Dancing In The Dark

And there is nothing on Earth that will set you dancing in the dark better than a series of cables and wires strung across a darkened photographic studio. Whether you entangle yourself with the power leads on the floor or clothesline yourself with the PC cord or computer tether cable, the experience will be exciting. You may be able to get some use out of that public liability insurance policy too, as well as the Medibank premiums. Mmm, boy there's something to look forward to... The Tether Tools company makes good cords. They are sturdy, flexible, and coloured orange...so you can see them in the dark. But they can still act as tripwires if they are strung from your camera to the computer or laptop and Murphy's law will make sure that you find them at the worst possible time. It makes sense, therefore, to do all you can to get rid of cords in the studio. You'll still have to supply power to the mono-blocks or power heads, and you'll still be wise to wind fluorescent tape around the wires that carry the current, then tape them down, then step gingerly anyway. However, you need not depend upon the PC cord any more ( not that you could ever depend upon them anyway...) because now there are any number of wireless triggers. They might be finicky and fussy things - hard to program and prone to flattening batteries - but they are far better than tripwires. And Tether Tools has the answer for the tethered computer - it can be done wirelessly as well. The Air Direct transmitter and appropriate app in your computer will talk over any reasonable studio distance without wires. The transmitter has quite a power supply there - that's an LP-6 rechargeable lithium ion battery with an in-built battery monitor. Canon users should be right at home for charging. Once you've downloaded the app into your system it really is as simple as plug and play...and one more hazard is put to rest.