The Histrionics of Ergonomics

I photographed an evening event this past weekend using a rather odd setup. Since the Janco flash diffuser has greatly improved the quality of the D90’s on-board flash, I wanted to experiment with a dual flash setup. The original plan was to use it in conjunction with an external Nikon Speedlight in “Commander Mode”, Nikon’s answer to wireless flash. So, I decided to use it as part of a temporary flash setup until I get my Nikon SB-900 Speedlight (or SB-600; I’m still on the fence)

With my ol’ Canon Speedlight 199A attached to my Strobframe, I used the D90’s on-board flash to trigger it through a Vivitar SL-2 slave, simulating the SB-900 used in Commander mode.

Marisa Clark’s Sweet 16 Party

It worked pretty well, except that I had to shoot everything manual, since that’s the only way everything would sync up. No big deal.

So where do the ergonomics come into play? Well, faced with the dilemma that the most ergonomic way to take a portrait would be to rotate the camera 90° counter-clockwise, but that my stroboframe doesn’t work that way, I reversed it and attached it to the camera with the handle on the right side. Bad move.

Nikon/Canon Dual Flash Setup:
Direct plus Bounce, Portrait/Landscape, Lumiquest Softbox

Yes, now when I swing the flash to the portrait position, it’s above the lens with the camera rotated 90° ccw, but the whole setup is awkward to hold, and access to all the important controls is blocked by the Stroboframe’s grip. Controls that are essential to shooting manually.

If I installed the bracket normally and didn’t use the portrait flip, would the flash to the left of the lens made that much of a difference? Was it worth the sacrifice in ergonomics? Perhaps not.

There are other flash brackets available that do work with a 90° ccw rotation. This Stroboframe is simply not one of them. And forcing it to do so was a poor compromise.

The thinking behind all this is that most battery grips provide a shutter release for use when shooting in portrait orientation when the camera is rotated counter-clockwise. The Nikon grip also provides Command and Sub-Command dials. So, I’d like to adopt the ccw twist as a standard for portrait composition, and enjoy all the ergonomic advantages it provides.

Even if I don’t use the grip, it’s far easier to shoot portrait with a counter-clockwise rotation than by bending my wrist in an awkward position at the bottom of the camera as I try to release the shutter. And forget about using any of the other controls.

A simple solution for the time being would be to add an extension to the top arm of my Stroboframe, and not flip it when rotating the camera. This puts the flash above and to the right for landscape, and above and to the left for portrait. Not the best scenario, but better than having the flash fire from below lens-level.

This issue has been addressed in many of the new flash frames available today, so it looks like an upgrade is in order.