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Rangefinder
Magazine First Exposure: Lumedyne Portable Flash System by Robert Taylor
Most events have one thing in common: a dimly lit venue. Of the things that frustrate me, the one that tops the list is using a AA-battery-powered flash and having to pass up another great photo opportunity because the ready light isn’t… ready! I’m confident this problem is not unique to me. This is something we all face in shooting events like weddings. We want to use the highest ISO film that will still produce quality enlargements, yet we have to work in less than sunlit venues. We solve this problem by using a flash to pump out enough light to make up for lack of natural light. The greater the gap between film speed and available light, the more power the flash has to pump out. More power per flash means more drain on the battery, and that means an even longer wait until the ready light is ready. Even the expensive lithium photo AA batteries can’t overcome this issue. Another problem in event photography is that most camera-mounted flash units cannot produce enough power to fill in large areas of a room. That’s the second strike against a camera top flash.
Going back to lighting theory, we know the smaller a reflector is, the harder the light will be. Of course hard light will not produce that flattering shot of the bridal couple, so there’s the third strike against the camera top flash. Like everything else in photography, you’re dealing with a trade off. The battery-powered camera top flash is a convenient and lightweight but less-than-desirable light-source. A studio lighting kit with softboxes and umbrellas produces great light but doesn’t have the convenience of a TTL flash. It is a practicality trade off—you deal with the less-than-desirable light source for its added convenience. Convenience is a matter of size and weight—the more the flash weighs, the more back pain pills you need to pop at the end of the evening. Let’s go back to that issue of exposure. We know that the flash has to account for lack of natural light, but how much light should the flash put out? Just enough, right? So how does it know what just the right amount is? Ideally, the flash output is set according to the distance of the flash from the subject. First, focus the lens and read the distance information from the lens. Then either dial in the proper f-stop or the proper flash output for a given f-stop. But try doing that when the subject is dancing around. While some 35mm flash systems, such as Nikon, automatically feed the distance information from the lens into the flash, this feature is not available on all flash units since the unit has to be dedicated to the camera manufacturer’s circuitry.
Most photographers know that for many years Lumedyne (www.lumedyne.com) has produced portable, studio-quality lighting equipment. What many may not know is that Lumedyne’s newer models support TTL, so you can use the system as your on-camera flash in addition to mounting it with umbrellas. Probably the first thing you’ll notice about the Lumedyne system is the power pack and battery are separate from the flash head. Separating the two means you can choose the battery capacity best suited to the task. The battery capacities are 100, 200, 300 and 600 flashes per charge (fpc), where one flash equals 200Ws. I have the 200fpc battery, and it has always carried enough juice to shoot an entire event. The picture at the bottom of page 94 shows the power pack and the 300fpc battery. I like the convenience of not having to juggle AA batteries in the middle an event, knowing the power reservoir is big enough for me to keep shooting without having to worry. The unit I own is a 400Ws Micro Manual TTL pack. “Micro Manual” refers to the fact that the user has more incremental manual control over the power output than before. With the traditional model, your output options were 100, 200 or 400 Watt-seconds. That is a big jump from one setting to another. The Micro Manual unit lets you start at 6 Watt-seconds and increase linearly to full power (400Ws). Achieving a linear increase in power requires mixing two controls: the Watt-second adjustment and the f-stop adjustment. The Watt-second adjustment is a click position switch to get in the neighborhood of the output you want. The f-stop adjustment is a slider that varies the power by up to one stop. The selector switch toggles the unit from manual to TTL control. Under TTL control, you have the option of having an audible confirmation tone upon getting a good TTL exposure. The unit can also operate in traditional mode, with power increments from 100, 200 and 400Ws. Lumedyne’s newest line of power packs, the Signature Series, has simpler controls but offers the same overall functionality.
