Off Camera Lighting System

[jebuskrust]

Together with my fiance, have been looking over some of the great works of Rick Nunn

We were thinking as part of our continuous chase in proving our photography skills, to slowly start building a starter kit (medium sized umbrella, strobe, flash, etc) and do it in our spare room in our apartment - figured it will be fun starting making some funny portraiture.

However, I find it quite difficult to manage a remote trigger for the flash, without having a HOT SHOE on my NEX.

So far I couldn't find any decent materials connected with NEX. Therefore, anyone who can shed some light here and his experience with off camera lights would be HIGHLY appreciated.

 

[Tymoe]

Perhaps the NEX-System (except the NEX-7?) is not the best solution for studio-shooting... There are, however, some DIY-projects that could be interesting for you:

(Relatively) Elegant solution to WIRELESSLY firing external flashes with NEX cameras: Sony NEX Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
Wireless radio trigger for NEX!! [Page 1]: Sony NEX Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Please keep us up-to-date about your plans

 

[jebuskrust]

Thanks a lot Tymoe.
Well the camera beats many of the entry level dslr's out there from Nikon, Canon, etc. And I know IT MUST BE something out there to perfectly work with it in respect of Off Camera Lighting. I just have to figure it out

 

[Bugleone]

If you are learning about lighting you might be better off with a continuous light system to begin with. Try a halogen security light. These are very inexpensive and can usually be bought at any street market. They come in sizes from 120 watts to about 500 watts. They do put out some heat but you can move the lights while watching the shadows and highlights on the subject, and the lights don'e usally have to be on for a great length of time. For starting off, try one light and a white cardboard reflector,....use the halogen as the modelling light and fill the shadows with the reflected light....

 

[jebuskrust]

Yes Bugleone, thanks - I already have that in mind. I will scout the local market here on Saturday morning. However I have to say that here in Cyprus we have only couple (and i mean couple..) of real photography gear stores, where you can find mainly memory cards, rucksacks and tripods only.....

I will keep looking

 

[stakx]

I'm looking (waiting?) for the NEX-7 for the hot shoe for this very reason. I hope the wireless trigger companies (e.g., Phottix, Yongnuo, etc.) start making Sony-flash-shoe devices. I guess I could buy a Sony-shoe to standard hotshoe converter, but that's not a great choice.

Maybe Sony will jump into wireless radio-freq triggers for their flashes (instead of optical like Nikon and Canon). I think I saw a Sony-Pocket Wizard trigger... so something cool for off-camera-flash folks could be in the works.