Manual Flash Help...Im new to all this light stuff!

Mongwopman

Mongwopman

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Damien
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Hi All,

Having been done alot of Landscape work, i feel I need to expand my knowledge base and do some shots involving people and have thus purchased a flash. Now before the sniggering begins, it's nothing fancy at all. it's a simple Jessops 280AFC (I think thats right) model. It's a manual flash.

Now I already have an off camera lead, and have been trying to find out more about how to use it. It has a graph on the back that I dont quite understand, with a test button and an on/off switch with a on/off led.

Currently using it with Canon 400D (Ancient, I know, but I am on budget) And as stated using off off camera. How do I go about using the thing? Can anybody give me pointers of a few step-by-step instructions to try and test.

Looking forward to hearing some answers. Thanks in advance.
 
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Hi Damien.
Can't seem to find the flash you have quoted. Have you tried firing it using the built in flash of the 400d.
 
What is it you want to take pictures of with the flash? Portraits or objects or what?

Have you actually got the flash firing but you are unsure of the settings to use?

Take a look at the Strobist blog as a good source of information for starting out.
 
Numbers on the back MIGHT (as I cant find the details) be the guide numbers, if it has power adjustment it will be telling you something like at full power without any modifier at 100iso that is needs to be XXX meters away from the subject.

and knock 10% off (well roughly) with a modifier.

Also,, like Phil says,, check out Strobist,,, lots of cheep old things on there get used effectively.
 
I would like to start taking photos of people, so probably down the portraits route. Also I think it's a good thing to learn about.

I'll check out the strobist, basically, my kit is working, I just dont know the settings etc.

Phil789 said:
What is it you want to take pictures of with the flash? Portraits or objects or what?

Have you actually got the flash firing but you are unsure of the settings to use?

Take a look at the Strobist blog as a good source of information for starting out.
Click to expand...
 
Also search for Dom Bower on youtube, he has good videos on lighting. Thatnikonguy is also worth a look at his videos.

If you have my specific questions post them up and I'll do my best to help but I am also fairly new to off camera flash.

To get you in the ball park with the settings I would set ISO 100, f/5.6, shutter 1/200th. Set the flash to 1/4 power. Take a few test shots and then adjust from there.

Shutter speed will control the ambient light (background etc) and aperture will control the flash exposure on the subject. The above settings may be too bright so in that case you could turn the power of the flash down, or go to a narrower aperture.

Best thing to do will be start off on those settings and get your exposure right and then just start taking lots of images with different lighting (different angles etc) and see what you can do :thumbs:
 
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No that would be done on the flash I would imagine.

I am not familiar with that flash but you would need to put it in manual and you should have adjustment settings on the back.

Do you have the manual for it? :shrug: If you do then RTFM :D;)
 
Sadly I dont have a manual for it, the back looks like this :

bounce-swivel-and-zoom-af-flash-for-most-canon-eos-film-slrs-33-100-300-500n-600-1000f-3000-%5B2%5D-524-p%5Bekm%5D333x250%5Bekm%5D.jpg
 
I'm not familiar with that flash so cannot really advise I am afraid. It doesn't appear to have manual control over the flash power... :shrug:

For ease of use and learning, I would suggest you take a look at a Yongnuo flash. These give you full manual control and look a damn slight easier to work with than that thing :thumbs:

Perhaps someone who has used that flash before could help you more.
 
Mongwopman said:
Sadly I dont have a manual for it, the back looks like this :

bounce-swivel-and-zoom-af-flash-for-most-canon-eos-film-slrs-33-100-300-500n-600-1000f-3000-%5B2%5D-524-p%5Bekm%5D333x250%5Bekm%5D.jpg
Click to expand...

As there's no adjustment on the flash power, you take your aperture from the matrix on the back.

If you measure the flash to subject distance and the use that line to find the intersection with your ISO, you'll find the correct aperture in the box. Simples. (A more complicated method would be to calculate the above from the GN (Guide Number) of the flash

Remember to adjust for light loss from your light modifier. But from the above you should at least have a start point.

Later you can get an adjustable manual flash, which will give you a bit more control.
 
Mongwopman said:
Any suggestions on a good, inexpensive Yongnuo for begginers?
Click to expand...

