Lighting Tips on a Budget by Rogue and 15% Discount Offer!

Rogue Flashbender 2 Portable Lighting Kit

My friends at Rogue have been creating awesome products for flashes that have been all the rage for years now, but their web site has been rather simplistic to say the least. To address this shortcoming they’ve launched a new site this past April that now features a bunch of videos and blog articles to help you to master their full suite of affordable light modifiers.

However, the really cool part is that they’ve extended the ronmartblog.com 15% off discount from their old site to this new site so you can save on their huge lineup of products.

Cool Videos Filtering Feature

Isn’t it frustrating when you watch videos that don’t really apply to you because they use too many products you don’t have or want? Wouldn’t it be great if you could filter the videos to only include what you have or what you are interested in? Well here’s a great solution on Rogue’s Video Page:

How to save 15%

Click here to see their full list of products and add any items you want to the cart, then begin the checkout process which begins with an order summary like this:

Be sure you click the link to enter the discount code. Once you’ve done that, enter my discount code which currently is ronmart09 and CLICK APPLY as shown below. If that doesn’t work then check my discount coupon code page for the latest code. If that still doesn’t work then contact me.

If you did everything right you should see the discount code and the amount deducted along with a summary at the bottom similar to this:

What’s new for FlashBender 2

If you’ve already been using FlashBender products or have read my previous reviews, then you’ve probably wondered what’s new for version 2. To help with that I’ve created this slightly underexposed image to highlight the difference in the reflective surfaces:

New (left) vs Old (right)

While it is immediately obvious that the new system to attach the FlashBender to the flash is smaller and more secure, what’s less obvious at first glance is that the material used on the reflective surface is lighter and thinner – but just as effective. The net result is a lighter and more secure product.

If you’ve used the first version of the Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit that I reviewed, you’ll be happy to know that the new one uses the new FlashBender 2 system and includes an egg crate grid as shown below:

New Egg Crate Grid Feature on FlashBender 2 XL Pro Lighting System

The left shot shows it attached and the right shows that this is the same system as v1 with a carrying case a egg crate attachment.

Be sure to use my previously mentioned coupon code to pick any of these up on the Rogue website or at B&H.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• KelbyOne Training Review and Discount
• Rogue Gels (Color Correction Only Version)
• Rogue Grid
• Rogue Softbox and Diffusion Panels
• Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit
• Tripod Recommendations
• Variable Neutral Density Filter Comparison (B+W, Bower, Hoya, Singh-Ray & Tiffen)
• Canon 600EX-RT Flash First Look (ST-E3 RT)
• Discount Coupon Code Page
• Ron’s Recommendations 

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

COMPARISON: Flashpoint Soft Box for Shoe Mount Flashes vs Lastolite Joe McNally 24" Ezybox

Lastolite Joe McNally 24" Ezybox vs Flashpoint 24” Softbox

My friends at Adorama sent me a Flashpoint 24” Softbox to see how I liked it, so I decided to do a very quick (like 20 minute) test to check it out. You know, this is the kind of thing you typically do when you get something new where you rip open the box and just try it out right away (while UPS is still on your block!). I was already a big fan of my Lastolite Joe McNally 24" Ezybox (which is just a branded version of this), so I thought I’d try it out really quick before watching a movie with my wife last night.

Ezyboxes collapse faster, but are huge. The Flashpoint is easier to travel stuff in your luggage

I couldn’t rope my wife into being a model, and my kids were getting the popcorn ready so please bear with my quick and dirty review here (and lame pics of yours truly with laying on the sofa hair <g>).

Physical Comparison

Before I discuss how each unit performs as a softbox, it’s important to discuss how practical they are as portable softboxes. This is where the Ezybox has set the golden standard (in my opinion) for great performance and easy of use.

Sure Westcott has the Apollo in a variety of sizes, but I never liked it because the flash is inside means that you either need something like Pocket Wizards or a sync cord because there is no line of sight with your trigger. I preferred to use my old 580EX II’s (or NikonSB-910’s) with line of sight rather than Pocket Wizards so the Apollo was out of the question for me.

Of course Westcott offers the outrageously priced $229+ magic slipper and softbox kits to match the Ezybox, but even that didn’t perform as well as the Ezybox and it wasn’t very portable. As a result, the Ezybox, trigrip (for shooting through) or an umbrella has always been my portable soft light solution.

As you can see from the photos above, the Ezybox collapses quickly into a nice flat triangle and comes with a storage bag, but it’s so large you can’t fit it in typical luggage bags. This means if you want to travel with this gadget then you need to carry it on the plan which is a bit of a hassle. The first thing I noticed about the Flashpoint was how compact it was because I knew I could toss that into any of my existing luggage bags.

