Help with In Camera Metering and SB-900

ianbarber

ianbarber

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Ian
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I want to apologise in advance because I know this subject has probably been beaten to death in the past but I just cannot get my head around this at all.

Here is the thing...

Nikon D700 in Manual Mode
Nikon 24-70 f2.8 Lens
Shutter set to 1/250 (sync speed)
Working Apperture is f5.6
SB-900 in hotshoe in TTL mode zero compensation

The Camera's built in light meter is showing 2 stops under exposed but when I take a picture the image does not look bad at all even though the meter shows 2 stops under exposed.

The only way I can get the built in light meter to zero is by adjusting the ISO up to 1600 (its a fairly dark room)

The bit i don't understand is... when metering a scene with flash, do I ignore the Light meter or do I have to keep adjusting the Shutter/Aperture/ISO to get the light meter to read zero.

Regards

Ian
 
the light meter reading is for ambient light not the flash so you will get the background 2stops under, if you like what you get then that is fine. remember if you want some more ambient light then alter your shutter as this is what will control non flash light as you can go slower but not faster then the sync speed
 
Ooops! Crossed post ;)

It sounds like the camera is suggesting the correct exposure for the ambient (background) light, which is two stops down from the 1/250sec at f/5.6 that you have set manually.

The flash on iTTL will attempt to expose the foregound correctly at f/5.6. Which means it will be two stops brighter than the background.

If you want the two to balance, you must adjust the ambient exposure down (1/60sec?). Depending on what mode you are in, the camera can do that automatically.

Once you've got a grip on how it all works, it's very easy to get exactly the balance you want. It's a great system. Sorry I'm not more familar with Nikon.
 
ianbarber said:
Does this mean that when using flash, I do not neet to worry to much about what the meter is reading, just go by the results in the LCD screen

Ian
Click to expand...

Yes. The only way you know if the flash exposure is correct is after the event.
 
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