Paul Buff wrote:
Setting up a studio to do just that. My time is scarce but you should start to see results next week - that is if Fred doesn't kick me off for posting "commercial links". My doing this will, of course, start a firestorm of protest about how I am us FM for commercial purposes.
Great news! No worries about the firestorm... some people will dig the results... other will not. Such is life. Appreciate you taking the time to show the product/s in use.
Just put the test results link in the ABees site Paul and mention here in passing that the tests are up surely we'll be able to find it.
Paul Buff wrote:
Setting up a studio to do just that. My time is scarce but you should start to see results next week - that is if Fred doesn't kick me off for posting "commercial links". My doing this will, of course, start a firestorm of protest about how I am us FM for commercial purposes.
Given our history, I can see now how you could take what I said as a backhanded compliment. But I was sincere in my compliments and I think up until this most recent tiff, your advice on this thread has been both patient and helpful.
My brother-in-law is an accountant by day and photographer by weekend. I trained him to use strobes and he now works prolifically doing little league, prom and high school photos. He loves the work with a passion and when I told him about this latest offering from your company, he got very excited and expressed an interest in purchasing your product. And when I thought about it, it made perfect sense that this would be an excellent fit for photographers like him. Thus, my comment.
While I still don't think commercial photographers will find much use for this product, it's not intended as a slight. I'm not only a busy photographer, but I'm a partner at a creative agency where I typically oversee about 2-3 shoots per month with amazing photographers. I'd say over 90% of commercial shoots are shot with packs - those of which are typically Profoto, Dynalite and Broncolor.
Using packs, one rarely is concerned about too little output. It's often the other way around and I see assistants working very cleverly to shape and reduce light. In watching the video by John RIcard, he was getting readings of f22 at a mere 500ws. For me, I shoot in a range of f8-11, so you can see how this would present some issues in usage.
I happen to own the older Hensel Integra monolights. I love using them, but they rarely see daylight, which is not a reflection on their quality, they're just not practical for commercial photography, nor were they designed for such purposes. I doubt that Hensel takes offense.
And no offense to the many testers who've been doing their best to post results, but I haven't seen any usage that would reflect the benefits of this modifier for my own personal use or my colleagues. So back to chatting about your product and stop taking things so personal. It always ends badly here when you do.
Deezie wrote: but I haven't seen any usage that would reflect the benefits of this modifier for my own personal use or my colleagues.
Fair enough. I do commercial work ( http://ellisvener.com ) but I have very little product photography there as that is not what I most enjoy shooting, except when I am in the middle of the obsessive insanity of still life work .
So what is it you want to see to make a fair assessment about whether it could be useful for you? Clearly it isn't "model mayhem" type work, or weddings, portraits (either portrait studio or editorial)?
I shoot almost nothing that I would call real fashion work, as in Elle, Vogue, or WWD or Land's End & etc. catalog quality level work so I can't help you there.
Since no any detailed information is given, I guess that either a white or silver with a front panel was used based on the light quality. The distance between the main light and the subject was relative close. I, however, can't guess the size of PLM. And your camera aperture was set at f/2.8 and the chair is Realspace PRO™ 9000.
I would say that you can achieve the same or similar light quality with a 45" regular white umbrella in this case if you know how to use it.
Oh, yea, sorry, more details: 86" PLM silver, no front panel, Canon 1dII, 50mm 1.2L, aperture at 1.4, Broncolor ringflash with central umbrella adapter, Mobil power pack set at minimum power, PocketWizard mini TT1 on camera and PW plus on pack, shutter speed is 1/1250 to compensate bright window light.
bugaglo wrote:
, shutter speed is 1/1250 to compensate bright window light.
Bugaglo,
Isn't max sync speed for MkII 1/250th?
Very nice shot. Excellent use of posing given narrow DOF.
I'm very curious as to the color shift surrounding the subject whose face mask appears spot on. Was this done in post or is the PLM coverage that tight? I really like it BTW.
bugaglo wrote:
With PocketWizard mini TT1 it can be even 1/1600.
I see.
This explains why such an efficient mod as the PLM is not overpowering the subject even at low power setting. You're only getting a very small fraction of it's output in this mode.
Also may explain the color balance as well with the ambient contributing so much of the light.
This explains why such an efficient mod as the PLM is not overpowering the subject even at low power setting. You're only getting a very small fraction of it's output in this mode.
Also may explain the color balance as well with the ambient contributing so much of the light.
Thanks.
Don't know about the PW Mini. But with Cyber Sync and an electronic shutter CCD camera such as Nikon D40 and a suitable flash in the AB/Elinchrom flash duration range you can get the full flash power at 1/1600 shutter.
