wat to do if flash is too strong?

[tzesian]

:thumbsup: you got backbone and money.

sad to say.. I was too poor to buy and diffuser made by renowned sources and had to diy my a lot of my own diffusers... including my own bounce card.. :cry: I still diy a lot of my stuff now..

Nothing wrong about DIYing.....

I'd a omnibounce when I bought a 32MZ2 from one of our senior csers...

I don't agree with omnibounce, as it's making the flash unit works like a very old type of flash called bulb flash, and at it's very most, it reduced the output of the flash by another 2 to 3 stop maybe... due to the serious lost of light to the rear, lighting up the photographer ?:bsmilie:

The inspiration counts, honestly I hate copycat. unless an inspiration hits, and if it's proven working OK, I would never be shye to use it infront of anyone !

 

[eng_keow]

I use to have the same problem before until I learnt to understand how the flash works.

If your flash is external and has ETTL, it makes things much easier as the cam will calculate the intensity of the flash to give correct exposure. However, I still met with the problem that the subjects are adequately exposed but the bg is totally underexposed. What I learnt from Pro-Image, my si fu, is that aperature controls the amount of light entering the camera when the flash fires whilst the shutter speed determines the total exposure of the surroundings.

Therefore metering for the exposure of the background and using the flash to light up the object gives me reasonably good results each time.

IOW, use manual settings and then FEL the subject.

Hope this helps.

 

[Snoweagle]

Hehe...

Diffusing the light from a flash gun does not need rocket building knowledge, if it fails you, try again on other material lor.... No harm....

FYI, My children had bought a $80 diffuser, and I had a Mug from Ikea for 90 cents.... the colour of the material looks excatly the same ! So I impovise it, and it can now mount on my Metz 54MZ4 flash gun. I further modified it by adding a whilte bounce card inside the mug, so, the light loss through the mug would keep to a minimum, as other than the light exit the mug, all the light lost for getting to the back would be bounced for the front instead all in all, it's a 15 min. job, with a little of tapping and drilling, filing .... although it looks very DIY, but it'll add sparkle of catchlight in the eye socket! whilst the $80 diffuser couldn't and we can't tell any slight color shift from either diffuser ! Guess what ? My child grabbed awya the mug ran away, leaving the $80 diffuser for me :bsmilie: hehe .... shhhhh..... don't let him know, it costs only 90cents and an extra dollar for the velcro... I bought the mug from Ikea (which is not far from my place) again, the very next day..... I have my mug diffuser for my 54MZ4 again...

Whilst I went to Ikea , I saw a white colour container. having a 15" by 12" opening, hey this is a great device to convert into a soft box.... My wife have some kitchen drawer roll also from Ikea left, ( She would not notice if I steal 15" away until she see the softbox) and once again, the projext should cost me way under $15, even if I'm to buy a new roll of Kitchen drawer roll !

if the idea works well, I'd plan to make a bracket to mount one of my less frequently used 40MZ2 flash on this soft box.... Let's see how things go !

But why not buy the sto-fen omnibounce for only $30? I'm not sure if they do make for Metz flash though. But according to your DIY description, seems like a lot of handywork there

 

[Snoweagle]

I use to have the same problem before until I learnt to understand how the flash works.

If your flash is external and has ETTL, it makes things much easier as the cam will calculate the intensity of the flash to give correct exposure. However, I still met with the problem that the subjects are adequately exposed but the bg is totally underexposed. What I learnt from Pro-Image, my si fu, is that aperature controls the amount of light entering the camera when the flash fires whilst the shutter speed determines the total exposure of the surroundings.

Therefore metering for the exposure of the background and using the flash to light up the object gives me reasonably good results each time.

IOW, use manual settings and then FEL the subject.

Hope this helps.

Yes. For a cam, it's very critical that the cam has gd metering controls as it largely affects the outcome of the image.

