After the inspiring talk from David Williams last tuesday night I have been doing some research on lenses and remote flash triggers.

I found this site had good information: Strobist: Lighting 101

The following comments are for Canon users, however I think the same price points apply to Nikon and other brand cameras.

Lenses

Canon make two (affordable) 50mm lenses:

• EF 50mm f/1.8 II, costs about $140
• EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, costs about $500

I noticed David was using the Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM which costs about $650

Seems the Sigma is recognised as the best lens. However the cheaper Canon does get good review for sharpness on non full frame DSLR cameras.

Remote control

Only the Canon ST-E2 Speedlite Transmitter gives TTL contol of the flash. ie the flash intensity controlled by the camera.

Available 3rd party items will trigger the flash, but not control the intensity

There is a limit of about 10m between the camera and the flash

In addition to the Sigma 50mm lens (available for other brands than Nikon, eg Canon), David was also demonstrating using a Nikon D5000 (shows you don’t need the expensive camera to get great results) and was triggering the external flashes with a Nikon SU-800 Wireless Speedlight Commander.

Both the Canon ST-E2 and Nikon SU-800 use infrared light which is what limits their range. Recently E-TTL compatible radio based remote triggers have become available, however they are quite pricey and are a significant investment (as much or more as your camera).

If you were also inspired and want to learn more, then you should be coming along to the Portrait & Flash Photography group at its second meeting next Wednesday. The site Ross found, Strobist, was also mentioned by David Gilliver at the first meeting and I expect it to be an essential resource for the group.

• A quick recap of the information presented by David Gilliver in the last meeting. There must be lots of questions now that you have had a few weeks to digest what he had to say.
• A run down on what equipment you will need to get you started with OFF-camera flash on a budget.
• Why OFF camera flash is so useful. Warren will bring some images in so we can dissect them and try to understand how the light has been used to good effect.
• Get some feedback from the group as to what you want to get out of future sessions. These can then be passed on to Teddy so he can tailor future classes accordingly.

It should be an informative night with lots of interactive discussion.

The gallery can be found HERE. Please treat this gallery just like the comment gallery, go and have a look, play the video (You will need a PC (or a MAC!) with speakers) and make your comments as you think appropriate.

At the moment it may look like a Peter & Jill Myers A/V gallery but that is because I have yet to persuade our other A/V makers to showcase their work on the gallery.

So to all our excellent A/V makers who have shown their A/V’s at the A/V group meeting (You know who you are … Leif… Andy … Roger… Mary… Fred… Craig) and those who are about to finalise their A/V’s (You know who you are also!) we will be demonstrating how to upload your productions at the final A/V group meeting in December.

In the meantime please contact me and I will talk you through the very easy uploading process

The purpose of this group meeting is to help all who are interested, learn how to take better photos using flash lighting, in particular portable “strobe” lighting. In many instances a typical use of flash photography is to take “portrait” shots and this is a genre of photography we will be focusing on (no pun intended…) during the year, although other uses of flash photography will be discussed.

We are very fortunate with our club to have Teddy Tan as our group co-ordinator. Teddy is a very experienced photographer who regularly produces great portrait work and great shots using his portable strobe lighting.

We are also fortunate to be able to kick start our group meeting in 2010 by having David Gilliver as our main presenter tonight.

David is a member of Melbourne camera club and a highly respected photographer in his own right. David’s main speciality is the use of strobe and studio lighting. David is one of the tutors at Melbourne camera club, regularly teaching on the subject of strobe and studio lighting.

This should be a great evening…mark it in your diary. As ever, all members and guests are welcome.

We will be continuing our look at members A/V’s and attempting to learn some of the finer points of A/V production using Pro Show software. If you have made any A/V’s, no matter how good or bad you think they are, please bring them along.

As with our last meeting we will dissect one of Peter’s latest A/V’s and look into the workings of the show.

The A/V Peter has produced for this disection is called “After Dark”. Have a look below and have your questions ready for the meeting…

After Dark from Peter Myers on Vimeo.

The group will primarily focus on how to take better portrait shots using both studio lighting and small flash (strobe) lighting. If you have ever wanted to learn how to use your camera flash better to take great portrait shots like this from Teddy Tan, this is the group for you…

We are very fortunate that Teddy Tan has agreed to lead this group. If you are interested in taking part in this group in 2010 please e mail Teddy to let him know.

We have not as yet manged to finalise an evening for this group, but we will meet at Wadham House as normal, but almost certainly not on a Tuesday.

Tonight, Tuesday Oct 13th is our monthly A/V Group meeting.
Bring along your A/V’s and we will watch and disect as usual.
After the members A/V presentations we will be doing a tutorial in Pro Show on the subject of captions and motion.

See you at Wadham House at 7.30pm…sharp

We had a great time, and occasionally got some good photos…

Beechworth 2009 from Peter Myers on Vimeo.

For those of you who were at the “club night” last Tuesday and hopefully inspired by the A/V presentations from our judge Pele Leung, why not come along and start with us the journey of learning, so that hopefully one day we can all make A/V’s as inspiring as Peles’.

Last month, Ross showed us how to start creating an A/V.

This month we hope to take things a stage further. If anyone has an A/V they have either finished…or just started, or all stages in between, please bring it along on Tuesday and as a group we will analyze, dissect and learn…hopefully.

If anyone is struggling to produce an A/V because you do not have any appropriate software, well the good news is I have found a web service which will do it for you. Go to www.animoto.com and see for yourself.

See you all on Tuesday at Wadham House…7.30pm prompt

The meeting starts at 7.30pm at Wadham House, and tonight Ross is going to demonstrate how to start the process of creating an A/V from scratch…

See you there.