Day full of surprises... and an Orbis...

Wow – what a huge weekend. It really was. For those of you who follow me on Twitter you will already know that in the last 24 hours I have taken 4371 images of the fashion shows at the 2009 Every Woman Expo. And I’m now officially exhausted.

I am going to save the wrap-up from the great Nikon D700 v Fujifilm S5 Pro challenge for another night. I am too tired and there is a little more to the story that needs explaining. But the bottom line is I think both camera bodies shine on their own merits. The D700 on handling and speed, and the S5 Pro in the quality of the final image straight from the camera.

But anyway, other than the D700, the other cool thing I got to play with today was my Orbis Ring flash adaptor. I have had this thing for ages and have not really utilised it all that much, so I decided to change that. The image I have included with this post was shot with the D700 set to Manual mode, 1/200th sec at f/4.0, ISO 800. I used my beloved Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens stopped down to f/4 and as you can see, although the models were charging down the runway at great pace this image is still pin sharp. This also dispels a fear raised by a valued reader that the D700 might be front focussing; hence the rather soft image presented in last nights post alongside the image from the S5 Pro. Thank you though to that valued reader, I really appreciate your input! PS, yes I know the image is a little risqué, but a fair portion of the fashion shows were this kind of attire so I think it is a valid example of my weekends photography.

Back to the Orbis just for a moment, I realise that a catwalk show is not the forte for a ring flash, especially one that is powered merely by a speedlight with a GN of just around 40 (my SB-900) as the Orbis does sap quite a bit of power from an otherwise powerful flash. But I am rather partial to the shadowless lighting it has placed on the models, even if it meant standing right at the end of the runway and blocking some peoples view of the show. But after all, it is all about getting the image right! Gorgeous. Gotta start using it more often…