Godox Lux Senior

Well, that might be a first to me, I am actually praising a product. And no, I was not gifted the product. In fact, I had a hard time to purchase it in the first place. All the usual places were out of stock. Actually, one provider reimbursed my prepayment. Finally I was able to procure the device, surprisingly at a very decent discount. 
That made me think that this product fell out of grace somehow.

So, what are we talking about? It is a flash unit, not a speed light. An old style flash unit that you would traditionally feed flash bulbs to, one at the time.... However, there is a modern interpretation of such a device: http://godox.com/product-a/Lux-Senior.html 

When deployed, the circular reflector has a diameter of 11.5cm. In this setting, the flash creates a directed beam of relatively soft light. Not exactly a beauty dish, but not far from it. That's what you see from the interwebs anyway.
However, there is another non-bespoke way of using the flash, namely with the reflector NOT being deployed. Now we are looking at a 180 degrees light source having a tiny portion of a top reflector towards the subject.  Depending on the settings of your reflectors, this opens a ton of opportunities. Not to mention slaves in this scenario.

Using this unit as a slave opens more options that I am willing to describe. 
I hope that Godox will continue this product! This may be the most flexible one ever, in combinations with remote triggers and light modifiers.

Godox, if you read, continue this path (and send me products for testing).

Huawei P9 / all digital cameras (blue sky trick)

Since digital cameras and white balance settings, there is a trick to turn a dull grey sky into something blue, while keeping you talent (in a close portrait situation) with a very natural appearance.

The images I shot, testing the technique with the P9, I cannot share on the interwebs, sorry for that.
Anyway, here is the technique:

1. put the camera into the pro mode
2. select the incandescent (light bulb) white balance (that should turn everything daylight into blue)
3. force flash (this will fire the flash, which is daylight equivalent)

Should you be confused now, this is what it is all about:

• the camera "thinks" that white surfaces are illuminated by warm light
• the camera flash fires at daylight color temperature (usually used for fill-flash)
• parts of a scene outside the range of the flash will be taken as incandescent
• parts of a scene within the range of the flash will be illuminated by a daylight spectrum 

Therefore, you will get 2 different color profiles within a single image. 

As indicated before, I tried the method, and it works with the P9, however, I am unable to share the results online.

I wish to point out that this is, next to using polarised filters, a method that cannot be replicated in post-processing.

How to Create the Weegee Look

Weegee? You might ask... well, this would refer to Arthur Fellig. Not sure who I am talking about? Have a look at wikipedia to find out.

Old days

Weegee's was best known for nighttime photography of crime scenes. His technique involved the use of flash bulbs, giving a very harsh look to the pictures. There is usually a hard shadow cast on the left side of the subject, which is a "dead" give-away that the flash used was on the right side of the camera; very common to large format press cameras.

Over the years, off-camera flash moved to the left side of the camera, in particular when flash brackets are used. Many point & shoot cameras of today have their flash mounted on the left side, the reasons of which is totally unclear to me. Anyway, the on-camera flash is too close to cast any meaningful shadow at regular photographing distance.

Modern age

So, here is what we need to do to create the typical look of the illumination typically used in Fellig's crime scene photograph:

• mount a speedlight on a flash bracket
• 1 foot to the right of the camera lens
• 1 foot above the camera lens

For the flash bracket, I got myself one that looks essentially like this one. Everything is adjustable with the bracket...

Having the bracket on the right of the camera is a bit awkward, since cameras are designed for right hand use, with the shutter button on the right, which is, where the bracket is now. That of course means, that the camera now will be operated by the left hand.

What the shutter release is concerned, there might be an option: a shutter release cable, with the button fixed to the flash bracket (I guess, I will build something alike in the near future).

Digital solution

Obviously, the above is all nice in theory, but, what about putting this into digital reality?

Here is my setup:

• Fujifilm X-M1
• Fujifilm XC 16-50mm f/3.5-f/5.6
• Fujifilm EF-20
• flash bracket as mentioned above
• flashgun cable for Canon by PIXEL Inc.

Now to the technical settings, which are different from my usual way of configuring a camera:

• AF illuminator ON
• flash exposure compensation -1
• exposure compensation -1
• red eye removal off

Here is why. With flash, there is not stealth photography, so, there is no reason to not use the AF illuminator. Flash bulbs were not that strong and weaker flash allows for a wider open aperture (see below). Further, lower flash power shortens cycle time of the speedlight. Also, we are still talking nighttime photography, despite the use of flash.

And the "artistic" settings:

• RAW+JPEG
• film simulation B&W (obviously)
• highlight tone +1
• shadow tone +2
• sharpness +1
• noise reduction -1
• auto ISO limit 6400
• f=30mm
• f/4.7 (i.e. as wide open as possible)

This will need some more detailed explanation, I figure.

Highlight tone +1 gives medium hard highlight details, resulting in slightly more contrast in the highlights.

Shadow tone +2  results in very hard shadow details, enhancing the black feel of the JPEG image.

