pdubya

I was wondering what other photographers use for an on camera flash for birding or wildlife. I currently have a Better Beamer, but I have to mess with it so much to get the light focused to where I want it that it gets very frustrating. I need a better solution!

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

"Rogue Safari" uses the pop-up flash and works out to about 60 feet.....

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rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

I too use a Better Beamer but I don't have any problems with it.

Haydon

This may have been overlooked but set your flash to 50mm for beam width if you have that option available.

djlouden Loc: Ocala, Florida

I recently switched from Better Beamer to Magmod. So far I'm happy with the results. Now that the weather temps have cooled down here I can get back to the trails again and see what happens.

Happy shooting

pahtspix

I've used the Better Beamer, and the results are pretty good..However, make sure you follow their advice, and do NOT have your screen facing the sun!..That screen made toast marks on the hood of my Tamron 150-600mm G2 while mounted on my Nikon D500! ..It can work like a magnifying glass to start a fire!! I now just use my SB800 Nikon as flash fill on high speed sync on closer subjects (with NO MODIFIER)!

peterg Loc: Santa Rosa, CA

I've like the Better Beamer.
Also, some (small) birds are startled by the TTL pre-flash. I've gotten interesting shots of them spreading their wings as they begin to take off.

RRS Loc: Not sure

I don't like what the BB does to the eyes of the birds, requires work when post processing in Photoshop. Much to my surprise the built in flash on both the 7D and 7D MKII work out pretty good out to about 100'.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Me also!

Bear2 Loc: Southeast,, MI

Ditto, works good for me.

Duane

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I also use a couple Better Beamers without any problems. I use them on Canon 550EX and 580EX II flashes.

Perhaps you aren't using a long enough telephoto lens? Needs to be minimum of 300mm on full frame or 200mm on APS-C crop sensor, or 150mm on m4/3 sensor. That's the bare minimum, though. Longer is better. Mostly I use with 300mm and up to 500mm on crop sensor (equiv. to about 500mm to 800mm full frame). Also sometimes with 2X teleconverter on 300mm and 1.4X teleconverter 500mm (equiv. to about 840mm to 1120mm on full frame).

I usually put the flash on a flash bracket when using the Beamer. I have a couple Wimberley brackets made just for this sort of thing... attach Arca-Swiss plate on the tripod foot of the lens. These brackets can be seen on their website: www.tripodhead.com. They're modular and can be configured several different ways, but do a good job positioning the the flash very precisely.

A couple other things that may or may not help...

I usually use fill flash... not full flash. It's also usually with High Speed Sync, which further reduces flash power.

This is an example using the Beamer on one of my flashes (with a little "ghosting", using APS-C camera with 500mm + 1.4X... 1120mm full frame equiv.):



Here's another where I used some gentle fill flash with a Beamer (APS-C with 500mm... 800mm full frame equiv.):



For the image below I ended up using a 200mm lens (on film... so full frame), and used flash without the Better Beamer:



Here's another where I used fill flash without the Better Beamer (300mm lens with 1.5X teleconverter on full frame/film):



Also, I've made a couple extra panels out of poster board, attached some Velcro and use those to fully enclose the Better Beamer, rather than leave it open top and bottom.

Finally, I agree that it may help to set the flash to 50mm (i.e., don't let a dedicated flash change it's focal length setting on you... override itt). But to be totally honest about it, I often forget and it hasn't caused any problems for me.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

If you do use a flash the Better Beamer works well. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/585196-REG/Visual_Echoes_FX_6_FX6_Better_Beamer_Flash.html?sts=pi

But, since I shoot at a minimum of 10 frames a second, I usually do not bother with a flash.

agillot

i use a better beamer with a older Quantaray Q383 super .the beamer is permanently mounted on the flash , metal rods from coat hangers , glue , hose clamps .i carry it in a belt bag , just fit .when i need it , i just mount it on the hot show , turn it on , adjust flash power output .on a D300 , it will flash any time the shutter is activated .i can shoot at 1/400 with no problem .

Karl's Bird Photography Loc: Oregon

Good timing for this thread. A friend and I went out today to photograph American Three-toed Woodpecker and Black-backed Woodpecker. We found them both right away but I really struggled with the poor light... the woodpeckers were almost always in the shadows or backlit. My friend had the Magmod and said he liked it better than the Better Beamer, mainly for sturdiness while hiking. Anyway, I'm ordering the Magmod Wildlife Kit after seeing how his pictures were better than mine and we both had the same opportunities otherwise.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Keep in mind that the Magmod is much, much, heavier than the better beamer. Otherwise, it works quit well. And, it is also top heavy when mounted on the hot shoe of the camera.