Hummingbirds - August 13

This isn't the best photo becasuse of the placement of the wing.  It does demonstrate the stopping power of the 550EX at 1/64 power.  The wings are frozen. Notice the detail in the feathers.

I set up 3 550EX Speedlites to photograph hummingbirds tonight.  They were triggered by Pocket Wizards.   I placed one light on each side of my target area.  The third light was placed above the center of the target.

When I started, I set the shutter speed to 1/8000 ISO 1000 f2.8.  This worked well - the speedlites provided fill.  When it was darker, I switched to using flash as my main light.  ISO was set at 200, aperture was set to f8 and shutter speed was set at 1/250.

The hummingbirds did not tolerate the flash - immediately flying away.  As it got darker, I lost all color in the background and depended completely on the speedlites.  Unfortunately one speedlight was not firing - it wasn't properly seated in the hot shoe.  Two speedlites were not adequate and my shadows increased as it got darker. 

1/8000 and high speed flash worked surprisingly well.  I definitely need to light the background in order to prevent a black background.  The flashes were able to stop the wings in most cases.  When I set the aperture to f8, the increased depth of field was very useful.

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This is my favorite shot today. 

Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite - No Thanks

Canon has a new top of the line speedlite.  It is slightly more powerful, has built-in radio control and works with on-camera menus if  you have a new Canon camera.  Based on the internet response, these units will be best sellers.

The euphoria is somewhat justified.  Digital Cameras have made multiple flash photography less difficult.  The internet has made it easier to learn how to control them well.

      1  Radio is more reliable.  Previous generations of Canon's top line speedlites used pulses of light to communicate their remotes.  Canon users have been begging for radio control for years. 

   

      2  The new 600EX-RT is only $100 more than the 580EX II and have radio control built in.  It costs over $200 to add a Pocket Wizard to the 580EX II so if you want radio control you are already saving over $100.

     3  The Pocket Wizard and 580EX II needed to be connected.  This added extra steps and weight and contributed to communication problems.

To sum it up, the 600EX-RT is cheaper, lighter, more powerful and more reliable than the flash it replaces.   

      What isn't there to like? 

             1  I no longer automatically assume that Canon products are developed with the photographer in mind.  It's  obvious that the 600EX-RTwas designed to put Pocket Wizard's share of the market dollars into Canon's wallets.  They are engineered to make every generation of Pocket Wizard obsolete.  Unfortunately, this attack on Pocket Wizard means that the new speedlites will not work as well with any of the older Canon cameras or flashes.  Canon cut off their nose to spite their face.

      2  Canon's previous speedlite - the 580EX II was an engineering disaster.  It leaked so much electromagnetic radiation other nearby devices were not able to use their assigned portion of the spectrum. 

            

            3  Many of the 580EX II speedlites had a manufacturing defect that caused them break when certain features were used.   Canon never took responsibility for this defect.  Hopefully the 600EX-RT is more reliable.

     

      4  Canon has a flat rate for may repairs regardless of the difficulty of the repair.  The 600EX-RT has more features to break. If the built-in radio transceiver develops problems, a Pocket Wizard would have been much cheaper.

Earlier this year, I purchased several used 550EX speedlites and Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 units to trigger them.  The 550EX is nearly as powerful as the 600EX-RT.  It doesn't leak electromagnetic radiation and is considerably cheaper.  Unlike the 600EX-RT, the 550EX works with all my Canon cameras.

Pocket Wizard is in serious trouble.  On one side they have big corporations like Canon trying to sabotage their market share.  On the other side, they have Chinese manufacturers making cheap copies of their products.

I hope that the 600EX-RT lives up to the hype.  Canon users have patiently waited for a better flash.  I'll wait a little longer.