Simple Off Camera Flash set up for about 500.00
This post is specifically dedicated to all my Nikon shooter friends out there! (links for canon users too at end)
Many of you have asked me what I use for my off camera flash lighting. So here it is for about 500.00 you can be shooting with a couple of off camera flashes and wirelessly adjust them each, all without walking across the room!
And they’re great for fun sparkler photos too!
I’m not real techie and do not do math problems for fun. I just like things to work when my mind is thinking about 1,000 different things at the end of a wedding ceremony and getting ready for a reception. This Godox set up is it for me. It works. That’s all I need. I use the Godox TT685 speed lights. They can be slaves and be controlled by a controller on the camera or the flash can be the master and control other tt685 flashes off of the camera.
When I first got these I thought setting it up to communicate would require some crazy complicated scrolling through menus and holding down multiple buttons all at once until lights flashed from the heavens or something. Nope, it was as simple as turning both the slave flash to channel 1 and the master flash on the camera to channel 1, set them to the same group, and BOOM! It fires the flash just like that.
How to use one tt685 as a trigger and one as a commander
The Budget list:
jJust get a couple of Godox TT685 Nikon or TT685 Canon version
Bonus items
- Bracket: S Bracket
- AA Battery Charger: MAHA battery charger
- Batteries: Powerex
- Light stand: 10′ Air cushioned stand
- Controller: xPro Nikon or xPro Canon
Mounting Bracket: AKA how to hitch the flash to the light stand
This thing hitches the flash onto the top of a light stand. It’s called and S Bracket I don’t know why, because nothing about it looks like an S to me!
One more bonus item that you won’t be able to live without once you get one. The MAHA battery charger. What’s so great about it? Well, it charges each battery individually. Whereas the little chargers that come with say the eneloop batteries and other chargers will only charge all batteries until the one battery becomes full. Then it stops charging, even if the others are not full.
I get all this stuff from Tim of Flashgear.net. I like him because 1, he speaks English, is in the USA, is a photographer himself, replies to my questions when I ask what should I get to work with XXX existing gear I already own. Ships super fast even when he’s sick. And hosts this helpful beginner’s guide to OCF and speed light fundamentals group on facebook.
If you have a little bit bigger of a budget
Here’s what I’d get instead of the tt685. Why? Because the V1 works just like the tt685 as in being able to be a controller on-camera and slave off-camera. Has a super long lasting rechargeable battery. Has a round head with built in magnets for easy use of the Godox modifier kit. And it’s a bit more powerful light. One more thing, You don’t need to buy an additional battery charger as the V1 comes with it’s own Therefore You don’t need to buy a bunch of AA rechargeable batteries either. Simpler is better in my opinion.
The canon shopping list
- Godox V1c
- Light stand: 10′ Air cushioned stand
- Bracket: S Bracket
The Nikon Shopping list
- Godox V1n
- Light stand: 10′ Air cushioned stand
- Bracket: S Bracket
If you order through these links I’ll get a small percentage of the sale. 🙂
Here you can sorta see one of my lights on the left. There was cold blue light coming from all the windows and inside on the left there was really orange lighting. So here I’ve over powered that light I didn’t like with my off camera flash.
If you’re a Sony shooter you can see What I use for Sony
This was photographed with OCF on a gray rainy morning in a room with orange toned led lighting that every so often flickered a blue tone. And the windows were giving a slight green cast. EXTREMELY irritating! To solve this issue, I turned down the room lights and over powered the room with my OCF.
If you’re curious about light placement at a reception, here’s one example. This was after dark. In this photo you can see my 3 OCF placed around the room.
The Beauty of the radio controlled OCF is I can turn off or adjust power individually on each flash without walking across the room! Here, Same room. Same night. I wanted to show the uplighting differently so I just shut off each OCF for the shot.
Just like shooting in day light, you can tell the story however you like.
You may also like this post on What power to set off camera flash to for a reception