first bball of the year

[livin4lax09]

ISO 400, f/4, 1/320. Yes, you heard me right. ISO 400. Strobes are my new best friend. And I was only shooting with 1 of my 3 tonight. gave a very short range, so I can't wait for my light stands to get here tomorrow so I can have my 2 other strobes up by thursday, the next home game.

[JBPhoto]

Nice work, Brent.

Yesterday I ordered a couple of PW's, a Paramount synch cord, a 13' stand and a Bogen Spring Clamp. I'm gonna play around with the PW's on a 580EX once the stuff gets here and if all goes well I'll order the same again and another 580EX for two strobes. If not I'll probably go with the Britek's or the Alien Bees and I'll only be out the $ for the Paramount synch cord. ISO 400 is awesome, I doub't I'll get that with 580's though.

[livin4lax09]

i wish i could afford PWs....

[Old Timer]

Just using one strobe??? Where did you mount it and then shot from?

[livin4lax09]

Just using one strobe??? Where did you mount it and then shot from?

haha you sound surprised! No wonder, so was I! This was with a britek bb-200 as well, $50 strobe. THe ebay slaves are the real killers, as the max range isnt nearly as long as they say. I can't get too far away from the receivers. I just need to invest in some PWs, but they're so freaking expensive... Anyways, here's the setup. I'll get you a setup picture next time I'm in the gym with my two other strobes.



The strobe was pointed upward at about a 60 degree angle from the horizon, so some light was able to bounce off the ceiling while some light was still shooting direct. I feel this helped to contribute to the softer shadows, but some of the shadows on the back wall are just ugly....

[JBPhoto]

UPS pulled in this afternoon and delivered my lighting experiment. The PW's are totally awesome - Brent, check out the Plus II, its a combined transmitter/receiver at $170 through B&H. I set it all up with my 580EX and was amazed at how easy it was. The Bogen Spring Clamp is very cool, it can either screw to the stand or clamp to it, or to a shelf, railing, or anything else for that matter, very versatile. The high school girls basketball team plays tomorrow night and I can't wait to try it out. Now I just have to figure out the settings. I'm totally stoked!

[livin4lax09]

hey JB, if you want to go a cheaper route, theres an old nikon flash with a pc jack, which is supposedly pretty incredible for off-camera stuff. also the vivitar 283 works well for off camera stuff, at about 20 dollars a pop. just something to check out. I had never heard of that clamp, but seeing it now, it looks like a good idea! pretty similar to just a normal clamp, but spring loaded.

Only thing I say is to be careful clamping. Just make sure you don't put it anywhere it can fall on the players/spectators. or have insurance. I will mount my lighstands in the corners of the gym, one being far out of the way, as you can see from the pics, and the other two being in the corner and then one on the edge of the key. They are weighted down with 25 lb weights, and sandbags should be here soon. Even throwing a 1 lb flash on top of a 13' lightstand makes it very unstable, and any basketball hitting it can knock it over.

And you're not making this any cheaper for me JB....maybe if I get some christmas money.... the thing is that I have three strobes. That's 4 transcievers. that's like 600 dollars. Ugh. Well, I may just get two anyways, since I will need one for lacrosse season if I'm going to remote triggering. Is there a trigger button on the PW so that I can trigger the camera in the goal without actually having to snap a shot off on my camera in-hand?

[JBPhoto]

Yeah, the PW Plus II can remotely fire the camera, just hit the test button on the hand held PW. Haven't gotten that far yet though. As far as I can tell, the only thing the PW MultiMax gets you is 32 channels vs. 4 channels on the Plus II, for twice the price. Don't think I'll need that. One thing I worry about on a used Vivitar 283 is the ability to set power and range. That and I'd rather have two identical units.

[livin4lax09]

you know JB, I just may get a pair of these. I have 240 in my bank account right now, and will be getting another paycheck tomorrow, as well as getting hrs on my other job....I may have enough. I'm going to try and haggle them down with a student discount.