Photoflex Community Discussion

Need a Beauty Dish for my StarFlash

2012-11-09T22:00:35+00:00

I’d like to get a beauty dish type look for my StarFlash 300.

What are my options and what connector do I need to purchase to mate with the SF 300?

Can I use your shoe flash kits and my SB-900 with my built in Nikon Commander mode?

2012-06-18T22:57:00+00:00

For our shoe flash kits, the shoe mounts are attached to a rail on the AC-B222SM adjustable shoe mount hardware: The rail system was designed so photographers using this system on a camera bracket, could quickly remove the SoftBox for distance shots where more power was needed and soft light not necessary. In your case, if you find the Nikon sensor is not picking up the signal, just remove the shoe mount from the rail (notice the 2nd shoe mount is not necessary unless you are using a shoe mount radio remote like pocket wizard). Then Re-attach the shoe mount on top of the rail by using a bolt and washers & likely a lock washer. In this fashion, you can then twist the flash body to point the sensor directly at your camera, then twist the top half of your flash back into the SoftBox. Just take the AC-B222SM with you to the hardware store to get the right parts. Many pros prefer not to use the built in camera system infrared remote because it requires a line of sight and is not as dependable as radio remotes which spread their signal everywhere. So you may want to try it first with your built in system & if it is too much trouble, later you could add the wireless triggers. For a little more money, you could purchase the Pocket Wizard TTL remote system designed for the Nikon.

What is the difference between the two connectors SC-B9002BR and SC-B9005PBR? I am lloking for one to work with my Paul Buff Alien Bees strobe.

2012-06-11T20:40:35+00:00

When we had the square connector rings (prior to the 8 sided OctoDomes,) the connector ring would rub against the Balcar head, making it a tight fit, so the connector was mounted to the opposite side of the ring, giving it more clearance for Balcar, and thus requiring a new connector ring name. When we came out with the eight sided SoftBoxes, the ring was not as thick, so the problem no longer existed, but the fix to the old problem stayed. Now we have two connectors doing the same thing.
So the SC-B9005PBR is the one designed for your unit. The other would do just as well. I suspect that when stock runs out the other will fade away…But maybe it would be fun to keep it in the line just to keep us all on our toes.

Sometimes the optical slave unit is not firing from my StarFlash, what could cause this?

2012-06-11T17:41:34+00:00

The nature of an optical flash slave is that it needs to see the light. If they made the slave too sensitive, it would fire when you didn’t want it to. So there are several methods to get it to see the light. You could put a device near your firing strobe, like an index card, mirror or foil to redirect a small portion of the firing strobe in the direction of your remote strobe. You could also position those same reflectors near the sensor for your receiving strobe to collect some of the light & bounce it back on the optical slave. You could get a coiled sync cord & use an optical slave at the end of it, positioned facing your firing strobe & connecting the other end of the sync cord to your remote light. You could also attach a flash to your hot shoe & either use a dome cap on the top to disperse its light or attach an index card to it, in order to redirect the flash toward your remote unit. Most pros will make their life simpler by using a radio remote system. There are several available in the market, such as pocket wizard.

Do you have a battery for the StarFlash?

2012-06-11T17:38:26+00:00

We do not offer a basttery for the StarFlash; however the StarFlash will work with modified or pure sine wave battery systems. The output capacity must be twice the power of the StarFlash strobe you are using. 600 watts output for a StarFlash 300 unit.

How do I trigger the StarFlash from my camera?

2012-05-18T22:40:48+00:00

Sync your camera to the strobes so that they fire when you trip the shutter. Here, you have a couple of options. First, you can use a sync cable from camera to the strobe and if you have more than one strobe, set the other units for the photocell slave function & they will fire at the same time. You could use an on camera flash with a diffuser dome or similar, to direct its light toward the StarFlash & use its built in photo cell slave. With this method, the preflash system needs to be disabled & usually it is desired to turn the on camera flash to a lower power so as not to interfere with your other lighting.
The best option is to use radio slaves to trigger your flash(es). In this case, you will have a transmitter mounted to the hot shoe of your camera that will send a radio signal to the receiver attached to your strobe. If you want to avoid other peoples cameras from triggering any of your strobes, you need to use the radio slave receivers on each unit & turn off the photo cell slave sensor.

The StarFlash always overexposes my images, what is going on?

2012-05-18T22:38:21+00:00

Overexposure is a function of your camera. The sun puts out quite a bit more light than a StarFlash yet cameras can be set to expose properly with this condition. I suspect you are using an automatic mode on your camera, which looks out at the world in front of it & sees a low level of light. So it tells the camera to expose for that low level of light, totally unaware that you will surprise it with a burst of light from the StarFlash. There are some techniques with certain cameras for using through-the-lens metering combined with an on camera system, but the way most people use remote studio strobes is with their camera set to Manual. Then use a flash meter to give you the correct exposure.
Before digital cameras, a photographer could test their exposure with Polaroid tests & waiting a few minutes for the “rapid” film to process. This cost about $2.00 per shot & was done for medium format cameras using film.
Another method using digital cameras: With digital cameras, you can take test exposures for free & just erase them once you get your exposure set. Try setting your camera in manual to f8 at 125th or 60th. [The shutter speed will only affect the ambient light exposure & for the strobe only needs to be within the range of the camera, which is frequently 250th & slower-which means for some situations that you want to mix ambient light, it will work fine on a tripod with slow shutter speeds.] Do a test exposure & look at your camera’s monitor screen & then look at the histogram. If the image is dark, dial your f-stop to a larger aperture (smaller number,) if it is too bright & the histogram goes off the horizontal scale, dial your f-stop to a smaller aperture to let in less light (larger number). Ideally, your histogram should extend almost, but not quite the full horizontal scale of the graph.
This technique will get you started, and then you can work on lighting ratios and creativity with multiple lights & reflectors.