Hot Lights vs. Flash for Digital Lighting?

[Rob28969]

For those of you whom have Digicams that have a hot shoe but not a dedicated TTL Flash option or way to hook up studio strobes which lighting source are you finding works best. Are you having success with a simple flash like the Vivitar 283 and a diffuser or going with a Hot Light setup?

I have never tried either with a digital camera and wondered what some real experiences were.

 

[W Fenn]

Many of the high end digicams for product work REQUIRE hot lights but for most others a simple flash setup seems to work best. I have used a 15 year old Sunpak with my DCS 330, both in manual mode, and had excellent results. I also have a Nikon SB28 and have finally figured out how to get good results with it. (Also in manual mode for both). We also use White Lightning studio flash with excellent results. These plug in but could be easily fired in slave mode by a hot shoe flash. A Vivitar 283 is very similiar to my Sunpak and would probably work fine for you but would likely need manual mode as well. Practice, practice, practice is the answer to getting good exposures with manual flash. Don't expect first shot success but keep at it and you can get excellent exposures.

For those of you whom have Digicams that have a hot shoe but not a
dedicated TTL Flash option or way to hook up studio strobes which
lighting source are you finding works best. Are you having success
with a simple flash like the Vivitar 283 and a diffuser or going
with a Hot Light setup?

I have never tried either with a digital camera and wondered what
some real experiences were.

 

[Tyler Monson]

Rob,

Before using electronic flash with any digital camera, measure the trigger voltage on the flash. For example, the more than 50 volts put out by my Norman studio flash would fry the delicate innards of just about any digital camera. See if you can find out what the tolerances are for your digital camera; probably under 15 volts or maybe 7 volts. Wein makes a devise that will reduce the voltage to a safe level, or you can use photocells on the flash system and fire them with the internal flash on the camera.

Two other problems with using flash systems with the consumer-level digital cameras:

1. The minimum aperture may not be sufficiently small for the light system. Some of the cameras only stop down to f/8 or so while your flash system, even on its lowest setting may call for a much smaller f/stop.

2. The modeling lights on a studio flash may not be sufficient to allow the autofocus mechanism to operate. I've run into this problem, and using neutral density filters to address problem 1 above, only adds to problem 2.

Because of all this, I've frequently found it a lot easier to use incandescent lights. Another advantage here is that, if you are not very familiar with lighting, you can see the results right in front of you.

Cheers,

Tyler Monson
Seattle, Washington

 

[Rob28969]

Thanks for the info on the flash and incandescant lights. Do you have any suggestions on what type of lights (brand and size) I would need. I'm simply looking to make nice indoor family portraits without that harsh shadow that appears when using the on camera flash.

Thanks.

 

[Barry Ward]

This may be too simplistic, but a setup I have been very happy with is a set of 3 $20.00 slaves (like those sold at CKC power). Mine don't even have adjustable power. I just move them around until I get a pleasing ballance. It usually takes about ten minutes for me to get them situated right and to get my camera metered right, but if you are not doing high volume, or you shoot in the same space over and over, it works pretty well. I also have a collection of white and gold foam core posterboard that I use as reflectors.

I don't think I would use any of this in front of a paying client, but it works pretty well.

For those of you whom have Digicams that have a hot shoe but not a
dedicated TTL Flash option or way to hook up studio strobes which
lighting source are you finding works best. Are you having success
with a simple flash like the Vivitar 283 and a diffuser or going
with a Hot Light setup?

I have never tried either with a digital camera and wondered what
some real experiences were.

 

[Tyler Monson]

Rob,

I would start with a (white, not silver) umbrella reflector and a simple flood light. The best source would be a big camera store, if you live near any such place.

If you don't try contacting Calumet Photo by e-mail or phone and ask them what they have in umbrellas. Be sure to tell them that this is for floodlight, not flash. (though, if and when you move on to flash, the umbrella can still be used.)

http://www.calumetphoto.com/default.taf?pageload=/calumet/prodindex.taf&_UserReference=80A17DCDF1617F1C39FAEE52

If you are working on the cheap, see if you can't concoct your own stand, and the light source could be a simple 350 or 500 watt reflector flood from the hardware store. Unlike with color film, you don't have to worry so much about color balance, which you can either address through setting manual white balance in the camera or by correcting it in software.

Cheers,
Tyler