Newbie with a Flash.

[ChenGuy]

Hi guys, i need some help with the new flash i have.

1st question: Is it normal that my meter is still telling me my pic is still under exposed even when my flash is being turned on? My flash is in ttl mode.

2nd question: In Aperture piority mode, my camera still tell me i am under expose even when my flash is on. And the sutther speed is still very slow. Isn't it supposed to be faster when i have turn on my flash?

3rd question: When i try to bounce my flash light off the celling with my camera in vertical position, i realise the shadow are formed on the right side of my subject, is there any 'cure' to it?

hope u guys get what i am trying to say. Thanks alot peeps. By the way i am using di866 for my nikon d80. Thanks.

 

[Burnings]

Knowing your equipment well will be helpful because every camera behaves differently when coming to exposure. Metering depends very much on where the camera is metering and it affects the overall exposure. I remember there is a very good article on this somewhere in the forum about this topic. Usually I will meter on my point of focus and reframe to shoot as this will ensure the exposure is based on where I wanted the details to be.
The camera controls the shutter speed depending on the aperture size and not whether the flash is on or off.

You might wanna search for flash photography for different methods in applying to different situations. Sometimes, you just need to control the intensity of the flash or adding diffuser, etc.

Just my 2 cents and I am still learning as well.

 

[ChenGuy]

Knowing your equipment well will be helpful because every camera behaves differently when coming to exposure. Metering depends very much on where the camera is metering and it affects the overall exposure. I remember there is a very good article on this somewhere in the forum about this topic. Usually I will meter on my point of focus and reframe to shoot as this will ensure the exposure is based on where I wanted the details to be.
The camera controls the shutter speed depending on the aperture size and not whether the flash is on or off.

You might wanna search for flash photography for different methods in applying to different situations. Sometimes, you just need to control the intensity of the flash or adding diffuser, etc.

Just my 2 cents and I am still learning as well.

Hey thanks for the fast response. So the problem i am facing now is even when i am in manual mode right with my flash on, my meter is showing me that my exposure is under expose. so i now i dunno how to aga aga my aperture and shutter speed le. Any advice for this? With out the flash, and with the help of the meter, aga aga is that setting liao ma. So now with the flash, the meter seems like useless to me. Is that normal? Or i jus dunno how to use my equipment?

 

[Burnings]

Hey thanks for the fast response. So the problem i am facing now is even when i am in manual mode right with my flash on, my meter is showing me that my exposure is under expose. so i now i dunno how to aga aga my aperture and shutter speed le. Any advice for this? With out the flash, and with the help of the meter, aga aga is that setting liao ma. So now with the flash, the meter seems like useless to me. Is that normal? Or i jus dunno how to use my equipment?

Not too sure abt Nikon as I am a Canon user, but on my camera I can press my AE button and the flash will go off to let the camera judge the exposure. This should be covered in the user manual bah...

 

[ChenGuy]

Hmmm.. ok thanks for the input. I will go look at the manual when i wake up

 

[Gengh]

Not very knowledgeable about flash, but I think I can contribute a bit here.

Just wondering, when you say that your shutter speed is still slow in A mode , how slow are you talking about? When using flash, all bodies will be limited by their sync speed, which is typically around 1/180. So you can't go faster than that (unless you use the HSS mode for the flash) and in A mode the body will usually pick a shutter speed close to that.

Since your flash has not fired, the meter will have no way of knowing what the exposure will be like with the flash, and it will just indicate the available light metering. So it will always tell you that you're underexposed. Don't need to worry, since the flash is set to TTL, it'll fire just the right amount to bring the exposure up to the right level once the shutter opens.

I'm also not a Nikon user, so not sure if there're any tricks specific to Nikon for helping with TTL flash metering....

For the 3rd question, not sure also, use a diffuser with the ceiling bounce to spread the light even more?

 

[akszaksz]

canon user here also...
correct me if i'm wrong, when using flash, when half-depressing the shutter button, isnt there a few short burst of flash fired to judge the exposure?

 

[catchlights]

1st question: Is it normal that my meter is still telling me my pic is still under exposed even when my flash is being turned on? My flash is in ttl mode.

camera meter which you see in your viewfinder is only indicate the exposure value of the Ambient light, not flash lights.

2nd question: In Aperture piority mode, my camera still tell me i am under expose even when my flash is on. And the sutther speed is still very slow. Isn't it supposed to be faster when i have turn on my flash?

flash light is not a continues light source.

3rd question: When i try to bounce my flash light off the celling with my camera in vertical position, i realise the shadow are formed on the right side of my subject, is there any 'cure' to it?

I'm sure you are not doing 100% vertical bounce at ceiling, if yes, you hardly notice any distinct shadows at all, anyway, the solution is just find ways of to make your flash sit right above your lens axis, like using rotatable flash bracket.

 

[ChenGuy]

Thanks alot Catchlights and Gengh. Now i learn new stuff. So am i right to say that its almost useless to use aperture priority and shutter priority mode when i have a mounted flash on my camera? I can jus use manual mode all the way? Will any of these mode help me in any way? Sorry for asking such noob question.
I have such question becos, i was playing with my flash and camera while my room lights are off. And when i put it to A mode, it will like select a 30 sec shutter speed. And it will be kinda stupid isnt it?

 

[madmartian]

Thanks alot Catchlights and Gengh. Now i learn new stuff. So am i right to say that its almost useless to use aperture priority and shutter priority mode when i have a mounted flash on my camera? I can jus use manual mode all the way? Will any of these mode help me in any way? Sorry for asking such noob question.
I have such question becos, i was playing with my flash and camera while my room lights are off. And when i put it to A mode, it will like select a 30 sec shutter speed. And it will be kinda stupid isnt it?

