Pixel: Bishop Radio Trigger Review

Knock, Knock, Knock,  I open the door and it's the post man.  Can you just sign here please he asks me as he hands me a parcel at the same time. 

I sign his form and I look at the front of the package, it's the Pixel Bishop Radio Triggers that Uk Highland Photography are lending me, I said to my-self.

I made my way up to my studio, and just like a little child on Christmas Day I opened up my package.  I opened the box and Wow....  A wee smile lit up on my face, I like that Pouch I said to my-self, it shows that the Manufacture does care about their product.  I opened that case and I took out both the Transmitter and the Receiver.  My first impression of the Pixel Bishop Radio Trigger was very, very, very good.  To be honest with you I think that I was 100% impressed with them.  Why?  Well because............... 

1)  They did NOT feel cheap in your hands, 2)  They have a Metal Hot Shoe with a Locking Pin, 3)  They have all the cables included to shoot your Studio Lights / Speed Lights etc... 4)  Again I really, really, really liked that pouch, 5)  I had not even switched them on yet.

Yes, I was getting excited!!  I mean come on, I have been for many, many months now triggering my SB900 with my trusty "Pocket Wizards Plus 11's".  So to be giving this opportunity by UK Highland Photography to test drive the new Pixel Bishop Radio Triggers to see if they come even remotely close to the standards of the Pocket Wizard Plus 11's was just fantastic.

I inserted some fresh "High Power" batteries into both the Transmitter and the Receiver of the Bishops.  I slide my SB600 onto the Hot Shoe of the receiver and I slide the Transmitter onto my Nikon D40.  I switch on the Bishops, I set the Channels and the Groups, then press the shutter button and wow, I had just fired by SB600's for the very first time with a Radio Trigger.  NB:  Even  though PW's are classed as being the best, the PW's don't give you the option to fire a speed light like the SB600 remotely with their Radio Triggers, perhaps the SB900 yes, but NOT with the SB600.  So can you all see as to why I was amazed yet?  The Bishops had just allowed me to fire my SB 600's with it's Radio Triggers, whilst my Pocket Wizard Plus 11's will never ever in their life time allow me to do such a thing.

The next thing that the Bishops allow me to do which the Pocket Wizards do not allow me to do.  Is that the Bishops allow me to "Wake Up" my speed lights from their "Sleep" mode.  Now this is a very good feature for the Bishops to have.  With my PW's I have to switch the "Sleep" mode off on my sb900 prior to shooting.  Other wise I will start having school boy tantrums every time I press the shutter and the speed light don't go off due to the fact that it is in it's "Sleep Mode".

The Bishops "Wake Up" feature works with your cameras auto focus, this means that when you "Half Press" your shutter button to lock on.  It is then that the Bishops does use this "time period" to "Wake Up" your speed light.  Now if you turn your auto focus off and shoot on "manual focus" then the "Wake Up"  feature won't work as good / even at all due to the fact that the Photographer has giving the Bishops a no "Time Period" at all for the Bishops to wake up all those sleeping speed lights.

Ok but what about the "BIG BOY" stuff?  How does the Bishops compare with the standards of the PW's?  Well lets find out then and look at some of the results from my "Serious Tests" with the Bishops v PW's

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Test 1:  Pocket Wizards Are The Winners

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Above:  I cross the road ready to start my first test.

Above:  I shoot the Bishop...  The door is open it's a clear Pass.

Above:  I shoot the Bishop...  The door is closed it's a Fail.

Above:  I shoot the PW's...  The door is closed it's a clear Pass

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Test 2:  Bishop Triggers Are The Winners

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What on God's green earth happened here then?  The Bishop Triggers really did put my PW's to shame, on this next test of mine.  Plus this test of mine was very fair to both the brands of Radio Triggers.

This is what I done, I carried out my test on the Middle Wood Way.  And I used a hand help GPS to work out the exact / precise distance in Meters.  My set up looked like this.........

