Coney Island Knights: The Fireworks and The MoonFriday, September 4th, 2009

Coney Island Knight Sky Fireworks
Captured Using The CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release

Remember that CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release accessory that I blogged about last month in August 2009? Well, this blog entry is the reason why I bought the CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release and had that bad boy air mailed to me straight from Hong Kong ($35 duckets with shipping included!).

CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release Accessory

When you're shooting fireworks the camera has to be on a tripod for steady shots. Otherwise you'll create "camera shake" if you hold the camera in your hand; although, this is okay ONLY if you want to create some blurred fancy or avant garde type shots or something. So, it helps if you have a wired or wireless shutter release accessory attached to the camera to fire off the camera shutter and prevent absolute camera movement.

Anyway, the following pics are my first crack at shooting fireworks last night (Friday) and I was in a nervous mode at first and then in an excited pumped up zone while shooting. The instant feedback you get in seeing the pictures with digital camera technology cannot be understated!! You see the results of your work and can make adjustments, if necessary.

The only crazy thing in my head before the shoot was worrying about some of these stupid ass police officers breaking balls about shooting pictures with a tripod. I actually have some documentation I carry in all my different camera bags that state the rights of photographers with tripods. If you're a photo enthusiast or greater check out: The Photographer's Rights - You can download the PDF and print it out.

And the other thing I was mildly worried about was holding the trigger for the camera shutter which has an antenna sticking out. In these post-911 days in New York City you never know with police officers and them thinking you gonna blow shit up - like there's shit to blow up in da hood of south Brooklyn??? And you know it hasn't been safe for a Black man in Amerikkka as it is for 400+ years!!

Moving along, for you photography buffs out there, I used a Nikon D200 DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera with a 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom lens (this lens is discontinued by Nikon by the way, and it's the primary lens I use and LOVE A LOT!). A fast lens (f/2.8) is not important in this type of shooting because generally you would be shooting at an aperture of f/8 or f11 (better depth of field) and a speed of ISO 100. The fireworks are so bright that you wouldn't need a fast lens shooting wide open (largest aperture) or having to shoot at a higher ISO speed which can introduce grain.

So the CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release performed perfectly under its first job. Man, I LOVE this little guy! LOL! I think I did pretty DAMN well for my first time!! I read an Internet article called How to Photograph Fireworks Displays and it was really and truly instrumental and teaching me the trade (no pun intended, LOL!) before I even got out there.

And for you guys keeping track of things from the Catcus blog entry I wrote, I finally went to my local Radio Shack this past Thursday and bought some black velcro (they call it hook-and-loop fasteners - why this is I have no idea. It's a dumb name!) for $3.49. You get a 4-piece strip (sounds like a KFC order ) with both male and female sides. Now the velcro matches/camouflages perfectly with the black color body of my camera instead of the white velcro I previously used.

So... have FUN looking at the pretty pictures below. I know I had the ultimate FUN shooting them. Be qool, y'all!

ROD

CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release AccessoryFor My Nikon D200 DSLR Camera

Hey Y'all,

I wanted to share a new toy that I received today. My new toy is the CATCUS Wireless Shutter Release accessory that I'm using in conjunction with my Nikon D200 DSLR camera. I ordered the accessory from an online merchant called Gadget Infinity (parent company is Harvest One Limited) and it was shipped and air mailed directly from Hong Kong, China to me. My order arrived in 14 days. The device is $30.00 bucks and shipping was $5.00 for a total cost of $35.00.

The image above shows the entire contents of the packaging: Everything came secured in a manila bubble wrap envelope. You get the black and green box which contains the wireless RF (radio frequency) transmitter, receiver and the paper instructions on how to adjust the 16 variable channel frequencies available to you. The transmitter and receiver each come with their own respective batteries installed.



The above photo shows a close-up of the transmitter (pictured left) with the antenna pulled out, and the receiver (pictured right) which attaches to the camera. The effective distance of the RF transmissions specification mentioned on the box itself and the Gadget Infinity website kinda conflict. The website says a maximum of area of 15 meters. The side of the box that I have says the effective range is UP TO 30 meters. This tells me to go on the side of caution and that the effective strength (with no problems) of the device is 15 meters and the maximum possible signal distance is 30 meters. Anything between the range of 15 to 30 meters (49 to 98.4 feet - in english units) and the performance will vary.



The transmitter comes with a GP Ultra alkaline battery (type 23AE 12 v) as shown above.