Ezybox includes everything you need like a plastic slipper that holds your flash

Setting up the Ezybox is equally easy but over time it gets a little wonky shaped (see above) unless you wrestle with it a bit. It’s okay though because light doesn’t care much if the box is a bit off kilter – it just works. It features a plastic slipper for your flash that just pops in the back and it also has proven to be durable and just work.

Inside the Ezybox there is a inner baffle and it comes with white or silver inside

The Ezybox works like a proper softbox and even features an inner baffle. My McNally version has a white interior, but it’s also available in silver as well. What’s more, the Velcro on the recessed lip on the inside and around the outside can be used to mount accessories like an eggcrate grid.

Ezybox vs Flashpoint side view

When you put the Ezybox next to the Flashpoint, you quickly see the quality advantage of the Ezybox which drives up the price, but you also see that the Flashpoint offers the same size box for a fraction of the cost.

Ezybox vs Flashpoint head on view

Head on you quickly see one big difference – the Ezybox has a smaller surface area thanks to its very nice recessed design. However, both offer roughly the same amount of soft light for your subject, so the biggest difference here is the control you get from the recessed design.

If you look inside of the Flashpoint you see a very “Apollo-like” interior with no inner baffle or obvious support for accessories:

The No-Frills Flashpoint Interior

It’s Spartan, but it works. From behind it’s much like the Ezybox, but it uses a much taller tower of brackets:

Flashpoint Rear View

Setting up the Flashpoint is much more challenging thanks to its very annoying tent-like poles (shown in the first picture in this article) that are common to pro softboxes. While nicely designed Velcro straps help make inserting and removing the last two very easy, its still a pain and not as quick as the all-in-one design for the Ezybox by Lastolite.

Softbox Performance Comparison

Flashpoint behind the scenes setup

Since I was alone and in a hurry, I tried to do this quick test on the cheap. Instead of using my reflector (which I’d get out later), I just grabbed a piece of foil and tossed it on a tripod for a quick mild fill light on the opposite side of the Flashpoint box. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. On the white seamless I just tossed a purple Rogue Gel on a flash to get a little color in the background.

Flashpoint test #1 (f/2.8 for 1/60 sec @ ISO 400)

Initially I used my 600EX-RT flash with the ST-E3 in radio mode to trigger them, but I’d switch to a 580EX II’s triggered by optical instead radio just to give them a real workout. They performed well, so I got started with my testing. As you can see from my setup and the shot above, this simple one light configuration turned out okay. Sure, I could have dialed it in better but what I saw was that I got nice soft light from the Flashpoint, so I was happy.

Ezybox test #1 (foil shown off my arm, but it was on my arm for the close up)

Ezybox test #1

I got less light spill and a slightly softer light with the Ezybox, but overall the two performed equally well. There’s lots of tests I could do here, but I just wanted to see if I could get this basic shot – it did it with no problem. I had more shots than you see here, but the performance was similar so I just grabbed one randomly to demonstrate that it doesn’t suck for you.

Over and under "Clamshell" setup with reflector

Just in case anyone might complain that neither of these boxes gives much light, I thought I’d have fun with a clamshell setup to show that bright light is no problem.

Flashpoint test #2 (f/13 for 1/60sec @ ISO 100)

You’ll notice here that I was able to do f/13 at ISO 100 with no problem (at 0EV and ETTL). I also elected to use a 580EX II only with a 600EX-RT as a optical trigger (but a ST-E2 or another 580 would have worked just as well) to show that you can use older flashes (and whatever you need to trigger them) and get good results.

Conclusion

While I hated the complexity of setting the Flashpoint up, the reality is that you get used to it really quick and it only takes a few minutes longer than the super easy Ezybox. Lightwise they both performed well, but I did prefer the Ezybox recessed design which helps prevent as much light spillage and also the interior baffle to soften the light even more. Both of these issues could be addressed by the do-it-yourselfer, so for those on a budget the Flashpoint 24” Softbox offers a great value. It’s also can’t be emphasized enough how easy it is to air travel with the Flashpoint vs the Ezybox, so some may find it worth picking up a Flashpoint for that reason alone.

Where to order

Click here to order the Flashpoint 24” Softbox or you can click here to order the Lastolite Joe McNally 24" Ezybox on the Adorama web site.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• Home Studio on a Budget
• Lens / Camera Gear Rental Series (includes discounts)
• Canon 600EX-RT Flash First Look (ST-E3 RT)
• Olympus OM-D E-M5 (with 2 lenses) Review
• Getting Started in Boudoir Photography
• Discount Coupon Code Page
• How do I get my kid to look at the darn camera?
• What’s Hot in Photography and Photo Editing Books

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this. While I paid for my Ezybox, I was given a Flashpoint soft box – at my request – by Adorama for testing for this review.

