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Originally Posted by robski
I am in the process of trying to setup a flash system to help boost the light for my garden bird shots. I first started looking at slave remotes for the canon eos system. This was looking very expense with a 430EX and STE-2. Then I suddenly realised under the rubber flap the Canon 20D has a PC connector. So far I have managed to get a 30 feet cable and PC to hotshoe adaptor. I was hoping to get a very cheap secondhand gun with a trigger voltage under 250 volts. The best I could find locally was a Sunpak 888AFZ for £30. Atleast it has a bounce and zoom head with a guide no of 21M plus the trigger voltage is only 5 Volts. If I get another short cable and a 3 way adaptor I should be able to hook my canon 380EX onto it as well.
Next job will be to knock up some cheap method diffusing and then calculate the lighting effect for exposure.
Rob
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Rob I am trying to work out your current set up. I still think in old mechanical camera terms even though I have a D100. Maybe a pic will help.
Anyway here goes.
For those not in the know but following this thread, a remote flash slave is either directly mounted or connected by sync lead to the remote flash. When it detects a flash it triggers the flashgun to which it is attatched. The only requirement in positioning it is the slave must be able to 'see' the MASTER flash.
If you use the built in or camera system flash as the MASTER you can have any number of remotely triggered flashguns. Robs mention of 250mv is important in that some old flashguns had considerably higher values and if connected to modern camera's could burn out the camera circuitry. I never connect an unknown flashgun to the camera for that reason. Other than the ability to use cheap secondhand flashguns that is the reason I favour this approach.
So back to your post Rob.
Jessops is probably a good place to get a slave.
Get the highest power ( GN ) flash you can secondhand.
Diffusion - again check Jessops or similar for propriety products ie STOFEN. You can provide some diffusion really cheaply by placing tissue over the flash tube, bouncing the flash off a piece of white card, or firing the flash through a material. For this the flash needs to be about 12 inches back from the material. Proprietry products from Lastolite, - or home made, a cheap frame or old picture frame about 20 inches on its longer side with a single layer of white pillow case stapled over will do the trick. For birds I think you may be better with tissue or Stofen - less disturbing as it cannot be camo.
When calculating exposure work on the master ( triggering ) flash first, then add your slave setup after. If your master is too far back from the subject and is only being used to trigger the slave, or you have more than one slave do them one at a time. To reduce exposure either move the flash further away from the subject position, set it on auto and dial in a higher ASA/ISO value or add tissue over the flashhead. As flash distance to subject doubles, light from the flash falling on the subject falls by a factor requiring an increase in aperture of 2 stops.
I will stop now until I know if this is any use to you.
Don