Got me a new axe!

Back in late 2008 (yes, that long ago!!), I invested in a Universal Timer – you can still buy them, and they are a very cool bit of kit! For the uninitiated (and those who don’t bother clicking through the many links I provide!), the Universal Time is effectively a remote control trigger for your DSLR, on steroids! It takes input from different types of sensors, and fires a couple of attached flashes! Read on for the details…

I took the image on the right using the Universal Timer – and it may not look like it, but it was quite a complex setup! Using 2 lasers criss-crossed over the shoot area about 2.2 meters above the cyc, it was possible to trigger the camera every time the model was high enough to reach the beams! This meant every image was a potential candidate, and meant less re-shooting and therefore less jumping for the model/dancer – this is a good thing, because trained dancers risk injury with repetitive jumps (and we weren’t on a sprung floor!).

But the Universal Timer is a little limited – no necessarily in functionality, but in usability! It has all the features I need, but without an LCD and more intuitive menu, it can be a little tricky to setup and use. That’s not an issue usually, unless there is a model involved – that’s when time is money, and pfaffing around with trigger settings is not ideal! I also have one of the earlier models (it was 2008!), and the sound trigger microphone is built in. Again, not usually an issue, unless you are shooting liquids and you need the microphone close to the action!

So, I’ve committed to a new toy – I’ve got myself a Camera Axe!! It does everything the Universal Timer does, plus has lots of additional features that include quite detailed programming options! I wanted this unit for a bullet shoot I’m organising, where I will need really tight controls and easy adjustment of the settings during the shoot! For the more technical readers, this setup will allow me to catch some cool shots of things breaking, but I suspect I’ll need to build a spark gap flash in order to REALLY stop motion (for comparison, a Canon 580ExII will hit about 1/35,000th/sec at 1/128 power, while a spark gap flash can head towards 1/1,000,000th/sec). Spark gap flash discussion for another day!

If you want to see some of the photography that has been taken with the Camera Axe, check out the Camera Axe Flickr Group or the amazing Alan Sailer. I’ll post an update once I’ve built and tested the unit (yes, it came unassembled – out comes the soldering iron!)