ExpoImaging Rogue Grid – The “Must Have” On-Camera Flash Modifier

Save 15% using the coupon code ronmart09 (see details below)

Trust me when I say you read it here first – the hottest flash modifier this year will be ExpoImaging’s new Rogue Grid. This brilliant design fits nicely on the end of your speedlite (i.e., 580EX II, SB-900, etc…) using the brilliant built-in speed strap found on the mega-hot Rogue Flashbenders (i.e., the things that replaced the Honl’s and their stupid expensive stand-alone speed strap), and features 3 grids that can be combined or used alone to give you a 16, 25 or 45 degree grid as shown here: 

From what I’m seeing in the early test images shown here:

these things look awesome. I’m hoping that they work a lot better than the more costly and rectangular Honl Grids. They are good value too because they only cost about $43 with my discount (as of 3/22/2011) and come with 3 grids versus $70 for two Honl grids and a speed strap.

The second I heard about these I got in the queue to get the first batch of these. I can’t wait to try them out, so expect a review later this year. I wanted you to be the first to know about this cool new product but I know it won’t be the last time you hear about it.

Special Offer

My blog already has a discount coupon code in place for existing ExpoImaging products like the Rogue Flashbenders (review coming soon), ExpoDisc, and RayFlash, but I’m pleased to announce now that you can also save 15% when you use the coupon code ronmart09 to order your Rogue Grid.

Codes change so check the discount coupon code page for the latest code if this code doesn’t work.

Other Interesting Articles

If you liked this article, you may also like:

• Two GREAT Camera Flash Books
• REVIEW- Joe McNally & David Hobby’s Flash Bus Take Seattle By Storm
• Quantum QFlash & Custom Brackets Rotating Flash Bracket
• ExpoImaging ExpoDisc (Color Balancing Tool)
• On-Camera Flash Techniques

See the right panel and read me first tab for more great articles!

Disclosure

I’m a big fan of ExpoImaging products so I am doing this press release to promote this product that I think will be a big hit this year. I may get a commission if you purchase using the links in this article, so please support this blog by using the links!

Two GREAT Camera Flash Books

My reviews are coming, but these are too cool not to share right away.

The first book, Speedliter's Handbook: Learning to Craft Light with Canon Speedlites is the Canon Speedlite owners (i.e., 580EX II) dream come true – it’s EVERYTHING you wanted to know about the Canon flash system,accessories and more! This thing is as big as an algebra book with gobs of pictures so this is likely to find a long-term home on my Which Books Should I Read list.

The second book Off-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Photographers is the sequel to a book that’s already on my must read list – On-Camera Flash Techniques which I love. While I think I learned more from the first one, this is still a great book for those who are ready to take those flashes off the hot shoe and do more with them.

Flash Bus Tour Fans

I know a lot of readers right now are coming from Joe McNally’s blog to see my Flash Bus Tour review, so welcome! Stay a while and check out my Discount Coupon Code page and world famous Printing Series for lots of great reasons to hang around here more often!

If you are a Nikon shooter then Joe’s books like Hot Shoe Diaries and The Moment It Clicks are probably already on your shelf (at least they should be). However, Neil’s Off-Camera flash book (a Canon shooter who switched to Nikon) is going to be a good resource for you to reinforce what Joe and David are teaching you on the tour.

If you are a Canon shooter (like me), then you’ve been frustrated by all of the great info from Joe and David that never seems to apply to our Canon flashes. Well our day has come as I am not aware of any Nikon flash book that is as comprehensive as the Speedliter’s Handbook. I’m a long way from finishing it, but so far I’m so jazzed that I feel like I just found a buried treasure!

No matter what camp you are in Joe & David’s tour is worth the price of admission, but this is good stuff for afterwards when you forgot everything they said (and sadly there’s no comprehensive handouts like a Kelby Training event).

Reviews Coming Later…

I will be reviewing both of these books (that I love) so stay tuned. In the meantime scroll down the right side of this blog and check out all of the other popular articles I’ve written. More good stuff is definitely on the way!

Disclosure

I may get a commission if you purchase using my links. Thanks for supporting this blog by using my links! It doesn’t cost you a penny extra and it helps me to bring you more great content!

REVIEW: Joe McNally & David Hobby’s Flash Bus Take Seattle By Storm

Joe McNally (left) & David Hobby (right) kick off their tour in Seattle
Copyright © Ron Martinsen – All Rights Reserved

I was a lucky enough today to attend Joe McNally & David Hobby (of Strobist.com fame)’s Flash Bus Tour that kicked off in Seattle, Washington. It was a packed house of photography geeks eager to learn from these two flash masters.

It was a full house (more than I expected actually)
Copyright © Ron Martinsen – All Rights Reserved

David Hobby’s Morning Presentation

The morning started off with David Hobby of Strobist.com showing some of his techniques in a visual presentation. During this discussion David shows how he starts off taking shots to get the ambient light where he wants it, and then how he builds up from there to do his fill light, accent light and then lastly his key light. It was very fun to have David walk through his thought process and light configurations to show how he goes about getting his results.

