I finally got a chance to go out and play with my new Cognisys Sabre. The Sabre is a camera trigger that uses a LIDAR (light and radar) based sensor which emits a pulse of light and then measures the time it takes to return. When something breaks the beam it fires the camera.
One of the beauties of the Sabre is it acts as the transmitter and the receiver all in one package, so there is only one component to keep out of the shot. Although the Sabre is fully configurable with a computer or smartphone, this image was made on auto, virtually right out of the box. In fact setting up for this shot took a grand total of 3 minutes! The Sabre was so sensitive it was actually tripped a few times by larger snowflakes.
Back in the day, a shot like this would have required a fake background, multiple flashes, a trigger, and a receiver. With equipment like the Sabre, combined with the amazing high ISO performance of today’s cameras, shots like this are significantly easier then they were just a few short years ago.
Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve
Image: Blue Jays, Kensington Metropark, Milford, MI Image cropped 20% for final composition.
Nikon D4S, 200-400mm, 1/2000 @ f6.3, ISO 1250, Cognisys Sabre Trigger