 

[eow]

is it that type for party, compact cams, usually it is dark behind, so i use flash + low shutter, but the front will be too bright due to the flash.

sorry i do not hav such pix with me cos i would usually del them after see-ing the quality :think:

compro_1975...try switch to p or a mode on yr camera with flash on....probably u using the night scene mode for yr F*8....that mode is good for taking night scene only..stick to the normal way.....even though the background will be dark..that the way the these compact works...their flash syn speed normally at 1/60sec good enough just to freeze and not enough to illuminate the whole scene

 

[cosycatus]

But why not buy the sto-fen omnibounce for only $30? I'm not sure if they do make for Metz flash though. But according to your DIY description, seems like a lot of handywork there

actually, i think that $30 for a small piece of plastic is way too expensive. And $85 for a bigger piece of round bottle know as a light sphere is also way too expensive. I think both stefan and gary fong are laughing all the way to the bank

there is nothing wrong with DIY diffusers as long as it work consistently ( and there's no reason why it shouldn't).

i only use a 30 cent bounce card....

 

[Snoweagle]

actually, i think that $30 for a small piece of plastic is way too expensive. And $85 for a bigger piece of round bottle know as a light sphere is also way too expensive. I think both stefan and gary fong are laughing all the way to the bank

there is nothing wrong with DIY diffusers as long as it work consistently ( and there's no reason why it shouldn't).

i only use a 30 cent bounce card....

Actually the lightsphere only cost $70 but the effects are not very gd that's why i didn't buy it.

 

[HeWolf]

Hehe...

Diffusing the light from a flash gun does not need rocket building knowledge, if it fails you, try again on other material lor.... No harm....

FYI, My children had bought a $80 diffuser, and I had a Mug from Ikea for 90 cents.... the colour of the material looks excatly the same ! So I impovise it, and it can now mount on my Metz 54MZ4 flash gun. I further modified it by adding a whilte bounce card inside the mug, so, the light loss through the mug would keep to a minimum, as other than the light exit the mug, all the light lost for getting to the back would be bounced for the front instead all in all, it's a 15 min. job, with a little of tapping and drilling, filing .... although it looks very DIY, but it'll add sparkle of catchlight in the eye socket! whilst the $80 diffuser couldn't and we can't tell any slight color shift from either diffuser ! Guess what ? My child grabbed awya the mug ran away, leaving the $80 diffuser for me :bsmilie: hehe .... shhhhh..... don't let him know, it costs only 90cents and an extra dollar for the velcro... I bought the mug from Ikea (which is not far from my place) again, the very next day..... I have my mug diffuser for my 54MZ4 again...

Whilst I went to Ikea , I saw a white colour container. having a 15" by 12" opening, hey this is a great device to convert into a soft box.... My wife have some kitchen drawer roll also from Ikea left, ( She would not notice if I steal 15" away until she see the softbox) and once again, the projext should cost me way under $15, even if I'm to buy a new roll of Kitchen drawer roll !

if the idea works well, I'd plan to make a bracket to mount one of my less frequently used 40MZ2 flash on this soft box.... Let's see how things go !

Got a pic of your ikea-sphere to show?

 

[roti_prata]

diy solutions cause excessive light loss. this will cause the batt to drain up to twice as fast in xtreme cases

the range and effectiveness of the flash r oso greatly reduced, might as well pull down the built-in wide diffuser and dial -0.7 to -2.3 ev

 

[roti_prata]

And $85 for a bigger piece of round bottle know as a light sphere is also way too expensive.

the great thing abt lightsphere is tt it gives very good diffusion for little light loss

 

[doug3fflux]

the great thing abt lightsphere is tt it gives very good diffusion for little light loss

i concur. but still, gary fong laughs to bank.

 

[UandMe]

However, I still met with the problem that the subjects are adequately exposed but the bg is totally underexposed. What I learnt from Pro-Image, my si fu, is that aperature controls the amount of light entering the camera when the flash fires whilst the shutter speed determines the total exposure of the surroundings.

Therefore metering for the exposure of the background and using the flash to light up the object gives me reasonably good results each time.

IOW, use manual settings and then FEL the subject.

Hope this helps.

Hi eng_keow, mind to explain a bit more on how to do that? Thanks.

 

[eng_keow]

"metering for the exposure of the background and using the flash to light up the object gives me reasonably good results each time."
Hi eng_keow, mind to explain a bit more on how to do that? Thanks.

Say, I am going to take a photo of my family taking dinner at a restaurant, eg Soup restaurant. I want the background, though not in focused, as I want to show that the restaurant is very crowded.

