later on.

PH 226 (Printing) - This is another class that has some explicit requirements for equipment.  You are going to need a ColorMunki (a what?), a printer with 6+ inkwells and used for photos as well as 20-25 Photo Paper, hopefully from the same company as the printer.  You are going to use the ColorMunki to calibrate your monitor as well as using it to create profiles for the paper you use.  The requirement states the amount of sheets, but let me tell you, I used almost three times that amount during the class!  If you like printing your images, you will love this class, if you do not like printing your images, you will still love this class!

Epson Stylus Photo 1400

ColorMunki with case

So there, now you know what to expect if you are in your first or second year.  Of course there are other things that are not completely photography oriented that you might need.  If you do not have web camera, get ready to get one for COM 1010 (Speech).

Want to see what's out there?  You can start with this link to B&H Photo:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Want to check out some strobes?  Check the Alien Bees:

http://www.paulcbuff.com/alienbees.php

That will be all for now, if you have any other type of equipment that you didn't realize you needed for any of your classes and found out when the class started, drop me a line, it could save some headaches to someone down the line!

Until later then, this is your Tuesday Ambassador wishing you a great day!