Yet another OT post, this time external flash - Digital Cameras

[flagger]

Over the weekend, I picked up an external flash for our Canon G2 digital camera and let me tell you what a difference it makes for shooting those indoor shots. I haven't even begun to play with all of the features, but going with the Canon ext. flash has really provided me with point and shoot set and forget capabilities.

I posted some test shots in this thread at another site just to show off what I mean: http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,6356351~root=dimaging~mode=flat

If you have a digital camera that has a "hot shoe" and allows for an external flash, I would recommend it as something to look into for even better quality indoor shots. Spending a little more for a flash that can be tilted or bounced off walls or a white card attached to it gets rid of that annoying glare and red eye in your shots.

Just thought I would pass on a tip.

[newbelly2002]

Does the ex Flash make the same sort of difference without a UV filter? We also have a canon G2 and love it, but the internal shots in the point and shoot mode are sometimes dissapointing.

on another note, for the amateur photographer here, how do you capture true color outside? We took some outside shots on a beautiful blue day and the photographs came out looking washed and gray. What settings would be best?

Any easy tips for the G2 (from someone with a little more time to read manuals)? Thanks so much!!

Paula

PS And congrats on the show win. That's fantastic. I'm thrilled when I can get my shepard/rottie mix, Chaucer, to roll over. I can only imagine the amount of work that goes into those beautiful dogs of yours.

[flagger]

I haven't removed the UV filter for any shots yet. As I posted in another thread, we are getting away this weekend and I will do lots of different shots to see what I get. I find myself leaving the UV filter on all the time (even indoors) because it is much cheaper to replace a $15 scratched filter than a lens. I just like that extra protection. Also as you can see in that first indoor shot with the zoom as wide as possible, the adapter ring that holds the filter was blocking out 20% of the flash area. The external makes it so much better even without bouncing. (You can see a more area covered in the back of the shot on the walls).

For your G2, try and get out of the habit of using the Auto mode. I stay in P most of the time, but have started to experiment with TV (Shutter speed) and AV (Aperture) modes. If I have time, I will go into M mode and really play. Also get it out of your head that your are "wasting film". That by far is the biggest hurdle to overcome. I try to take 5-10 shots in different modes when shooting the same subject. Remember you can go to "My computer" and look at the text file that corresponds to each shot. If you find a shot that worked, print that out or copy into a little book with the settings that worked for that situation.

Then again with a good photo-editing software, just about any shot can be cleaned up!

Thanks for the show win. We are very thrilled. We will be even more excited in three weeks when I go pick her up and she comes home. Her dog show friends had a mini shower for her on Saturday so hauling that stuff home on a plane was enough to ask than to try and manage turning in a rental car, getting the dog on the bus and checked in at the DFW airport by herself. I will go down south of Atlanta to get her as she will be brought up with someone else going to a dog show there.

[August Mom]

That looks great. What should I look for when choosing an external flash?

[flagger]

It depends on the camera. With Canon's, it was important for me to go with a Canon flash instead of an aftermarket model. I really wanted intergrated point and shoot capabilities. There are cheaper models, but you do get what you pay for.

I am by no means an expert, but I would check your camera manual first for recommended models and go from there.

[egoldber]

We have noticed similar results using an external flash on our Nikon Coolpix 990 (an older discontinued model). We just used the external flash that we already had for our film Nikon 35mm SLR. But both Sarah and I have light eyes and a terrible problem with redeye in photos. Even using the external flash we still got some redeye.

We ended up getting a flash bracket like this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bh4.sph/FrameWork.class?FNC=ProductActivator__Aproductlist _html___105119___STCF___REG___CatID=653___SID=F45B EE7A010

That took care of the redeye. Of course, by adding the bracket, it is no longer so portable, so at that point it is just easier to use our D1. So when I use the Coolpix, I just deal with redeye or only use it outside. We probably take 90% of our pictures with the D1 because of this problem. :(

Oh, also, adding a flash bouncer like this one http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bh4.sph/FrameWork.class?FNC=ProductActivator__Aproductlist _html___32429___LUBDPB___REG___CatID=655___SID=F45 BEE7A010 helps a lot if you have tall ceilings, like we do.

