Beware with Sigma Lenses purchases

Today I bang with a notice from SIGMA house in London where a lot of gear was stolen from them.

I decided to post this news here since a lot of you out there are using their lenses and accessories and I would not want anything bad happen to you guys.

I'm not really into SIGMA lenses since I only uses CANON primes but this could be helpful to anyone who uses this lenses.

Above is a copy of the original message you can find it here in SIGMA web site.

Sigma Burglary

The offices and warehouse of Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd were broken into on the night of Friday 15th June.

The theft was captured on CCTV and police are currently investigating. The burglary is believed to have been carried out by a professional gang who stole a large quantity of Sigma products.

Sigma have a record of all the stolen products and their serial numbers, available here, and ask members of the public to be aware of any Sigma products being sold at lower than usual prices. Sigma’s supply chain was temporarily disrupted and we regret any disappointment or delay caused to our customers.

Sigma’s normal efficient service has been resumed and every effort is being made to replace the stolen goods. In addition to being vigilant, we would ask our customers to be patient and understanding of any temporary delays.

If you are suspicious of a Sigma product you have seen for sale, please telephone Sigma immediately on 01707 329 999.

If you have any friends who plan on buying a SIGMA lens advise them to check the pdf serials before buy it over the web .

Thanks for the time and spread the word.

DIY: Black Straws Snoot Grid (Part 2)

On this second part of this DIY: Black Straws Snoot Grid I will try to demonstrate how you can use the Black Straws Snoot Grid and what will be the effect the each one produce.

We will first start by knowing them (2cm and 5cm).

On the above picture you can see the effect that each one produce when banged against a white wall, this is purely straighten right from the SB-26's flashes with the Black Straws Snoot Grid attached, both with the same power and the same distance to the wall.

You can see the difference between the 5cm straws on the left side that produces a small beam and the 2cm straws on the right with a larger. Take a closer look at the fall off of the light on both of them since it's the same and it produces a round circle even with a home made square Grid.

You can make them the size you want, these two I think work great and are very small sized and portable, you can fit them nicely on your bag.

What shot's can you produce with this kind of gear?

Here are some examples I took with a friend model ;) Remember that you can produce similar photos, in some cases, with just one umbrella but these one's were created with the purpose to show you what you can accomplish with this kind of light.

This shot has the 2cm snoot on the right to create some background and detail on the wall and the 5cm towards my face.
This produces a nice fall off on the face without contaminating the background and the shoulders could obtain some separation produced by the 2cm snoot on the right. Kinda dark feeling!!

This one shows only the 2cm snoot on the right that creates the background as you can see the shadowed detail on myself. This is a simple example, since you can move the light back or forward to create the effect you want... just try it by yourself.

This one is almost like the first shot except that I changed the position of the 2cm snoot (closer to the wall) on the right side giving the background a small halo behind my back. The 5cm snoot now covers a bigger part of the models face since I also moved it closer to me.

On this one the lights did not move only I changed the position of my face to create a different kind of look. This is difficult when you are trying to get a picture of yourself and in focus and manage the lights at the same time... sorry no assistant here.

I cached only the light on the face. You can use this technique to illuminate part of a person or an object that you want to show detail. 5cm snoot from the left.

This shot has the 2cm snoot on the right to create some background and detail on the wall and the 5cm towards my face with proximity changed. You can see on this close up that the 5cm snoot produces a quick fall off of the light to the right side, the nose produces a shadow on the right and can be avoided (if you like) by turning, a little, the face of the model towards the light.

This shot has the 2cm snoot on the right for the background and detail on the wall and the 5cm upwards to my face. Kinda dark sinister creature ;)

Another example.

Now playing with coloring the flashes I took this shot with the 2cm snoot with an orange gel on the right and the 5cm towards my face with no gels.

You can play with this colored gels on the flashes and with the White Balance of your camera to create different kind of feelings and moods.

For a more technical composition and lightning visit the Strobist website link on the right side of my blog.

I think that with this short examples you get the feeling how this things work...

Keep in mind that you have to try them and get to know them.

This ends the part two of this two series of DIY: Black Straws Snoot Grid, hope you like them and until next time... keep up the good work.

Rui

DIY: Black Straws Snoot Grid (Part 1)


And also check the colored version.

