Strobist ballhead and umbrella test

Lighting tests Comments Off
May 042009
3493512371 076561ff9d m Strobist ballhead and umbrella test

In Joe McNally‘s CLS video it showed him using a ballhead to align the flashhead along the umbrella stem axis. Made sense that it would distribute the light more evenly; so I bought the rig. Here’s the test results – you decide.

As pointed out in the note above, I forgot the diffuser.

Single SB800 set to TTL into Wescott 42″ shoot through umbrella.

The ballhead is the Manfrotto Lite Tite Swivel+Umbrella Adapter 26
The coldshoe is the Stroboframe Shoe-type Flash Mount Cat. No 300-SHO

I consider this as a ‘nice to know’ experiment only. With the inherent spill associated with shoot through umbrellas and with the difusser on the speedlight the coverage appears to be good. One additional advantage I found with the ballhead set is the ability to quickly rotate the flash body to align the IR sensor to face the camera.

I’ll know better after I field test it.

3493654589 a843384855 m Strobist ballhead and umbrella test

Sideview

Sideview

-- Weather When Posted --

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  • Heat Index: 30°F;
  • Wind Chill: 25°F;
  • Pressure: 30.48 in.;

Posted by Ray at 8:02 am

Nikon D300 & SB-800 Speedlight Flash Diffusion Test

Lighting tests, Things No Responses »
Jul 062008

On camera flash photography has always challenged me. I learned photography, in West Germany during the early ‘70s, using natural light only, black and white film and developed my own prints. My first experience, in the early ‘80s, with a flash gun was a reunion of flight school classmates and our families. We paraded the kids through the living room, onesies, twosies, you know the drill, and I took whole family photos too. The garish, over exposed pictures with that damn hard edged shadow (like the top center picture) was embarrassing when the color prints arrived. Who needs a flash? Not a REAL photographer anyway; so, back to natural light for more than 2 decades.

Click to continue reading “Nikon D300 & SB-800 Speedlight Flash Diffusion Test”

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 51°F;
  • Humidity: 49%;
  • Heat Index: 51°F;
  • Wind Chill: 49°F;
  • Pressure: 30.33 in.;

Posted by Ray at 5:18 pm
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