WOW, so many long range lenses coming up here, spoilt for choices John

Interesting Stefan I am all for experimenting, but tell me again? Getting the power from the net? Just a bit confused here, but hey Stefan, you know that my shed is practically my workshop so any ideas workable or not let's just explore it Let's make it fun.

Thanks Shim. Then this is the socket I am using for the Nikon flashgun. I better go check the model number of that flashgun and see what voltage it is.

Thanks for this Shim, I better go check it. I have used it heavily for the last few weeks and all seems fine so I am almost certain that it must be the correct voltage, but you never know, I will go check and hopefully find the voltage on the link you gave me here.

thank you so much

Shim, yes I suppose I could use rechargeable ones. And 8 seconds is fine as recycling time. But the thing is when I am doing the smoke and bubble pics I would just be doing over 150 shots or sometimes even more. Ideally slightly quicker recycling time also would be great. So I was thinking rather than rechargeable battery mains would be great.

But now you are telling me about the voltage, you got me concerned here. I thought I would have to be careful with voltage differences only if I connected the flashgun directly on the camera, is it not? Oh my I guess I got it wrong. I connect the Nikon flashgun through a pc cable, on the side of the K20D body, where that little round knob is that I need to take it off. Which by the way is such a nuisance, a small knob there that is so tricky to hold and unscrew and store it even. On several occasion I lost it on the floor in the shed and I was lucky to find it back. And actually I forgot to put it back since my last experiments in the shed so have been walking around with the K20 without that cap in there. Hope its not such a big deal, I dont usually go out on the rain with the camera.

So help me out then, do I have to be very careful with voltages on flashguns if they are to be connected through this little access point too?
Helpppp please ))

thanks

Just saw the SRS website hefty with the link you gave me ooooh they are dear , not exactly cheap.
I think I will just stick to a second hand cheap flash like the Nikon I have mains powered for the time being. Those are pretty expensive toys to invest at this stage for me for just play around with bubbles and incense smoke, at least for now

Will keep an eye on a cheap flash then,

Stefan I was really thinking along the lines of that. I didn't know those studio flash sets were different from normal flashguns. I have even managed to borrow some stands from my japanese neighbour and some reflectors also that he gave me to use . When he saw me with the pentax in the back garden he approached me and started chatting about photography and told me he had loads and loads of pentax equipment from his college times and then a few days later dug them out and is letting me use them.

Those studio flash sets must be ideal to transform my shed into a proper studio lighting environment. How much do they go for? I guess e-bay is the best place to go loo for it isn't it? Does anyone have a link or a site i could have a peek just to familiarise with how they look like?

Thanks

Thanks for this hefty,

Thanks Hefty

Seems I am really stuck then. Well, as I spend battery loads doing work in the shed I think the best option then would be to buy another cheap flashgun like the Nikon I got which takes external power source. I got it quite cheap, but at the time I didnt give much attention to the socket, only when I starting blowing so many betteries it got me thinking and noticed that slot. I will be looking for something like that again then, cheap for my smoke photos and stuff that I would like to experiment. Are they cheaply available? and will I be able to get a second hand flashgun along with its mains power source adapter together?
I am left now to look for the powersource cable for the Nikon I have, it does a great job as it is with batteries but would love the power source for it now that I found it can get connected to mains

this seems just the right thread for me to come in with my query, sorry Feeb to get a piggy ride .

I am tired of buying batteries for my igma ef 530 st dg super. And specially when I lock myself in my shed Ooops I have been advised to call it my studio now , and go through my fussy experiments my flash gobbles batteries like a hungry lion, well with the usage I put it through its not surprising anyway. Is there a way I could get a battery pack or something to get around this? Or what do you usually do to find the best balance? Apart from the obvious lowering the output to 1/2 or 1/4 or even lower, which really doesn't suit me for my purposes.

I bought a second hand Nikon flash gun from SRS at a cheap cheap price to use as a second flashgun as Matt very kindly had advised me, and I notice this one has a side input socket which it seems its to connect to the mains. Oh it definitely it is because the on/off switch has a MAINS setting as well as well as Battery setting. So hopefully will get the mains transformer for this, but I am left with my main Sigma which I am hoping to get some ideas please.

Thanks

Scott, these are cracking shots, absolutely stunning. Seems you are getting the hang of the lens now.