Shooting (in a Good Way)

I was watching a video from Jasmine Star’s blog (http://www.jasminestarblog.com) where she discusses using off camera and on camera light at wedding receptions. In the video she showed how she has her on camera flash and a pocket wizard in use at the same time. Her solution definitely works, but I thought I would share mine as well. I use a ‘Camcorder Cold Shoe Adapter’. You can find one at:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/179985-REG/Sony_VCTS30L_VCT_S30L_Cold_Shoe_Adapter.html

This adapter gets the remote trigger out of the way and has a passthrough to allow use of a tripod or my usual Black Rapid strap.  Check it out!

Hope this helps!

I travelled to Wisconsin recently for a week of work at the day job and my first real wedding gig.  I brought alot of gear with me including my cheap Gadget Infinity Cactus radio triggers.  The wedding ceremony was scheduled for 4:30, which in Wisconsin in December means pitch dark outside.  I knew that the lighting would be low and that I would need more than just the Speedlight 430EX on camera.  My 70-200mm f2.8 is good, but not that good.  I wanted the radio trigger to fire my second strobe (Vivitar 285HV) from the balcony of the reception hall. 

Unfortuntately when I was looking through my gear a few nights before the wedding I realized that the Cactus trigger receiver was dead.  I knew it wouldn’t work without the second light so something had to be done.  The local shops had options like the Elincrom Microsyncs and Pocket Wizards.  All good options, but I wanted something more versatile than the Microsyncs and cheaper than the Pocket Wizards.  Enter Paul C Buff, Inc.  I’d been reading about their monolights and really want some Alien Bees gear, so their triggers had my attention.  After reading some reviews online, I decided to give them a chance.  I ordered them on a Thursday morning and had them on Friday morning.  Even with next day air shipping the transmitter/receiver set was a little cheaper than one Pocket Wizard.  The receiver only has a miniphone plug, so I had to find the correct adapter for my Vivitar flash, but after finding that, I had no problems.

As for performance, the triggers fired every single time without fail, which is all you can really ask for.  They are also very small and use readily available batteries.  They can fire a strobe or a camera and the system is inexpensively expanded with more transmitters/receivers.  Bottom line, worked when I needed them and got the job done.

Here’s a little sample as proof that it was working