HTH,

[flagger]

A friend recommended getting an OMNIBounce, http://www.stofen.com/Store/Products.htm which gives a little softer result and is great to use it outdoor for fill flash.

I just ordered it yesterday, but would seem to do something like your flash bouncer.

The great thing about a digital camera is the ability to experiment with all different combinations. The flash I purchased not only has Vertical bounce but Horizontal bounce as well. It will be interesting trying 90 degree horizontal bounces and see what sort of interesting results. I wish I had the money for a second one as I would have the ability with this flash to have a master and slave unit for really professional looking photos.

[egoldber]

For occasional use, you might try renting a second flash. Rental prices are often pretty reasonable ($20 a "day", with a day being Friday to Monday). DH REALLY wants a medium format camera, but we would only use it a few times a year. Last year we rented a medium format camera, flash, lights, etc. We also used the external flash as a slave with our D1. We got some really spectactular shots. Now when DH starts getting camera envy, we go rent for a weekend. That gets it out of his system for awhile. We can rent a system MANY, MANY times before it even comes close to the price of the medium format system he wants. :)

[juliasdad]

It's definitely all about light.

For those with digital cameras that don't have hotshoes (most do not), if you have an SLR flash lying aroung, you can slave it to your little digital camera by picking up a hotshoe slave. It's a little device that pops on to your flash's hotshoe, and is optically triggered by the digital camera's flash. Wein makes one specifically for this purpose (see B&H Photo, Wein HS slave).

Trouble with this approach is that you need to make some manual adjustments, and many cameras don't allow for that. When I'm using my Nikon SB-28 with our little Canon S300, I typically set the camera to underexpose by 2 full stops. As long as things aren't under- or over-exposed beyond the camera's dynamic range, you can always adjust things with photo editing software afterwards.

External flash is a wonderful thing.

-dan

[flagger]

Where do you rent a flash from? Think Wolf or Ritz might offer that service?

[egoldber]

I doubt chain stores rent, but virtually any high end camera shop does. A city like Charlotte must have at least one or two.

HTH,

[juliasdad]

I can see renting medium/large format equipment; but for consumer 35mm flash, there's a pretty huge used market and you could probably do fairly well with a "long-term rental" on eBay (i.e. buy it, and resell it when you're tired of it). Heck, even higher-end units like Metz are plentiful on the used market.

-dan

[egoldber]

Agreed. But if you want to try something out for a weekend just to see if you like it before spending $$ on it (even used), it's a good way to do it. We do this whenever we have buy camera equipment that is more than a few $$ and have always been glad we did.

I admit I haven't looked for flashes on eBay, but I have been haunting eBay for a Nikon 60mm macro lens for a year and I have never seen them go for less than almost full retail (when they even show up). How much are good flashes going for on eBay?

[juliasdad]

> How much are good flashes going for on eBay?

Like anything else there, it looks like prices are widely variable, and things that are more mass-market tend to command higher prices. I took a quick glance and saw a number of Nikon speedlights that sold for maybe 50-70% of retail on average. But something less consumer-oriented, like Metz flashes, seem to have better deals available.

I just did a quick peek... the micro 60mm AF seems to go for low-to-mid-$200 on eBay, and retail for a US lens is in the high $300s, I think... no? Seems like a neat lens to have! Be really nice for underwater work, too...

-dan

[egoldber]

The lens I'm looking for usually goes for around $280-$320 on eBay. A US lens retails for $389 and a gray market lens for $329 at B&H. For $280, I'd rather spend the extra $40, buy a new gray market lens from B&H and get the year warranty from B&H.

I love the Nikon macro lenses. I have the 105mm macro and is a spectacular portrait lens, but sometimes a little too "close", especially when I use it on the D1.

And it would be nice for underwater work, if I had an underwater housing and if I dived. :) Although DH dives.