Vivitar 285HV user

Caussway · 6th July 2004

Just bought my 285HV. Set it to red, aperture 5.6, shutter 1/60 works preety good in my house. Impressed with the power of this flash. I'm wondering what is right setting for larger halls, stages. May not have chance to correct the setting and re-take. Appreciate if you can share some tips on setting this flash.

mpenza · 6th July 2004

it's not powerful enough to light up a large hall. The larger the aperture, and higher the ISO (on the camera and set accordingly for the flash), the longer the range of the flash.

Caussway · 6th July 2004

I mean the hall is just slightly larger than my living room.
Pictures were slightly underexposed with my Suntax flash, GN: 24.
285HV is twice powerfull than that, should be able to cover that
small hall I guess.

mpenza · 6th July 2004

that should be not too bad then. but take note of the balance between the background and subjects in the foreground, especially when the background is far from the subjects.

If the flash lights up the subjects in the foreground properly, it'll not be sufficient to light up the background (and it'll probably cast an ugly shadow). If the flash properly exposed the background, the subjects in the foreground will be overexposed.

You might need to tilt the flash (and/or use a bounce card) and adjust the shutter speed (a faster shutter speed means a darker background, while a slower one gives a brighter background) to achieve the effect you want.

Caussway · 6th July 2004

thanks mpenza those are very usefull tips. Have a omni bounce,
will try to use that.

6th July 2004	#1
Caussway Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 995	Vivitar 285HV user Just bought my 285HV. Set it to red, aperture 5.6, shutter 1/60 works preety good in my house. Impressed with the power of this flash. I'm wondering what is right setting for larger halls, stages. May not have chance to correct the setting and re-take. Appreciate if you can share some tips on setting this flash.

6th July 2004	#4
mpenza Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 13,397	that should be not too bad then. but take note of the balance between the background and subjects in the foreground, especially when the background is far from the subjects. If the flash lights up the subjects in the foreground properly, it'll not be sufficient to light up the background (and it'll probably cast an ugly shadow). If the flash properly exposed the background, the subjects in the foreground will be overexposed. You might need to tilt the flash (and/or use a bounce card) and adjust the shutter speed (a faster shutter speed means a darker background, while a slower one gives a brighter background) to achieve the effect you want. Last edited by mpenza; 6th July 2004 at 02:45 PM.