Shot of the projector of one of David Hobby’s Setups

I thought it was great that David not only went into detail about what went right, but also the trial and error he goes through about what goes wrong as he tries to build the ideal light setup. David’s explanations were very thorough and showed the lighting configurations very well so it was easy to learn how he does his magic.

The only gripe I had about this presentation was that it lacked any handout notes so you are left with the decision to scribble notes or pay attention. I elected to just pay attention and listen as well as doing a few photos of the projectors so I could have visual notes to refer to later.

Joe McNally’s Afternoon Presentation

Joe McNally rocked the house right away with his killer presentation
Copyright © Ron Martinsen – All Rights Reserved

Joe McNally started his afternoon presentation exactly as you would hope after reading his awesome books The Moment It Clicks and Hot Shoe Diaries – with a hole shitload of gelled SB-900 flashes. He had the room lit up in blue and even featured jumps with electric guitars for a shot that makes you bend down and realize you aren’t worthy. Of course Joe made it all look so easy and did a great job of explaining how to get the amazing shots he does day in and out.

Black Swan attendee gets are 15 minutes of fame
Copyright © Ron Martinsen – All Rights Reserved

Just as Joe promised on his blog, attendees with the best costumes were featured as models during his shoot. Unlike David who just talked about his shots and showed a presentation of his setups, Joe let it all hang out and just setup up the lights (with a team of assistants) and actually made the photos he would discuss.

Another local attendee gets the limelight in her “70’s” outfit
Copyright © Ron Martinsen – All Rights Reserved

It was awesome to see Joe in action and see how he pulls off his magic. It was also interesting to note that he was fairly open to questions while he worked so you were able to see and hear his thought process (and see his miscues) in what it takes to get the shots that he does.

Conclusion

Everybody respects these guys for their body of work and what they’ve given back to the photography community in their blogs. However, it was a real honor to see these masters of the speedlite show how they build up to get the great shots that they get.

I’m a Canon shooter so I was worried how much I’d really get out of this presentation, but it was done in a way that your flash system really doesn’t matter. It was disappointing that there were special offers for pocket wizards for Nikon only and not Canon as well, but beyond that there wasn’t much ill will towards Canon shooters.

It was fast paced and informative, and a no brainer for the price. I highly recommend this tour if you are lucky enough to get a ticket before they sell out in a city near you.

Visit the Flash Bus Tour web site for more information.

Disclosure

I attended at my own expense (full price) and receive no compensation for your participating in the Flash Bus Tour. I only submit this article to you as a public service and as a token of appreciation to Joe and David for their great show today.

B&H Hands-On: Nikon D7000 & 24-120mm f/4G ED VR

 
Nikon D7000 & Nikkor 24-120mm lens
Photo taken with a Canon 5D Mark II and 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM

Allan Weitz has an article on B&H insights! called “The New Nikon D7000: Simply Amazing”, and after using this camera with the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR Zoom Lens I’d say I have to agree.

I’m a Canon shooter, but I had heard a lot of great buzz about this camera during the fall of 2010. While I had hands-on use of the D3, D3s, and D700 over the year, as well as the occasional interaction with other models that my students own during my classes, I typically don’t write about my experiences. Much of my research is for my own use and for keeping my Which DSLR Should I Buy? article current, but I had such fun with this camera I thought I’d add my 2 cents for the record on the blog.

Keep in mind this article is really just a short blurb about my experience using this camera, but for a proper full review I recommend the DPReview review of the D7000.

A Word About The Images In This Article

All of the shots taken with the D7000 that appear in this article are straight out of camera JPEG originals that are hosted on my smugmug account. If you go to http://ronmart.smugmug.com/blog/nikon/d7000 you can see all the images in a gallery together as well as download the originals (for your personal and private viewing only – Copyright 2011 Ron Martinsen - all rights reserved). To download the original in-camera JPEG just hover over the image and choose Save Photo (the file folder with the down arrow icon) to save the original to disk as shown here:

Hover over photos to see the menu option to save originals

D7000 Camera Thoughts

1/60 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800, 58mm (18-105mm kit lens)
SB-900 Flash @ –1 Flash Exposure Compensation

For this article, I had the Nikon D7000 DSLR Camera Kit with Nikon 18-105mm DX VR Lens but B&H also sent the  Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR Zoom Lens as well as a SB-900 flash.

Mouse over to see 18mm, mouse out to see 105mm

I took a variety of shots with the kit lens and found the range to be quite useful and the results to be acceptable for a kit lens. The results naturally weren’t as good as the 24-120mm that I’ll talk about later in this review, and there’s a whole slew of great lens available in my Which Lens Should I Buy? article, but this is an acceptable starter lens for those on a tight budget.

