2- To celebrate my new website, I will be giving away some gifts in the coming weeks

3- You will now clearly see my expertises on the new website

4- I’ve also set myself some goals for September. 10 pictures on 10 different subjects/ideas.

5- Can’t wait for Photokina’s announcements… Hope we will hear some excellent news!

Cheers!!!

Picture #1 is with Softbox and Grid

picture #1 is the one with the most modification in photoshop. I added some vigneting and played with the colors a bit to create an effect but decided not to continue on the 2 other pictures.

Picture #2 is with DIY beauty dish.
Look how much texture you find in the picture with a beauty dish, not as soft as with the sofbox at all, but more details in her neck and cheeks

Picture #3 is with Beauty Dish and 2$ reflector on her right.

Very similar to #2 except look how clean her right side is… Just a simple card board used as a reflector from the light the beauty dish. Amazing how can 2$ be so useful sometimes

D900
FX = 18-24MP
HD Video -> 1080p 60 FPS
ISO: 100 – 6400 (Boost 50- 12800)
Dual Slot card
100% ViewFinder
I’M BUYING!!!

1- Showing a photoshoot with young kids and how I work and live that chaos?

2- Shooting one man with a simple black background but show more details on the technics?

3- Shoot an simulation of an horror show in the woods in the night.

Please let me know here …

Cheers

Ghislain

It’s not about if you decide to go with an Olympus instead of Nikon or Canon, it’s really about your imagination and creativity.

So, what should you do?

1- You have to believe in yourself
2- If you do not have a camera already, go get a camera that feels good in your hands.
3- A Point and Shoot or DSLR? To me, DSLR is the way to go but there are some very good point and shoot out there. Like I said, the most important decision for you when you are choosing a camera is how good it feels in your hands. If you can’t hold it properly, you won’t like to go out and take pictures with your camera.
4- You have to be passionate about your hobby and take lots of pictures. Find time for a photowalk, a photoshoot, just enjoy it!
5- Before you invest in additional gear, invest in you! Don’t be afraid to register to online course or to a photography school.
6- Look around, there is a nice picture to take 10 feets from you everyday!
7- If you want to take nice pictures, you need to make sure your camera stays with you all the time.
8- Think about it, are you obsessed by becoming a photographer or taking pictures?
9-  Get inspired by others
10-  Set yourself some goals. Ex: Before the end of this year, I will make one superb picture that I will print 20×24.

KEY FEATURES:

1- This device has extremely low power consumption.
2- It can be easily used within 5-10 meters indoor and around 20-35 meters outdoor.
3- You can use 4 channels to communicate
4- It can synch up to 1/250 second
5- 3 years warranty.

INCLUDED IN THE BOX:

1- Receiver
2- Output Jack with adaptor
3- The RF-604 Transmitter with battery included
4- Quick Manual

PRICE: Street price is 65$ but I could get it for ~50$ downtown Montreal.
NOTE: If you intend to use these Radio Triggers with a Cobra type flash (Nikon SB-600 for Example) you will need to purchase a universal hotshoe that is almost the same price of the Radio Trigger (Hama is well know and their Universal Shoes are priced around 30$)

My Personal Field Experience:

How do I use the LR triggers? Basically, I purchased a box of Velcro where I stick the rough side on my Radio triggers and the soft side on my flashes. (Camray C-300 or all my Nikon SB-600)

I have been mainly shooting with LR Radio Trigger for all my shootings since March 2010. Basically, I haven’t had any real issues for all my indoor photoshoots. If you place your Radio Trigger on the good side, they always trigger. It did happen that a flash didn’t trigger when required but not enough to mention. (Maybe 3-5 times over 1000 pictures)

I use either AAA Duracell 1000 mAh or AAA Sanyo’s Eneloop and they work just fine. Make sure they are fully recharged before each photoshoot and you’re good to go for at least 500 pictures probably more. They barely use any power at all.

As for the transceiver, this is hard for me to explain. I was probably using a defective one at the beginning, I had to replace the battery (not so easy to find 12VL1028 23A Alkaline Cylindrical) after almost every shoot BUT with a new tranceiver, I have been using the same battery for over 2000 pictures… But keep in mind that having a few extras is not really a bad idea.

