Manual or TTL flash for macro?
Having switched from a manual to a TTL flash for my bug macro work, I do really appreciate the consistency it gives me between shots. I very rarely have to seriously adjust the exposure in post — or if I do, it’s the same adjustment across a series.
Having 2nd curtain sync is great, too. I’ve definitely gotten shots with visible motion blur that are usable, even pretty good, but where I can tell that I would have junked it using 1st curtain sync. The difference is in 1st curtain sync, the flash makes the exposure and then any motion gets exposed while the shutter is still open, so the blur is actually leading the motion; in 2nd curtain sync, the motion is exposed before the flash fires, so any blur is trailing the motion, like our brains expect. The image with this post is a good example: I’ve gotten many photos of sweat bees with leading blur that would have looked fine with trailing blur.
TTL flashes can be used as manual flashes, are generally built better, and generally have a better manufacturer’s warranty if you get them new. The only real downside is the major price difference, which can be really significant when you’re comparing a $40 Yongnuo with a $280 Canon. So the benefits are real and noticeable, but whether they’re worth paying $240 for is definitely going to be an individual call.
But my real point here is that there are two things I’ve noticed lately that may not be obvious to someone considering what kind of flash to buy for shooting insects.
The first is that TTLs fire a pre-flash, which they use to gauge how much light to put out, and then the camera opens the shutter and fires the actual flash pulse. This happens nearly instantly. But some insects, like smaller flies, are actually so fast that they can be startled by the pre-flash and fly away before the actual flash fires — especially if you’re shooting with 2nd curtain sync, where there’s an extra 1/250th of a second to react in. Manual flash doesn’t have this problem.
The other gotcha is that you can’t always tell if your flash is positioned efficiently. On a manual flash, it’s obvious if the flash gets out of position, because you start underexposing; if you don’t change the setting, it’s not going to change itself just because the sensor wants more light. But that’s exactly what a TTL flash does.
You might be thinking, “and that’s why I want one”, but it’s not. You want TTL to automatically deal with changes in scene: changes in focal distance as you back away just a bit, changes in the leaves around the subject as they blow in and out of frame, changes in composition as you follow an ant across a white flower, etc. But you want to know the flash is shooting roughly where you want it, somewhere around 1/32nd to 1/8th power, to take advantage of the fastest flash pulse you can. When you start shooting at 1/4, 1/2, full power because you’re only catching the subject with the dimmer edge of the flash beam, the exposure is basically slowing down and you start recording a lot more movement. Motion blur becomes very noticeable. On top of that, the flash takes longer to recycle, and it obviously drains the batteries faster.
I get around this by checking every now and then by switching over to manual to see what power level I’m basically firing at. If you’ve been shooting with a TTL speedlight and you’ve found some of your bug shots are inexplicably blurry from time to time, this might be the problem.
Neither of those two things are deal breakers for me. In fact, I doubt they’d have affected my decision to get a TTL flash at all if I’d known, since I didn’t get it just for insects. They do affect how I use the 430EX II though, so if you’re thinking about what flash to get for this kind of photography, consider this an FYI.
Spyder 3 Express with laptop + external monitor
I’m using a Spyder 3 Express from Datacolor for my monitor calibration. I’ll probably upgrade the software to Color Eyes when I have some more cash, but for right now the basic software that comes with the puck is good enough. I want accurate color, but I don’t think anything I’m doing is that color critical, so “good enough” is good enough.
One problem I ran into was getting it to calibrate the right display. I have a Dell U2410 wide gamut monitor (awesome display, by the way), attached to a Vostro 1500 laptop. It’s not my ideal workstation computer, but it works pretty well, so like better calibration software, upgrading it isn’t my highest priority right now. But the Spyder 3 Express, with the bundled software, only wants to measure the primary display, which it wrongly believes to be the laptop screen instead of the external. No amount of fiddling with display properties would convince it otherwise, but I did figure out how to do it.
Go into Power Options, and change the setting for when the laptop’s lid is shut from “Sleep” or whatever it is to “Do Nothing”. Then close the laptop, and open the Spyder 3 software — you only have one display now, so it picks the monitor. Easy as that.
Disruption
blue bee
Originally uploaded by mehampson
I was struck this week with a deep philosophical question. When bad luck occurs, but is canceled out by an equal yet opposite stroke of good luck, how do you rate things overall? Bad, because of the bad luck to begin with? Or good, because as unlikely as a catastrophe is, a catastrophe followed by a miracle is even less so?
