well, I finally bought some strobes. Right now there are three on their way. So I am up to the challenge of figuring out how to work these damn things before christmas break and basketball/wrestling/indoor track/cheerleading season rolls around. Oh it'll be fun. also ordered a 50mm f/1.8 again, after i sold mine at the end of last season. ths time i bought one BN w/ warranty. also, going to be purchasing a couple more light stands and a 24-70mm f/2.8 within the next month or so. And for some advice, check out this site...

strobist.blogspot.com if you are interested in shooting some pics in a poorly lit gym this winter. There are a couple articles on lighting a gym with only a couple cheap flashes, most articles contain creative uses of the vivitar 283. But if you're looking to understand flash, check it out, and I think you'll be very satisfied with the info they have.

and just to get into the bball mood....
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/4219/img2888pl0.jpg

happy thanksgiving and happy shooting everyone!

Ok, three strobes, but what are you triggering them with? So are these battery or AC plug in type? What power?
They aren't tough to use, just like a new flash, takes a bit of practice. And you should keep a notebook of your settings so when you go different places you know what works for them.

JS

I've been looking into strobes for the past month or so and it seems to be a whole new education for me. Brent, did you opt for the Alien Bees gear? I was looking at the Elinchrom 1000 R's with a Pocket Wizard Max. I just picked up a 85mm f/1.8 though, and I'm thinking that'll be fine for the gyms I'm shooting in. I'd rather save the money and put it into a 1D Mark IIN, but the the strobes are intruiging. I was thinking maybe another 580EX and a PW if needed in the interim, but I'm also thinking that's a stupid idea. The first HS basketball games are still a few weeks away, but I've been playing with the 1.8 at youth rec games and it seems like it will do the trick without even flash... thoughts?

Sorry, duplicate post. See below.

JS, i also purchased radio slaves with one transmitter and three receivers, along with one hotshoe adapter so i could use them on my 430ex. battery powered, and they are britek bb-200's. i was a little skeptical of their use and power, but after talking with someone who used the same setup in a gym that was the same light or darker then mine, and seeing the shots from the strobes, i decided to do it.

JB: look into the ebay strobes and a vivitar 283. throw the 580ex on a 12 foot lightstand from amvona (wholesale resellers) bounce it off the ceiling (provided it's bright enough) then bounce the 283 off a white wall and you should notice a big change not only in lighting but color as well. but its definitely a nice shot you posted already, and looks like it has flash coming from camera left.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/04/on-assignment-prep-basketball.html

also check that out

and looks like it has flash coming from camera left.

No, that was ambient coming in from a window, which made things a bit challenging.

I discovered that using a 580EX with a PW takes it out of ETTL and all flash settings become manual - not that big of a deal I suppose. Using multiple 580EX's though, the slaves will adopt all settings from the on camera flash set as master in ETTL. And the master can be disabled from firing without affecting the slaves. It's line of sight though. The Britek's look pretty good, and inexpensive. Hmmmm.

Of note, I came across an interesting accessory called a Strobe Slipper... http://www.rangefindermag.com/magazine/Sep06/showpage.taf?page=28

If Canon would go the extra step and make maybe a 680EX that was true wireless and not IR, and a new on-camera controller that interfaces to the ETTL, would that be useful?
Or is going full manual flash not that big a deal?

i dont have a problem shooting manual, I like to control everything anyways. fi you;re going to be using strobes, you have to learn how to shoot manually anyways, so why not do the same wth your ex flash?

The fact that a PW will take my 580EX out of ETTL is not a big deal - my decision will not be based on it. Shooting in ETTL for night football is a nice convenience in that you don't have to worry about it, but shooting with strobes is a different story. The benefts of true wireless, to me anyway, outweigh the convenience of ETTL. Shooting with manual flash will force me to learn more about lighting, which is good.