During this time we’ve also made some new international friends by the name of Dave (USA) and Zack (Europe) – So shout outs to those guys.

Last night a few of us went for a look down Southbank by the Yarra river, Unfortunately I didn’t have my sync cables fso was relying on the SB-26’s optical slave function..

Here’s a few simple snaps I ran off while we were there.

Dave – Soul
Canon 40D | Tokina 10-17mm(ƒ/3.5-4.5)@10mm | ƒ/3.5 | ISO 1600| 1/160s
Nikon SB-26 camera right, 1/8 @ 50mm

Brad – top porn
Canon 40D | Tokina 10-17mm(ƒ/3.5-4.5)@10mm | ƒ/3.5 | ISO 1600| 1/125s
Nikon SB-26 camera left, 1/8 @ 35mm

Kev, Dave, Brad and Zack
Canon 40D | Tokina 10-17mm(ƒ/3.5-4.5)@13mm | ƒ/4.0 | ISO 1600| 1/6s
available light, handheld

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Danny Jensen – Sweatstance to 180 mute out
Canon 40D | Canon 50mm ƒ/1.8 | ƒ/8 | ISO 400| 1/800s

Melton Reservoir

Johnny Jensen – Back Royale

Chris Pullar – Stale Grab

Matt Caratelli – Soul grind

Chris Pullar – Superman

Valo CS!

The Jensen brothers thinking the worst…

Seb takes a fall on the roll in..
“Don’t worry your nipple’s still there…” – Hayden Watt

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Me.

The above shot was from playing around with a white shoot-through umbrella. I’ve read a little bit about using them but decided to wing it. I shot it tethered to my laptop and used my mouse as a shutter trigger. Software is called DSLR Remote Pro.

It’s been a little while since I’ve taken any photos, Rampfest has been a boiler lately and as I haven’t rolled for awhile the camera’s had a rest. I had some new bits and pieces come from MidWest Photo Exchange (MPEX) in the USA too.

2x Westcott 43″ collapsible white umbrella with cover
2x Lumopro LP653 Super clamps
2x Lumopro LP633 umbrella swivels

Really happy with the Lumopro gear. For my photography hobby I think it’s great to start off with without having to shell out for expensive Manfrotto gear. They’re almost exactly the same but made in China and about 1/2 to 1/3 the price.  Definitely worth looking into, exclusive to MPEX. I also have their LP604 light stands too, and they’re awesome.

I must say, compared to the D.I.Y Clamps I made up earlier, the Super-clamps are great. Have tons of grip and with the umbrella swivel you can point the thing everywhere. The D.I.Y’s still come in useful though for other things, and when I need to whack a flash on something large.

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During the warmups while it was dry still, Tim asked me to setup for this invert he wanted to do…Reeled off a bunch of shots and this was the result..Inverted fastplant, tapping the corner of the box too…oldschool tech!

Tim Ward – Inverted fastplant to revert
Canon 40D | Tokina 10-17mm(ƒ/3.5-4.5)@10mm | ƒ/4 | ISO 100| 1/500s

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Apologies for the lack of updates during the past two weeks. The weather in Melbourne has been BLOODY HOT..and I hate skating in 35c weather.

Beer, shorts and a wifebeater is the way to be on a hot Melbourne day. Agree?

2009 VIC Inline Titles Flyer

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Tom decided that a disaster back savannah would be sequence worthy..and it was huge! Loved how he crosses his legs WAY early. Came out pretty good. Cybersync’s did well triggering away at 6+ fps with no misfires. I also put my D.I.Y clamp to the test and it passed with flying colours. Definately need to use some Loctite on the bolts for my D.I.Y spigot as they came a little loose on a few occasions.

Mr. Golder decided to snake in as well..resulting in this gaze inducing 540 over the box.

Tom Coley-Sowry – Disaster back savannah
Canon 40D | Tokina 10-17mm(ƒ/3.5-4.5)@10mm | ƒ/3.5 | ISO 400| 1/160s
Nikon SB-26 camera right, 1/8th @ 50mm, Canon 430EX camera left, 1/16th @ 35mm

Hayden Golder – 540
Canon 40D | Tokina 10-17mm(ƒ/3.5-4.5)@10mm | ƒ/3.5 | ISO 400| 1/125s
Nikon SB-26 camera right, 1/8th @ 50mm, Canon 430EX camera left, 1/16th @ 35mm

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CST came with a 2.5mm to PC cord – To trigger the unit while keeping the hotshoe free.

