SB800 and D70s in Commander Mode

[PhotoByMark]

I have a number of questions related to aquarium photography and using the D70s in commander and an Sb800. I will try to describe the situation and then questions. Each section will have a subject heading to give you idea where I am headed. I tend to ramble on and on - hopefully my questions will be clear. If not, ask I will post better details. See rambling already sorry.


1. SB800 looses communication with my D70s

During my last outing I was shooting a seahorse/pipefish tank and a reef tank. Both are the same room. Things were working great. That is, flash and camera were talking to each other and flash was firing as expected. Later in the shoot I started having lots of problems getting the two to communicate. Occasionally the flash would fire and give me the beep sounds indicating that something did not work right. And other times I could not get the flash to fire. I am thinking that perhaps I was getting some interference from something in the room perhaps? The SB800 and D70s communicate via infared I believe. So I am wondering what are some possibilities for interference. There is a medium size exhaust fan installed in the fish room and it did come on at somepoint. Just not sure what the problem was. I did change to a fresh set of batteries halfway through the shoot. I filled up 2 1-Gig Cards shooting just RAW(NEF). While changing the batteries I did notice that the flash was pretty darn warm and batteries were pretty warm too. Any thoughts on this one?


2. Using flash remotely and securly over an open top tank.

Both tanks I was shooting were on very tall stands. 4 feet or so. So for viewing the tanks are at a great height. Both tanks were brick style tanks ie, no center brace. I do not have a clamp to hold the flash so I opted to use my Giottos 8180 to hold the flash over the tank. Couple of problems, I now lost my tripod so 1/2 the shots were done handheld since I was using the tripod for the flash. I have another el cheapo tripod that I usually use for the flash but, the tanks were so darn tall that I had to use my good tripod fully extended with center pole at max height to get the flash up and over the tank. My question you say? Ahhh, I am getting to it. LOL. I am basically wondering what methods you use for keeping the flash up and over the tank? Clamp, Plexiglass on tank with flash sitting on it (I have done this before), or other methods perhaps a stand and a boom? A flash clamp seems like it would work but, I am not keen of it slipping and the flash going swimming - that would just kill me!!! So I would like to hear some other methods.

3. Using SB800 remotely in front the tank and avoiding the flash bounce

I just struggle with this one sometimes. Where the heck do you put the flash to avoid the bounce. I know there are many factors. Lens, distance to the subject etc. I have tried closer to the tank than the camera, behind the camera, off to the side - Apparently my logic on angles and flash just suck. I would like to hear your methods.

4. Anyone using strobes for aquatic photography

Just curious. Gregory (gho on NikonCafe) - he is here too. He uses his strobes for some of his aquatic stuff and I am a bit clueless on strobes. Any comments on this subject?

[alanhill]

A lot of questions - I'll answer some and I'm sure others can add more.

First of all I wouldn't worry too much about the batteries and the flash getting warm - if you're using NiMH or NiCd rechargeables they will generate quite high currents, which is why the flash charges up quickly but gets quite hot: this should be allowed for in the design of the kit.
I find Commander mode with the internal flash of my D70 triggering my SB800 and SB600 is unreliable too - it may be that I have been setting it up wrongly, I'm certainly doing something wrong.
Plexiglass over the tank works, but it's not very secure. I have used a variety of clamps and clips - look at Rich's new kit in his posts too. I suppose the safest way is to use both - I do know how easy it is to drown a flashgun :-(
As I've said before, you can guarantee that you won't get reflections from the front glass if you use a rubber lens hood held against the front glass. It might spook some fish, but in my experience this doesn't happen too often, provided you avoid sudden movements. Of course you can still get reflections from the rear glass if there are no furnishings in the way.
IMHO there is little alternative to flash for top quality results, unless you have tanks in full daylight or a megawatt lighting system.

Alan

[Ibn]

Next time that the camera has problems communicating with the flash, try replacing the battery in your D70. I ran into a very similar problem last night while photographing some plants. The onboard flash stopped firing totally and I had to switch the battery out (thanks to Hiro for the suggestion).

I carry pieces of acrylic around to place on top of tanks for photography. Using the tripod is a good idea and I wouldn't worry about shooting by hand. That's how most of us are shooting the fish shots.

Avoiding flash bounce back. Use Alan's suggestion or get as close as you can to the glass to avoid it. Otherwise shoot it at a slight angle.

Strobes. These would work especially when used with some pocket wizards. Need plenty of space for these however.

[PhotoByMark]

Ok - Thanks, there are some good ideas here. A rubber lens hood is interesting. You are not talking about the normal lens hood correct?

I like the strobes however, I have no experience with these. And of course, I can see how space would be an issue. Some locations it would be very hard to use strobes. How do you meter when using strobes. Manual Mode? Or do some strobes work with Nikon CLS?

On flash bounce, at home I have no problem. When I go to other people's houses then I seem to have issues. Perhaps a little nervous or unfamiliar with my location. I think next time I shoot I will have both flash parallel to each with both at the same angle. This I think would avoid the flash bounce. Is it better to have flash closer to the glass and camera slightly behind flash or vice versa? Or ? ......

Thx for the repsonses!

[Ibn]

The rubber lens hood is different from the regular one. It's made out of rubber and is more flexible to that reason.

With strobes, I'd take a look at picking up a light meter and use that to figure out the settings. Otherwise, you can always just do it by trial and error. You'll still have to tweak with the settings a bit with the strobes due to the fact that you can't use the light meter in the tank. :lol:

On the flash bounce, it really depends on what you have to work with (especially with different setups with canopies, lips, etc.). I'd just shoot a few and see what they look like.

[PhotoByMark]

Just too simple Eric! :-D

I will consider the rubber lens hood seems like that could help in some case.