1 x Light Stand + SB600 set on half power + Bishop Trigger

1 x Light Stand + SB900 set on half power + Pocket Wizard

Above:  The image shows the exact location of my lighting set up.

I slid the Bishop Trigger onto my Nikon D40 and I moved back 8 Meters and I fired my first shot.  Great the Bishop Triggers work, so I put the PW's on to my Nikon D40 and took another shot,of course it worked.

Now I moved back to 36 Meters and put the Bishop Trigger back on my Nikon D40 took another shot, again the Bishop worked.  So I put the PW's back on the D40 and shot again, of course the PW's worked.

Above:  The Bishop is fired @ 8 Meters...  it's a Pass

Above:  The PW's is fired @ 8 Meters...  it's a Pass

Now I moved back to 59 Meters, put the Bishop Trigger back on the Nikon D40 and again the flash from my SB600 Speed light went off.  I put my PW's back on the D40 fired and to my horror, no flash appeared / came back from my SB900 Speed Light?

What?  I said to my-self, so I tried again and then my SB900 fired it's flash.  But still what is going on?  The "FACT" is, is that my PW's failed to fire my SB900 from the 59 Meter mark.  I put the Bishop Trigger back on the D40 again, and no problems what so ever it worked, over and over again it fired my SB600.  However, on the other hand consistent tests from the 59 Meter mark with my PW's, seen my PW's develop a "Hit & Miss" attitude.  Some times my SB900 went off other times it did not?  hmmm........

Above:  The Bishop is fired @ 36 Meters...  it's a Pass

Above:  The PW's is fired @ 36 Meters...  it's a Pass

I walked even further back, in fact, it was at 189 Meters that I had walked back too, I tested the Bishop Trigger and I seen my SB600 go off.  I did try with my PW's from this distance but sadly nothing?

Then I had a thought, that thought was that my PW's unlike the Bishop Triggers did not have "fresh" batteries in them.  So I took the batteries out of the 2  x Bishop Triggers and put them into my 2 xPW's.  I walked back to 189 Meters and pressed the "TEST" button again on my PW's and bingo my SB900 went off at the distance of 189 Meters.

I pressed the "TEST" button on my PW's again.... but no flash came from my SB900........  I "WAVE" my arm above my head whilst pressing the "TEST" button at the same time on my PW's.... there I seen that, a flash came from my SB900.... I pressed the "TEST" button again..... again I seen "NO" flash from my SB900.  It was clear to see that my PW's were doing a "Hit & Miss" thing.

I've had enough of this.........  The Bishop Triggers have won this test.

Above:  The Bishop is fired @ 59 Meters...  it's a Pass

Above:  The PW's is fired @ 59 Meters...  it's a Fail

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Test 3:  I Say Bishops Win, Read Why!!

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Above:  An image shows the exact location of my lighting set up.

Ok everyone please can you all look at the above screen shot of Torkington Park.  Look at the “Ruler Box” contained with in that screen shot….  You see it yet?  That line has been measured” in Meters”.  So as you can see that line is only “217 Meters” long.

Now this is the very important bit………

1) Pixel Ltd claim that their Radio Trigger (NB:  Bishops)  fires up to 200 meters away.
2) LPA Design claim on the other hand that their Pocket Wizards Plus 11 fires up to 500 meters away.

So in my very last test we can all see that the actual shooting distance that I was shooting from was only 217 meters away from my speed lights.

In the previous test (NB: Test Two), we seen the Bishops activate my speed lights consistently with out any miss fires from a distance of 189 meters.  So that is only 11 meters short of what the boys and girls at Pixel Ltd do claim that their Product can  do.....  Well done Pixel Ltd......

On the other hand my very more expensive Pocket Wizards Plus 11’s failed to activate my speed lights from the embarrassingly short distance of 59 Meters.  That is a whopping 441 Meters short of what it is that LPA Design does claim that their product does do ?  Not only that but in the same test (Test Two) the PW's were placed at 189 Meters away from my speed lights and they (PW’s) developed a “HIT N MISS” attitude..  This is still too a whopping distance of 311 Meters short of what LPA Design does claim that their product can do.  But for real what is going on here LPA Design ?....  Don't you think that you have some explaining to do here ?

