Pocket Wizard, or not?

I have been contemplating at the Pocket Wizard. It sounds like a fantastic way of triggering one or more flash guns remotely. I even found a number of knock-offs that could work like the Pocket Wizard on eBay.

But then, what about the IR wireless trigger built in the D80 and D300? Would it not work just as well as the Pocket Wizard?

I need to do some research before shelling out some more bucks for this cool accessory.

Fill-in flash in bright daylight

I am confused. The other day I was at Centre Island taking pictures of friends participating in a dragonboat festival. It was a bright day with a fair amount of sun. I thought I could just connect my SB-800 speedlight to my new D300 and the camera will just know what to do with the flash. Well, all the background of all the shots I took with flash was over-exposed. The highest speed the camera could be cranked up to was 1/320 sec. I could not figure out it could not go higher. I had set the D300 in Aperture Priority mode.

I just re-read an article I wrote in 2008 about using the SB-800 with my D80:

http://photonfarmers.blogspot.com/2008/09/d80-and-sb-800-high-speed-flash-sync.html

In the last paragraph of the article, I said the D80 would not be able to shoot faster than 1/60 sec in Aperture Priority mode with the hotshoe flash on. It would sound like what happened on the island ... except that today, I thought I'd retest the SB-800 with both the D300 and D80 in Aperture Priority mode.

In both cases, with the SB-800 mounted, I pointed the camera at a bright scene that required a high shutter speed of exposure, like 1/2500 sec. I expected the camera shutter speed to be set automatically to 1/60 sec. To my surprise, the shutter speed adjusted appropriately to 1/2500 sec.

I thought, from my earlier 2008 experiment, that the maximum shutter sync speed in Aperture Priority mode is 1/60 sec (if a faster speed is desired, the D80 needed to be in Shutter Priority or Manual mode.) It does not appear to be the case. It worked fine in Aperture Priority. Could a newer firmware I might have upgraded the camera with, allowed for faster shutter sync speeds with the SB-800??

It does not explain what happened at the island though. Maybe I did not set the D300 to sync with the hotshoe flash in FP mode, as I do not recall seeing the "FP" mode on the SB-800 LCD panel. The "FP" mode needs to be turned on for the camera to sync with the SB-800 up to the camera's own maximum shutter speed. It could also be that I did *not* use the SB-800. I might have just used the built-in flash, which I think was limited to 1/320 sec.

In any case, I am now more ready for a wedding in a couple of weeks. I am sure my relatives will want their pictures taken everywhere, so I had better be ready for it.

Life expectancy of the D80

Back in June 2009 (http://photonfarmers.blogspot.com/2009/06/d80-actuations.html) I made a reference to this website that records the number of shutter actuations of various DSLRs before the shutter died. I thought I'd capture it once here so in case the site disappears I have a record of it. Make sure to visit the original site for the most up-to-date data.

Nikon D80

Direct link to this page: nikon_d80

Average number of actuations after which shutter is still alive: 65,511.5
Average number of actuations after which shutter died: 38,059.7

Clicks	Alive	Dead	Graph
397 … 653	5	3
654 … 1,074	1	1
1,075 … 1,768	5	2
1,769 … 2,909	21	2
2,910 … 4,786	43	1
4,787 … 7,875	74	3
7,876 … 12,957	116	10
12,958 … 21,318	137	7
21,319 … 35,074	126	2
35,075 … 57,708	85	2
57,709 … 94,947	38	3
94,948 … 156,217	9	3
156,218 … 257,024	6	1
257,025 … 422,882	2	1
422,883 … 695,768	1
695,769 … 1,144,748	2
1,144,749 … 1,883,453
1,883,454 … 3,098,845
3,098,846 … 5,098,528
5,098,529 … 8,388,607	3

Survival estimation (Kaplan-Meier):

Clicks	KM survival estimate	Graph
397 … 653	99.6%
654 … 1,074	99.4%
1,075 … 1,768	99.2%
1,769 … 2,909	98.9%
2,910 … 4,786	98.7%
4,787 … 7,875	98.3%
7,876 … 12,957	96.5%
12,958 … 21,318	94.9%
21,319 … 35,074	94.2%
35,075 … 57,708	93%
57,709 … 94,947	89%
94,948 … 156,217	79.5%
156,218 … 257,024	74.5%
257,025 … 422,882	66.2%
422,883 … 695,768	66.2%
695,769 … 1,144,748	66.2%
1,144,749 … 1,883,453	66.2%
1,883,454 … 3,098,845	66.2%
3,098,846 … 5,098,528	66.2%
5,098,529 … 8,388,607	66.2%

Case for AA batteries, part II

In February, I wrote about a small pouch/case to carry extra AA batteries. The reason I wanted one of those was really because I do not want to carry around a big backpack everywhere I go. The backpack is great for hiking and traveling but going into a gala, a wedding, a restaurant, or some party, it just does not fit the occasion.

After a wedding a couple of weekends ago, I happened to be at Walmart's looking for the small pouch in an earlier post. I could not find the exact pouch but did find something similar and similarly priced. I did not pick it up though. I decided what I needed was a something elegant enough for me to take into the special occasions, something I could store my camera and other accessories -- but wait, is that not what a Lowepro camera bag is made for? Yes. I had a Lowepro camera bag and gave it away because it was too small for my camera. I could get another bigger camera bag, but then thought a small travel bag would do. I would be able to store all my lenses and camera accessories including those AA batteries in it.

At Walmart's, I picked one of those travel handbags for $20. I need to pad it with some old sweater but it looks decent enough for me to take to a wedding in July.

Upgrading my camera

So, it's been three years since my purchase of the Nikon D80. The D80 is a nice camera and has endured a lot of abuse. After over 40K clicks, it is about time for an upgrade, not for its deficiencies but for its potential shutter failure. I am thinking of purchasing a D90.

Camera, lights, action!

It is hard to imagine you could produce professional quality studio images but with the right equipments and proper setup, it is not that hard. I was at the Henry's Photographic and Digital Imaging Show this afternoon, and this year, they introduced a new area called the "Shooting Centre". There were some pretty models and old bikes on display as well as a circus performer, and you get to try out some photo equipments like the strobes and light boxes. It was amazing. I took a few shots of a model on a vintage bike with a sidecar. I also took some shots of a bike alone. What a difference it makes when you have the right equipments. Below are some of the shots.

Shot with my single hotshoe flash:


Shot with the light equipments set up at the show (with three light sources):


Shot with show equipments (only the left strobe light was fired):


Model on a bike with the studio lights:

Case for AA batteries

I am looking for a small case to carry extra batteries (I have 17 rechargeable batteries in total) and other small camera accessories on my belt or in my pocket for easy access. I am thinking of buying this:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Case-Logic-MEQB-1M-Eva-Hardshell-Small-Digital-Camera-Case-Blue/10297714

For $8, it's pretty cheap uh?

For a cheaper alternative, there is this DIY battery case:

http://www.diyphotogear.com/AA%20Battery%20Case.html

However, there is no belt clip or carabiner.

BTW, about those Duracell batteries I just bought ... I used them yesterday (after the Energizers failed to work) -- these Duracells worked great.