CSRB came with a host of cables, 3.5mm to PC, 3.5mm to 3.5mm, 3.5mm to 1/4.

Batteries included in all packages. They have colour boxes and printed manuals now to add a bit of spice to the packaging, and boxes/manuals are all generic to cut down on costs.

There’s no mounting hole on the receivers so I’ll be looking into more D.I.Y ways to hang/mount/clip them up.

The test buttons are recessed into the plastic to stop accidental power ups in your bag. I have read of people gluing a small rubber washer around it just to be really tight ass. I don’t believe it’s necessary though.

The receivers have no OFF switch either. They time out after 1 hour. Every time you trigger them this is reset. I like this as with my last triggers, I left them on most of the time – forgetting to turn them off. They are supposed to have a 200 hour life off the 2x AA batteries they run on.

The transceiver slots straight onto the hotshoe with no locking mechanism. The thought behind this is that if for some reason you knocked it off, the trigger would not tear off the hotshoe with it. (I can’t see that happening anyway) but its very sturdy and I think will last well. Time will tell as to how long it lasts as it wears..

Initial testing shows the units trigger perfectly when my 40D is on 6.3fps. Up to my flashes to keep up.

More to come..Stay tuned. I’ll update this post for any mounting options I come up with..when I think of them.

I’ll be heading out Thursday (12/11/09) to snap up some sequences and put these to work. I’ll post them up tomorrow so come back and check out the results then.

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I’m a big fan of DIY. Especially when it comes to anything photography. I decided to see if I could make my own flash clamp. My criteria? Cheap (Under $10… gotta start somewhere) and simple with no special bits to it. Living in Australia, Bunnings is probably the most widely known home hardware store – So that’s where I plan to get my parts from.

The spigots that are typically used have either a 1/4 thread (same as what is on the bottom of your camera) or a 3/8 thread (the larger one on the top of most light stands, etc) – I didn’t need to screw anything on to the clamp so I didn’t bother getting these thread sizes. If you want to screw on a compact camera or something to your clamp you may want to consider thread size when you purchase your bolts.

Here’s what I found to make my DIY flash clamp.

$4.98 – M8×35mm Nuts and bolts pack (Fittings isle)
M8 is the threadsize, 35mm is the lenngth. Doesn’t need to be high tensile – they just didn’t have the length I wanted the normal cheaper pack

$3.64 – Sonata 200mm nylon spring clamp (Tools section)
It has a relatively good grip (enough for a small flash) and has some teeth on the clamps for extra bite plus adjustable pads at the end of the clamps. Made of plastic which is easy to drill/dremel. A bit bigger than the commonly used metal spring clamps

Total: $8.62 – That’s cheap enough for me. Cheaper still if you just go to a nuts/bolts place and buy them separately.

I made a hole in the center of one of the clamp side arms. Pushed a bolt through it, and then screwed down the 4 nuts in the pack. This was my DIY soultion to those brass spigots that are hard to obtain down here in Australia. The umbrella swivel will just screw onto them, plus theres enough rotation in the flash head/umbrella swivel to negate having a round barrel to lock onto. (The nut only has 6 flat sides which the umbrella swivel will lock onto securely)

So how does it work? Pretty damn good for under something that took 5 minutes to make for under $10.

Something you could do, if you wanted to be totally paranoid about the nuts coming loose over time – Buy some threadlocker. Its in the same isle as the nuts and bolts and its called Loctite. Put a few drops of this on the thread of the bolt and screw the nuts down..They wont move after that.

This is just how I did it, feel free to change whatever you want to suit yourself. Let me know if you found this little tip handy though, I’d appreciate it!

The umbrella stand I used comes with a silver umbrella and is from from DealExtreme for $15 bucks shipped.

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A tin shed is not exactly the best place to be, unless you like roasting. After a rather nice and hot spring Melbourne day Rampfest was a little quiet. I mean I definitely was NOT inclined to strap the boots on.  I snagged this shot of Johnny while the sun was still out, strobeless, going for the natural light look and trying to get in closer comapred to the same invert that I got a few weeks ago. I think I prefer this one. What do you think?

Johnny Jensen – Invert
Canon 40D | Tokina 10-17mm(ƒ/3.5-4.5)@10mm | ƒ/3.5 | ISO 1600 | 1/250s

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