The "New Gear/Willy Waving" thread

Journey · 21 Jul 2015 at 20:46

CF is fast becoming defunct, CFast is the alternate really.

However to correct what I believe to an error above, SD cards are now as fast or faster. Lexar have 2000x cards which read/write at 300MB/s.

mrk · 21 Jul 2015 at 20:57

CF is too expensive in this day and age, a 128GB SD card is dirt cheap, a CF of the same size is £megalol to the point it's laughable.

I have 32GB CF cards and 128GB SD which I use as secondary backup write. I never fill a 32GB CF on a standard wedding shoot day as I'm selectively getting rid of 3-5 shot burst shots I've shot throughout the day where I know a single frame from that burst is good, thus freeing up space and freeing up a lot of time in post doing that very same job. That and I am quite picky with the shots I choose to take and anticipate moments. All this comes with how photograph evolves based on your style though.

So for me, 32GB is more than enough, and the 128GB SD will simply continu8e to be backed up on to. It also means that if I accidentally delete a shot I wanted to keep, no problem, the 128GB card has that backed up.

Vertigo · 21 Jul 2015 at 21:48

The one thing I still like about CF is they're build like a tank. Compared to relatively fragile SD cards, they're almost indestructible.

Of course it's moot if you look after your cards but I just like the "properly engineered" feel of CF

Shoei · 23 Jul 2015 at 19:55

Just got myself a Fuji X-T10 with the 18-55 lens. lot easier to lug round on holiday than my D300, plus i only ever used the 17-50 on the D300 so wont notice any difference there. Guess its time to get latest LightRoom now

AshD93 · 23 Jul 2015 at 21:31

3 x YN600EX-RT

Didn't realise you can't control zoom for each flash from the master which is a shame. However all on the latest software version and non have the zoom issue - Going to leave the batteries in overnight to see if they drain.

Phone photo incoming!

Prophet · 27 Jul 2015 at 11:53

This little beauty turned up at 9am today along with my new business cards

Raymond Lin · 27 Jul 2015 at 13:43

AshD93 said:
3 x YN600EX-RT

Didn't realise you can't control zoom for each flash from the master which is a shame. However all on the latest software version and non have the zoom issue - Going to leave the batteries in overnight to see if they drain.

Phone photo incoming!

I somehow managed to kill 2 Canon 600 EX-RT on Saturday and had to use one of the YN699EX-RT as my 4th on Sunday, properly.

What I can say is that it's recycle time really lags, Canon would flash and flash and flash and flash, keep up with the camera's buffer. the YN600 will not. In fact, it's also not 100% always connected, was driving me nuts, even as a slave. Perhaps it is using both Canon and Yougnuo is the problem?

The other problem is the IR spread is also too narrow as a master, making shooting with focus points on the sides difficult and misses so many more shots as a result.

D.P. · 27 Jul 2015 at 17:26

My Yougnuo is definitely slower than my SB-600. It is more powerful and I didn't ave reliability issues though.

My biggest issue was the color cast, a bit cool which s fine but definitely a green tint. My Sb-600 gives perfect color every time IMO. If I was to increase my paid event work I would buy a SB-910 in a heart beat.

AshD93 · 27 Jul 2015 at 19:15

Well I used them aggressively for the first time on Saturday. Frankly I'm either incredibly confused or incredibly disappointed. The master flash lost all its settings and had a habit of turning itself off in the group settings or turning itselt onto manual mode.

I need to spend some time messing around with them to ensure the flash is faulty or its something I've done by accident while in a rush.

Thing is they have had fairly good reviews and its through Amazon so I'm not massively concerned. Also considering the cost and that I've got three of them for less then one of the Canon 600EXs, I'm happy to perservere a bit.

D.P. · 27 Jul 2015 at 19:55

AshD93 said:
Well I used them aggressively for the first time on Saturday. Frankly I'm either incredibly confused or incredibly disappointed. The master flash lost all its settings and had a habit of turning itself off in the group settings or turning itselt onto manual mode.

I need to spend some time messing around with them to ensure the flash is faulty or its something I've done by accident while in a rush.

Thing is they have had fairly good reviews and its through Amazon so I'm not massively concerned. Also considering the cost and that I've got three of them for less then one of the Canon 600EXs, I'm happy to perservere a bit.

