FotoSync

by Tim Grey

It was a wet day filled with crossbar violence and exploding soda as Jim Reed and Daniel Weiss of Broncolor came by for some fun with the new Scoro pack. What started as a training day for myself, Jayson Jordan, PJ Johnson, Chris Cardinale, and Alyssa Kirsten of K&M Rentals turned into a messy romper room as we tested the action-stopping power of the new flash generator.

We started off with some pours and splashes, and the Scoro kept it chilly with an ice-cold 1/8000 flash duration (t 0.1). Water droplets were frozen in motion, crisp and sharp- you could even see bubbles in the seltzer water and beer. (click the pics to enlarge)

We also set up the Para 220 umbrella, and Jim showed us how to create soft wrap-around light as well as hard, focused light.

Alyssa Kirsten

Jim Reed

Another cool feature of the Scoro is the programmable stroboscopic feature. You can set the flash duration, number of flashes, and interval between flashes to get awesome stuff like this:

Jayson Jordan and Alyssa Kirsten

Things really came to a head when we pulled the old "mentos-in-a-Diet-Coke" trick.

We didn't get geysers, but a suspicious looking appendage.

Finally, after we trashed the place with seltzer water, beer, and Diet Coke, I figured a little more sand, water and a can of compressed air couldn't hurt.

Special Thanks to Broncolor, Jim Reed, Daniel Weiss and Norah Mays at Studio 385 for a great afternoon.

Welcome readers!

Fotosync is a blog about the world of professional photography. We cover gear and practice: Reviews, tests, and first-hand accounts by working photographers and the crew that makes the shot.
I'm not one for long introductions, so our first post is by Photographer Howard Huang, shooting a job on location, and taking the latest from Canon and Nikon on a test drive:

"Here are my thoughts on the Canon 1Ds Mark III and Nikon D3X

I was mainly using my Hasselblad H2 with Leaf Aptus 54s and Leaf Capture 11.2.4 This was a safe bet because I know everything works. I even tried it with the new beta Remote Capture with my iPhone. It works but has some kinks.

Anyway first impression is that the Nikon seems like better build, especially the lens. But after playing around a little bit, it seems about the same to me. The Nikon has a lot of menu set up. I didn't even touch most of them. It's a little overwhelming. The Canon, on the other hand has a better layout of the menus. I like where the buttons are. More user friendly I guess. The Nikon can't connect with the New Capture One Pro 4.6.3, The Mark III connected fine so I shot tether with it. Works fine. Just like my Mark II. I did notice the shutter and overall speed improvement from the Mark 2 to Mark 3. However, the Nikon is even faster. In the rapid shooting test, the Nikon clearly came out a winner. But I am not shooting sports so it did not matter to me much. I have looked at both files and they both look amazing. Very detailed. You can see the hair the beard very clearly. I initially like the raw look a little better from the Canon, but after close study, it's hard to say. On High ISO they both look good. Better than my Leaf Aptus anyway. But the Nikon is a little better. I thought the new Capture One Pro is a little slow, but I like the new adjustment features. I was using my new MacBook Pro 15". Also I miss the 100% detail view window. Where the hell is it?

In conclusion, I like both cameras. But since I am a Canon guy with a bunch of canon lenses, I would get the 1Ds Mark III. I wish they both shoot tether with firewire 800 and not USB. Still won't throw my Leaf Aptus away though. Something about the way the lens looks. It's different. I like it. And I feel like it does not have more detail but more clear or sharp for some reason.

So here is my non-technical review."

Here are some behind the scenes photos of Howard Huang in action: