I was thinking about getting a pair of pocket wizards and an inexpensive flash (like a vivitar), and holding my camera in one hand and flash in the other. The goal is to get a bit of directionality to the light but have high mobility. So apart from looking quite silly, is this a dumb idea? I've never seen anybody do it but it seems obvious. Does anyone do this?

I was at a conference a few weeks ago and the official photographer or the event (from a newspaper) did this. Held the flash with his left hand, camera in his right hand. Looked horribly inconvenient as he snapped pictures of the speakers at the podium, but I saw him operate this way for several days.

A sync cable would be a lot cheaper.

Yeah, the only silly thing about the idea is using PocketWizards to accomplish it. Both Nikon and Canon make off-camera TTL sync cables for expressly this purpose, as anyone using a flash bracket needs something to maintain the connect to the camera. On a Nikon I believe it's the SC-17 model cable.

Thanks guys... I thought about a cable but I'm worried about getting tangled up in it, having it swing in front of the lens and so forth. This will mainly be for family candids and that sort of thing, where I find myself lying on the ground a lot and sometimes contorting myself in strange ways to get a good angle. OK, maybe I just want an excuse to buy some pocketwizards...

thejaybird wrote:
Thanks guys... I thought about a cable but I'm worried about getting tangled up in it, having it swing in front of the lens and so forth. This will mainly be for family candids and that sort of thing, where I find myself lying on the ground a lot and sometimes contorting myself in strange ways to get a good angle. OK, maybe I just want an excuse to buy some pocketwizards...

the canon off shoe cord is pretty compact as it is coiled and stretches to about arms lenght. you loose ttl capability under the scenario you are describing with a vivitar unit. unless you use a flash meter, you are probably going to end up with less than optimally exposed pictures. you would be much better off with the $50 canon cord with a canon flash than spending $300 plus for pocket wizards to use with one non-dedicated hot shoe flash.

actually, the more i thought about this, the more ridiculous the idea does indeed seem. firstly because you have to have the transmitter sitting in your hotshoe, and then because you have to have a receiver plugged into the vivitar unit. what you will end up holding in your hand is not only the flash unit but the receiver.......you really should rethink this...

respectfully

I've shot this way using the Off-Camera Shoe Cord 2 so that I could quickly aim the flash for various bounce effects with candids, and it's hard on your wrist to hold up any decent sized camera, as well as change settings as doing so. Plus, vertical shots are awkward, and you're never going to hold it as steady as you would with both hands.

A Stroboframe sounds better - you could wrap the cord around it.

Thanks guys, I'm glad I asked. For some reason I was thinking I could get by without TTL but that would be nearly impossible for this kind of use. I think I'll just go with off shoe cord and see how that works for me, and if it doesn't I'll try with a flash bracket.

thejaybird wrote:
OK, maybe I just want an excuse to buy some pocketwizards...

Oh, I see... Well, I think that neither solution suggested here will work in your case, you'll really NEED to buy the Pocket Wizards...

Daschund

Ha ha, thanks Dasch, I will be sure to share your expert opinion with my wife (the keeper of the checkbook)

Why don't you buy an ST-E2? That would give you TTL and wireless off-camera flash.

I guess because compared to the sync cord, it's too expensive, and compared to the wizards, less generally useful. I have some ABs on order that could make use of the wizards...

thejaybird wrote:
I have some ABs on order that could make use of the wizards...

Now, that use of the PocketWizards makes sense.