Paul C buff Cyber Commander

My DSLR is a Nikon D90.
I also have a Paul C Buff [PCB] Einstein.

For whatever reason i just could NOT get the Cyber Commander [CC] to work in the hot shoe of my D90.
Screw it, for months ive been using the PCB trigger for their AB line of strobes and that worked fine except i was in effect using my CC as a light meter only.

So, i got to thinking that i MUST be doing something wrong and again attempted to see if i could get the CC to work in the hot shoe of my D90 looking in depth again at all my camera settings; TTL, Manual, Commander.

After sending a quick email to PCB tech support, they recommended using the cable that came with the CC in use with a hot shoe adapter, luckily i had one sitting around on. I tried using that... and it worked... intermittently. Either the hot shoe adapter i was using... or the cable.. didnt have a good connection and wasnt 100% reliable.

Back to trying to figure out HOW to get the CC to work in the camera hot shoe like IT SHOULD.

After a while i simply activated the on-camera flash. Either on Manual and set to the lowest setting [1/128] or in Commander Mode set too "Built in Flash Mode --", "--" i believe this sets the flash to trigger other flashes or strobes slave sensors and is not meant to actually throw any light on your subject.

This is the best way i have found to use my Cyber Commander with my D90's hot shoe.

If you find this helpful, let me know.
If you have a better solution, let me know also.

NEXT on my list of things to figure out:
Setting up the CC to work not only with just the Einstein alone but also with an AB1600 and/or AB800.

D700 vs. D800

Well. Isnt this the question for the last few months? Of course this wouldnt be a hard question for me if my income was what it was before i got laid of work, which it isnt. But i am hoping moving up from a DX cropped frame to a FX Full frame will help me generate some of that income ive been missing.

So. Do i do that with the older but cheaper D700, which is no slouch when it comes to a full frame body. or do i spend another 800$ to step up to the D800?

MP's
Do i NEED 36mp? No. i do not. i really REALLY wish they'd made it a 16 or 25mp body. But they didnt. Sure, 36mp will make a great image. but. 36mp also takes up 3x as much hard drive space, memory when working with the image in Lightroom/Photoshop, and now i'll have to buy 48gig mem cards if i want to shoot the same number of images i am now with my 16gig cards. and im guessing THOSE are going to cost at least 3x as much also.
Id be happy with with D700 in almost all respects EXCEPT it is ONLY 12mp, which is what ive got now in my D90. Now. That being said, ive never saved/posted/printed an image using 100% of the size of a 12mp image, the highest quality ive used for my 12mp images is 50% of that size. But, as i get better and hopefully start selling images, that could change.

FPS.
How often do i shoot on anything other than Single Frame? Hardly ever. Do i need the D700's 6fps? no. Do i care if the D800 shoots slower? no.

High ISO
I was thinking this would be an important advantage to the D700 since its a Full Frame 12mp sensor. But ive seen the images of a D800 @ 3200 ISO, and they actually looked better.

I think what it comes down to mostly is overall cost. The D700 is down to 2100$ if you can find a new one. That plus the grip might cost around somewhere around 2500$.
The D800 is 3000$, i think the grip is up around 450$. That and new mem cards and tax, looking at about 3800$.

But. Those D800 images will be sweet. I'll have much more room for cropping, which isnt something i have a whole lot of now. But i dont really shoot with cropping in mind either.

Dry Lake Shoot

Well. started out wanting to do a shoot at El Mirage Dry Lake in Hesperia, Ca., but, they have the place all fenced off now so they can charge people admission to it. unbe-freakin-leavable. i think it was something like 15$ just to get on the dry lake and another 200$ for photography permits. Too bad for them and their ridiculous prices and stoopid permit requirements. I ended up going to another dry lake, for FREE.

Can check out the images we shot on either my Facebook page:
www.Facebook.com/PacificFreelance
or
www.PacificFreelance.com

If i say so myself, they came out great.

Low Key Lighting

For those that do NOT know what Low Key lighting is continue reading this post and give it a try. For those that DO know what Low Key Lighting is, read on and fill in the gaps or tell me your tips tricks that might be used by those of us that are just starting with it.

Low Key Lighting is something almost anyone can do. It does not require a studio mono light or umbrellas or anything other than your DSLR and an off camera flash.

Put your DSLR on Manual Mode [M].
Set your shutter speed to 125, or 250 if your DSLR allows you to set it that high for flash use. If you dont know, see your camera manual.
Set your ISO to 100 or 200
Set the Aperture to 8
*Do NOT use your flash yet.
Release your shutter.
Is the image completely Black? If yes, fine, skip ahead, if NO, increase your aperture to 11 and/or decrease your ISO. take another shot until your getting a completely black image.

Now, the first time i tried this a few days ago, i was using Vivatar 285H with an XS Photoflex softbox attached to the flash.

Also, make sure your subject is at least 4 - 6 feet from anything behind it/them as the flash will expose anything too close also and the only thing we want to expose is the subject.

Once you have a completely black image then turn on your flash. Set it to manual and 1/2 or Full power. If you are able to use your flash off camera, hold it at least 1 ft or slightly more above the camera but aimed at the subject and 45* degrees to the left or right of the camera. Take a shot.

If under exposed, either move the flash closer to the subject or increase ISO to 200 or 400 etc..
If over exposed, you can turn the flash power down to 1/2 etc..

Things i havent tried yet is a hair light or rim light

Been awhile

What id LIKE to do is start posting Lightroom, Photoshop and Photography tips that i like and/or use the most as i continue learning.
Since my LAST blog post, i had attended another shoot at Melrose Lightspace which is always a blast. getting to know some of the regulars there like Steve Larson and Micheal Marker. Always good to see the host Peter also.
Have also assisted the lovely and talented Kelli Sweet a couple/few times on Lifestyle type shoots and also Joe Gunawan.
Going to keep this post short but hope to provide a tip of some sort with my next post and will try to make that happen within the next couple days.
Thanks for viewing and thanks for following!

Howard