Overall I found this camera to be very fun and easy to use. It’s very quirky going from Canon to Nikon so I struggled a bit at first to get used to the differences. After I got over this mental hump, I appreciated Nikon’s attempt to have all of your important controls available on physical camera body buttons instead of being nested in menus.

Pop-up Flash

1/60 sec at f/4.0, ISO 1600, 24mm (24-120mm)
Pop-up Flash Example

I’ve always been impressed with the quality of Nikon’s built-in pop-up flash, and this camera is no different. I felt it did a reasonable job of providing some fill light without sending a nuclear bomb of light onto my subject.

High ISO Performance

1/500 sec at f/4.0, ISO 6400, 100mm (24-120mm)
ISO 6400 looks pretty darn good

In typical modern-day Nikon fashion, the high ISO performance was outstanding. The shot above is not modified in any way (and to be fair you need to see a large one to appreciate noise) it came out of the camera pretty darn good. Now the camera does do a bit of its own noise reduction, but the raw image was definitely a lot better than what I’ve seen from the Canon 60D.

1/200 sec at f/4, ISO 2500, 24mm (24-120mm)
ISO 2500 is excellent out of camera & when printed

Naturally the images at 6400 were a bit softer on detail, but for a simple family snapshots like these I thought it did a good job.

White Balance

1/160 sec at f/4, ISO 2500, 105mm (24-120mm)
Fluorescent White Balance was much better than AWB
for this indoor shot under fluorescent lights

I’ve always despised Nikon’s Auto White Balance (AWB), and even some of the white balance presets, and this camera is no different here. I prefer the warmer and more vibrant results I get out of my Canon cameras, so I found myself wanting to do more post-processing work on the few images I played with than I’d typically do on my Canon images.

There’s a reason why Scott Kelby and Joe McNally are always talking about which white balance setting to use in Nikon cameras in their books – because Nikon’s AWB just doesn’t make good decisions much of the time.

Not all is well in paradise

The BM-11 LCD Cover for D7000 breaks easily
Photo taken with a Canon 5D Mark II and 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM

I’m probably preaching to the choir of Nikon users, but I found out on my last day shooting with the D7000 that great care must be taken when trying to remove the LCD cover (BM-11) that is included with the camera. I just made one false move and it cracked instantly as shown in the photo above.

It’s funny that something that is meant to protect the LCD is so fragile, but I guess if you leave it in place you’ll be fine. I had to remove it because some moisture somehow made its way under and I wanted to clean it out quickly. Lesson learned, and apparently one that Nikon expects to happen as this is an easy to order part on B&H.

The Lens

1/200 sec at f/4, ISO 6400, 31mm (24-120mm)

I’ll cut to the chase and say that as a Canon user my 24-105mm lens is my go to ever day lens, but when I tested a D700 with the Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED I fell in love. Just like the 24-105mm in the Canon camp, the 24-120mm offers consumers the trade off of weight and speed for a greater range and vibration reduction (VR). The tradeoff is great from the standpoint that this is a very nice range for this lens and the VR well, but this lens is no match for the sharpness of the Nikon 24-70mm in my opinion.

1/15 sec at f/11, ISO 4500, 120mm (24-120mm)
Vibration Reduction did its job very well here

If not compared side-by-side, I think anyone would love this lens as much as I did during my review. While it doesn’t have the wide angle or reach of the kit lens, I found it to be an excellent upgrade to get crisp, sharp images that were fewer and farther between in my daily testing of the kit lens. This is why you’ve probably noticed by now that most of my images in this article come from shots using the 24-120mm instead of the kit lens – despite shooting roughly the same amount frames with both lenses.

1/125 sec at f/7.1, ISO 160, 120mm (24-120mm)
The D7000 metering handled this tough contrast situation
very well in-camera under studio lights

For an unbiased and accurate review of this lens, look no further than SLRGear’s blur index tests where you can visually see where this lens is sharpest and where it fades out. As they mention in their review, I can confirm that I also saw a much higher than expected amount of Chromatic Aberrations especially at higher ISO’s. Even still, it is an improvement of SLRGear’s review of the Nikon 24-70mm ƒ/2.8G IF-ED AF-S which really has sharpness and speed going for it, but not much else especially it’s higher price tag.

1/200 sec at f/4, ISO 5000, 38mm (24-120mm)

Ultimately both the 24-70 & 24-120 are great lenses, so Nikon shooters face the same tough dilemma Canon shooters face, but if you buy either and simply ignore the other you’ll be a very happy camper as both are excellent lenses. For more information about my lens recommendations, please check out my Which lens should I buy? article.