The receiver comes with a lithium battery (type CR2 3V) as shown above. Interestingly, the lithium battery initially comes shrink wrapped in a mylar type plastic (which is already placed in the receiver for you) which I would assume was to preserve and not drain the battery's life by touching the positive and negative contacts of the rest of the device while being stocked. I'm no battery expert but I guess the lithium battery is more sensitive than the alkaline battery in the transmitter which didn't have a plastic wrap covering. The instructions even mention that you have to remove the plastic wrap from the lithium battery. The specifications also mention that the unit can be triggered continuously for 20,000 times. The energy-saving design allows you to use the unit for a year without having to change the battery inside.



The above picture is a close-up of both devices together with their respective frequency channel button selector switches. Both the transmitter and receiver's switches must agree in order for them to work with each other.

As mentioned before, you can set up 16 different channel frequency scenarios. This is most convenient if you are shooting outdoors and there's nearby RF interference; you simply change the transmitter and receiver's frequency and you're good to go. The other and major benefit is if you have multiple cameras set up in a shooting scenario, you can attach more than one receiver and fire off different cameras at different RF frequencies depending upon your goals of the photography project.

Some people might be wondering what is so special about this particular device. Nikon sells wired and wireless shutter devices!! And... so what???!!

Well, the difference is that Nikon does sell wireless shutter release devices, BUT they are INFRARED and NOT RF (RADIO FREQUENCY) devices, and that makes all the difference in the world. For example, digital SLR cameras have something called bulb mode. Bulb mode allows you total manual control over the shutter (shutter speed) and therefore how much light gathers within the sensor for a specific picture exposure. Bulb mode is used extensively for taking pictures of firework displays, for example. Because most firework displays are at night where there is little light in the sky, it's imperative to shoot fireworks with the shutter open in bulb mode at a slightly prolonged interval. The downside to bulb mode is that it can be a big drain on the battery so have extra batteries on hand when using bulb mode.

The problem is that infrared wireless shutter devices cannot work in bulb mode and so you're stuck. They simply fire the shutter. One would have to stand near the camera and manually press the camera's shutter button and hold it down in order to use and maintain bulb mode. This manual procedure is not an option if you're doing something sophisticated where you can't be near the camera.

The CATCUS Wireless (RF) Shutter Release is a great accessory. It allows one to press part-way down on the transmitter button to get an auto-focus on the camera itself, and then one can press all the way down to take a picture. In regard to bulb mode, you press down on the transmitter button fully to move the shutter on the camera and then press the transmitter button again to release the shutter.



The photo above is a test set up in my house when I was first testing the device. I have the camera mounted on my tripod (Gitzo, baby!!), and I'm holding & pressing the transmitter (the green LED light confirms this) in my hand, and the receiver is plugged (hanging) from the 10-pin port of my Nikon D200 and flashes red every few seconds when the receiver is ready-to-go and green when it receives a signal from the transmitter.



One extra step I have taken is to put some velcro on the wireless receiver and on the battery grip of my Nikon D200. Black velcro would be ideal in this instance because the camera's body is black and black velcro would camouflage on the camera better. (I'll get some black velcro from a hardware store soon).



Then I can easily attach the wireless receiver to the camera so that the wireless receiver is not hanging all messy like. And this also prevents zero stress on the receiver's wire cable hanging from the camera's 10-pin port.

I think the $35 duckets is a great price in comparison to Nikon's MC30 Remote Cable Release which goes for $70 duckets!!! And the cord on this device is only 31.5 inches long! And what's worse, I was considering the ultra-expensive Nikon ML-3 Modulite Remote Control Set. This is the infrared device I alluded to before. The ML-3 is useless because it doesn't support bulb mode as I mentioned before, and then add insult to injury, it goes for a whopping $190.00+ duckets! Shiiiiit! I could exchange my zenny from a Capcom video game and still not be able to pay for this damn expensive device! LOL!

Anyway, CATCUS makes different wireless shutter release devices to suit major camera companies like Canon, Sony and Olympus. You can see Gadget Infinity's product page and order it here: CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release.

If the above link should ever fail while you're reading this, just go to http://www.gadgetinfinity.com and there is a search field in the upper right hand corner of the page - just type in "wireless shutter release".

If you're interested in taking pictures of fireworks using bulb mode and want to know the step-by-step method of doing so then check out these links here and here.

A Self-Portrait of Myself Chillin'
Using the Catcus Wireless (RF) Shutter Release

Have FUN Y'all! You know I will! LOL!

ROD (aka BIG ROD)