Photography News Issue 48

Photography News | Issue 48 | photographynews.co.uk

Technique 20

Lighting academy In the first of a new series on how you can make the most of lighting, we take a look at some the latest kit and the wonderful lighting opportunities that it all offers Lighting Academy

Words & pictures by Will Cheung

With recent cameras offering the option of shooting at stratospheric ISO speeds (the Nikon D5 holds the current record of ISO 102,400 with the expansion option of ISO 3,280,000 equivalent), you may think that artificial lighting would be redundant. But nothing could be further from the truth as innovations in lighting have not just opened up more creative avenues to be explored, but has also made what a few photographers have been doing for years available to all. In this first of a new series of features, we take a close look at some of the hardware currently available and what we will be using over the coming lighting features in Photography News . Shoot on-camera We all tailor the lighting solution to the situation in front of us and on many occasions lighting needs no more than a speedlight slipped into the camera’s hotshoe. For events, awards, press work, presentations and even weddings, on-camera flash, perhaps with the addition of a modifier, is a very workable set-up. With the latest speedlight models you get a great deal of useful technology as well, all of it designed to not just make your life easier but also give great results. So, you get dedicated

TTL flash metering, decent power levels and eco-friendly power solutions too. In Pixapro’s range there is the Li-ION580II TTL speedlight. It packs plenty of power with a GN of 60 (ISO 100, metres, at 200mm), a 20-200mm zoomhead and very fast recycling times thanks to its rechargeable Li-ion cell. Fully charged you can get 650 full-powered flash bursts with a recycling time of around 1.5secs. What’s more, that recycling time stays almost constant as you use the cell. Basically, you get a power delivery and capacity that is unrivalled by the very best AA cells, and rather than chew through pack after pack of AAbatteries, all you do is recharge the cell so it is eco-friendly too. But the Li-ION580II is no one-trick pony and it offers many creative options. There is a built-in 2.4GHz receiver that is fully compatible with the Pixapro ST-IIIflash trigger system. It means the flashgun can be controlledoff-camerawirelessly for convenient creative shooting. The Li-ION580II TTL flashgun costs £152.99 and that includes a- Li-ion battery. The strobist phenomenon means there are endless accessories and modifiers to make the most of this form of lighting whether in or outdoors. A two-head outfit would be a portable and very capable solution, but Pixapro has products that can add another string or two to your creative bow. On location It is true that battery-poweredstudio-type flash units have been around for many years but the battery was often heavy, big and had limited capacity. It is very different now and you get great portability and outstanding capacity with the latest Lithium-ion rechargeable cells. A new product in the Pixapro range is the PIKA200 portable flash. At first glance you might think it is a speedlight but while it is about the same size and has similar features like TTL flash, this is a lighting unit for off the camera shooting. Priced at £290, the PIKA 200 comes with a Li-ion battery and two interchangeable flashheads, a fresnal, non-zooming speedlight style unit and a bare bulb. Swapping heads takes seconds and means you fit the head for the occasion. When you want a more direct flash, go for the fresnal head or if you want to use a softbox the bare bulb head gives all round light output to avoid hot-spotting. Output is impressive too rated at 200Ws, which gives a GN of 52 (ISO 100/m) with the speedlight head and 60 with the bare bulb head while its Li- ion battery gives up to 500 full power manual flash bursts.

Above A blip of high speed sync flash can really help outdoor people shots. Below The innovative PIKA200 is a powerful off-camera lighting unit that features interchangeable heads as well as features such as high speed flash sync and TTL flash.

Above When you need an on-camera lighting solution, Pixapro offers speedlights including the Li-ION580II shown here.