Shooting The Canon G10 With An SB-26 Off Camera Flash

As I mentioned yesterday, I bought a Canon G10.

One of the great things about the G10 is the ability to use it with an external flash or Speedlight via the G10's hotshoe. You can either mount a Speedlight right on the hotshoe atop the G10, or you can use it as an off camera flash via a radio trigger and receiver.

So, one of the first things I did after the G10 Unboxing, was pop my radio trigger into the hotshoe and plug a receiver into one of my Nikon SB-26 Speedlights. I set the ISO to the Canon G10's base ISO of 80, put the shooting mode on manual, and started taking pictures.

Right from the start, I was amazed at how good the image quality is out of the Canon G10. At 80 ISO, the sensor is putting out just incredible quality images for a compact digital camera. Even at ISO 400 and ISO 800, the little G10 performs admirably. I found ISO 1600 to be a little too noisy, but I'd still use it if it meant either getting a photo or not getting it.

After my daughter had decided she'd had enough of Daddy taking pictures of her, I headed to the computer to see how things looked. I knew the G10 was capable of great quality images because I've seen a lot from friends and online, but I still have to say, I'm impressed.

I didn't think I'd be liking what I'm seeing out of my new Canon G10 as much as I am. Kicking it up a notch and using off camera lighting just makes things even sweeter! The G10 works great with a radio trigger, and the off camera lighting of the SB-26 just made the G10's images look even better.

Here's some examples. Click on the images for a larger photo.

If you're interested in seeing the full resolution jpgs, you can see them on my Flickr page at
Canon G10 With Off Camera Flash.









All the above images from my Canon G10, as well as the ones posted on Flickr, were shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom. The RAW files from the G10 are excellent, and Lightroom handles them very well.

I did a quick comparison of results from Canon DPP and Lightroom, and I found that I preferred Lightroom both for image quality and workflow. There's also no question that Lightroom is much faster than Canon DPP.

If you don't have Lightroom, Canon DPP is still an excellent option. DPP will get you the best image quality possible from your Canon G10 RAW files, or any Canon Digital Camera file for that matter. Lightroom is faster for workflow and has a lot more power when it comes to producing a finished image (i.e. grad filters, spot removal, color tweaking, sharpening, etc.), but DPP still gets the job done.

For more on Canon DPP, check out my article on Canon DPP Workflow, Lightroom vs Canon DPP, and Canon DPP - Digital Photo Professional for RAW and JPG.

CRANK UP YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY AWESOMENESS WITH A SPEEDLIGHT SOFTBOX

More on the Canon G10...

Developing Canon G10 RAW - Lightroom vs Canon DPP

Shooting the G10 at ISO 800 and ISO 1600

Closeup Pics Using Macro Mode On the Canon G10

Mrs. Ballard Shoots The Canon G10 - Straight Out Of Camera Jpegs

5 Reasons To Sell Your Canon G10 And Buy A G11

Using the Nikon SB-26 in Slave Mode with CLS Speedlights

As I mentioned in my article on the Nikon SU-800 Wireless Speedlight Commander, I often integrate one or more of my Nikon SB-26 speedlights in with the rest of the CLS speedlights. I've had a couple people ask about this, so I thought I'd cover it in a bit more detail.


(Photo by: Flickr User mnd.cntrl)

The Nikon SB-26 has a built in optical slave, which is why it's one of the Strobist's favourite flashes, and hence why it's been so popular (and more expensive) on ebay lately. The optical slave is the reason I buy used SB-26 speedlights whenever I can find them at a good price. I'm always on the lookout for more. :)

When I'm using the SB-26's with CLS controlled speedlights like the SB-900, SB-800, or SB-600, I assign them to duties that don't require me to adjust them much, if at all. For example, if I'm lighting a portrait subject with an SB-800 fired into a Softbox at camera left, and I have another SB-800 or SB-600 at camera right and dialed down for some fill, I sometimes like to set another flash to light the background just a wee bit.

Here's where the SB-26 set to optical slave comes in. I set it at a very low power, adjust the beam spread, and set it on one of the little Nikon AS-19 Speedlight stands. I then aim it at the background, take a test shot, and adjust the power and position until I'm happy with the effect. The beauty of it is, that the SB-26 is firing in sync with the rest of the CLS controlled speedlights via it's optical slave.



Another situation I use my SB-26's, is when I'm lighting a white background. You can make even a colored wall go white if you throw enough light into it, and four SB-26 speedlights will do the trick nicely. I position them at camera left low, camera left high, camera right low, and camera right high.

I use portable lightstands to get the height levels I want. You can either put the low lights on the floor on AS-19 stands, or attach them to the lower part of the light stand using a clamp and AS-19 combo or clamp and umbrella adapter combo. The high lights (no pun intended) go on top of the stands and all four are adjusted to form an even light distribution on the wall behind my subject. I do this by taking a test shot, checking the blinking highlights on my camera's LCD, and adjusting the lights accordingly so that I have nice, even lighting over the entire background.


When you're doing this type of set-up, be sure you have enough room to keep your subject well in front of your background to avoid bounce back light contamination. Ten feet or more is a good starting point. You can also minimize bounce back by using reflectors or large pieces of foamcore or cardboard positioned to shield your subject from any light spilling back onto them.

Of course, there's many more combinations where you can add an SB-26 into the CLS mix. You can even use an SB-26 with just the pop up flash on the camera. Dial your pop up flash down to -2 or so (or better yet, set it to Commander mode with no contributing flash output), and put an SB-26 set to optical slave off to camera left in an umbrella or softbox. Voila! You've got some decent portait lighting on the cheap.

The Nikon SB-26 is a great addition to any portable lighting set-up. It's well built, works great, reliable, powerful, and inexpensive. The built-in optical slave puts it at the top of the class as a remote off-camera light, and lets it play nicely with newer Nikon CLS speedlights like the SB-900, SB-800, and SB-600.