Decided to bust out some of the camera gear for once…  After the party the other night, I noticed something odd…  The crappy little two-AA-powered Minolta Auto118X that I’ve not used at all up until the party is bright…  REALLY bright…  Way brighter than the Phoenix D92-BZS I’ve been using for a while now.  So a handful of days later, I busted out the light meter and took a few readings at a few distances…

At five feet, ISO100, 1/250th, the Phoenix was popping at about f/2.8, maybe a bit less than that, closer to f/3.2.  At about 6 inches, it popped at around f/18 if I remember correctly.

At five feet, ISO100, 1/250th, the Minolta was popping pretty much dead on at f/2.0.  At about 6 inches, it popped at around f/44.  Yeah.  I typed that right, f/44.  I’ll do some more scientific tests later, just so I have the hard figures, but good goddamn, that’s a MASSIVE difference, and considering as one is a several year old new flash with 4xAAs, and the other is a couple-decade old with 2xAAs, I’m pretty shocked.

So after I last tried with the new umbrella, bouncing into the brolly with the black shield on, I was disappointed with the lack of power in the Phoenix.  Now I thought I’d use the Minolta.  Oh hell yes am I stoked.

Here’s the lighting diagram.  The Minolta is on the left, the Phoenix is on the right.  That big yellow thing is an overhead tungsten lamp.  Same as in the last party pic.  Either way… I’m pretty pleased with these.

There’s more pics located over at a photo album on my Facebook profile, including a few of Steve, who always is willing to look like a dork when I need him to lol.

Oh, quick notice regarding these photos.  These are completely unedited aside from two elements:  Sharpening was applied in Lightroom on Export, although I should’ve bumped that up in Develop, come to think about it.  The other is the white balance.  Camera was set to auto, changed it in Lightroom from As Shot to Flash.  Other than that, completely untouched.  I’m actually pretty happy with this, as it’s my first real studio lighting test, especially with multiple lights.  Basic, but I’m pleased.