Experimenting with off camera flash

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ecniv

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Hi,

This is probably a stupid question as I really should know but hey ho...

I have a jessops flash gun. When attached to the D300 it usually sets the shutter speed between 1/60 and 1/250.

I tried a few off camera shots recently, but found that the camera didn't reset the shutter speed, resulting in flash and blur (the camera was still looking at normal shot without flash).

Is there a setting I should look for on the camera that does this for me, or do I just need to go to manual and experiment a bit?

Had a look through the manual, but it only mentioned a commander mode, which doesn't look like it does what I need.

Curious really, as the camera still fired the flash, just didn't account for it (so over exposed or has weird after blur...).

Thanks in advance for any responses...
 
How are you triggering the flash?
Are you shooting Manual?
What shutter speed are you using?

I think you're expecting the flash to behave the same as when it's on the camera, it won't - unless you're using ITTL triggering.
 
I think you're expecting the flash to behave the same as when it's on the camera, it won't - unless you're using ITTL triggering.
Click to expand...
Hit the nail on the head.. :)

ITTL?


I was using 'A' Mode which with the pop up flash or the flash gun changes the shutter to 1/60 (or 1/250). But with the trigger in place it didn't. So was wondering why...?

Probably that TTL thing you are on about and that the trigger I have is not the most expensive, so is probably just a trigger, hence the camera not knowing/setting accordingly. First time I have truely messed about and experimented with it properly. I ended up in manual, f4 or f8 and shutter around 1/40...


But for future reference, it needs to go into 'M' (manual) settings?
 
as usual, phil is on the money
there is feedback and communication between the camera and flash

Basics for me,
manual mode
ISO 100 - 400
shutter, 1/125s (your flash won't work with anything over 1/250s)
Then change the aperture to suit depending upon the light available.
then have a play :)
 
You should read up on flash photography - but in short - you're creating 2 different exposures, the ambient, which will be affected by Shutter speed, ISO, and aperture, and a flash exposure which is affected by flash power, aperture and ISO*.

The ITTL is Nikon's flash metering, which means that when the sensor has received enough light from the flash, it stops the flash outputting any more light. Canon has a version called ETTL (the TTL stands for through the lens - as in TTL metering). But the camera needs to know a suitable flash is present to use that mode. Your basic triggers can't tell it.

With your basic radio triggers, there's no communication, so you have to adjust the flash power / ISO / aperture to get your exposure correct. For which there are careful calculations, flash meters or trial and error with the histogram.

I always suggest that you learn the flash behaviour in a place where the ambient isn't intruding before you start to mix the 2. So a fairly dim room with ISO 200 and a shutter speed of 1/200 should be a start. Once you've grasped how the light 'works' you can go outside and mix it with ambient.

*provided you have a suitably low shutter speed for the flash to sync.
 
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