Multi Flash set up for birds

@Silver pixels- why not set your perch differently if you dont like facing the sun or do sone backlit shots- just showing there is always alternative answers to gaining a shot.

Still not had a straight answer about using flash on a scgedule 1 bird near its nest by those who want to use flash at other tines.
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Markyboy1967..
I have converted the rear part of my garage into a hide. This is on the north boundary of my garden, which means i'm facing into the sun from about 9am until late afternoon in summer and from about 10.am in winter. This applies no matter where i place the perches and, whilst i do have the wit to consider alternatives I can't influence the orbit of the sun !

Re your schedule one question; I'm sorry, i didn't realise that was directed specifically to me. I made no mention of schedule 1 birds and, to my knowledge i haven't photographed any such birds in my garden, so i see no relevance in the question and i've no idea what regulations apply to that.

As I've said. there are differing opinions on this, which is what we have. I'm not the type of 'togger who goes fo a shot that puts any subject at risk. I repeat what i said in my first post that I've had birds on perches that weren't feeding, i've taken repeated shots and they haven't flown away. They also return and this suggests to me that they therefore suffer no distress, either from the flash or the noise of the shutter and i've been doing it a long time. In the absence of any actual evidence to the contrary,we have opinions and I'll stay with that and suggest that we agree to disagree.

Cheers

PS ; there is an irony in this which is that the more sunlight i have, the more the need for fill light, so i shoot early morning to avoid that.
 
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I use flash with birds. Sometimes multiple flashes off-camera (hummingbirds at the feeders), more frequently a single flash on camera. Will the bird notice the flash? Yes, at least sometimes. Will the bird be disturbed by flash? Not likely, it has more to do with proximity than it does with the fact it's emitting light. I have seen birds react to flash, but I have never seen a bird flush due to it.

As far as the OP's original question goes... my preference would be for a pair of AD360's, although I don't think that counts as "cheap." Personally I find there is more benefit to using a higher power IGBT flash at low power settings than there is for HSS. The main benefit being that the flash will recycle much more quickly. I can frequently get 3-4 shots out of one charge because the flash isn't using it all.
 
FWIW I'm based in Switzerland and guidelines for responsible bird photography here prohibit flash. These guidelines are binding for the annual bird photo competition. So I won't be trying it.
 
Re; my first post to the OP in this thread, after posting that i looked on the auction site. I've bought a Sunpak 3600. Guide no 36 with power ratio to 1/64 which means the reduced power keeps up with a motor drive and prevents "burn out".( as SK66) It also means your less likely to distress the birds. Boxed with all original doc's and acc's = £20 + £5.60 delivery. 6 aa batteries req'd or mains adaptor. A bargain !!

Cheers
 
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In summary weall agree to disagree but everyone agrees that the best interest of the subject is paramount.

.....and we all look forward to Bills video taken at crack of dawn!!

Thank you for your comments (and about teh flash)
 
One from this evening - almost dark, I could not see any detail in the bird ........ just the colours, black and the russet chest area

obviously taken from a distance and cropped

I took 50 shots with flash at various setting - none disturbed the bird - it never moved

Nikon D810 + 300 f2.8VR + 1,7TC + SB700

1/800th sec - f5 - ISO 1200

(all the ISO shots were noisy - you can see this even at 1200)

The image needs more processing - but it is a good ID shot

Jackal Buzzard

JB.jpg
 
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To get back to the original question about good value flashguns - I use Yongnuo YN 560 III. These are manual flashes with built in wireless triggers you can get on eBay for around £39. Guide number 58 (metres, ISO 100). The later model, YN 560 IV is also available for around £52 - the difference is that it has a more sophisticated wireless controller built in which can act as a 'master' in Canon speedlight setups - not needed the way I use them so why pay more for it? I own lots of Yongnuo gear and I find it works extremely well and the build quality is excellent.

I have been experimenting with using high speed flash for flight pictures of birds coming to my garden feeders. The setup I am using is a Canon 80D with 70-200mm lens at around 135mm and three Yongnuo flashes. I pre-focus on a spot close to the feeder's port where I expect birds to arrive. I position two flashes using the traditional studio portraiture setup of having a 'key light' higher and at about 45 degrees to my lens axis which provides the main lighting and a second 'fill-in' light positioned to the other side with a diffuser and set to 1-2 stops less exposure. To avoid a black background, the 3rd flash is positioned to illuminate the area of the hedge about 5m behind the subject that will form the background. I set the whole thing off using two Yongnuo RF605c radio triggers - one held in my hand, the other on the camera. If I press the 'go' button on the one I am holding, it triggers both the camera's shutter and the three flashes. The other tricks are:
  1. set the camera to manual mode and the shutter speed to the camera's maximum flash sync speed - in my case 1/250s. Choose the aperture and ISO so that a shot taken without the flashes and with only the ambient daylight will be very under-exposed, by at least 3 stops, preferably more. That way you avoid 'ghosting' due to getting some non-flash exposure. I usually avoid doing it when there is full sunshine and use ISO 100 at f8 -f16. The reasonably small aperture also gives enough depth of field to try and get the whole bird sharp.
  2. set the power output of the flashes to a low value - I aim for 1/16 or less. Electronic flashes work by cutting off the power to the discharge tube once they have produced sufficient light, so the lower the power setting the shorter the flash duration. Third party direct measurements of the duration of the YN 560 III show that, at 1/16 power, the duration is around 1/8000s - which is short enough to stop most movement.
I can then sit in the kitchen with a mug of tea and fire off shots when I think birds are coming in on the right line. The hit rate is pretty low - you get a lot of shots with no bird, bits of bird or very out of focus bird, but with digital that doesn't matter! I don't find that the flash deters them from coming to the feeders and most of the time they appear to ignore it.

Goldfinch landing 20170311.jpg
 
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