Yongnuo "John Snow" ST-E2 Punches Above Its Weight

For those of you who are Canon shooters and use optical remote flash, you may want to look at Yongnuo's version of the ST-E2 transmitter.


Highlights:

• AA-powered (no more 2CR5s!)
• Greater range -- like, a lot
• Swivels 135 degrees
• Thus, can control flashes behind the camera
• About half the price (est. street, China)


So what's the deal with the "John Snow" part? That's how Google machine-translates the name on the detailed review on our Chinese language partner site. So, John Snow it is.

Okay, Canon shooters, is this thing interesting enough to take a flyer? What about you current ST-E2 owners -- are the extra features enough to make you reach for you wallets?

Sound off below.

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On Assignment: Nathaniel Welch for Men's Journal

UPDATE: Adds available-light-only version of the photo, inside.
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New York based photographer Nathaniel Welch shot the above photo to illustrate a story for Men's Journal on the flaws of sunscreen. I thought it really popped, and talked to him about the lighting while he was en route to Boulder Colorado. Read more »

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Q&A - Mini-Boom

Quite a few people asked me about the small boom that was used for the key light in the photos of J.D. Roth.

Here's the skinny, in seven words: Cheap, travels well; I really like it.

Details, after the jump. Read more »

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A Good Face for Radio

Terminally bored and trapped in your cubicle this afternoon?

Ibarionex Perello and I were finally able to mesh our schedules to do a podcast interview for The Candid Frame. It's 45 mins, and covers Strobist's early days, leaving the paper and what's next.

If you are so inclined, you can find it here.

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Shoot the Bloggers: J.D. Roth

While I was in Portland last month I photographed J.D. Roth, the man behind the blog Get Rich Slowly, for my ongoing project on bloggers.

J.D. had earlier escaped the shackles of a big wad of credit card debt, and has since created a career out of teaching others how to manage their money more sensibly. For the shoot, we did some standard headshots which would be useful to him for his public speaking appearances, etc. But I also wanted to do something a little more intense and/or cerebral, which is what led to the shot above. Read more »

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Book a Shoot During Your Next Boring Meeting

Why endure yet another "strategic planning session" at work when you can secretly be shooting away in your studio instead?

Remember to nod your head occasionally, and make eye contact with the speaker every few minutes as you appear to be inputting important notes from the meeting on your iPhone. Trust me, they don't want to be there any more than you do. They'll never notice.

Oh, and for the record: I know this is a capabilities video, but that is way too damn many light sources for shooting a bendy stick figure.
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:: Studio Light Rigger app :: (iTunes)

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Available Dark

I just got back from perhaps the darkest place I have ever been. We were twenty miles form the nearest city of any size, at over 8,000 feet of elevation with no humidity on a moonless night. That's a straight shot of the night sky, above.

I was on a family trip to a dude, er, guest ranch after teaching in Denver two weeks ago. So I had a better-than-average collection of gear with me for being on vacation. But only one problem -- no tripod. Read more »

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Test Drive: Yongnuo YN-560

UPDATE: AVOID. IT'S A DOG.

Six months in, there have been enough reports of dead or dodgy YN-560s that I cannot in good faith recommend this flash. IMO, if they would put $5 more into build quality and tweak the interface, they could have (or, could have had) a real winner.

Here is a direct quote, from a retailer who sold them in the UK:

"I had piles of dead ones out of the hundreds we bought. We sold them off as dead in batches of 10 for $10 a piece. Other than a fail as soon as we tested before shipping, some were brand new. But YongNuo offer resellers only a 30 day warranty, and it has to get to them inside the 30 days. That's two weeks shipping from them, 2-3 weeks to return = no warranty."
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After months of rumor-fueled anticipation, I finally got my grubby little hands on a production model YN-560 speedlight.

The new, $85(!) flash has two important features which potentially potentially make it an good addition to a lighting photographer's bag: A built-in slave and an external sync jack.

Any shoe-mount flash with that kind of bling deserves a look.

First impressions, after the jump. Read more »

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On Assignment: Caleb Jones

Here's the scene: You're at the shore of a beautiful lake on a summer's evening, with live cello music set against a backdrop of twinkling fireflies.

The ground, alas, is covered in goose crap. And that's where you are — on your belly — because that's where the best shooting angle is.

Such was the case for our HCAC shoot of cellist Caleb Jones. Read more »

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Q&A: Feathering a Soft Box

After the Monday's OA post on Betty Allison, reader Łukasz Kruk asked about feathering the small LumiQuest soft box that was used as a key light:


I understand how this works with directional light (e.g., a bare speedlight) - but doesn't the softbox's flat white panel send the light in all the directions more-or-less equally, thus rendering feathering more or less impossible? Can you feather a shoot-through umbrella -- and how?


(a) No, (b) sort of -- and (c) lemme explain… Read more »

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On Assignment: Betty Allison

See that black blob?

It's not a mistake. It's the first frame of any consequence on a quick biz portrait of Betty Allison, the woman who runs our local wholesale food market. Her job is to make sure the fresh food supply runs smoothly for the state of Maryland and surrounding areas. And we have to shoot a quick portrait of her for a local business paper.

So, c'mon -- hurry up. We only have a few minutes to get the light worked out before we shoot her between appointments… Read more »

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Slave Q&A: Your Questions from Last Week

After the two posts on slaves last week, there were lots of tips being shared in the comments -- and some good questions, too.

Answers to the latter, after the jump. Read more »

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