Many people use Isopropyl alcohol (also known as isopropanol, IPA, 2-propanol and other names) for cleaning optics. The general consensus is that you should purchase 99% pure alcohol, and it's easily available at most pharmacies.

Lesser grades are also available - usually 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol, and they're good as well -- as long as the other 30% is distilled or deionized water!  Be careful what you buy; make sure there aren't other chemicals used as denaturing agents.

I decided to do some tests, using a plain Tiffen UV filter as a test subject.  I'll fill in the details later, but the end result is that drug-store grade, 99% isopropyl leaves a lot of residue after evaporation. I was able to clean it easily with water, but the amount surprised me.

I also tried alcohol swabs - specifically "BD Alcohol Swabs", with 70% isopropyl alcohol. They worked much better than the 99% IPA, leaving only a slight residue. The other benefit is that they're come in little flat tear-open packages. Nice and neat. And cheap.

If you've been following Strobist's blog, you know he's a big Nikon user. From David, I learned a few things about the Nikon SB-26's that interested me enough to buy three used ones from Adorama to see if they would work properly when triggered optically using my Canon 580EX as a master.

Well, the first impressions appear promising.  The SB-26's slave delay mode appears to allow my camera ( a Canon 30D) to meter the exposure before the SB-26 fires.  I have two 430EX's that I intend to use for main lighting, and I wanted to use the SB-26's for background or rim lighting.

Using the Canon flashes In regular ETTL mode (no slaves), the SB-26 has worked flawlessly for me.  With a 580EX as a master, and only groups A and B, the SB-26 still continues to work very well; it's slave delay working almost flawlessly to ensure that it's burst is not picked up during the camera's preflash metering cycle. 

Using group C, however, results in failure, with the SB-26 firing prematurely before the shutter is released.  There is simply too much communication going on between the master flash and the 3 groups of slaves.

My experiments to date only involve me holding the SB-26 in one hand and my camera in the other and taking a shot of the wall in front of me. I'll set up a more useful scenario and post detailed information and results.

Don't leave home without it.

I recently needed some gaffer's tape to throw in my camera bag. There are no good camera shops close to me, and I didn't have time for an hour's drive to get to one. So I checked out the local sports equipment store and grabbed a roll of black cloth hockey tape. $CDN 3.99 a roll. Way cheaper than gaffer's tape. Almost 100% lightproof. I put a single layer over the front of my 580EX flash and popped it full power. A few very tiny dots of light escaped.

I'm sure it's neither as strong or as sticky as the real thing, but then again I'm not securing studio lights or cables. I'm taping up little homemade gobos and snoots for off-camera hotshoe flash units. It's perfect.