Experiments with an old flash

Recently I had the opportunity to acquire an older Vivatar 283 external flash / strobe for a good price. This is one of the early model external strobes that had really proved the test of time (years ago I had it's bigger brother, the 285, and missed the versatility it provided). So when this one became available I grabbed it.

My current interest in flash photography can all be blamed on this cool 'niche' blog; Strobist. It's a great site profiling flash techniques and setups, tools and photographers. Inspirational, you might say.

Inspired I was.

So that brings me to this post and my first 'exercise'. I'd acquired said flash and tested it to ensure that it wouldn't fry my Lumix FZ30. It seems that older flashes may have a trigger voltage as high as 300v DC across the contacts...not too healthy for these sensitive modern-day digital cameras. I'm happy to say this baby registered just under 9v. If you're interested in reading more about flash voltage, check out this article and comprehensive listing chart.

Testing done, I needed a subject to shoot. Then the dogs wandered by...

Just to get you up to speed, they're miniature piebald Dachshunds; Heloise and Selena. And yes, they're black and white.

Next, I needed to set the scene. Since we live in a northern climate that tends to cause water to change to a solid, I'm shooting indoors for now. And, the little turkeys need appropriate clothing to venture outside. My wife found a great designer online (www dachsundsdressedforshow.com) who was able to get some very nifty looking coats to us in a very short time; winter rolled in early here in Alberta. The zebra stripes seem to suit them.

Dress the dogs, set them on a futon with a nice neutral colour, drape a blanket behind for a nice contrast colour, and shoot away!

The shots were pretty simple at this point; I just wanted to get a feel for the flash with the camera. I've posted five of them to flickr (and to the Strobist flickr group).

I found the illumination a bit harsh without any diffusion, so I grabbed an opaque plastic food container lid and held that in front of the flash, bouncing light from the walls and roof.

Diffusion systems are in my future. An umbrella/reflector/stands and maybe a nice fill light would also help, but hey, I'm just getting back into this and my wallet needs to build up slowly

Also, the Vivitar has only one axis of rotation, but once I take it off camera (I have a hot-shoe extension cable arriving shortly) that problem will vanish.

But now I'm thinking, is this thing going to really do what I need with portrait and still life (and macro) work, or am I really going to need to invest in a larger kit?

I guess only time will tell...

Technorati Tags: Photography, Flash, Strobist, Vivitar 283, Dogs

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