this is going to hurt you more ..

January 11, 2008 @ 4:24 am · Filed under flash photography, gear

.. than it will hurt me.

The obvious question that comes up when people see how I use flash when I am using them as on-camera flashguns, is … don’t they take a beating or even burn out?

I do hammer my speedlights, especially when I use the Quantum 2×2 battery packs.  This doesn’t bother me greatly, since I regard my speedlights in a way, as consumable items. They will become unrepairable at some point. No real problem for me.

For this reason I have numerous speedlights, because there are inevitably at least one or two in for repairs.

My older speedlights tend to look like this:

Where they take a hard beating, is with events where there is a lot of activity in a short time.  For example, with Jewish weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, you have events like the Hora which happen very fast  and only for a short time.  And you have to get the shots. The equipment matters less.  Don’t fall in love with your equipment and be afraid to use it.

This example is from a recent wedding. My on-camera flash was used in the way I described recently in the posting on my choice of flash modifiers. 
(btw, that’s a Q-flash lighting up the background there.)

Getting these images as sequences in the dark reception halls here on the East Coast, takes a lot of juice. (Or rather, the way I do it, requires a lot of juice.)

And no, I wouldn’t buy a used flashgun from me either. ;)

6 Comments »

  1. Dan Said,

    January 11, 2008 @ 4:13 pm

    Makes me wonder how much it would take to replace that diffusion flash filter. I guess if you’re bouncing off walls all the time, you’ll have a nearly infinite number of colors/textures, so even spread wouldn’t be so much of an issue.

  2. Neil Said,

    January 11, 2008 @ 6:13 pm

    Dan … that’s my thinking too. The damaged fresnel doesn’t change anything for me in the results I get. And replacing it doesn’t do much for me personally in having a ‘fixed’ speedlight.

    In the end the results I get are what is important, not the actual piece of equipment. As I said .. it isn’t of much use to fall in love with a piece of equipment.

    Neil vN

  3. Alan B. Said,

    January 11, 2008 @ 8:51 pm

    Isn’t it true that the Canon battery pack (CP-E4, etc) will not overheat your flash like the Quantum? Then again, it can’t recycle as quickly either, but you are clearly exceeding the flashes ratings to here and causing it to overheat.

    Of course you already know this and simply consider it a cost of doing business/getting the shot.

  4. Neil Said,

    January 11, 2008 @ 10:16 pm

    Alan .. I would agree with that. The recycle time of the Canon CP-E3 and CP-E4 (or the Nikon SD-8A) is such that it just doesn’t recycle that fast to generate that kind of heat.

    It happens because of the Quantum battery packs, and my insistence on shooting faster than I should. And it is exactly as you have it there - for me it is simply the cost of doing business as a professional photographer.

    I would rather not have the expense .. but I simply can not afford to embarressedly shrug my shoulders helplessly in front of a client and tell them I didn’t want to get the photos they paid me to get … just because I was timid about my equipment.

    Neil vN

  5. Tim Broyer Said,

    January 25, 2008 @ 12:18 pm

    Neil,

    Are you using a flash bracket at all or just the flash directly on the hotshoe of the camera?

    Reason I ask: Assuming you are bouncing anyway so that would eliminate the bracket part, but where are you holding the pocket wizard?

    thanks,

    Tim

  6. Neil Said,

    March 11, 2008 @ 10:31 pm

    Hi there Tim …

    I don’t use a flash bracket anymore. This is mainly because Canon doesn’t offer something like Nikon’s SC-29 cable which keeps the infra-red beam directed forward. So using a flash bracket with the Canon’s off-camera cord caused the mk2 and mk2N bodies to hesitate in focusing in low light.

    But I don’t really need a flash bracket, since very little of my flash photography is with direct flash, or with a diffuser.

    When I use a Pocket Wizard, I have it velcro’d to the top of the speedlight, and keep it in place with an elastic hair band.

    Neil.

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