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Back View
Now lemme tell
ya about another great feature on these dynamite units that's
not found on many competing strobes costing 3-5 times the price
of these: when you set these units for 1/4 power, or 1/2 power,
the modeling lights ALSO dim to 1/4 or 1/2 power! What a great
feature!
Why would we want to do this?
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BTW, a "Modeling Light" is a separate, additional, light (in addition
to the strobe's "Flash Tube") that's built into the
strobe and throws continuous light over the same area as the
strobe's flash tube will (see the picture below for a close-up).
You turn on the modeling light (before your shot), so the photographer
can see what the modeling will look like, as s/he adjusts the
lights before he takes the shot and fires the strobe ("Modeling" is PhotoSpeak for the highlights
(light areas) and shadows (dark areas) that fall upon the subject,
giving it the depth and texture necessary for professional results).
This great feature (modeling light) is usually only found on
much more expensive lights.
This unit can be activated by
the PC Cord (included, of course), the Test Button, or the Slave
Sensor (which means that any other flash, even your camera's
little built-in flash, can automatically fire this unit by it's
light alone, so you don't even need to use a sync (PC) cord unless
you want to). BTW, a "PC Cord"
(Push Contact), also called a "Sync Cord"
is a wire that connects the strobe to your camera, and fires
the strobe when you press the camera's shutter button.
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 We can see the difference
between the Modeling Light Bulb and the Flash Tube (the circular
tube surrounding the modeling bulb) in this close-up shot of
the HS-600's business end (with the reflector removed, of course).
The modeling
light is especially valuable to the amateur, because it let's
us "see" exactly where the light will fall when the
strobe flashes. This feature alone is worth at least a hundred
rolls of ruined film (which you'll save by having a modeling
light)! One of the major questions (and hesitations) I had when
I was beginning to learn photography, was "If you use strobes,
how do you know what the subject will look like, or how and where
the light will illuminate the subject, if you don't have continuous
lighting to judge by?"
The answer
was really simple: You don't. UNLESS your strobes also have MODELING
LIGHTS! With modeling lights, you can see exactly where the strobe's
flash will illuminate the subject, because the modeling light
falls on the subject the same as the strobe's light will fall
on the subject (less intensely, of course)! And this is why the
pros pay lotsa money for good strobes that come with modeling
lights. That's why the professional photographer's pictures look
so much better than ours do: they have the right equipment for
the job! They can CONTROL THE LIGHT! And now, so can you.
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| PhotoSpeak: What's
a "Slave
Sensor?" Well, if you
had to use a PC Cord for every strobe, just think what a mess
of tangled wires you'd have if you were using 5 or 6 or more
strobes to light your subject (as many pros do)! So, science
came to our rescue with slave sensors. It's a tiny little sensor
built into most good strobes, that sits & waits for a short,
intense burst of light. When it detects this burst of light (the
flash from another strobe), it automatically sets off the flash
tube in the strobe its built into. Voila! Now, with strobes that
have slave sensors (often just called "slaves"), we
can connect only one strobe to our cameras (with the PC or Sync
cord), usually the strobe closest to our camera, and when we
press the shutter button, firing the one connected strobe, that
flash will automatically set off all the other strobes we may
be using for that shot! Ah, ain't technology wunnerful (sic)?
Even most of the little flashes built into most modern cameras
can set off most strobes with slaves. A strobe that has PC socket,
or both a PC Socket and a slave sensor is called a "Master"
strobe; a strobe that only has a slave sensor and no PC socket
(usually less expensive units) is called a "Slave."
Whichever strobe you're using with a PC cord is referred to as
your "master" strobe for purposes of that shot. Most
of the better strobes have both PC sockets and slave sensors,
so they're more versatile and useful to us (however, there are
many very good slaves out there today, and you won't need all
your strobes to be masters, so don't hesitate to buy some decent
slaves when the time comes - and, believe me, if you stick with
photography, the time will come). |
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Complete: Each of these HS-600s comes complete
with umbrella-capable reflector, sync cord, AC cord, Flash Tube,
Modeling Light, built-in umbrella holder, and standard light
stand connector; it's ready to plug in and fire away! Many additional
accessories are also available for these units, whenever you're
ready for them (e.g., snoots, barn doors, softboxes, stands,
unbrellas, honeycombs, gel holders, etc.). BTW, pros use umbrellas
to "bounce" the strobe's light off of (or sometimes
through) to make the light softer, reduce or eliminate shadows,
and "mellow-out" the picture. Softboxes are also great
for this purpose (yes, softboxes are also available).
These are brand new, 100% guaranteed,
with full manufacturer's warrantee . These are NOT seconds, blemishes,
or anything other than brand new, absolutely perfect, current
2000 models! Just 'cause the price is great, doesn't mean these
are in any way less than perfect! Want more strobes, light
stands, umbrellas, softboxes, and other goodies? Additional units
and accessories are always available; just e-mail any questions
or requests, to me at wryter@usa.net --These strobes and other photographic equipment
also come with an "extra" that's not available anywhere
else, at any price whatsoever: FREE photographic education, advice
and training from MyPhotoHome.com
(coming soon to a computer near you)! MPH Members also get FREE
web space (to post your own pictures), and much, much more (when
MyPhotoHome.com comes online, shortly).
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| Point of Information: Why, you might be asking yourself,
have virtually all photographers switched to using strobes, when
"regular" continuous lights (photographers call them
"hot" lights) are everywhere, and it's easier for us
to see how the lighting will look with them? Well, the continuous
lights, like the ones in our houses (tungsten lights), or halogen
(and similar) are called "hot lights" for a reason:
they get hot. Really hot! This tends to make certain things,
like flowers, foods, animals, and those darn pesky models, wilt.
Especially models. They get very, very, unhappy when they wilt.
Bitch, bitch, bitch; you'd think a little melting makeup, and
running mascara, and limp hair, and sticky lipstick, and beads
of sweat running down their (umm, let's say noses) was a big
deal or something, the way they complain! ;-) Also, there's a
little problem with the "color temperature" being way
off with hot lights, so we have to use special films (3200K or
3400K) or filters when using them (strobes are perfectly balanced
at 5500K to simulate sunlight, so we can use all the regular
daylight films we've come to love/hate over the years). There
are yet other, more esoteric, as well as mundane reasons why
strobes are the preferred means of photographic lighting in the
modern world, but we'll deal with them another time. |
| BTW,
technically speaking, all professional photographic flash units,
even though nearly all pros call them "strobes," are
not technically strobe lights. A real stroboscope is capable
of dozens (or hundreds or even thousands) of flashes per second,
and many can maintain that flash rate for hours on end. Our photographic
strobes would die a dozen deaths if we tried to set them off
25 or 50 times a second! However, since photographers almost
always call these lights "strobes," we'll just stick
with the term; but, technically..... Well, you get the idea ;-> |
