Flashes: June 2008 Archives

Hot Shoe Blues

By Martin Joergensen | June 30, 2008 10:26 PM | | Comments ( 1)

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I have always had problems with the hot shoes on my cameras. I shoot a lot of pictures very close to saltwater - sometimes even wading in saltwater - and that invariably means saltwater sprays all over my cameras.

Most of them have endured this otherwise rough torture, but a few have suffered the BHSCS (Bad-Hot-Shoe-Contact-Syndrome).

Salt, water and metal is a very bad mixture, and add to that electricity (or expected electricity, otherwise known as contact) and you are going down a road called Failure.
Continue reading Hot Shoe Blues.


D700 in print

By Martin Joergensen | June 30, 2008 4:34 PM |

The D700 seems more than likely now, as the German magazine ProfiFoto has it on print (but not online) in its latest edition - alongside with the news of a new flagship flash from Nikon, named the SB-900.
It's the German blog PhotoScala that reports on the D700, and they have almost been run down by the stampeding, newshungry web crowd.

The camera is as expected a full frame (FX) body with an optional vertical grip (uses the same as the D300). It's rated at 5 fps (8 with the grip) and ISO's up to 6400.

This is far from a D3, but certainly a good contender for the role as a competitor for the very popular Canon 5D. With the same high ISO performance as the D3, a price tag in the 2,600 Euros range and facilities in the space somewhere between D300 and D3, Nikon should have a pretty sure succes with this new camera.

A few people are whining about the launch not being a D3x with much higher resolution, but my guess is that they won't have to wait long for Nikon to offer something in this range too.

But for now we're just waiting for Nikon to make this fully official.


Great lighting videos

By Martin Joergensen | June 28, 2008 6:54 PM |

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Lastolite has a bunch of really excellent videos on using all their neat gear: backgrounds, reflectors, umbrellas and much more. Although the videos naturally do focus on Lastolite's own products and some of them just show how to pack and unpack, there are lots of great generally applicable tips on using softboxes, reflectors, backgrounds and other kinds of lighting gear.

And if you are into lighting and want to watch some more videos, The Grip Guide might be interesting to you too. This Pixel Corps production comes out with irregular intervals, but the archive consists of 11 videos. The show is aimed at people working within cinematography and does deal with much larger setups than most of us use for our strobes and cameras, but you will find plenty tips, which are very useful for studio flash or off camera strobe work.


D700 is happening...

By Martin Joergensen | June 26, 2008 11:11 PM |

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...or is it?

The rumor smiths are now totally boiling over with confirmations of the existence of a new full frame Nikon body. Online announcements, price lists, spy pics of catalog prints, even pictures of the camera itself. The number of indications seem almost overwhelming. The specs are very precise and seem legit to such an extent that it really is plausible that Nikon is launching a new D300-like FX-body any day now.

Continue reading D700 is happening....


Radio flash triggers

By Martin Joergensen | June 16, 2008 2:56 PM |

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Today I acquired a set of Doerr radio controllers for my D200 and two SB-800's.

I have been using Nikon's excellent built-in wireless flash control system, which Nikon calls CLS (Creative Lighting System), and that system works beyond what you can imagine. It not only controls flash synchronization and exposure, but also enables you to control many flashes, dose each of them individually or in groups and offers many other neat features. And it gives you almost guaranteed perfect exposures - even with complex flash setups.

Continue reading Radio flash triggers.


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