radio slaves and fisheyes

[livin4lax09]

looking to do some interesting bball photos this winter, but I need some equipment first. WHat do I need to fire off my camera from another location? I believe I need a radio slave, but I'm not totally sure. Am I correct? Also, lookin at the sigma 15mm f/2.8 fisheye. Does anyone have one and can give me some more info on it. I already read the reviews on this site's link, but I'm just lookin for someone to be able to talk to about it.

[another view]

Radio slaves will probably do it, depending on the camera. It has to have an electronic shutter release socket (instead of the mechanical type). You'll need a transmitter, receiver, and the cable that goes to the camera. Check out PocketWizard, they're the industry standard and been around for awhile. Photo-John uses them to fire remote flashes outdoors, and I've assisted a guy that uses them to fire studio strobes. The way you want to do it is just the opposite - the camera has the receiver instead of the transmitter. It's a very versatile system.

If you're using a non full-frame 15mm fisheye on a DSLR, you'll probably lose most of the "fisheye-ness" to the look because most of the distortion will be outside of the 1.5 or 1.6 crop factor. I guess both answers really depend on the camera you're using...

[livin4lax09]

mm...good point on the crop factor on the fisheye. Never thought of that. I'm using a 300d now, but most likely going to buy a 1d this winter. The crop factor is 1.3x on that one I believe....

so if your camera is the receiver, how would you go about triggering it?

Also, anyone tried those cheap slaves on ebay? it says 20 feet is their max distance, but that may be more than I need in this case, and they seem like a cheap way to get started, and can purchase pocketwizards when I get more into it. From what I've read, they work fine, but I can't always trust things I read on other forums.

[another view]

but I can't always trust things I read on other forums.

Heck yeah - other forums, anyway...

The receiver is mounted to the camera's hotshoe (or hanging from it's support) and connected from the PW to camera with a special cable that they make. The cables aren't cheap either, but you do need this electronic contact to be able to use the camera this way.

Not so sure I'd trust other radio slaves, but many others are out there. One cool thing about PW is that they have a trigger module that fits into Sekonic light meters which is really nice if you're going to use them with studio strobes (one less cord to trip over). The distance that they list is usually in optimum conditions (which are usually not the case in the real world). I don't know if anybody elses radio slaves can be used to remote fire a camera, but I wouldn't feel comfortable with a 20' advertised distance unless I was less than half that distance from the camera. Can't imagine that working for what you're talking about...

I have more experience with wireless music stuff (mic's and guitars) and the distances they advertise never hold true in real life situations. There's just too much RF in most places that can interfere with the signal. And, cheap ones are never anywhere near as good or reliable as a very inexpensive cable.

[livin4lax09]

yeah, i can get above 5 feet away from the camera. It would be mounted on the back of a basketball hoop, of which I usually stand almost directly under while taking photos.

[Photo-John]

Here's what I use. It's a PocketWizard connected to the flash with a Wein connector. There's a transmitter unit that goes on the camera'a hotshoe. The cable is a proprietary PocketWizard cable. You need the hotshoe connector to fire the flash. Nikon makes a hotshoe connector, too. I expect it's better than the Wein, which feels pretty cheesy. I've had it for a couple of years, though. So it's not as bad as it seems. It's not cheap. The whole setup (minus the flash) will cost you about $400, if I remember right.

I wouldn't buy any cheap IR slaves. I have two Canon 550s with built-in IR slave capabilities. I think they suck. They are so sensitive to the direction of the IR beam. Move the flash just a fraction of an inch and they quit working. Plus, I find just using manual flash easier than using ETTL with two flashes.

I have the Canon fishey and use it on my 10D all the time. Even though there's a crop factor, it still distotts like crazy. And it's really wide on the 1D. I think kafin8ed has the Sigma.