I’m kind of inclined to go with the latter. I lucked out. A couple days ago, I ordered a new hard drive for my laptop — a 320GB 7200 rpm Western Digital to replace an old 120GB 5400 rpm Seagate. It was kind of an impulse buy, since I was getting frustrated with Lightroom and Photoshop being sluggish about loading files and previews, and short of replacing the whole system, there’s nothing else left to upgrade. Plus, I haven’t really trusted the old drive for a while now — it’s an three-year-old laptop — so a $60 upgrade seemed like a good idea.
The new drive shipped out on Friday, and by Sunday morning, the old one in the laptop was dead. Totally dead. Not even recognized by the BIOS. Making whhrr–sproing noises. So I’d say that was pretty good timing, and pretty good luck, since I only wound up with two days downtime.
But like everything else, 95% of good luck is good planning. It wouldn’t have mattered that I had a replacement in the mail at the moment my drive died if I didn’t have everything important backed up. I had stopped keeping anything important on my laptop a few months ago: RAW files were imported directly to my external drive, which had a second copy of nearly all my “data”. I keep my OS and applications on one partition, and all my photos, mp3s, documents, etc. on a separate one, to make reinstalls easier — my external drive has a copy of that second partition. My photos also live on another external drive that I keep at my girlfriend’s apartment, in case mine gets struck by a meteorite or something.
The real luck here was having the foresight to prepare for this kind of problem. Whether you’re a photographer or not, if you don’t have at least one backup solution, get one right now. I’ve lost some stuff, but nothing I can’t recreate or find new copies of. The only hassle really is reinstalling Windows and the big programs I use every day, and that just took an afternoon or so. I don’t want to think about where I’d be if I’d lost all my photos from the past few years…
At the same time as all this, I broke my macro rig. I tried mounting the bracket to a tripod collar to see how well it worked, but the socket on the bracket just rotated in place when I tried to unscrew it. Eventually the whole thing cracked in half when I tried pulling it out. I haven’t done much bug stuff lately, except for some natural light work I haven’t been thrilled with. (Got some GREAT shots of chive flowers this way, though.)
But I finally got the replacement bracket in the mail, along with a third-party lens hood for the 100mm macro that I’ll trim down to work with the extension tubes, and went out and shot the blue solitary bee in the photo above. Still need to do some tweaking to the overall rig, but I’m happy to have found a new bee.
Domke F-802 Review
I love my Domke F-6, but as I’ve been expanding my kit and preparing to offer my services as a photographer, I’ve recognized that it’s not going to be the best solution for bringing a large kit to a shoot. I don’t think it would fit two bodies, a 70-200mm zoom and another medium-sized lens or two, plus lighting gear. Additionally, while I personally like the Ruggedwear finish, I wanted something a bit more business casual, so to speak. I’m still completely happy with my F-6 and wanted to stick with Domke, so I ended up getting the Domke F-802 Reporter’s Satchel, a large satchel-style bag, in the normal Sand finish. (Because I’m carrying so much in this bag, I also picked up the Domke Shoulder Pad, which helps keep the weight from getting painful — highly recommended, and you’ll see it in the pictures, but it doesn’t come with the bag.)
Domke calls the F-802 a “Reporter’s Satchel”, but it works quite well as a camera bag. Like all their F-series bags, it’s made of a durable but flexible cotton canvas. I was tempted to get one of the J-series satchels, which are made of black ballistic nylon, but there’s no J-802 that I can find, and I wanted the larger size more than the different material. I was also considering the F-811 or F-812, which are designed to carry a laptop and a DSLR system, but I couldn’t find many reviews of them, and they’re about twice as expensive — I don’t plan on needing to transport my laptop to shoots very often, so I ruled them out.
I also could have gotten an F-2, or even an F-1X, but I decided that I wanted a satchel instead of a duffel bag. For one thing, it’s less conspicuous: the F-802 could be any large messenger bag. Living and working around Boston, carrying an obvious camera bag would also potentially make me look like a tourist or a student, and thieves are more likely to see them as a target. A satchel might suggest a laptop, but every bag’s obviously going to carry something, and I think “maybe a laptop?” is a better risk than “definitely a camera”. Not that the F-2 looks a lot like a camera bag, of course.
The slimmer profile of the satchels is also a draw. It keeps more of the gear closer to my body, so there’s less a risk of carelessly smacking into something (or someone) because it’s sticking out. It does make the F-802 harder to work out of, since the bag is deeper, but I suspect it’s just a matter of getting used to a deep space instead of a broad one. On the other hand, I do a lot of shooting bending or even laying down, and I’d be worried about things falling out if it tipped over on the ground with the flap open — something a duffel wouldn’t do.