SB-900 Flash

1/60 sec at f/4.0, ISO 200, 50mm (24-120mm)
SB-900 Flash @ –1 Flash Exposure Compensation is still very powerful

Joe McNally  shows the power of the Nikon flash system in his excellent books The Moment it Clicks and Hot Shoe Diaries, so I don’t really need to write much here about this flash. I will tell Canon users that when mounted to the hot shoe, I’ll take the Canon 580 EX II over this flash any day, but when you get the flash off the camera is where this flash’s power and Nikon’s CLS system really shine.

Here’s a good review of the SB-900 for those who are looking for more in-depth details about this product.

Conclusion

1.0 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100, 24mm (24-120mm)

I love the D7000.

If I had the extra money right now I’d keep this camera as it’s very fun to use and has a ton of powerful features I have yet to explore. It’s not a camera that makes me want to switch platforms, so I’m still very happy with my Canon gear, but I’d pick this camera over the D700 and D300s due to its great image quality, excellent features, and overall bang for the buck.Of course, people’s purchase decisions aren’t always about value, so naturally there are cases where you need the burst mode performance of the D700 but I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t pick this camera over the D300s.

I just barely tinkered with the video even though that’s an important feature of this camera. However, as a Canon 5D Mark II and 1D Mark IV owner, I’m spoiled with amazing video features so I was a bit underwhelmed at first glance.

My main gripes with the D7000 are the slow burst mode (6 fps), the dual SD lots (no CF) instead of support for UDMA 6 Compact Flash, and too many megapixels. I’d sacrifice megapixels for quality any day, and I can’t help but think how much better its images would be if Nikon had thought the same thing.

From spouse friendly usability features like the scene modes, to important features like True HD (1920x1080) video and a greater ISO range, there is much to love about the D7000 (especially over the D300s). It’s no wonder these cameras are so hard to find in stock!

Click here to see full-size versions of all of the in-camera JPEG’s (sorry, no raw). All images are copyright Ron Martinsen, 2011, and may not be reused or retransmitted using any medium without expressed written consent. Downloads are for individual educational use only and should be deleted the same day of the download.

Ordering Info

Here’s where you can order yours:

• Nikon D7000 DSLR Camera Kit with Nikon 18-105mm DX VR Lens
• Nikon D7000 DSLR Camera (Body Only)
• Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR Zoom Lens
• Nikon SB-900 Flash

If these products are not in stock and/or you decide to order elsewhere, please consider making a donation to this blog if you found this article useful.

Disclosure

B&H loaned me the gear for this article for a few weeks, and if you purchase using the links mentioned in this article I may get a commission. Thanks for supporting this blog by using the links, and coming back here if the item is out of stock right now.

Readers perspective of Joe McNally’s One-Day Lighting Workshops

The photography club which I co-lead is made up of 2300+ members around the world, and just by coincidence two of our members recently attended Joe McNally’s One-Day Lighting Workshops and shared their experiences with the group. Now if you know anything about the photography industry, you know that Joe McNally (who’s on my Top Photographers list) is like a god of lighting that even the most respected Top Photographers in the industry bow down to his amazing body of work and quick thinking. It’s probably on the bucket list of many of them (and definitely mine) to attend one of Joe’s workshops to learn from the grand pooh bah of Speedlights, so I thought you’d enjoy hearing these club members perspective on his class.

Perspective #1 by Ken Moore

Last week I attended one of Joe McNally’s One Day Basic Lighting workshops and Ron invited me to share my experience with, you, his readers. If you’re interested in attending one of his workshops and wondering whether you should attend the Basic or Advanced workshop, you probably want to start with the Basic one. He’s been a pro for over thirty years and the class moves along at a pretty fast pace, so what’s “basic” to Joe seemed fairly advanced to me.

Roughly half the fifteen attendees were working professional photographers. The other half was serious amateurs, with day jobs outside the photography industry. Every attendee brought some kind of full-frame camera. Although Joe uses Nikon cameras (and his wife works for Nikon), he kept the class camera-neutral. 4 of the 15 attendees were Canon shooters and everyone else had a D700, D3, or D3s.

Joe started the class with a slide show of some of his work, commenting on how he lit each one (“big lights - outside,” “small lights with bounce fill”). He polled the group for whether we had a preference for working the small lights or big lights and the group’s preference was for small lights. So, we used SB-900s for most of the day. He then described most of the items in the studio (umbrellas, soft boxes, tri-grip diffusers), explaining why and when he uses each one.

The next three hours had Joe going through various shooting situations, explaining how he deals with various combinations of lighting situations and natural light problems. He started by discussing situations in which TTL metering is fooled and how to compensate. If you look at this blog entry, in which the last two photos were taken in my class, the last photo was taken during that part of the class. The reason I’m not in the picture is Joe asked me to be the “model,” because I was the only person wearing a white shirt and he wanted to show how TTL would underexpose in that situation. (I’m in the picture above that one, the fourth person from the left. That was taken during a break when Drew, one of Joe’s assistants, explained how he preps Joe’s cameras and does sensor cleaning.)