My feelings on these things is people are often happy with them at the price but that doesn't mean they are great/as good as the official flashes. Also 3rd party flashes will often be bought by people who have never owned first party so they have no way to form a comparison.

For amateur use then they seem ideal but I just think I understand why people pay the prices for the Canon./Nikon models. You might get 90% of the Branded item for 20% of the price but if it starts malfunctioning in a paid event then it is a bit more of an issue.

Raymond Lin · 27 Jul 2015 at 20:09

D.P. said:
My feelings on these things is people are often happy with them at the price but that doesn't mean they are great/as good as the official flashes. Also 3rd party flashes will often be bought by people who have never owned first party so they have no way to form a comparison.

For amateur use then they seem ideal but I just think I understand why people pay the prices for the Canon./Nikon models. You might get 90% of the Branded item for 20% of the price but if it starts malfunctioning in a paid event then it is a bit more of an issue.

I was going to get a few of them instead of fixing my Canon (£135 each), but after the trouble I had with them, I think the Canon is worth every penny for my purpose.

I can't have flashes not firing...good thing I still had 3 working Canon ones (one was melted on the outside but still worked!) so still managed to have 2 off camera flash.

Phal · 27 Jul 2015 at 20:18

So do the Canon ones cycle quick enough to keep up with the FPS of a 5d3?

Raymond Lin · 27 Jul 2015 at 20:20

Phal said:
So do the Canon ones cycle quick enough to keep up with the FPS of a 5d3?

Yes, the caveat is that I shoot with low flash power 1/128 for off camera flash.

Vertigo · 27 Jul 2015 at 20:24

Phal said:
So do the Canon ones cycle quick enough to keep up with the FPS of a 5d3?

All depends on how much power they're putting out.

Surprised at the troubles people are having with them as I can't say I've had any real problems thus far - that said I'm only using them as slaves, always have one of the Canons as master.

Ray, when you say they couldn't recycle fast enough, were those the OCF ones or the on-cam? Surely the power settings on the OCF slaves will pretty low so recycling shouldn't be an issue?

EDIT: Lol, you just answered that one then

Raymond Lin · 27 Jul 2015 at 20:26

Vertigo1 said:
All depends on how much power they're putting out.

Surprised at the troubles people are having with them as I can't say I've had any real problems thus far - that said I'm only using them as slaves, always have one of the Canons as master.

Ray, when you say they couldn't recycle fast enough, were those the OCF ones or the on-cam? Surely the power settings on the OCF slaves will pretty low so recycling shouldn't be an issue?

I did both. First I had the Yougnuo as slave, only the Canon fired.

Then I had the Yougnuo as master, then itself didn't fire, nor did the slaves!

But it did so intermittently and the test flash works so it is connected.

All Canon, it just works.

Vertigo · 27 Jul 2015 at 20:32

Interesting - I was using two Yongnuo slaves on Saturday at both 1/128th and 1/64th power and they didn't even need to recycle most of the time, the flash symbol just stayed lit. They seemed reliable too.

Not claiming they're anywhere near as good as genuine Canons of course - if I had the money I'd swap them out but can't justify it right now. Maybe if they start acting up.

Vertigo · 27 Jul 2015 at 20:34

Incidentally I still don't seem to be able to get near the kind of images/effect you produce using the manual OCF technique

The flash always seems to be overpowering the ambient light unless I start dragging the shutter too much for some reason. Not sure if maybe the flashes are too close and need to be more distant, although that's obviously venue dependent.

Raymond Lin · 27 Jul 2015 at 20:34

I didn't have time to figure out why, so I disconnected it pronto and continue with my Canons.

Vertigo · 27 Jul 2015 at 20:38

What happened to the two Canons that died? Tad worrying.

Raymond Lin · 27 Jul 2015 at 20:42

Vertigo1 said:
What happened to the two Canons that died? Tad worrying.

They didn't die internally.

1 - the diffuser and the white reflector has disappeared. This is probably it was knocked off accidentally. Get an error on screen, and it won't focus.

2 - the other one kinda looks like it has been melted on the outside...like it was rest on some heat pipe and deformed from the heat, melted on the top side the diffuser/top edge. So the diffuser won't come out. But as a slave, works fine!

Both physical damage, not Canon's fault.