Your comment about possibly using different lights reminded me about
flash and white balance. If you shoot flash and set the camera's white
balance on flash you can forget all about supplemental color balance.
I'm sure the flash setting will be close enough. But that's not likely
the case with incandescent.
But using other (continuous) lights might have some advantages. It may
make it easier to focus, definitely easier to see the effect of the
lights and their relative balance. And if the lights are not terribly
bright you have (unlike flash) the option of using a longer shutter
speed to increase exposure.
Incandescent lights (if you can still buy them across the pond) have the
advantage that their brightness is easily controlled by a simple lamp
dimmer. I use these in the modeling light sockets in my Alien Bees
studio lights
<http://www.lowes.com/pd_126674-371-10043_4294965819__?productId=1267297&Ntt=halogen+bulb&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl_GE_4294965819__s%3FNtt%3Dhalogen%2Bbulb>
A few of these with diffusers in front (but safely away from the heat)
makes for an inexpensive setup
<http://www.lowes.com/pd_203213-1373-FL-300NPDQ12_0__?productId=3122291&Ntt=clamp+reflector&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dclamp%2Breflector>
I also have some 500W dimmers that can control the lights in these
clamp-on reflectors.
Fluorescent strips are another possibility. A couple of these
<http://www.lowes.com/pd_163707-337-SNF-120-PH-120V-U_0__?productId=3178757&Ntt=24%22+fluorescent&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3D24%2522%2Bfluorescent>
with a V-shaped reflector behind (maybe made of white foam core board
from the craft shop) might work well. But dimmable fluorescents are
possible but not cheap.
Don't buy more than 2 brolly boxes unless the third is for protection
from the gremlins. If you use 3 lights the 3rd would be for a
background light which needs to be low to the floor and out of sight and
maybe no diffuser. A fourth light would be a hair light where you also
wouldn't use a brolly box type diffuser.
For portraiture I'd put the T32 in one and the put one or two T20s in
the other. For normal studio portraiture I'd use the T32 at full power
as the main light and a T20 as the fill light (also at its own full
power). Then balance exposure by moving the lights toward or away from
the subjects. Unfortunately, the T series flashes have little or no
manual control over power. For outdoor fill flash of groups you could
add the second T20 with the first in the same brolly box. That pair
would have slightly more power than the T32.
Canon film-era flash units like this 540 EZ have about the same power as
a T32 but have the advantage of 7 manually controlled power levels going
from full to 1/64.
<http://www.keh.com/camera/Canon-EOS-Shoe-Mount-Flashes/1/sku-CE219990018010?r=FE>
Chuck Norcutt
On 10/6/2010 10:39 AM, Olaf Greve wrote:
> Hi Chuck,
>
> >I didn't realize you'd be shooting something as large as 60cm. I
> >suspect your existing setup would perform well with that... tall and
> >narrow diffuser panels parallel and equidistant from the shell
> standing
> >on its end.
>
> It kinda works, but it is somewhat clumsy as I don't have nice stands
> for the loose panels... Anyway, a mixture of diffusers (varying per
> subject as needed) will of course always be an option.
>
> >Here's a better illustration of a shoot-through brolly box.
>
> ><http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/686037-REG/Interfit_INT383_Umbrella_Box_with_8mm.html
> >
> >The light is firing straight through the white part of the umbrella
> but
> >a lot is being reflected back. But the inside of the black panel is
> >typically a silvery material that reflects it back again.
>
> O.k., so I see it works as I already assumed. Nice. I like them.
> Chances are very good I'll give them a go. I guess two of them would
> do, but maybe I could do with three as that's the maximum amount of
> externally, remote, mounted flashes I could steer with my current
> flash gear anyway, and it may come in handy someday for doing studio
> family pics, or in case one of our gremlins breaks one of the brolly
> boxes (a not entirely unlikely scenario, given their track
> record ;) )...
>
> Your custom twin T32 mount looks nice! That must provide a LOT of power!
>
> I really like the tripod head you sent the pictures of: I have in
> total 3 T20 autoconnectors, so I could put those on 3 such heads and
> then use them at will with the T20s + T32 / T28 (I know that the T32
> and T28 can do perfectly well with the accompanying cold shoe, but it
> may make switching gear around a bit easier if all three heads simply
> have T20 autoconnectors on them, and... I'd then finally be using most
> of my flash gear somewhat more). :)
>
> Another thing that may be an alternative someday, if they come by
> cheaply, would be to just use studio lights, which would of course
> also help the focussing process, especially when shooting with the
> stopped down 50/3.5, but I fear these lamps are expensive. It's kinda
> more fun to be using the complex OM-gear set-up again, and spare the
> cost of lamps. :P
>
> Cheers,
> Olafo
>
--
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