One of my big takeaways from this part of the class was that there is still a lot of trial and error, even for really experienced professionals. It’s just that Joe makes fewer mistakes and converges really fast on a good image. The picture below was taken during one of those situations, as Joe was checking the monitor while working through a backlighting scenario.

After a few situations, it’s clear he works pretty much the same way with every scene and model:

1. Evaluate a picture taken with available light. Adjust the composition and expose to get all those elements as intended. (He always starts in Aperture priority, AWB, and maximum flash sync shutter speed (1/250 for D3s). The lens he used most of the time was the 70-200 f2.8 zoom).
   
2. Add the main light(s) and adjust as necessary, always starting with TTL metering. In Nikon’s CLS system, main lights are always in Group A, fill lights in Group B, and background lights in Group C. Don’t add fill (lights or bounce) until the main light is set correctly.
   
3. Add the fill light(s) and make adjustments.
   
4. Add the background lights and make adjustments.
   
5. Work with the model and take enough pictures until getting the one that “hits.”

After lunch, Joe worked through a few more complicated situations, including one that used big lights (Elinchrom Rotalux “Deep Throat” Octa 39″ Softbox) combined with SB-900s in SU-4 remote mode. In the picture below, which was taken during that scenario, Joe is using the Nikkor 200mm F2 on his D3s.

After that, he split the group into 4 teams, each with a model, and sent us off to take pictures anywhere inside or outside the building using just one SB-900, but any combination of modifiers and reflectors we wanted. (One team was all the Canon shooters.) This was difficult, but a really great learning experience. It was the first time for me working with a team of assistants and a professional model, but the hard part was communicating what I was trying to shoot and coordinating all of them. It was also educational being an assistant for someone else, while trying to help them get the shot they were looking for. Periodically, Joe would check each team and ask how it was going. It’s one thing to look over his shoulder while he’s working, but having him looking over mine added to the pressure. It’s probably what working pros have to deal with when their art director or client wants to see how it’s going, so I guess it added to the experience. I can’t say I got results anywhere close to what Joe did, but I tried some new things are below are a couple of pictures that I shot:

At the end of the day, while we were uploading files for the models, Joe answered our remaining questions. I got more out of the day than I expected and really learned a lot. Mostly, I’ve got some new ideas and experiments to run, so I’m looking forward to shooting them. Joe’s a great instructor and he always kept the group engaged, often with his celebrity anecdotes and wacky sense of humor.I really enjoyed the workshop and highly recommend it.

Perspective #2 – John DuBois

There are a good number of great, enthusiastic shooters where Ken and Ron work, I count myself lucky enough (thankful really) to be part of that group. Ron also asked me to write some comments about my experiences. It was the luck of a timely business trip for me that created the opportunity to attend one of Joe McNally’s Lighting Workshops. A rare treat! I attended an advanced workshop later in the week.

As Joe would say I’m a repeat offender having had a prior experience through his work with the Digital Landscape Workshop Series folks. In DLWS there are several lighting sessions where Joe discusses and demonstrates lighting and using small flash during “class” time or out in the field. The fast pace that Ken mentioned is definitely an ingredient of the lighting segments in that program and I think just a natural result of Joe’s teaching by doing style using real world examples. I talked with attendees that also attended on earlier days and they shared that those workshops were similar in content to ours that day with the pace juiced a little bit more.

He asked the group as we went through the day what we wanted to do next (“would you like to work that big light example we just did only with small flash or would you…”) and the day just played from there – a question asked, some class feedback, a problem to light emerges and then we dive in and get it sorted out. If you’ve read “The Moment It Clicks” or “Hot Shoe Diaries” or viewed Joe’s online training via Kelby Training, this approach will be immediately familiar. A lot of the technique is covered in “Hot Shoe Diaries”. What a live class with a small group adds is a much more direct and intimate experience with the process - the dynamic of going from start to finish while also directly observing 30 years of pro experience working through a problem in real time (you don’t realize until the end when it’s your turn to shoot with a team how much that experience counts). That dynamic also includes some overlooked aspects of studio work such as working with, talking to, caring for the people involved especially the model. Much of the success of the final image also comes from someone who is secure in front of the camera surrounded by all of the commotion of setting up the shot - that is also the photographer’s responsibility.

