I've got a shoot coming up which will primarily be in a nightclub, and possibly one or two other indoor venues. I've never really shot portraits in a dark environment before, but I'm planning to get a nice flash bracket along with a 580EX II, and will have a 430EX with me as well.
My questions:
1. How exactly does the remote triggering work on the Speedlites? Does the Slave have to be in a "line-of-sight" location relative to the front of the Master, or do the units use RF to communicate?
2. If you currently had a 70-200mm f/4L IS, would you stick with that for this type of shoot, or would upgrading to the f/2.8L IS be a significant step up in terms of flexibility. When shooting in the dark with flashes, is that extra stop a big deal? I feel like I should know this...
Are you going to handhold the 2nd flash or set it up remotely at a particular spot and have it a be a sort of fill flash for the entire night?
1. line-of-sight, but it has a pretty wide angle of distribution. I forget what the distance range is.
2. for a nightclub I wouldn't want the 70-200 f/2.8. If you are close enough to get full flash coverage, the f/4 should be okay. The size of the 70-200 in a small setting can be both attention-getting and cumbersome. In my opinion, this is where the primes come in handy. A kit of 30 1.4, and your 85 1.8 comes in pretty hand due to size and light capturing. I just looked at your kit, and I can see a use for each lens.
Thanks Python. My wife is travelling with me and is going to be my assistant for the evening, so she would be positioning the 430ex wherever I tell her to hold it.
Good to know on the 2.8L IS. I actually hadn't thought about using the primes, which actually I'd need to re-purchase since I sold both of mine a couple of months ago to fund something else. But, since I might not need to upgrade the 70-200mm, that leaves some play room for one or two primes, or maybe even the 35mm f/1.4L if I can swing it.
In principle the communication is line of sight; in practice, when shooting indoors you are almost bound to get the IR signal bounced off some wall or other so that line of sight is not actually so crucial.
I second the first reply you got re lenses, for me the situation you describe is fast-prime-time.
