[zman]

Hi, I've been researching smoke trail photography and most recommend firing an off-flash unit into the smoke at an angle 90* to the camera. I'll be using a K7 and Metz 50AF flash. My question is what is the most inexpensive way to sync the camera & flash to do this. This is just a for-fun cold weather project and I don't want to sink a lot of $$ into it. I'm guessing a remote slave will cost too much, so I'm leaning to a simple sync cord but don't know what type fits / or to get ? Is it possible to just try to fire my camera and flash together manually to achieve decent results? Thanks for the help.

[khardur]

Well if you've got your setup in a dark room you don't need a sync at all. Set the shutter to something like a second or two, set up on tripod. press shutter button and just after press manual flash release button to trigger flash. Could prove interesting to do multiple exposures on the same frame, perhaps with different gels over flash to change color of smoke. Of course you could do all separate frames and combine in post as well.

A sync cord would cost money, and a few days to get to you, unless you have a local store. I'm guessing you want to play now rather than later. You would need to see what sort of connection it has, a standard pc connection, or something proprietary? I'm guessing whatever flash you've got, you could probably find a cord at Adorama or B&H.

[alohadave]

Your flash is P-TTL, you don't need anything else. Set it up for wireless and you are good to go.