Curious how many use off camera lighting at a wedding. By off camera I mean a 550, Sunpax Quantum, etc that is battery bowered and portiable. If you use this do you use it while getting ready? during groups? during reception? At the reception how many do you use?

If you do any of the above do you use any modifers or shoot direct?

I use Sunpaks due to the low cost for what I get. I usually use one during the day and 2 at the reception in conjunction with my 550 on camera. Always fired with my Pocket Wizard.

TX for the input!

I do it all of the time either with the Nikon CLS (built in RF between SB800 and SB600) or with an SC17 off camera cord. I love the light I get, plus I can get my assistant really involved in my style.

I will usually bounce the light off walls, ceilings or floors, sometimes I will use a stofen on the flash but I have no real rules.

Typically just two flashes for me, I always have a third as backup but I am not comfortable leaving a 350.00 flash sitting unattended since three would be hard to handle.

I don't, but I'd love to start once I get educated on it and get the eqip. I love lots of light at a reception to get those awesome dance moves!

My partner and I use to shoot with canon D60's paired with sigma ef 500 super dg's (1 ettl1 version and 2 ettl2 version). We had one of the flashes on a lightstand which we triggered via the builtin ir of the sigma's. This worked great using ettl.

When we upgraded to 20D's, our offcam flash was so erratic. Sometimes it didn't fire, sometimes it was over and sometimes it was under. So for a while for off cam flash shots, we were using our off cam cord.

Just this week, I sold the ettl1 sigma flash and bought a sunpak 120J. I also bought a set of pocket wizards! I was so tempted to buy those generic radio trigger/receiver (made in china around 90$ for a set) but I know you can't go wrong with pw's

I'm so excited to try them out on a wedding this saturday.

As for your other question, I usually use an off cam flash during the reception and during the ceremony. I sometimes use it for bridal portraits (backlit shots)

I've used the SB-800/600 in remote mode a couple times but felt the distraction wasn't worth it in the end. The good news is I know how and wouldn't hesitate if I really needed the extra light.

PW's are great!...let me know how the sunpacks work....i use the 555's

I rarely place the flash on the hot shoe. I either shoot with an SB-800 or a Vivitar 285 in my hand or I will put my Qflash X2 on a stand off in a corner somewhere. I will bounce the flash in hand if the ceiling is less than 20 feet. I always use a softbox or hallo umbrella with the X2 for formals.

The only time I use on camera flash is for run-n-gun / grip-n-grin jobs.

Cheers,
Zack

I use on camera 580EX flash on my camera and use the LS2PJ!

I'm just starting to use off camera flash since I don't take an assistant.
In this image I had my sb800 nikon flash with a poquet Wizard in a stand about 45 dgrees to my left. The flash was pointing up 60 degrees toward the crowd with a LS2PJ. No flash on camera.

I use a 600w/s monolight with a 60" Phototek Softliter for indoor formals. Fired with Pocket Wizard. If it's an old or very large church (which makes finding an outlet difficult) I use a Vagabond battery.

I use the same thing for outdoor work, if there is time and no wind.

If there is little time and/or the wind is blowing, I use a Sunpak 555 in a X-Small Photoflex softbox. Fired with Pocket Wizard.

I only venture into off-camera lighting at the reception if there is plenty of time. In these cases I just adapt whatever I need for the situation. Most of the time I just use my flash on a bracket and bounce. If I can't bounce, I'll go head on with the flash. In either case I drag the shutter.