The bag is built really well. There are no loose threads anywhere, and all the materials are high quality. The strap runs down along the sides and is sewn to the bottom of the bag, so the weight is distributed over the entire bag, and not just on a few square inches at the top. It also has a rubber tread sewn into it, which keeps it secure on your shoulder. The top flap has a handle on it, made of the same thick cotton material as the strap, with a metal reinforcement underneath. I’ve actually heard of this support wearing through the bag after a few years, but I have no idea if the problem is widespread or not. The clip that secures the flap is very strong, and takes some work to open; I expect it’ll ease up in time, but frankly I like that it’s not going to pop open too easily.
On the outside, there’s a large but thin pocket on the back, which I stick lens caps into while I’m shooting. There are also two zippered front pockets (heavy YKK zippers), large enough for business cards, small notepads, and other small-ish items you want easy access to.
Inside is a lot of storage space. There are two velcroed front pockets, each large enough to carry a Super Clamp and umbrella adapter. Or, though it’s a little tight, a 40D with battery grip (and no lens, of course). The velcro patches on these pockets are very large, about the size of a business card, so it’s easy to shut them securely. Also, the Domke logo is on the flap of one of these, meaning it’s not visible when the main flap is closed — another way the F-802 avoids standing out as a camera bag. (Though let’s be honest: any thief who’d know Domke is a camera bag maker could probably recognize the F-802.)
There’s a second thin pocket inside, which could hold a binder or large notepad; I keep some sample 4″x6″ prints in here, and would use it for any shoot-related paperwork. Between this and the four pockets, you’re probably going to have room for all the cables, filters, spare batteries and other miscellaneous accessories you need for whatever system you’re carrying.
The main compartment is sized for a pretty good work system. Its dimension are 14.5″x12″x3″, which doesn’t account for the natural flex of the fabric. That’s the big advantage of Domke bags: they expand or collapse around what they’re carrying, so it keeps its balance and comfort whether its packed full or is half empty. The bottom and sides are lightly padded, just enough for the bag to keep its shape empty. It’s not enough to protect the contents in case of a serious accident, but if you’re getting a Domke, this shouldn’t come as a surprise: they’re flexible, fast bags that are easy to use, but ultimately you are its best protection from accidents.
One nice detail: the interior padding is olive green, and the unpadded surfaces are of the same material as the exterior (really, they are the exterior), so unless you have a black bag, it’s easy to see exactly what’s at the bottom of the bag.
Since the F-802 is marketed as a reporter’s satchel, it doesn’t include any inserts to keep the main compartment organized. I use the Domke FA-230 3 Compartment Insert. With this setup, I can carry the 40D with 70-200mm f/4L IS attached (hood reversed) in one compartment, the old EOS A2 (I haven’t gotten a second digital body yet, but wanted to see how one will fit) with 17-40mm f/4L on the other end, and the 100mm f/2.8 Macro in the middle. The 100mm Macro is about as large as will fit between the two main lenses. There’s still room on either end of the insert for a flash; I was able to fit the 430EX II and a Vivitar 285HV in, barely, but the Viv is much bulkier than most modern flashes. With these two bodies, three mid-sized lenses, and two flashes, I was still able to fit a 24′ TTL cord from FlashZebra in the main compartment. I can also fit the cameras in with their grips attached, though it’s a tight fit — though the A2 is a film camera with a small vertical grip, not a bulkier motor drive or battery grip, and I don’t know if a second one of those would fit.
The bodies, with or without grip, are pressed right next to each other like this. I took the side padding out of the FA-230, and will probably reuse it as a divider to keep them from rubbing. Everything else is secure. On that note, I can feel the contents of the bag against my side as I’m carrying it, and I’ll probably add a bit of that padding between the insert and the back of the bag for comfort.
With all this gear packed, the main flap still shuts easily, since the clasp comes up between the front two cargo pockets. The sides of the compartment are completely covered, so I’m not worried about rain or snow getting in, like I was with the F-6. The canvas finish is probably less water-resistant than the Ruggedwear, but canvas is pretty good at keeping the contents dry, and there’s multiple layers of it around the electronic stuff in the main compartment.
All in all, I’m as happy with the F-802 as I am with the F-6. I’m still using the F-6 when I’m out on a photo walk, especially doing macro work with bugs, where I don’t need to carry my entire work kit with me. For carrying everything though, I’m very happy with the F-802. If in the future I ever have more gear than this bag can carry, I don’t think I would be using a single bag for it.
By the way: Purchases made through the links provided here support this site and my photography. Please be sure that I stand by my recommendations, and only ever suggest items that I would spend my own money on.