The power pack pushes out 400 Watt-seconds of power—a good 2.5 to 3 times the amount of power from the average AA-battery flash. That is certainly enough power to fill a room, and you’ve got to like the satisfying “pop” sound made by the flash head when it fires at or near full power. The pack recycles much faster after a 400Ws blast than a AA-battery flash could ever hope to, and that’s the difference between getting a shot or not. Since the power pack and battery are worn over the shoulder, the flash head is very light. While this is an advantage, the key differentiator is the parabolic reflector. It has much more surface area than a AA battery flash unit, so the light will be softer. You can also throw a diffuser over the front for further softening. The reflector can be removed for bare bulb coverage. The head I use can accommodate a Metz SCA 3000 C TTL adapter. Lumedyne also offers models to work with the Quantum adapter. These options open new opportunities for the Lumedyne as opposed to non-TTL units. Now you can just point and shoot without having to dial in flash exposure information for each shot. The Metz SCA system is two parts: the adapter for the camera and the adapter for the flash. The two snap together to link the camera’s TTL circuitry to the flash. The advantage of the two-part Metz system is one Lumedyne unit can accommodate multiple brands of cameras. For instance, I use it with both my Mamiya 645AF and Fuji S2.
One advantage of TTL over an auto sensor on the flash is you don’t have to manipulate settings on the flash when you change the aperture on the camera. Another, and possibly more significant, advantage of TTL is the area being sampled for flash exposure is the same as what will be in the picture. An auto sensor on a flash has a preset field of view to “see” when a picture is taken in order to determine when to quench the flash. This area of coverage is the same, regardless of the camera lens. For example, if the auto sensor has the equivalent of 28mm coverage and a 75mm lens is on the camera, then the auto sensor is evaluating more than what will be in the picture. This is potentially a problem if there is something exceptionally reflective or dark in the sensor’s extra field of view. The flash exposure can be thrown off by something that will not appear in the picture. With TTL, the field of view of the lens is what is being evaluated, so only objects that will appear in the picture contribute to the exposure evaluation. The quality of the light output by the parabolic reflector with a diffuser is sufficient for church portraits if time does not permit setting up one or two umbrellas. Extension cords are available for the flash heads, so the photographer can choose to leave the pack and battery on the ground when doing a number of shots in one location.
The Lumedyne system can easily be extended for other uses. Since the power pack has plugs for two heads, you can purchase another flash head for a two-light umbrella setup. The incremental cost is less than with other flash systems since you are just adding a head to the existing power pack. With other flash systems where the power pack and flash head are all one unit, you have to essentially buy an entire additional flash system to have two lights. Now that we’ve covered how the equipment works, let’s talk about using it. The first thing we need to do is attach the flash head on a flash bracket. This procedure is fairly straightforward on most brackets; the head takes a 1/4x20 spigot screw. Most flash bracket manufacturers have some type of adapter to mount the head to the bracket. This adapter worked well on my Custom Brackets bracket, but required some intervention on my Newton bracket. The problem with the Newton bracket is the flash mounting plate is not very high above the camera, thus causing the parabolic reflector to come in contact with the lens of the camera. I worked around this potential problem by screwing two light stand spigots together, then attaching one to the head and the other to the bracket. Another potential technical challenge to look for is the added height the Metz adapter adds to the camera. My Custom Brackets rig is built to accommodate that, and it would not be an issue with the Newton due to its design.
Since the Metz adapter attaches to the hot shoe of the camera, the camera’s PC port is still free to be used with a wireless slave. This option adds additional flexibility since an additional flash held by an assistant can be triggered when you want it. When used with umbrellas, the slave can trigger the Lumedyne unit, so you are free from having an umbilical cord to the flash. Keep in mind that when it is being triggered from anything other than the Metz adapter, the Lumedyne is in non-TTL mode, so you still need your flash meter. The cord from the SCA 3000 C adapter to the flash head is not very long, so you probably won’t be able to do off-camera TTL unless you splice and extend the cord. It would be nice if Metz had a wireless TTL system. The net of it is this: If you are looking for more punch per flash, more flashes per slice of time and better pictures from softer light, then the Lumedyne system is one to consider. It is more costly than a AA battery-powered flash, but the benefits will be apparent on your first shoot with it. Robert Taylor
is a photographer in Oakland, California, with a passion for applying
the technical art of photography. You can contact Robert
at rob@photorob.com. |
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