Moving on the final results of my final test revealed that ………

1)  Both Radio Triggers developed a “HIT N MISS” attitude on this shoot.
2)  This time the PW's activated my Speed Lights from the Longest Distance (193 Meters)

But……………………..

1)  PW’s could NOT activate my speed lights from over the 217 Meters mark.  Again what is going on LPA Design ?  You claim that your product can trigger a flash from 500 Meters away!!  (Your product can not even reach half way of what it is that you claim).
2)  Bishops triggered my speed lights from (105 Meters) but that is still over half way of what Pixel Ltd do claim that their product does do. 

So the winner is indeed…………………………. The Pixel Bishop Radio Trigger....  Why?  Because it does do exactly what it say's it does do on the box, that's why.  End Of Story.

Regards

Gareth Preston
www.strobist.tk

PS:  I have my own theories as to why the PW's failed to do what LPA Design does claim that they can do.  I am going to carry out some more vigorous tests on the PW's . With these tests that I plan to do with the PW's, then I'm pretty confident that the PW's may get closer to the 500 Meter mark that LPA Design do claim that they can do.  The results of my tests / findings will be posted on a new / seperate blog posting. But again in this test / blog posting then again it's the Pixel Bishop Radio Trigger that's won this test, because again it does do exactly what it say's it does do on the box, that's why.  End Of Story.



Above:  Side by side Bishops & PW's under the night time sky.



Images For Business (Part 2)

It was only a few days ago that I did write to tell you all how happy I was to see that some of my photographic work has now made it's way onto 50.000.00 menus / leaflets, which are at time of writing being posted through peoples post box's around my local area.

So could it really of got any better for me?  The answer is.............. Yes it can.............. not content with having his image printed on 50.000.00 leaflets, has now seen local Business Man, (NB:  Mister Mo) of Don Francisco take full advantage of his 'Corporate Look / Identity' and as such has seen him make the decision to put a smile on all the faces of his local community by having his image of him-self turned into a Bill Board.

Speaking from the Photographers point of view then it feels really, really good to know that quite allot of the thousands, upon thousands of motorists that go up and down the A6 road every day, will not just have their eyes on the road, but like wise they will also have their eyes on a Bill Board which does display some of my photographic work.

Perhaps this is going to be the BIGGEST print that I will ever see of my photographic work in print?  But only time will tell.

Just wanted to share.

Gaz
http://www.strober.tk/

City Slicker

The date is 22nd June 2011, I'm stood inside Manchester Piccadilly Train Station waiting for my latest Model to arrive.  People are every where, then all of a sudden I see this young, fresh, sharp, well groomed man walking towards me.  That's him I said , that's my latest Model, so with out hesitation, I approach this young man with my hand extended out and say Barry it's Gareth, pleasure to meet you mate whilst I did shake his hand.

Our assignment for the day was to work on a Business Man themed shoot.  We made our way over to the Canal Basin part of the City.  From there I quickly set up my strobes on a bridge and took my very first shot.  What I wanted to achieve on this shoot was two things that being 1)  I wanted Barry to look like, to the viewer that he is a natural born Business Man and 2)  I wanted the backgrounds of my images to come across to the viewer as being 'dramatic' / 'moody' looking.

When I took the first press of my shutter button, it was then that I knew that I had already achieved both of the goals that it was that I wanted to achieve from this shoot.  That is to say 1)  Barry was looking like that natural born Business Man & 2)  my backgrounds were looking 'dramatic' and 'moody'.

As per norm there was members of the public just hanging around watching Barry & me doing our shoot together.  What I liked most about Barry was just how much confidence that this young man did have in front of the public.  We ended up moving from one part of the City Of Manchester to the other, in the end we ended up in Castlefield where we took some real shots of both Barry and that iconic Manchester building known as Beetham Tower.

