Old tripods...

[ohheckyeah]

you probably already know this, but I just discovered that my old tripod is perfect as a clip on light stand. I love repurposing.

[ManiacJoe]

1. It is not a coincidence that cameras and flashes use the same size mounting screws.

[Major Nikon]

3. Most of them do, but some don't

However, most of the big camera stores stock the adapters to go from one size thread to another.

[Major Nikon]

2. Here's another neat lighting trick

If you have an old Vivitar 485-HV flash you can stick a peanut slave into the sync port to convert it into a slave flash. If you have a modern camera that uses pre-flash strobes this doesn't work unless you disable the pre-flash by going to some other mode like full manual.

[sir pball]

7. You can't use TTL flash metering with remote lights anyway

That's one of the things I love about multiple-light setups, studio work in general - technology hasn't really been able to do anything with them yet. Beyond the instant-preview you get with digital it's still all about balance and manual control, light positioning and relative intensity and then the aperture-priority exposure control.

It did drive me bananas for the first five minutes I was using my AlienBees strobes though, "WHY ARE THEY FIRING A HALF-SECOND EARLY...ohhhhhhhhhh.."

[Major Nikon]

8. With Nikon you can

I have a SB-800, SB-700, and two SB-600s all of which can be used wirelessly together TTL(which Nikon calls i-TTL). I'm not sure if Canon has a similar system, but Nikon uses a series of pre-flashes from the remotes to evaluate metering TTL. It can be fooled in certain situations, but this is true of all TTL systems. It works reasonably well and I use it quite often, but I also know how to fall back to full manual mode when the automation doesn't work. Studio lights are quite nice, but my studio is wherever I happen to be so the portability of Nikon speedlights makes life a lot easier.

http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9520

[sir pball]

9. I meant mixed-vendor, more specifically full on strobe setups.

I used to use my D70s as a wireless commander for my SB-800 quite a bit; I'm a little jacked they chose to restrict that technology to the high-end bodies and not put in my D5100. But regardless, with "real" lighting gear that's optically triggered, TTL is a fail.

And while the compactness is nifty - at $500 per -910 vs. $250-350 per strobe, it's a tough sell for me to have more than one speedlight. I actually have the battery pack for my strobes; that, two units, stands, umbrellas and brolly boxes, and all my camera gear fit nicely into my gigantic hiking pack. It's technically "portable"

[Major Nikon]

10. It depends on what you consider "real" lighting gear

There are all sorts of advantages to "real" strobes, power and recycle times are the big ones. However the weight and size are big considerations for me. I sometimes use all 4 lights (5 if you count the on-camera light which I sometimes use also). Carrying around all those "real" lights with battery packs, cords, and heavier light stands would be a real pain.

[sir pball]

11. I'm always a fan of "bigger is better"

My B&W professor drilled into us the importance of light and mastering it; I'm willing to trade off the pain of a 40+ pound pack for the ability to tame the Sun itself

[Major Nikon]

12. That's how I was taught as well

Working with speedlights instead of studio strobes requires a different mindset. You realize how to make the inverse square law work for you. Knock the flash-to-subject distance in half and you've got effectively 4 times the power. I set up my lights to where they are just barely outside the frame and I have all the power I need. It also means your modifiers can be smaller because the closer they are, the larger they are relative to the subject which means the light is softer. Because everything is smaller and lighter, I can pack more of them which means multiple accent lights if I want them along with a key and fill light.

[sir pball]

13. The smaller modifiers are a double-edged sword, though

That was one of the bigger reasons, besides cost, that I picked up the strobes...in particular I never found a way to feather my speedlight wide or soft enough to my liking (that's what this comes down to, personal tastes - I'm not at all challenging your choices, just idly discussing mine in contrast). IMO nothing beats a half-covered soft box angled well off for a gentle, well-gradated cascade of light spilling down a wide scene.

Which comes back full-circle; even if you are using a vendor-specific system that would allow for TTL, if you're controlling the light so specifically, with multiple sources, placement, modifiers - I'd have them all in manual mode regardless. Auto metering is great for a "balanced" scene, but I don't always agree with the camera on what "balanced" is

[Major Nikon]

14. It limits you in several ways

Shoot through umbrellas are difficult to get close enough unless you use multiple strobes and large soft boxes aren't an option either for the same reason. You can get the same effect you describe, but just across a smaller area.

The more lights you introduce, the less useful TTL becomes depending on what you are doing. It works better than you might think because the i-TTL system is actually evaluating each group of lights individually, but there are some situations where it can be fooled. If I'm using more than 2 lights, I generally just set each one up in manual so I can get a predictable and repeatable result, however if you are using the Flash Value lock as long as it works once, you can lock in those settings for each subsequent shot.

[ohheckyeah]

4. I'm actually using

a clip on light right now.

[alfredo]

5. Old mike stands are good too.

[ohheckyeah]

6. Good idea. n/t