2 on camera flashes

[Wimpler]

I was experimenting and it seemed to me I could use a flash on the hotshoe and another on a bracket connected with a cord at the same time.  Is this correct?

I tried it with a digicam and and bouncing 2 synchronised flashes is certainly nice.  I can bounce off the cealing and a wall, or the ceiling and the floor  Or just use a straight flash and a bounce teh other on the ceailing.  Oh the possibilities...

Anybody tried it?

[P C Headland]

I've done this in the past, including using one on a flash bracket that has a slave trigger.  The slave trigger means you can use the setup on any camera with a flash.

[Kin Lau]

I've done it a number of different ways. My 20D has both the hotshoe and a PC sync socket, so I've used one on-camera, and a second fired via wireless trigger thru the socket.

[sandeha]

Two flashes is almost the ultimate in versatility, especially if you can go wireless ... hold the camera one-handed and the second flash in the other - wave the other flash where you like!

Something comes to mind from a book I read a few years ago - Jon Tarrant's  Practical Guide to Photographic Lighting.  He says there's pretty much no such thing as an all-purpose lighting set-up, and that artificial lighting should always be tailor-made for the situation.  The on-camera plus off-camera flash gives you a lot of leeway, I think.

[Wimpler]

Ok so I guess from now on I'll just use 2 bounced flashes =D  When shooting black and white I don't even have to give a damn about colored ceilings/walls/floors.

[cenelson]

Wimpler, I use both my SB units. One on a stand tethered to the camera via an SC17 cord. I also have a synch cord that I can plug into the SC17 and run to another flash. Fortunately, I one of the flashes is an SB26 which can be triggered by flash, so I handhold it or place it where I want to for effect, and trigger it with the flash from the SB25. Awesome. I want a third unit to run of the other cord, use it for a hairlight or something, maybe with a snoot to spot a background.

Lots of fun being had lately.

C.

[Wimpler]

The problem is I am using very old flashes which I bought cheaply.  No possibility for remote triggering yet.  That is why I just absolutely love the idea of 2 bounced flashes.

However, I am aware I can get cheap remote triggering device, or make them myself.  I plan to use a 3 or 4 flash setup triggered by one on camera UV flash.  Just haven't had the time yet so I'm trying to work with what I have.

My old compact digicam (canon ixus v2) does not have any flash cotrol (I can only turn the on camera flash on or off).  I put the camera on a 5 second exposure in my darkroom and trigger the flashes mounted on a film camera somewhere during the 5 second exposure.  This gives me a good idea of what aperture to use when I want to try it with film.

[Byuphoto]

one of the easiest ways to set off remote flashes is with the cheap Chinese radio triggers. I bought 2 trans. and three rec. for less than $75