Tag Archives: flash test

Strobist ballhead and umbrella test

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

3500660886 fd9585bbbc m Strobist ballhead and umbrella test

Sideview

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 31°F;
  • Humidity: 75%;
  • Heat Index: 30°F;
  • Wind Chill: 25°F;
  • Pressure: 30.48 in.;

Posted in Lighting tests | Also tagged art, Axis, background, Ballhead, black, camera, Cat, CLS, color, colour, diffuser, education, equipment, face, Field Test, film, flash, Flickr, frame, Head, Hoot, illustration, Image, Ir Sensor, isolated, Joe Mcnally, lamp, Light, Light And Shadow, lighting, Lighting tests, man, Manfrotto, metal, model, new, nikon, Nikon Speedlights, object, office, one, paper, People, person, Photo, Photograph, Photographer, Photography, Photos, portrait, professional, Rig, Rkd, RKD Photography, rkdauph, Sb, sb-800, Sb8, SB800, Shoe Type, shoot, Shoot Though Umbrella, space, speedlight, Spill, spotlight, stand, standing, strobe, strobist, studio, Target, technology, Test, Test Results, ttl, Umbrella, Umbrellas, Wescott, White Umbrella Comments Off

Nikon D300 & SB-800 Speedlight Flash Diffusion Test

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 in Lighting tests, Things | Also tagged 70s, af-s zoom-nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8 if-ed, Amp, Aperture, Aperture Priority, art, background, Backgrounds, black, black and white, camera, Camera Flash, Camera Flashes, Cat, CLS, color, Colors, Couple, Crowds, D2x, d300, Developer, diffuser, Duri, education, equipment, eyes, Eyes Of The Devil, F1, face, family, Feet, File Test, film, flash, flash diffuser, flash gun, flash photography, Flickr, Flight School, Focal Length, germany, girl, Girl In The World, girls, hand, Head, Heir, human, Human Face, Image, Images, Ink, Inti, Iso, Job, Jobs, lens, Light, Light And Shadow, lighting, man, Manikin Head, Modes, Natural, natural light, Nikkor, nikon, nikon d300, omni-bounce om-sb5, one, Ounce, Outsider, People, person, Personality, Photo, Photo Tip, photogenics, Photograph, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photography, Photos, picture control file, Places, portrait, Portraits, Pose, Prints, pro, Quick Test, red eye, Rig, Rkd, rkdauph, rs-df100 flexidome flash diffuser, Sb, sb-800, Sb5, School Classmates, Shadow, shot, Shoulders, speedlight, Stan, stand, standing, studio, studio lights, Target, Test, ttl, west germany, White Film Leave a comment