Sharpness +1 in combination with N.R. -1 obviously adds some noise, similar to film grain. This effect could be further enhanced by forcing the ISO up.

My present setup employs a kit zoom lens. 4x5 press cameras are usually equipped with a 135mm, slightly wider than normal primes. On an APS-C system, 30mm comes pretty close to the angle of view that a 135mm would produce in 4x5 LF. Using the XF 27mm f/2.8 (considered on of the best lenses in the Fujifilm system) could the solution.

Finally, the aperture. Due to the long focal length of a large format "normal", the depth of field is pretty shallow. 

In absence of any corpses in front of my house (thanks God!), I took two photographs of a bollard on my front yard. Both pictures are JPEG straight out of the camera. 

Despite using the AF illuminator, the camera struggled to auto-focus. Anyway, I hope that the images prove that a Weegee-look is possible with the equipment listed above.

When using an X100, X100S or X100T, obviously, one might want to use the TCL-X100 for the normal perspective, which would allow for f/2. The 23mm (35mm equivalent) would not be too far off, so any of the series would still be OK w/o the conversion lens.

Conclusion

Weegee used a flash with a relatively large reflector. Although I feel that the initial results look pretty decent, I will experiment to add a soft component to the flash, as to mimic the large reflector.

PS

Shooting with flash requires re-thinking of your exposure parameters, I am aware of that. Exposure for the flash is usually done by the aperture. Distances of 2m to 4m would suggest relatively closed lens, even with lower ISO sensitivities. The creative choice of shooting wide open therefore seems counter-intuitive. Since this look is not affected by ambient light, shutter speed is entirely irrelevant, so the faster syncs speed found on the X100 models won't help. However, the X100 models have a built-in 3 stops N.D.-filter, which could help expose correctly with the lens wide open.

Gary Fong Lightsphere Clone for Fuji EF-20

Nope, the following is not my idea... credits to Artur Gajewsk! Have a look:
DIY Gary Fong Lightsphere

Artur designed his diffuser for normal speedlites, the head of which can swivel. I must say, this design works very well! Please refer to Artur's article for the materials required.

Looking at the Fujifilm EF-20, which accompanies my X100S, things start becoming different.
First of all, although the EF-20 allows to tilt the flash 90 degrees upwards, there is no swivel possibility.
Secondly, the EF-20 is slightly tapered towards the business end.

So, I adapted the dimension as follows:

• length: 23.5 cm
• width: 12 cm

The width defines how well the diffuser wraps around the speedlite, while the length determines the aspect ration of the diffuser. The length is somewhat less critical, I figure 23cm or 24cm will do equally fine.
The constraint here is to employ an aspect ratio and orientation similar to the sensor in the camera, since the EF-20 does not swivel.

Since the flash is tapered, it is important to get as much friction as possible between the flash head and the diffuser. The rubbery material of the EF-20 is a good help here, since it is pretty sticky when used with the smooth side of the silicone lining material. The knobby side provides essentially no grip at all.

When building the diffuser, you hence want the flat/smooth surface inside. This might actually help the light bouncing inside the diffuser.

To mount the diffuser on the EF-20, you want to mount it on the front part of the head first and then slide it back to obtain good grip.

All in all, the first result look pretty promising!

A new addition to the bag, which easily fits into the bag's tablet compartment.

WANSEN WS-603C mod

The RF trigger transceivers made by WANSEN do a pretty good job. I use those in my Canon digital gear.
However, next to the digital stuff, I also shooting film. The cameras I use for this might have a hot-shoe... at max.
Wanna doe wireless with random and oldskool gear?
Here is the solution: get some WANSEN WS-603C an modify those. No, this is not my idea, I found this guy who modified a Yongnuo RF-603N trigger system this way. Here's another chap showing a modification of a RF-603C in video.

The mod add 3V via a 100kOhms resistor to a pin of a multipole hot-shoe. The 100kOhms resistor would be called a "pulled up", i.e. pulling up the potential w/o adding the current. A very safe bet for any electronics.

The WANSEN units seem to be slightly different from the Yongnuo units. So, take care to modify your RF trigger in an appropriate way. Actually, within different WANSEN units, the wiring is different!
I have to say, that my mod is pretty tolerant to various layouts of the main PCB, since it is oriented on the PCB assigned to the hot-shoe.

the pin on the hot-shoe sensing the presence of a camera

here the pin ends, in the middle!

One can attach the switchable pull-up on either the hot-shoe, or the main PCB.
For reduced confusion, I decided to apply the pull-up to the hot-shoe.
Looking out for "done work", I decided to remove the 3.5mm trigger socket, to make place for a switch. One of the terminals of said switch came conveniently close to the hot-shoe's PCB's solder patch for the relevant pin. A very short piece of wire connects the switch with pin, enabling "pull-up".
The green arrow of the following picture indicates the location of the added pull-up resistor.

the mod asks for a 100kOhms pull-up resistor (connected to the battery terminal)

The unit functions as a flash-trigger now... that's the supposed primary use.
Many modern cameras require their very own speed-light systems. Modifying existent systems, such as the WANSEN or Yongnuo, may not provide TTL metering, however, those system form a perfect alternative to the overpriced PocketWizzards.