I hope you all enjoy the shots that both Barry & my-self did produce from our shoot together.

Regards

Gaz
http://www.strober.tk/

Images For Business

Ok, I'm feeling pretty good today, due to the fact that I have with my own eyes seen some of my photographic work printed on 50,000.00 leaflets for a local business which is based here in the Stockport area.  These leaflets are now due to be posted in 50,000.00 letter box's as I write this blog.

For some months now, I have been working on a number of Photographic Projects for this local business.  For example I have seen my-self working on their "You Ring, We Bring" Project, which I know has had an effect on the local community.  The "You Ring, We Bring" Project concentrated on creating an 'online presence' on Face Book via 'groups' and 'pages' for all to see.

Although the "You Ring, We Bring" Project has been very rewarding for me.  But it just don't feel the same as knowing that your images are now being used in the 'Print' format for business purposes. 

Portrait Professional Review

Ok this has been on the cards for some time now. 

Basically I've been wanting for a few months now to start adding reviews to my blog with the aim of helping other photographers decide or not if they should buy certain products which are on the market?

Today something did happening which has now prompted me to start my first review.  So here it is my first ever review here on blogger. 

The product in question is Portrait Professional and wow this product rocks people.  For real, if your a photographer just like me then there is a strong chance that after your photo shoots, you just don't enjoy the next stage, which is of course the Photo Shop side of things with regards to removing blemishes off your subjects. 

Why? 

Because it takes up far to much of your time & you have a life to live right?

Correct, so this is where this outstanding bit of software does come in.  Again it's called Portrait Professional and it is made by a company called Anthropics.  What is so beautiful about this software is that it is so very easy to use that you just can not go wrong with it.  Removing blemishes in this software takes only a minute, which when I compare to Photo Shop can then take me over an hour or two.

People I'm not talking about a quick round on Photo Shop with the "Spot Remover" tool instead I'm talking about getting your subjects skin to look as if  they (your subject) is to be published into glossy magazine.  Now I don't consider my-self a Photo Shop expert but at the same time, I don't consider my-self to be a Photo Shop beginner either. 

I know that if I was to try and make my subjects skin look like the way it does as it is in Portrait Professional, then I'm telling you from experience people that it's going to take me hours in Photo Shop .  But even then I get the feeling that I would of gone for to much "clicky happy" with the "blur tool" and as a result my subject would just look far to false. 

With Portrait Professional the removal of most blemishes is as simple as 1, 2, 3, click.  Again people that's as simple as 1, 2 & 3. click.  If you look at the image that I have uploaded to this blog, then you shall see that it is self portrait of my-self.  Wow, how handsome do I look in that final pic?  Just look at that kissable skin that I do have, thanks allot Portrait Professional.

Portrait Professional works with this system where the user simply just matches up it's blue lines to the subjects face, you align the blue lines to the following, Eyes, Mouth, Nose, and then the Jaw line.  Once you have done this Portrait Professional will then give you a Professional looking image as a result.  Not only that but if your not happy with the result that you got from this Portrait Professional process then you can simply select the "touch up" tool brush and then go over the area(s) that you are not 100% happy with.

But here is the best bit, you can get this software for only £30 from their website, but what's even better than that is that you can down load a free trail of this software for free.  The only catch is that you can't save your final images produced by the Portrait Professional software.

But again for £30 no Photographer can go wrong with this bit of kit, as it really is another "tool" a Photographer can have access too in his tool bag.  But wait it gets even better, Portrait Professional is packed with some other excellent features, but I'm going to keep that as a surprise for when you check the software out.

So if you are a Photographer looking to save time from photo shopping and you don't have Portrait Professional installed in your computer, then for real you are missing out on one great bit of software / kit. 

Hope this review helps?

