 Justin G. |
using flashes anyone know any good sites or tutorials or whatnot that goes into great detail about using flash. I gota cheap little flash (DIRT cheap) with a GN of 52 and it pretty much doesn't have any manual settings, just on and off (yes I know). I have a light meter that can meter a flash output and things, I just need to know about metering the scene, then incorporating flash or even fill-flash and didn't know if anyone knew of any good ONLINE (no books i'm poor!) lessons on the basics and advances of using flash. thanks.
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Justin G. |
bump
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Kerry L. Walker |
Without more info on your flash, I am only guessing. I assume your flash has no auto setting since it only has an on/off switch. Therefore, the light output will be constant and you will have to manually figure your f/stop. Assuming the GN is 52 @ ISO 100 (which is the ISO most manufacturers use to base the GN of their flashes) you would have to divide the GN by the distance from the subject and set your aperature at the closest to that. Say you are at 10' from the subject: 52/10=5.2 so you would set at f/5.6 or a little lower if you lens has stops between the full stops. If you are using faster film, you will need to adjust the GN by the number of stops the film speed increases. (2 stop increase in film speed = 2 stop decrease in f/stop). Man, this takes me back to my younger days when all flashes were completely manual.
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Justin G. |
Kerry, My problem is that when I meter the couch (where she will be) it was giving me f/4 at 1/8 but when I metered the flash at every speed it was giving me an aperture of f/5.6. I just don't understand why it would give me a constant aperture of 5.6 at every speed I metered, 1/8, 1/60, 1/250, 1/125. Any thoughts besides give it to my wife for her digi and grab a vivitar 283/285 or sunpak 383? also the vivitar 2800? any experience with them, will they give me the control I want to use it as main or fill flash? (i don't know jack about flashes, lighting). p.s. I have a light meter that can do ambient, incident, or flash reading (with or without pc cord) any general advice for me.
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Kerry L. Walker |
When you meter the couch, you are getting an ambient light reading. When you meter the flash with your flash meter, it is telling you what f/stop to use. It doesn't care anything about your shutter speed. Just meter the flash, set your aperature and set your shutter speed at sync speed (or a little slower if you want to bring in a little more ambient) and fire away. When you are using flash, shutter speed is relatively unimportant. As far as using your flash as a fill, just make sure your flash reading is about 1 or 2 stops less light than your ambient reading and you are good to go.
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