I shoot with the D5000 and would really like to get myself into working with the off camera flash kit with a wireless control system.

 Does anyone have any idea what i should be looking for to get me up and running with what i want to do ?  

Skippy, There a few way you can do this, I'm not sure how the D5000 truely works as I had the D40 and moved on to the D80 I don't use the on board flash nor a SD**** flashes as there way tooo expensive for me. But I do use the EX150 & EX150 MKII flash units from interfit. What have you got so we know what kit you have make and model of flash etc?

Rankin's Quote “There’s no point in dressing it up, I love women and I love taking photos. It’s more like a fantastic hobby than a job.”

Quoting post from JJonesPhotography
Skippy, There a few way you can do this, I'm not sure how the D5000 truely works as I had the D40 and moved on to the D80 I don't use the on board flash nor a SD**** flashes as there way tooo expensive for me. But I do use the EX150 & EX150 MKII flash units from interfit. What have you got so we know what kit you have make and model of flash etc?

Rankin's Quote “There’s no point in dressing it up, I love women and I love taking photos. It’s more like a fantastic hobby than a job.”

I use a nikon flash setup.
I have a user CD if you want it.


Just my opinion!
After all what do I know?

"Heaven is a close reach!
Pulled along by a warm force 3/4
in flat water, with a firm horizon."

Hi,

I read your question,  and I have been in the same position before so now that I know what to do I feel for you and how it is very easy to become stuck with flash gear etc.

MUST HAVE THINGS FOR OFF CAMERA FLASH
> At least one flash gun ( I personally stick with Nikon flash guns ) have a look on ebay for some well kept second hand ones. This is what I did and I managed to get all 3 of mine second hand and in good condition.

To fire the flash gun you can use your pop-up flash on your camera. have your flash gun set to slave. If your using a nikon flash then these are the steps to turn on the slave function

>turn on the flash.
>hold the 'sel' button in the middle until the screen changes
>use the plus and minus buttons to navigate through the menus.
>until you see a curvy arrow symbol.
>use the right button on the flash to change 'off' to 'on'
>finally press the 'on/off' button ( press it once, do not hold it because it will turn you flash off )

Once you have set up your flash then place it some where in the room keeping in mind where the light will be coming from and where the shadows will fall and keeping the slave sensor at the front of the flash free from obstruction.

now that you have every thing set up when you take a picture and your camera flash fires off the flash gun will fire at the same time.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This is the most basic way I can think of to get into off camera flash.

I would highly recommend investing in a radio trigger. you can pick them from ebay for about £10 from hong kong, and I use them with my equipment. research radio triggers for cameras in google and you will find a detailed explanation about what they do. They can go all the way up to £300 but for a beginner you wont need to shell out a lot of money.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

once you get the hang of how it all works then invest in more flash guns, and run the same process of changing the settings to slave, then they will all fire off at the same time.

then you can start getting creative with adding coloured gels to the flashes. using light stands and umbrellas all help invaluably.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hope this has helped you.

Please visit my website and you can see how I have used off camera flash i my work.

www.l-images.co.uk

Luke Musharbash

Quoting post from Abatic

I use a nikon flash setup.
I have a user CD if you want it.


Just my opinion!
After all what do I know?

"Heaven is a close reach!
Pulled along by a warm force 3/4
in flat water, with a firm horizon."

I have and use the IR trigger for my set up but I'm going to change it soon as this one I heard dies pretty quick so I already repaired twice!

Not meaning to over take the post, are there other brand of flashes that is lighter on the students pocket? I love to stick to Nikon but it way too much for me. ........JJ

Rankin's Quote “There’s no point in dressing it up, I love women and I love taking photos. It’s more like a fantastic hobby than a job.”

Quoting post from JJonesPhotography

I have and use the IR trigger for my set up but I'm going to change it soon as this one I heard dies pretty quick so I already repaired twice!

Not meaning to over take the post, are there other brand of flashes that is lighter on the students pocket? I love to stick to Nikon but it way too much for me. ........JJ

Rankin's Quote “There’s no point in dressing it up, I love women and I love taking photos. It’s more like a fantastic hobby than a job.”

Hi JJ
Only use the Nikon system so can't help you on others
SU800 trigger and many SB600/800 guns.
Works so well and I can use them where power is zero.
Set in large softbox's love them.


Just my opinion!
After all what do I know?

"Heaven is a close reach!
Pulled along by a warm force 3/4
in flat water, with a firm horizon."

Cheers for that I have seen where others have bought them and so horror storys that they don't work as well as the SB flashes etc so that is the reason I bought the studio kit but it be interesting to see how others do it, May have to sell my landscape images to fund for the flashes etc .....JJ

Rankin's Quote “There’s no point in dressing it up, I love women and I love taking photos. It’s more like a fantastic hobby than a job.”

Quoting post from JJonesPhotography
Cheers for that I have seen where others have bought them and so horror storys that they don't work as well as the SB flashes etc so that is the reason I bought the studio kit but it be interesting to see how others do it, May have to sell my landscape images to fund for the flashes etc .....JJ

Rankin's Quote “There’s no point in dressing it up, I love women and I love taking photos. It’s more like a fantastic hobby than a job.”

Pity you are so far away, I would be happy for you to sit in on a set and ponder.

Just my opinion!
After all what do I know?

"Heaven is a close reach!
Pulled along by a warm force 3/4
in flat water, with a firm horizon."

thanx for all your advise and i have the interfit studio lighting but i have seen bert stephani tutorials and the off camera flash he uses and would like to try the same sort of thing.

 keep down wieght by using 2 flash guns but not sure on the wireless controls compatable to my nikon d5000 sorry i might not of been very clear in my first bit

Quoting post from Skippie
thanx for all your advise and i have the interfit studio lighting but i have seen bert stephani tutorials and the off camera flash he uses and would like to try the same sort of thing.

 keep down wieght by using 2 flash guns but not sure on the wireless controls compatable to my nikon d5000 sorry i might not of been very clear in my first bit

There maybe no compatable wireless as it works by trigger so pick a radio one with 2/3 recivers or a trigger that works with the flash guns you have. I'm the same with trying to explain something so don't worry lol.

......JJ

Rankin's Quote “There’s no point in dressing it up, I love women and I love taking photos. It’s more like a fantastic hobby than a job.”

There are loads of affordable flash units that can be fired using either a tethered system like Nikons hotshoe adapter and a cable to the lights or Interfit and Calumet offer wirelss trigger for under £50.00

Jessops offer Portaflash mono block systems that can be fired in the same way too..

It really does all depend on your budget, the type of work you want to be able to achieve and wether or not you want to use mains or battery power to run your lights - or of course you can get a generator.

personally I now have 9 Bowens Esprit 500 watt lights with various softboxes, diffusers, snoots, barns doors and much more - using Calumets remote triggers.

I find this system work for me.

I hope that helps