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Christmas toys?

uofmtiger

uofmtiger

Addicted Member
Anyone get photography presents for Christmas? I got some new stuff:

580EX Speedlight
Canon off shoe cord 2
Stroboflame quick flip bracket
Lensbaby 2.0
Lansbaby macro filter
Bogen-Manfrotto 322RC2 Horizontal Grip Action Ball Head
Omni bounce diffuser

(I already owned the 20D)

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Thanks Santa!:D
 
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That quickflip was one of the best accessories I ever bought when I used to do weddings years ago. That and the Quantum flash system are truly wonderful products and often wondered how I ever managed without them. Great gear, enjoy!
 
Finally Dove in and Got a Photo Printer

Amazon was dumping Pixma Pro 9000s a few days ago. It's an 8-color printer with an advanced 2 picoliter head and an impossible depth of resolution for $358 and free delivery. I looked twice to make sure the price was not a mistake and banged buy. It's a hundred bucks cheaper than the running price now and half the price of an HP-III knockoff I bought in 1994. Cleaning and rearranging the office now to fit it in. Big printer at 28 inches wide.

Peter
 
Santa brought me a vertical grip for my Nikon D200, and an extra battery too! And I popped for a Gary Fong Lightsphere (in transit), as well as a couple of diffusers for Nikon SB-600 flashes. And a flash bracket is on the way from Hong Kong...

uofmtiger, that's a NICE batch of stuff! The flash bracket looks very smart, and I'm thinking I'll get something like that Bogen-M head, eventually...

What I'd like now is the mounting part from a dead/parts unit flash, to make a quick-mount diffuser for the built-in flash on my camera. I just took some snaps while holding a diffuser in front of the flash -- that is DEFINITELY the way to go for people shots, at least if I'm not carrying around a bigger flash with its own diffuser. Anyone got a totally dead and useless flash taking up space?
 
tubino said:
And I popped for a Gary Fong Lightsphere (in transit), as well as a couple of diffusers for Nikon SB-600 flashes. And a flash bracket is on the way from Hong Kong...
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That is a really cool looking device. I have never heard of it. I will be researching it further, but it looks like something that would be great for those family get togethers and such.

The flash bracket looks very smart, and I'm thinking I'll get something like that Bogen-M head
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Now that I have had some time to use them, I am loving both of them. The 322RC2 locks into place so fast that it is great for birds and other critters that take off while you are still tightening most tripod heads. It also handles my 100-400mm with ease.

The bracket allows the user to get the flash up higher and helps avoid red-eye. The bracket also adjusts at the top so you can move the flash position around. It makes it much easier to hand hold the camera while using the flash off the camera.

What I'd like now is the mounting part from a dead/parts unit flash, to make a quick-mount diffuser for the built-in flash on my camera.
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I have been using a Lumiquest softscreen for the built in flash:

B000B5H2BE.01-A1PY46IM1CBEG3._AA200_SCLZZZZZZZ_V38988269_.jpg
 
uofmtiger said:
I have been using a Lumiquest softscreen for the built in flash:

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Yeah, that's what I've been looking for! Showing me that product inspired me to use a penknife and quart cider bottle to make this:

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Truly crude but effective. It works well enough that I'll trim it up nicely and keep iit handy. I have two SB-600 flashes, and whenever possible I put the built-in flash in what Nikon calls "commander mode", where it uses infrared to control the flashes in separate groups, with TTL. It allows the user to balance the three flashes by setting +/- fstops from 0 in thirds of a stop. With a preflash it determines an appropriate balance, then applies the user-determined tweaks. For just shooting family pix, I set one or two flashes on a shelf, mantel, windowsill, or tripod, aim the flash to bounce off the ceiling, and pop away. The result is pretty natural balanced complimentary lighting most of the time.

But I ordered a flash bracket because I want the option of having the ceiling bounce (or Lightsphere-diffused) external flash AND the built-in for fill, all easily portable with the camera. No cords needed if I use the built-in in commander mode -- I like that!
 
uofmtiger said:
That is a really cool looking device. I have never heard of it. I will be researching it further, but it looks like something that would be great for those family get togethers and such.
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Just got it today, along with the instructional/extended commercial DVD, which appears to be defective. The Lightsphere DOES work, though I wonder iif I shouldn't have purchased the clear rather than the cloud...

uofmtiger said:
The bracket allows the user to get the flash up higher and helps avoid red-eye. The bracket also adjusts at the top so you can move the flash position around. It makes it much easier to hand hold the camera while using the flash off the camera.
Click to expand...

Also just got a recent ebay purchase: stroboframe R4b. Only thing is, using it to rotate the camera to vertical seems to be all backwards, with it tilting the bottom out to the LEFT instead of the right as my vertical grip wants...
 
I finally got a chance to test out my lensbaby last weekend. It is a lot of fun to mess around with. Unfortunately, it was raining most of the day, which created a challenge, but I was happy with the results (for the most part):

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Nice examples with the lensbaby. Is it reasonable to think of it as a way to get some tilt & shift functionality out of your existing lenses? Besides making part of the frame OUT of focus, could you use it to tilt the plane of focus to match one that is not perpendicular to the camera? IOW, could you use it to make MORE of the frame in focus that it would if shot "straight"?
 
tubino said:
Nice examples with the lensbaby. Is it reasonable to think of it as a way to get some tilt & shift functionality out of your existing lenses? Besides making part of the frame OUT of focus, could you use it to tilt the plane of focus to match one that is not perpendicular to the camera? IOW, could you use it to make MORE of the frame in focus that it would if shot "straight"?
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It has its own lens, so it does not work with existing lenses. I believe the focus area is bigger if you do not bend it. I have not done a direct comparison. However, you can see more blur in some shots and less in others. Which leads me to believe that no bend equals less blur. I will test it when I get a chance.
 
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