Adrian LeRoy
02-11-2008, 09:22 PM
Hello, all. We're up in the California central coast enjoying its numerous wonders and photographing the elephant seals, known hereabouts as the e-seals, the noisiest mammals I have ever encountered. A Nikkor 70-300mm VR on a D200 seems just a little short (if I keep behind the fence), but circumstances kept me from renting a longer lens this trip. A 300mm with a 1.4xTC would probably be ideal, IMO, although I appreciate the VR as these guys move around pretty fast.
I found my Better Beamer, the model originally made for the Nikon SB-28, and it seems to fit the SB-600 just fine, although the fresnel lens is a little bowed with everything attached. I have been using it for lens (not flash) zoom settings between 200 and 300mm, equivalent to 300 to 450mm for film, leaving the flash zoom setting at 50mm. This seems to work OK (evens out illumination and produces one catch light in each eye), but I wonder if I've got it right. Is 50mm the right setting for the flash and should the side pieces of the Beamer be gently bent to make the lens flat?
I found my Better Beamer, the model originally made for the Nikon SB-28, and it seems to fit the SB-600 just fine, although the fresnel lens is a little bowed with everything attached. I have been using it for lens (not flash) zoom settings between 200 and 300mm, equivalent to 300 to 450mm for film, leaving the flash zoom setting at 50mm. This seems to work OK (evens out illumination and produces one catch light in each eye), but I wonder if I've got it right. Is 50mm the right setting for the flash and should the side pieces of the Beamer be gently bent to make the lens flat?