Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello...

I am newbie to strobes. I just bought 3 alien bee B800's. I shoot Nikon D80. I soon realized that I had to get the hot shoe adapter, and now I have that too, and I am ready to go. :D

However, being so new to strobe lighting, I do not understand what syncing is. I understand that I needed the hotshoe adapter to synch my camera to (one) of the strobes. I just do not understand where I am supposed to go from this point forward. I plug my camera into the strobe with the hotshoe adapter, but what do I need to do next ? I do not understand what settings I am suppose to set inside the camera or why...

Please Help.... Thanks in Advance..

Ok, the camera should be in manual everything (except auto focus is ok). Typically, you will want to set the ISO as low as possible, 200 on many Nikons. The shutter speed should not exceed 1/200 of a second, otherwise you will get black bands in the image. This only leaves aperture and flash output/distance as variables. If you know the aperture you wish to shoot at, set it, and adjust flash accordingly.

To know what flash output to set, a light meter is very useful, though some shoot and review the image in camera, then make adjustments on that image. You will also want to set white balance manually as well. Ideally, you will want to do a custom white balance with a true white balance device (i.e. WhiBal card, Expodisc, etc.), at a minimum, set the camera to the sunny setting (this will get you close, but likely not accurate).

TS

That is exactly the help I needed.. Thank you very much... ;)

I am a newbie to strobes too. In fact, I don't even have them yet! But they are being delivered today along with various other goodies including a Cyber Commander and receivers.

I decided to go ahead and get the Cyber Commander, as I was planning to buy a light meter anyway. Once I learned that the CC was a light meter as well as a control device, I decided to go ahead and get it now vs. later. Plus, I am used to Nikon CLS and being able to adjust multiple flashes from the camera, so I am hoping that having the CC will help, not hinder the learning curve. However, having never used a light meter either, I hope that I am not overcomplicating things to start out.

Anyhow, so far I have gathered that you set the ISO, and adjust your lights until you get to the desired aperture and the CC will let me visually see the relative difference between the various light sources. However, how do you suggest adding ambient light into the mix? If I understand correctly, the CC will not meter ambient light. Is that correct? The only thing I've seen is to increase aperture or bring the lighting level down to allow more ambient light in and make shots until you are happy with the exposure. But can anyone give me a little more direction than that?

A good example for me would be using window light as either a main or fill light for either portraits or product shots.

I'm sure once I get my goodies that I will have lots more questions, but appreciate the help in advance.

Thanks!

CC will meter ambient light, however it will not tell you a percentage of ambient vs. flash. A slower shutterspeed will bring in more ambient, while keeping your aperture, ISO and flash output the same. If you need a faster shutterspeed to avoid ghosting, you can open your aperture/increase ISO and decrease the flash output.

TS

Cool! That is all I need it to do. I can't wait for it to get here!

Thanks so much!

Brenda