Diffusers and monopods : to buy or not to buy ?

Mountainsandh

Hi all, hubby's in New York, and was in B&H yesterday, got me a hot shoe flash and a Fish Eye to Wide Angle 10-17mm lens already, and a camera bag.

Anyway, he's on a spending spree, and can go back there on Sunday.

There are 2 more things that were on the back of my mind to purchase :
a) a diffuser for the flash
b) a monopod.

Now, the situation I'm most likely to use both would be inside a pub. The pubs I go to are old country pubs and full of character, and don't want to destroy the atmosphere there, but a flash will definitely help, so I'm thinking, will the bounced flash still be too harsh, should I buy/make a diffuser ? The omni bounce is only about 16$ atm I think !

Monopod is simply because in most of these pubs, space is at a premium, what with a mighty session going on most times I go, so the tripod is just too cumbersome... but then with bounced flash chances are I'll be able to afford higher shutter speed, so is the monopod really needed ?

So the stuff is there for the taking, and I don't know whether to tell him no need to go back, or go back and pick up one of each...

Sorry for long post, what do you guys think ?
Those of you who have monopods, do you use them, and how do you find them ? shoud he get a good one or would a cheap one do ?

Thanks !

That kind of pub :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38994151@N03/5334448138/

oshead

If you don't want to destroy the atmosphere, i'd suggest getting a faster lens and forget the flash. Have a look at AR's pix and you'll know what I mean. I could be wrong, but I don't think he uses flash too much.

If you want to go with flash then for a diffuser you should use the ceiling and walls. You would need a very big diffuser on the flash head to make any real difference to the quality of light. One of the problems with using the ceiling to bounce light is a lot of your images of peeps will have dark shadows on the eyes. To over come this there are a number of products available. My favorite is the Gary fong lightsphere with the silver attachment on top. Another good one is the Omni bounce thingy and yet another is made by Lumiquest.

You won't need a monopod IMO. It's probably over kill unless your working one handed and the camera and lens is heavy and needs support. What is most important is the technique you use to expose the scene.

I presume the goal is to make the scene look like it's illuminated by the ambient light while using the flash to splash a little bit of light on the main subject. To do this you need to expose for the ambient light then under expose it by about a stop and a bit. Then use ttl of the flash to illuminate the subject. If I could suggest a base setting for your camera and you can make adjustments from there. Set the white balance to tungsten. Most pubs are lit very warmly. Put a little CTO gel on the flash head, set the camera to ISO 800, 60sec shutter, f4, -1.5 ev. You could also look at dialing in a bit of FEC as needed. Use these setting as a good point to start from, obviously depending on the scene and tweak from there.

Btw, ask your hubby to get a couple of Rosco lux gel sample books. If they havn't got any, get the Rosco Strobist 55 piece filter kit for $9.

Heck, if he brings back two kits, i'll take one off your hands if you don't mind.... And i'll even pay for yours to boot.

NakedDex

I use my monopod far more than I use my tripod, but on the few occasions I've shot in a pub, I've left it at home. I've never seen the need really, and it's one more thing to drag through a crowded bar unnecessarily.
I use it more often simply because it's easier to carry around than my rather bulky and heavy tripod when I'm travelling. It usually ends up tie-wrapped to the side of the backpack.
The monopod I use is a Manfrotto 680B with a 234RC head for the convenience of a quick release plate. The 680B is pretty damn sturdy (enough for a rather bored Garda to approach me and enquire if I knew telescopic batons were illegal...).
I was eyeing the 682B for a while, as it has three retractable legs within the bottom section of the monopod, turning it into a sort of faux-tripod. Maybe this is more suitable to what you want?


The Stofen Omni-bounce diffuser I've found to be invaluable, however. I'd definitely recommend picking up one of those.

pixbyjohn

I would certainly recommend the diffuser, you will use it ocassionally. As for the monopod I don't know whether you will use it really, I have one this past year and have never used it.

Mountainsandh

Thanks ! Great advice.
Oshead thank you for the very detailed tips, got a bit of learning/googling to be doing now .
If he does go back I'll probably tell him to forget about the monopod, and go for flash gadgets. If they have the Rosco filter kit Oshead I'll tell him to get 2, but I was looking online yesterday and some of the kits they had were unavailable, to be ordered.
I might tell him to keep away from the shop altogether, and get a few cheap things to try out from Ebay . For example the lightsphere is discontinued with b&h I think, but still available on Ebay (or copies anyway).

oshead

The advise about the monopod is something you can take or leave. I find if i'm using flash, the pop of light from it usually suffices in freezing the scene. If you find that you can't hold the camera without images going blurry due to camera movement then before spending money on a monopod you sould have a look at your own technique.

This video Da Grip by Joe McNally has loads of great pointers in it. Another thing to try is keeping the shutter speed above the reciprocal length of the lens. Ie, if you are shooting @ 100mm then your shutter speed shouldn't drop below 100th sec (not so important if you use Da Grip ). Another obvious option is to get a quality fast lens with Image stabilization built in.

Those Rosco kits are in stock in B&H. The problem is probably that B&H close every week due to their religious beliefs and don't open for business till after 6pm on Saturday. But either case, don't worry if he dosn't get them. I can try to pick'em up somewhere else in the near future.