We ran into lighting snags (flashes wouldn’t fire, drifted up into high speed sync, too much ambient, not enough flash) to work out along the way and that was part of the fun. Ken described a good bit of the process in his post. One consistent area of Joe’s comments stuck with me and it all had to do about light – “quality of light”, “wrapping around”, “light draping the subject’s face”, “lovely, soft” etc etc. He’s thinking of those elements as it builds the shot. Consistency also helps keep things simple in what can get very complicated (and confusing) very fast and when things didn’t stay simple often the best recourse was to reset from a good starting point and work forward again, we did that enough for me to see the value in that approach, something I had to apply myself later in the workshop. We also were able to step into the shots ourselves after they were mostly setup and try a handful of captures individually. If I had Joe McNally to setup and light a scene and then just step in and shoot... was I dreaming?

I came away with wanting to add one inexpensive piece of gear to my kit and that was the Ray Flash ring flash that Ron has mentioned on his blog (which includes a discount!!!!). The Ray Flash produces a direct, shadow-less light source that surprised me in its simplicity and amazed me with the final images. We used it for several lighting problems and several images appear on Joe’s blog from the workshops.

Ken outlined the way Joe breaks down a problem and builds up a solution in his post and Joe followed that path during the workshop that I attended to. I thought I would share how that was done for an image that was posted on Joe’s blog that was shot in the workshop that I attended and then show an example from my time with one of the models during the workshop.

We went into one of the “unique” spaces that the Dobbs Ferry Building offered with a model and the first thing he does is size up the overall feel of the ambient light and finds an exposure value that gives more control of that ambient when used with flash. Below is an available light shot of the raw material of the shoot.

Next setting the lights – this would be shot with a single overhead light through an umbrella.

Add some interest to the shot – Joe experiments with the white balance of the shot and goes to a tungsten in camera setting to change the mode of the ambient to a much cooler value and then gels the flash with a full cut and a half CTO (color temperature orange) counter the white balance change and bring the light first to a neutral level and then warmer (this is the light hitting the subject). A bunch of shots follow…

You can see on the monitor where the shot headed – the background is pushed back, the feel of the room is a cooler blue and yet the model radiates a warmer tone with a nice balance of light. One light, camera left, one reflector for a little fill. He also has the model orient himself to the light so that the line through the shoulders is on the focus plane of the camera. A final version of this is posted on Joe’s blog from that day. Fun to watch and learned a lot along the way.

My model shots from the end of the day were also part of the fun, all done as with Ken with a team sharing time together over roughly 90 minutes. It was a very intense experience; mostly with one with one off-camera flash and some diffusers/reflectors. If there’s a lesson I took away – it is practice, practice and… wait for it… practice (stuff just has to become automatic so it stays out of the way). Keep things simple and have a repeatable process that can be reset to a baseline when things don’t work out.

Like the previous example, I did a background test shot to see where the ambient was and get an exposure for the camera that gave me control of the background light – I wanted it to go dark with a hint of the light and shadow from the windows hitting the backdrop and then found a starting value for the flash which was camera right through a Tri-Grip diffuser panel held by an assistant.

Once those were set, it was a matter of posing the model, adjusting camera exposure, flash output, flash placement and the placement of a reflector below the model to balance out the lighting. There’s a lot going on even with just one flash and a reflector – you learn the practical reasons for keeping things simple – it helps you to remain sane.

I experimented with different light placements – keeping the flash (and panel) just out of view on the right to get a nice glow of light on the model with some hint of background and shadow from the windows to the left. Later with more experience and practice adding more variation and lighting can come along. But there’s a lot that can be accomplished with just one (ok, maybe two) small flashes. Hard to believe it was shot in the same brightly lit space that Ken illustrated in his shots of the studio space.

It was a great experience, a chance to learn a lot. The first thing I did when I got home (and rested) was dig out those books to re-read.

Click here to see more of John’s images from the workshop.

Conclusion

Okay now that didn’t help matters one bit as I’m ready to take a vacation from work and go to Joe’s next workshop! It definitely sounds like some fun stuff that I’ll have to check out one day after I win the lottery <g>. Joe’s rates are dirt cheap (about 10% of what some people of his caliber charge) and appear to be very hands on, so I’d encourage you to check out his workshop schedule and sign up for one today if your schedule permits!

I’d like to thank Ken and John for taking the time to clean up their emails for your viewing pleasure on this blog. I’d also like to thank Joe McNally for giving us the permission we needed to repost some of these images for this editorial piece on his workshops.

Disclaimer

Ken and John volunteered for the content in this article and were not compensated in any way for this content. All images are used with their consent and permission as well as Joe McNally’s. None of us get any commission or benefit in any way if you take Joe’s workshops, so I’m doing this strictly as a community service write up and as a favor to Joe who has been very kind to me in the past. I will get a tiny commission if you purchase a product using the product links in the article that go to Adorama or B&H, so thanks for supporting this blog!

If you are featured in any of the images in this editorial article and have any concerns in any way, please don’t hesitate to contact me at ronmartblog@martinsen.com so we can address your concerns immediately.