Gaz
http://www.strober.tk/

PS:  you can download the free version here http://www.portraitprofessional.com/

Shooting Glassware

At last I finally see the light! :)

Ok its confession time for me people. Basically I’ve had this problem for some months now and this problem has been that I’ve been struggling to take good quality shots of ‘Glassware’. For real, no matter how hard I tried then I just kept on getting inadequate results.

But today after watching many, upon many of videos on you tube with regards to shooting ‘Glassware’. I decided to give the ‘Glassware’ shoot another try. And now I am so glad that I did, because the reason being is that today was the day that this kind of shoot turned into being one of my best ‘table top’ shoots that I have done of all time (well to date anyway).

Let me explain this here people, with a pun, then I can honestly say that ‘I finally see the light!’ Yes, this means that at all times through out this ‘Glassware’ shoot of mine, then 'I knew exactly what it was that I was doing the whole time', not only that but I had also noticed that I did in fact have 100% full control over the lighting through out this entire shoot. Wow…. finally I can really say that? OMG, I’m really starting to learn all the required skills of what being a ‘Strobist’ is all about?

Also on this shoot I noticed that all of a sudden I just started working with ‘reflectors’ which as a result gave my images a very eye pleasing result, then all of a sudden I then decided to start working with 'filters' aka 'gels' too…. OMG… what is going on? I’ve never really worked with reflectors or filters before in the past, but now all of a sudden today I'm working with them just as if I’ve been working with them all my life! For real guys it all really did just start to naturally come together for me on this shoot today.


So yes I'm happy with this outcome today and yes I just wanted to share it with you :)


Regards

Gaz
http://www.strober.tk/

PS: These shots were made with 3 Light sources (One with a Shoot through Umbrella, One with a Soft Box, the other Bare Bulb bounced off the background wall. Reflectors and Filters aka Gels were used (Red Background).

Nikon Creative Lighting System: Shoot Two

Ok so you all may of seen my last blog dedicated to working with Nikons Creative Lighting System (CLS). 

So here I go again, this is Blog 2 dedicated to working with Nikons CLS.  Basically I’ve learned from my last shoot with regards to working with this system.  Yep you have guessed it, I finally did sit down and read the “User Manual” for the SB600 (NB:  Now I know what those consistent 6 beeps from the SB600 does mean now).

Any way I meet up with Matt (whom was the Male Model for my ‘Athlete Shoot’ project) @ Woodbank Park.  It was a glorious sunny day, and I just had to bring along my photographic kit in order to let off one or two shots.  Matt and my-self hand enjoyed a good little walk when all of a sudden we stopped @ the BMX track.  I quickly insisted to Matt that I set up my kit and let off one or two shots…..  Matt agreed and off I went.  Now it was not that long after I had set up my kit, when all of a sudden I had spied from the corner of my eye, James, Owen and Mikey who were all chilling out relaxing on their BMX Bikes. 

Hmmmm, I thought, BMX Bikes = BMX Track = One God Darn Good Shoot.  So I quickly hurried over to these lads and asked them if they would be kind enough to volunteer to be my subjects for my CLS Lighting Set Up?    As you can see from the final images, the lads did agree.

So how did the Creative Lighting System perform this time?  Answer 100% spot on, I could NOT fault it, every thing worked perfectly.  Even my own mistakes was not stopping the CLS from working efficiently, let me give you a working example.  My camera is set to “Burst Mode” now when my subject starts to approach his take off point I accidentally “misfire” my camera, but guess what?  The fact that I am on “Burst Mode” sees my Camera take another shot straight after the first one and guess what?   Wow, the SB600 had recycled it’s flash so quickly that I did get that image that I wanted in the end i.e. the Cyclist caught “Airborne” aka “Catching Air”.

Again people I can’t begin to tell you all how happy I am with today’s shoot regarding the CLS…. But again it was PERFECT!!!

Hope you all enjoy the pics

Gaz
http://www.strober.tk/

PS:  James, Owen and Mikey..... You guys were AWESOME!!!