Where I might have had issues with my LR Radio trigger is for my outdoor shooting using just one flash. If you move around your flash connected to the LR Radio Trigger with a big huge softbox, sometimes, the signal doesn’t get to the receiver. It wasn’t really a distance issues as I was probably around 2-3 meters from the LR receiver but I was in front of my Softbox on the other side where the receiver was sticked to my flashes. Basically, I would need to add/perform an additional test here which would be: Are they performing any better if I stick them (receiver) on the top of each flash? Honestly, I think they might just work better. TBD….

CONCLUSION – Pros
1- Extremely light and low power consumption
2- Not expensive at all
3- Quite reliable for the price
4- Excellent warranty (3 years)
5- Can be used with any type of flash which is great
6- Hot Shoe is really easy to fix and well built
7- Excellent Customer Service. (See point 2 in Cons)

CONCLUSION – Cons
1- Very fragile, the plastic casing can crack when changing the batteries too quickly
2- The cable fixed to the receiver can brake quite easily if you move it too much. I had 2 receiver changed free of charge no questions asked
3-  If you move around your flashes a lot and your receiver aren’t placed properly, you may be frustrated at time as they will not pop the flashes so make sure you align them properly to get the best out of them
4- The transceiver should use a AAA rechargeable battery. I don’t believe we can purchase or find any 12V 23a that can be rechargeable.

GOOD for:
1- Amateur and semi-pros
2- Photographers that do not reach for perfection, if you are, please go with Pocket Wizard (~199$ plus taxes)
3- Daylight photographers that requires flashes in their picture

NOT SO GOOD for:

1- Professional photographer
2- High budget photoshoot with High Synch requirements
3- When the photographer needs a transmitter that can activate the camera as there are currently no adaptator for this model.

Overall conclusion:

I strongly recommend those Radio Trigger for Studio shoots and all photographers that have a limited budget. Especially if you are using your Canon / Nikon / Pentax flashes outside, TTL doesn’t really work well on a bright sunny day while those Radio Trigger will work wonderfully if placed correctly.

I really enjoy those trigger and for ~50$, it’s really hard to get anything better than LightRein Radio Trigger. If you use them carefully, they will work very well and most importantly, I have the full confidence over LightRein Customer Service. So far, they have just been extremely good.

Enjoy your day and GOYA and shoot lots of pictures!

NOTE: For those who don’t know what GOYA means, well here goes: Get Off Your A.. and shoot lots of pictures!

Ghislain

1- Working on a video for fstoppers.com I’ve been saying that for weeks but really want to have it done within the next 3 weeks TOP

2- Working on a few photoshoot, one client this saturday and hopefully a very nice one in August.

3- Working on building my final test plan for LightRein for the radio trigger. I’m actually checking seriously with the possibility of getting pro level trigger with LightRein. I hope things will move quickly because I’m really falling in love with them

I have several Blog video I want to work on, better stop those excuses and really make them even if I do not have an HD video camera.

But my biggest challenge lately is really my /$?%$?$%?% basemant… I really can’t wait to have it done but there is so much left to be done…. crazy….

Cheers

Ghislain

www.ghislainleduc.com
info@ghislainleduc.com if you need my services.

I tested it a bit tonight without tethering but still, it looked on the LCD of my D300 quite better. Sharpness and focus seems ok even at f/2.8 so this is really great news.

I can’t wait to really look at pictures on my MBP.

So what happened is that Lozeau gave me a new lens, better model than what I used to have, 10 years warantee starting today so… bottom line, the repair store might have not been able to fix my lens but at least Sigma didn’t argue and just admit it couldn’t be repaired and I just got a brand new lens which is great service!

Cheers,

Just to recap: The second time it came back with Auto Focus completely dead. the third time, Autofocus was back but now the lens was back focusing more then ever AND at f/2.8 you couldn’t see a thing except a big blur!!!

The manager of the customer service at www.lozeau.com told me he would take care of this personally. Hopefully someone will fix it or give me something else… I won’t send it a fifth time… I’ve been without my f/2.8 70-200mm for almost 5 months now…. enough is enough…

Cheers

I can’t believe it…