I set the iso at 400 and the aperature at f5.6. Using manual mode, I adjust the shutter speed whilst pointing to various points around my family and managed only to 1/15secs to get adequate exposure. At this shutter speed, I am not very sure if I will get blurring from movement. Therefore I increase the shutter speed to 1/40, which is 1 1/3 stops. On the meter, I can still see that it confirms that it is 1 1/3 stops underexposed. Now with the flash on ETTL mode, I recompose and take the shot. The subjects will be adequately exposed whilst the background will be visible and not dark, totally underexposed.

Hope I am making sense here.

:cry: :cry:

 

[tzesian]

Got a pic of your ikea-sphere to show?

WIll take the photo of it weekend.... Too tired, too lazy to pickup a camera now...:what:

 

[lsisaxon]

the area that the flash hits, is sometimes too bright, other areas are ok, usually is the middle forcus area. anyway to prevent that? tks for the info!

Those nearer to the flash will be brighter and those further will be darker. If you want even illumination, then you can use an off-camera flash and position such that the area you want to illuminate is equidistant to the flash. It is also one of the reasons why people bounce their flash, so that after that long distance of travel, the difference in the distance is not significant anymore.

 

[tzesian]

http://photoviki.com/displayimage.php?pos=-17465

The Ikea Mug used as bounce device, Shot from the back, a piece of card board has been placed inside the Mug, covering about 180 degree, shot with a Cullman DC36 flash

http://photoviki.com/displayimage.php?pos=-17464

Ikea Mug mounted on 54MZ4, without top diffuser shot with Cullman DC36

http://photoviki.com/displayimage.php?pos=-17467

Finally 54MZ4 with my DIY Ikea bounce Mug in action shooting the Cullman DC36 flash !

 

[UandMe]

Say, I am going to take a photo of my family taking dinner at a restaurant, eg Soup restaurant. I want the background, though not in focused, as I want to show that the restaurant is very crowded.

I set the iso at 400 and the aperature at f5.6. Using manual mode, I adjust the shutter speed whilst pointing to various points around my family and managed only to 1/15secs to get adequate exposure. At this shutter speed, I am not very sure if I will get blurring from movement. Therefore I increase the shutter speed to 1/40, which is 1 1/3 stops. On the meter, I can still see that it confirms that it is 1 1/3 stops underexposed. Now with the flash on ETTL mode, I recompose and take the shot. The subjects will be adequately exposed whilst the background will be visible and not dark, totally underexposed.

Hope I am making sense here.

:cry: :cry:

thanks for explaining, but a bit chim to me... :sweat:

 

[metallilan]

Say, I am going to take a photo of my family taking dinner at a restaurant, eg Soup restaurant. I want the background, though not in focused, as I want to show that the restaurant is very crowded.

I set the iso at 400 and the aperature at f5.6. Using manual mode, I adjust the shutter speed whilst pointing to various points around my family and managed only to 1/15secs to get adequate exposure. At this shutter speed, I am not very sure if I will get blurring from movement. Therefore I increase the shutter speed to 1/40, which is 1 1/3 stops. On the meter, I can still see that it confirms that it is 1 1/3 stops underexposed. Now with the flash on ETTL mode, I recompose and take the shot. The subjects will be adequately exposed whilst the background will be visible and not dark, totally underexposed.

Hope I am making sense here.

:cry: :cry:

im starting to make some sense of it..somehow. i was at home playing with my slave flash and i realised that if i followed the manual to set the cam to f.28 at 1/60, it will give me proper exposure.

and it did! i guess it cuz of the flash syncronization cuz im using a slave flash handheld..

 

[metallilan]

btw, does anyone know which film brand has the transparent/translucent film box so that i can try using diffuser flash? thanks.

check this out btw : http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1033&thread=15830940

 

[tzesian]

btw, does anyone know which film brand has the transparent/translucent film box so that i can try using diffuser flash? thanks.

check this out btw : http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1033&thread=15830940

Thanks for the link !

Wow ! Great and practical ideas...

One of my previous condition to buy a dig. cam is they must have an external hotshoe, it looks like it's no longer mandate.