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December 5, 2009, a Saturday
Caballo Lake State Park (Appaloosa), New Mexico, USA
— Walked and photographed birds
It was 25°F (-4°C) at 8:25. I purchased a Quantum CS4 cable to power a yet-to-be-purchased Sunpak 383 flash. Had my normal breakfast. Worked up a blog entry. Did some computer work. We left at 11:30 and ...
Walked around the campground. We went down to the boat ramp and then took some of the meandering paths through the desert vegetation on our way back to the RV.
We returned to the RV at 12:10 and I had my regular lunch.
I went outside around 1:00 to photograph the pyrrhuloxia, house sparrows, white-crowned sparrows (below left), and curve-billed thrashers (below right) that were hanging around near the RV. Unfortunately, the Gamble's quail didn't make an appearance while I was out there.
I came back inside the RV around 2:00, downloaded the images I took, then did a quick downselect in iView. Then I did a second downselect in Capture One (C1). I finished preparing the images that were selected from my last stock submission.
We had dinner at 6:15 of steak fajitas and fresh guacamole. The guacamole was one of the best we've ever had! :)
After I did the dishes, I processed two images for the blog. Then I looked at flash stuff. I purchased a PT-04TM wireless flash trigger transmitter receiver set through a buy-it-now on eBay. It was really cheap ($15.50 and free shipping) and has received good reports on some photo boards. My plan is to try this out, and if it works I'll use it to trigger one of the Canon flashes, which will then trigger the other two Canon flashes through their built-in wireless connection. I'll get a second transmitter/receiver to trigger the Sunpak 383 flash, and J'll be able to use the transmitter on her camera so we can shoot at the same time. I had been thinking about using PC sync cords from the two bodies to trigger my Canon 580EX II and then using a Wein PN Peanut Slave or a Sonia Canon EX Compatible Optical Slave to trigger the Sunpak 383, but the optical slaves cost as much as the PT-04 transmitter/receiver combo, and I'm not sure if it's really possible to have two cameras connected to the same PC sync circuit. The optical slaves do have the advantage of being powered by the flash, so they don't need any batteries like the PT-04 transmitter/receiver, but the PT-04 receivers have a built-in hot shoe to trigger the flash, so I won't have to get a hot shoe to accept the optical slave.
Walked around the campground. We went down to the boat ramp and then took some of the meandering paths through the desert vegetation on our way back to the RV.
We returned to the RV at 12:10 and I had my regular lunch.
I went outside around 1:00 to photograph the pyrrhuloxia, house sparrows, white-crowned sparrows (below left), and curve-billed thrashers (below right) that were hanging around near the RV. Unfortunately, the Gamble's quail didn't make an appearance while I was out there.
White-Crowned Sparrow
Caballo Lake State Park, New Mexico, USA
Canon EOS 1D Mk III, 500 f4 & 1.4x,
1/1500 sec, f8, ISO 320
1/1500 sec, f8, ISO 320
Curve-Billed Thrasher
Caballo Lake State Park, New Mexico, USA
Canon EOS 1D Mk III, 500 f4 & 1.4x,
1/1000 sec, f8, ISO 250
1/1000 sec, f8, ISO 250
I came back inside the RV around 2:00, downloaded the images I took, then did a quick downselect in iView. Then I did a second downselect in Capture One (C1). I finished preparing the images that were selected from my last stock submission.
We had dinner at 6:15 of steak fajitas and fresh guacamole. The guacamole was one of the best we've ever had! :)
After I did the dishes, I processed two images for the blog. Then I looked at flash stuff. I purchased a PT-04TM wireless flash trigger transmitter receiver set through a buy-it-now on eBay. It was really cheap ($15.50 and free shipping) and has received good reports on some photo boards. My plan is to try this out, and if it works I'll use it to trigger one of the Canon flashes, which will then trigger the other two Canon flashes through their built-in wireless connection. I'll get a second transmitter/receiver to trigger the Sunpak 383 flash, and J'll be able to use the transmitter on her camera so we can shoot at the same time. I had been thinking about using PC sync cords from the two bodies to trigger my Canon 580EX II and then using a Wein PN Peanut Slave or a Sonia Canon EX Compatible Optical Slave to trigger the Sunpak 383, but the optical slaves cost as much as the PT-04 transmitter/receiver combo, and I'm not sure if it's really possible to have two cameras connected to the same PC sync circuit. The optical slaves do have the advantage of being powered by the flash, so they don't need any batteries like the PT-04 transmitter/receiver, but the PT-04 receivers have a built-in hot shoe to trigger the flash, so I won't have to get a hot shoe to accept the optical slave.
Responses
| December 7, 2009, 7:18 AM by Doug |
Morning Friend. About time you shot some of those flitty things. :) The Thrasher is so nice. Have been following the flash system you have been working on. I keep coming back to the same question. What are you going to shoot with it? D |
| December 7, 2009, 9:54 AM by James, the RV Rambler |
Very funny, D. Actually, the birds weren't flitty at all, which is why I enjoyed shooting them. I envision two uses for the flash setup I'm putting together. One will be hummingbird set-up shots of free-range hummingbirds. The other will be for reptile set-up shots. I know of two different places where the owner/handler will put the snakes out in natural environments, and it'll be nice to be able to control the light. Plus, it's just fun to collect and play with some new toys. :) J and I had tried using a simple multiple-flash setup to photograph hummingbirds before, but it didn't work too well. We each had our main flash set up slightly off-axis and attached to an off-camera cord. Then we had a single second flash that was triggered by our main flashes. The main flash was too far away from the bird to do much, and we were just powering the flashes off AA batteries which meant recharge time was too long, especially because we were both using the same second flash at the same time. - James, the RV Rambler |
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