Your flash can be mounted on your camera & fire in all the mode except the no flash mode. It is not useless if you use aperture or shutter priority. In these two modes, its like semi-auto. Here you can still vary the shutter speed or the aperture opening, unlike in fully auto mode, the camera does all the work for you. If you go on shooting in Manual mode, you have to adjust to the right shutter speed to your aperture & to the distance of your subject, & here you got to be very sure of your settings on both your camera & flash.
As you should know, camera meter which you see in your viewfinder is only indicate the exposure value of the Ambient light, not flash lights, as catchlights mentioned, so in the dark room the camera will calculate the right exposure for the shot therefore giving you a 30 sec reading. As for the flash, as soon as you depress the shutter, it will fire on either on front sync or rear sync curtain. It does not stay as long as the shutter opens. Hope this help

 

[ChenGuy]

Your flash can be mounted on your camera & fire in all the mode except the no flash mode. It is not useless if you use aperture or shutter priority. In these two modes, its like semi-auto. Here you can still vary the shutter speed or the aperture opening, unlike in fully auto mode, the camera does all the work for you. If you go on shooting in Manual mode, you have to adjust to the right shutter speed to your aperture & to the distance of your subject, & here you got to be very sure of your settings on both your camera & flash.
As you should know, camera meter which you see in your viewfinder is only indicate the exposure value of the Ambient light, not flash lights, as catchlights mentioned, so in the dark room the camera will calculate the right exposure for the shot therefore giving you a 30 sec reading. As for the flash, as soon as you depress the shutter, it will fire on either on front sync or rear sync curtain. It does not stay as long as the shutter opens. Hope this help

Thanks for the input. Oki. Erm, let me try to put my question in another way. Alrite like if i am shooting at a prawning session with my friends. And below are the ambient lighting and camera setup.

-ISO 400 for camera,
-Aperture priority mode,
-F2.8 selected,
-shutter speed of 1/6 sec. (selected by camera itself)
-Dim lighting
-lens at 70mm
-(Above are jus some example)

So the camera is giving me a 1/6 sec shutter speed with the given f stop for a correct exposure. Of cos i have to keep my hand very still, if not image will be blur right? Even when i turn my flash on, the camera is still giving me a 1/6 shutter speed (is this normal?). So in this case using aperture mode wun be such a wise choice afterall, am i right?

 

[gimumancer]

HI TS, you have to understand that the metering done by the camera (in TTL mode) is for the camera only, it's for the ambient lightning, it doesn't care whether there is a flash mounted or not, it's the flash that will adjust, camera and flash metering systems are independent..in simple terms, the camera will meter the same with or without flash, but for nikon on aperture priority mode, the camera sets a default shutter speed no matter what aperture you select, for your model its 1/30, for my model its 1/60 (most canon entry level cams do not have this default shutter that's why first time flash users get confused why cam still give slow shutter even there's a flash for aperture priority mode), Nikon made sure that you don't use a very slow shutter that blur your subject so they set a default value...that's why it is recommended to use M mode or S mode for flash photography so you control the shutter yourself..here's a very good read explaining what i said:

http://nikonclspracticalguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/nikon-flash-two-separate-metering.html

 

[maxwell207]

-shutter speed of 1/6 sec. (selected by camera itself)

Change your flash setting .. U might be in slow-sync mode (according to Sony system) . change to "fill-flash " (as per Sony)

u can take at 100/200/400 ISO depending on flash range u need .. shutter ll be fixed in "A-Mode "

 

[nixontkl]

Hi guys, i need some help with the new flash i have.

1st question: Is it normal that my meter is still telling me my pic is still under exposed even when my flash is being turned on? My flash is in ttl mode.

2nd question: In Aperture piority mode, my camera still tell me i am under expose even when my flash is on. And the sutther speed is still very slow. Isn't it supposed to be faster when i have turn on my flash?

3rd question: When i try to bounce my flash light off the celling with my camera in vertical position, i realise the shadow are formed on the right side of my subject, is there any 'cure' to it?

hope u guys get what i am trying to say. Thanks alot peeps. By the way i am using di866 for my nikon d80. Thanks.

1.) as explained by catchlight, the meter is metering the environment its is seeing.

2.) there is a slowest shutter speed setting for flash photography, its a limit that user can set when using flash, the slowest the user is willing to use. if never rememebr wrongly the range goes from 1/60 to 1s when user is using either shutter speed or aperture mode. so if your default or setting is slow, the camera is actually allowed to shoot slowest up to the limit that had been set.

3.) when u till your camera to vertical position your flash is now on the left side of the lens, its not perfectly above thus your light source is now slightly coming from the left so its natural that u get a shadow cast onto the right side.

 

[madmartian]

So the camera is giving me a 1/6 sec shutter speed with the given f stop for a correct exposure. Of cos i have to keep my hand very still, if not image will be blur right? Even when i turn my flash on, the camera is still giving me a 1/6 shutter speed (is this normal?). So in this case using aperture mode wun be such a wise choice afterall, am i right?

If you mount up your flash & have it on, your shutter speed reading should be 1/60s,(@aperture priority) if that's your camera's flash sync speed with flash. If it reads 1/6s, then something is wrong with the reading. Can you turn it off & on again & see if it still gives you those readings? If it does, better send it in to check

 

[catchlights]

100% you are on slow sync mode, look at your top LCD panel, it should show a lightning sign with a SLOW word, to change it, press pop up flash bottom and rotate command dial.

 

[ChenGuy]

Guys i really have to thank u all. Yup i was in slow sync mode. And out from there and now my slowest shutter speed is 1/30, which can be set from 1/60 - 30sec. Issue solve. Thanks.