The very best.

Posted on February 2, 2009

It’s part of who I am, to want quality tools. Part of how I was brought up, it’s an attitude that was all pervasive around me when I was young. I don’t have to have the best of the best, but good quality, reliable equipment.

It’s time to get over it. Not all the way over it, because I think that’s a useful attitude to have about most things, but part way over it.

With my photography, I’ve deliberately limited what I bought – partly for budgetary reasons, but mostly to make sure I learned to use the tools I had before adding more tools. That said, I’ve been feeling a lack of light control for a while now, and this is at the top of my list of things to add to my growing stable of equipment.

I’ve been holding off on buying extra flash units until I had an appropriate amount of money to spend on them. Flash, + stand, + wireless firing mechanism + brolly etc runs around AU$500 per, and I wanted at least two more. Doing it that way is doing it right – it’s up to my current standard of gear (perhaps a little beyond), and will give me all the flexibility I could require. Unfortunately, it’s also more money than I want to be spending right now, so I’ve been holding off, and waiting, and feeling the lack. Some of the work I’ve been doing would have benefitted from more lighting, I’d have liked the ability to throw light in from another angle without having to rely on reflectors.

This morning, I took delivery of 3, little dumb flash units. Total cost, including shipping from the US, just over AU$120.

They’re not perfect. They’re dumb (by comparison to what I’d prefer to have bought), optically triggered (so, they have to be able to see another flash go off), no adjustable power settings, and comparatively weak (in terms of output) and slow (to recharge between shots).

So, they’re very handy little learning tools. They expand my repertoire of lighting techniques enormously, give me a lot more flexibility and (most importantly, at this stage), give me experience in planning lighting from multiple directions.

In a year, if I throw them out because I’ve replaced them with something better, then so be it – I’ll call that $120 well spent.

[photo is Beautiful Tools by Geishaboy500]

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  Sometimes, less is more. I firmly believe that you can improve your quality of life by carefully limiting what's included in it.
  
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