Goldilocks and the three flashes

Once upon a time there were three bears, who lived together in a house of their own, in a wood. One of them was a Little Wee bear, one was a middle-sized bear, and the other was a great big bear. They had each a camera: a little Nikon Z50 for the little wee bear; a Z8 for the middle-sized bear; and a Z9 for the great big bear. They had each a tripod: a Gitzo carbon fiber travel tripod with a small ball head for the little wee bear, a RRS three section tripod and a bigger ball head for the middle-sized bear, and a four-section set of RRS legs and an Arca C1 Cube for the great big bear. They had each an electronic flash; a Godox Lux Senior for the little wee bear, a Godox V350 for the middle-sized bear, and a Godox AD 360 II for the great big bear.

One day, after they had eaten their breakfast, they took their cameras and walked into the woods around their house to make photographs. While they were away a little girl called Goldilocks, who lived at the other side of the wood and had been sent on an errand by her mother, passed by the house with her Hasselblad X2D and the 55V lens over her shoulder, and looked in at the window. Then she peeped in at the keyhole, for she was not at all a well-brought-up little girl. Seeing nobody in the house, she lifted the latch. The door was not fastened, because the bears were good bears, who did nobody any harm, and never suspected that anybody would harm them. So, Goldilocks opened the door and went in; and was well pleased when she saw the tripods. If she had been a well-brought-up little girl, she would have waited till the bears came home, and then, perhaps, they would have asked her to try out their tripods; for they were good bears—a little rough or so, as the manner of bears is, but for all that very good-natured and hospitable. But she was an impudent, rude little girl, and so she set about helping herself.

She noticed that all the tripods had Arca Swiss clamps on top, matching the plate on her X2D. First, she tried to use the tripod of the great big bear, but it was too heavy for her. Next, she tried the tripod of the middle-sized bear, but that was better, but a bit too bulky for wandering around in the woods. Then she went to the tripod of the little wee bear, and mounted her camera on  it , That was just right, and she liked it so well that she left the camera on the tripod and slung it over her shoulder.

Then Goldilocks, who was tired, for she had been taking pictures of butterflies instead of running on her errand, sat down in the chair of the great big bear, but that was too hard for her. And then she sat down in the chair of the middle-sized bear, and that was too soft for her. But when she sat down in the chair of the little wee bear, that was neither too hard nor too soft, but just right. So, she seated herself in it, and there she sat till the bottom of the chair came out, and down she came, plump upon the ground; and that made her very cross, for she was a bad-tempered little girl.

Goldilocks wanted a flash to use for filling in light on her closeup shots. She picked up the big bear’s Godox AD 360 II and hefted the attached battery back.

That was definitely more flash than she needed, and she found the attached battery back awkward. She next examined the wee bear’s Lux Senior. That was a nice size, and the wee bear had added an aftermarket diffuser which gave a 5- or 6-inch circular radiating area. But it had no TTL capability.

Goldie moved on to the V350. It wasn’t much bigger than the Lux Senior and could interface with the flash exposure system on her X2D. The attached diffuser was pretty small, though. The V350 had a small reflector that could be used to get some direct lighting when the flash was being used in bounce mode. The controls were simple and easy to figure out.

She liked that, and figured she could make that bigger by using a 3×3 inch white Post-It Note instead of the built-in white card.

Now, being determined to rest, Goldilocks took her X2D, the wee bear’s tripod, and the middle bear’s V350 upstairs into the bedchamber in which the three bears slept. It was dark up there, but she could see a little because some light from the outside leaked through the shutters. And first she lay down upon the bed of the great big bear, but that was too high at the head for her. And next she lay down upon the bed of the middle-sized bear, and that was too high at the foot for her. And then she lay down upon the bed of the little wee bear, and that was neither too high at the head nor at the foot, but just right. So, she covered herself up comfortably and lay there till she fell fast asleep.

By this time the three bears had lost the morning light, so they came home to breakfast. Careless Goldilocks had left the tripod of the great big bear standing in the breakfast nook.

“Somebody has been at my tripod!” said the Great Big bear in his great, rough, gruff voice.

Then the little wee bear looked at his tripod, and it was lying on the floor.

“Somebody has been at my tripod!” said the wee bear.

The middle-sized bear looked for his tripod and it was missing.

“Somebody stole my tripod!” said the Middle-sized bear in his middle-sized voice.

Upon this the three bears, seeing that someone had entered their house, and stolen the we bear’s tripod, began to look about them

The three bears thought they had better make further search in case it was a burglar, so they went upstairs into their bedchamber. Goldilocks had pulled the pillow of the Great Big bear out of its place.

“Somebody has been lying in my bed!” said the big bear in his great, rough, gruff voice.

Goldilocks had pulled the bolster of the middle-sized bear out of its place.

“Somebody has been lying in my bed!” said the middle-sized bear in his middle-sized voice.

When the wee bear came to look at his bed, there was the bolster in its place. And the pillow was in its place upon the bolster.

And upon the pillow…

…there was Goldilocks’s yellow head—which was not in its place, for she had no business there.

“Somebody has been lying in my bed, and she’s still here!” said the wee bear in his little wee voice.

Goldilocks had heard in her sleep the great, rough, gruff voice of the great big bear; but she was so fast asleep that it was no more to her than the roaring of wind, or the rumbling of thunder. And she had heard the middle-sized voice of the middle-sized bear, but it was only as if she had heard someone speaking in a dream. But when she heard the little wee voice of the little wee bear, it was so sharp, and so shrill, that it awakened her at once. Up she started, and when she saw the three bears on one side of the bed, she tumbled herself out at the other and ran to the window, forgetting the tripod, keeping the V350, and turning it on as she ran. While the bears were trying to see in the gloom, Goldie aimed the flash at them and pressed the test flash button. The bears froze, dazed by the light. Goldie pulled open the shutters, jumped out the window, and landed on a hay mound.  She ran off into the woods, feeling guilty for stealing the V350, but secure in the knowledge that it was the best flash for her.