Gadget Infinity & Pocket Wizard Side-By-Side

Hello and welcome again to another tip for lower money. I do not dare on making a comparative with both since they are at different levels but at least the cost could somehow make you use more your small flash off camera without having to pay a fortune.

This is my short Side-By-Side between my new Gadget Infinity (GI) and my good old Pocket Wizards (PW).

This is not a comparative of the both systems (you can find that in a lot of good websites around the web) this is my review for the low end money and reliability of use of the GI units.

I was searching for something to trigger my flashes cheaper than the PW, something that could be more portable and with less cables to plug-in and carry around than my actual PW system.
At Strobist I got the review, at the Strobist London seminar I saw them and wondered and on the GI website I ordered them.

The GI guys are really fast on delivery since it only took 4 days to arrive after order confirmed.

Here is a picture that can demonstrate how small the GI's are compared to the PW's. The GI's are almost the size of an AA Alkaline battery, more of this on next pictures.

Enjoy my small Side-By-Side and if you feel that you need one of this systems to use and abuse here goes the link to both ;)

You can by the GI at www.gadgetinfinity.com under the Flash Triggers category.
The PW are available at www.pocketwizard.com/.




For Strobist here is the setup shot. An SB-26 left side through a white umbrella.










A close look at the setup of the improvised diffusion box.
This box was made with four A4 white sheets of paper glued together with scotch tape to create the professional studio look... guys remember that you do not need those expensive boxes for this kind of thing... use your head instead :) and figure out a way of lighting it.

Tip: Read the book Light Science and Magic it would help!!

This is the front side of the original package of the GI units.









What's inside the package:

- 1 Cactus PT-04 (Receiver)
- 1 Transmitter
- 1 CR2 battery
- 1 Mini Sync cord cable (Jack on one side and and SC-11 on the other)
- 1 Instruction Manual (with the channels combination)




A setup shot of the box picture. One SB-26 triggered with GI on the above left side through a white umbrella.







The package:

- 1 Cactus PT-04 (Receiver)
- 1 Transmitter
- 1 CR2 battery
- 1 Mini Sync cord cable (Jack on one side and and SC-11 on the other)
- 1 Instruction Manual (with the channels combination)






A picture of the inside of the receiver unit and the backside of the transmitter and the little CR2 battery.






This is the PW setup box. Unfortunately I do not have the original box and the instruction manual but this was what came inside except for the batteries.
The cable also brings an adapter so you can have a connection Jack-Jack on end to end.










GI mounted on the Manfrotto stand Nano001 attached to the SB-26 flash unit.











Another view of the GI mounted on the Manfrotto stand Nano001 attached to the SB-26 flash unit.







Another view of the GI mounted on the Manfrotto stand Nano001 attached to the SB-26 flash unit.







The PW mounted on the Manfrotto stand Nano001 attached to the SB-26 flash unit.

P.S. - You can see the amount of things that are on the stand. The PW needs a hot-shoe mount to work with the Canon flashes since they do not have connection.








Another view of the PW mounted on the Manfrotto stand Nano001 attached to the SB-26 flash unit but this time the PW connects directly to the SB-26 but the hot shoe is still there to support it on the stand.





P.S. - You can still see the amount of things that are on the stand. The PW needs a hot-shoe mount to work with the Canon flashes since they do not have connection.




The triggers GI (Left) and the PW (Right) on the Canon MarkII.

Can you see the difference in size? :)



Hey it's not fair the left camera is bigger ;)



To end this Side-By-Side I put 3 different flashes firing together Canon 580EX (L), Canon 220EX (C) and a Nikon SB-26 (R).




All fired at the same time... you must take in account that all were in manual mode but the 220EX does not have any commands it just blast the way with full power so I taped it with some white paper to lower the power.



A setup shot and added the main light.

So I ended up with 4 lights firing with GI:
- Canon 580EX (L), Canon 220EX (C), Nikon SB-26 (R) and Nikon SB-26 (Umbrella).







With this last shot I wanted to try them on different rooms away from the camera sight.

Well it run good.

1st Image top left
(From Left to Right) SB-26, 580EX, 220EX.

2nd Image top Right SB-26

3rd Image bottom Left 580EX

4th Image bottom Right 220EX


Well I think that with this you could take some conclusions by yourself and get your system working, so what are you waiting for...

Above all have fun!!!!