Actually, I use those trigger to pop a remote flash with an AGAT 18k.

receive mode, all three

device in the middle set to transmit (cf. green LEDs)

Beneficially, the WANSEN and the Yongnuo system are fully compatible in terms of functions.
Personally, I got 2 Yongnuo units and 4 WANSEN units...I will have a hard time figuring out how I can use 5 speedlites....

Poppy-Uppy Flash Mini Soft Box

Lately, I have been asked by some friends, why the flash of their compact camera creates such "crappy" images. Assuming that the problem was flat images with lots of hard shadows and a cold color cast, my answer was always the same: the tiny built-in flash-tube create really hard light.
Hard light, i.e. light that comes from a light source being (much) smaller than the subject, creates a flat appearance and pretty harsh shadows in the background.
Using the built-in, is therefore only good for "fill flash" when shooting in bright (sun) back light.

There are a very simple solutions to make most of the flashes useable, even with the tiny flash being the only light source.

1. diffuse the flash
2. redirect the flash
3. tone the flash
4. redirect the flash with a tone

Options 1 and 2 are obviously referring to making the light softer, which cannot be corrected in post processing, while options 3 and 4 are just an added bonus, and can be added in post.

Options 1, 2 and 4 can easily be achieved by a very simple device... a translucent film canister.

the translucent canister

One simply has to create a template of the cross-section of the poppy-uppy flash's footprint and create a corresponding cut-out in the canister. The cut-out should actually be a bit wider, so that the canister can lean a bit to the front of the camera.
Somewhat like this:

template and modified canister

Going from here, the optional reflector can be created. I experimented a bit with the dimensions of said reflector. And here is my solution:

• length: 43mm (fitting the canister lengthwise)
• width: 23mm (creating a 45-ish degree angle)

the internal reflector

The reflector inserted into the "soft box" looks somewhat like this (red side up):

the internal reflector inserted into the soft box

And there are some of the resulting images, showing one of my messy book shelves. The LX7 was on aperture priority f/2.8 @ ISO1600:

reference shot, bare built-in flash

diffuser (no internal reflector)

white side of the internal reflector

red side of the internal reflector

The difference might be hard to see on the given examples, in particular since blogger will "improve" the photos again, I fear.

An assortment of different reflectors, such as different colors, aluminum foil, etc. can make the mini soft box really useful.

Enjoy photography!

UPDATE:
The original design gave a lot of spill towards the back of the camera. To keep this a bit under control, I attached aluminum tape to the inner backside of the canister,  such that is directed more towards the upper front.

Expensive Day

Oh, this was an expensive day, today!

I ordered

• a Holga lens for my Canons
• a Lensbaby Spark (for my Canons)
• Rogue flash bender and filters

What is this stuff all good for, you may ask. Well, the Holga lens, very obviously, will enable me to shoot in a "Lomography-like" style, using the Rebel XT or the EOS M. I very much look forward to doing street photography with the EOS M and some artsy stuff with the EOS 350D (Rebel XT).

The Lensbaby Spark is a fully tactile (manually pushing and pulling) controlled tilt lens, allowing for the focusing place to be all over the place (read sensor). This will be really cool and creative! I figure, but this is to be seen, that this is more for the Rebel XT, rather than the EOS M.

Finally, I always wanted to own a snoot and gels for my speedlights. The store offering the artsy stuff above also offered the Rogue stuff... en passant were added to the list.

Going Wireless

Urgh?! Correct blog? Wireless, should that not be on "draaggolf"?
Well, no, not this time, although the stuff I am about to write about is actually operating in the 13cm band (2.4GHz that is).

First of all, I am not a great strobist yet. I believe in constant improvement by continuous challenges. Hence, flash-photography is one of my next fields to experiment in.
Actually, I did a bit of experimenting, very little, using one on-camera flash and one off-camera flash in servo mode. This experience was interesting enough to get me buying RF-triggers.

The model I went for finally were the Wansen WS-603 transceivers. Some decent review on the interweb and a very decent price pulled me over. For about €20.- a pair of transceivers landed in my mailbox today.
Considering the price, I might actually order a second pair. Having 3 speedlites (yep, that's how Canon call those things... and I am using Canon), this would make my set complete to illuminate with key-, fill- and hair-light. Yes, I know, for portraits indoors, I would be fine with 1 radio trigger and servo triggered flashguns, but what the hack, just €20.- for the pair of transceivers!

Why do I actually underline the transceiver aspect of the devices? Well, easy, with a transceiver, the camera gets feedback from the flashgun, as it was sitting on the camera. This helps for modern features such as ETTL (Exposure Through The Lens) or remotely adjusting the power setting of the flash in manual mode.

Interested yourself? Check out ebay!