Flash With A "better Beamer/flash X Tender"

[Firstlight]

Anybody tried one of these, if so, any advice.
regards David.

[john robinson]

David
You could buy a mirror type attachment years ago which fixed onto an external flash. (Not one of the "on camera" pop up ones). It was in two parts - half and full strength.. I tried it on a 300 mm and it certainly worked. That was in the days of film. I felt a bit of a twerp carting it around stuck up like a searchlight though.
Mind you there are more twerps around these days so you wouldn't stand out so much!
Cheers
John.

PS I still have it somewhere - I might try it !

[Firstlight]

Thanks John,
These seem very popular with many of the American bird photographers, I got one about a week or so ago but have not tried it out yet.If it works I will report back.
regards David.

[Colin Key]

Pure coincidence John, but I was looking at some of your pond/waterside/woodland images recently and although they are very good, I thought that "fill flash" might just give a lot of them a bit more "OOMPH".

I only say that because a Portuguese photographer (who posts on our Fórum Aves website) is using flash to highlight waders shot fairly close-up and some of his results are outstanding.

Might be worth a try?

Colin

[john robinson]

I could do Colin but after using flash for over 20 years at the pool I decided to get right away from it. It would be impossible to use " fill " flash from the hide as it would be just another thing moving and the birds are skittish enough as it is. It would also mess up my sytem of exposure and shutter speed which has taken a long time to get used to ! A lot of my early stuff had three flash heads working and I reckon its " all or nothing "
If I can get 100th sec at f8 on 640/800 iso in the fairly dark site the pool is in, that will do. If not I go home !
Cheers
JohnR