The YN460 or YN460II would be good and cheap for what you want, or if you want a bit more power you could take a look at the YN560.

To give you an idea on costs I just got 2 x YN460s for £20 (second hand) so you won't have to spend much.

Phil V has a better understanding of your flash as his explanation shows but if you are just starting out I think you would get on much easier with a manual flash you can adjust the power on such as a Yongnuo.
 
That flash will only work on manual settings, so you need to experiment with the power settings, I've no idea what they are though, but the Manual will help.
 
M mode on the flash itself.

Although, if you're shooting with flash you'll generally want to be in Manual exposure mode on the camera too. Set the shutter speed to a suitable flash sync speed and then calculate the ISO/F no as per flash output.

to confuse things further, if you want to balance flash with daylight, alter the shutter speed to taste.
 
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So having read what you said at least 10 times I still am stumped.

From what i have read online and what not, That specific flash will only work in manual mode for my camera. Fine, dont mind that. So I enter into "M" mode on the flash, with say aperture 5.6 and iso 100, on Av on the Camera, as I predominantly use that. Then when i press the shutter half way down, it gives me a "reading" along the scale on the back of the unit. From what I understand, that is the distance that must be between myself and the subject.

Is this correct?
 
the two main things you need to get to grips with when using the flash in 'M' mode are; power and zoom.

power however doesn't dictate how powerful the flash is, but instead how long the flash burst is. example

1/1 = 1/1000 of a second
1/128 = 1/35000 of a second

It's probably worth noting that on camera you can only sync most canons up to 1/200 shutter speed, and Nikon's are usually 1/250 on the camera settings.
 
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Mongwopman said:
So having read what you said at least 10 times I still am stumped.

From what i have read online and what not, That specific flash will only work in manual mode for my camera. Fine, dont mind that. So I enter into "M" mode on the flash, with say aperture 5.6 and iso 100, on Av on the Camera, as I predominantly use that. Then when i press the shutter half way down, it gives me a "reading" along the scale on the back of the unit. From what I understand, that is the distance that must be between myself and the subject.

Is this correct?
Click to expand...

Firstly if you're using Flash - forget AV. When you're shooting with flash you need to be aware of 2 exposures.
The ambient exposure - which may be a a stop above the flash exposure for daylit shots (flash as fill light), or a stop under for inside shots to give some atmosphere - or completely underexposed so as not to interfere - as with studio portraits. Outside - you could use AV, but generally I'd advise M for balancing flash. All of the above guides can be adjusted to taste.

The flash exposure requires you to have a shutter speed low enough for the camera to see all of the flash - typically between 1/100 and 1/200* but as long as it's less than that by not too much you're fine.

Now you need to know the flash exposure - which will be dependant on the power, the distance of flash to subject (due to light fall off over distance**)and the ISO. (there's a small added complication for the zoom head on the flash)

The matrix on the back of the flashgun, is how you determine your flash exposure. So if you have your flashgun 5 feet from the subject you'll need to vary the ISO to vary the aperture - I can't see the Matrix to help you out. Remember that using a shoot through umbrella or bouncing the flash will alter these figures and a little experimentation may be required. You can create your own Matrix if you know the power of the flashgun (known as a Guide number or Gn***)

* For a flash exposure, the shutter needs to be fully open whilst the flash fires, with faster shutter speeds the exposure is a moving slit between the shutter curtains, so you'd only expose part of the image to the flash. But see Ashley's point above re. flash duration. There are further complications for high speed sync. but you're already confused enough.

** look up 'inverse square law' for an explanation.

***The Gn of that flashgun is 28m at 100ISO (at 50mm zoom on the head). That means that it'll give a correct exposure at F1 at 28m, so that's F1.4 at 14m, F2 at 7m F2.8 at 3.5m F4 at 1.75m (about 6 feet)

In short - you have picked the most complicated way to learn how to use flash - but if you stick with it, it'll be rewarding.;)
 
Thanks Phil! thats a long post and alot to injest!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/54029744/Canon-Speedlite-540EZ-owner-s-manual

Thats a link to the manual incase you wondering what the matrix looks like.

So I'll have a go on full camera manual mode and see what results I get, I'd prefer to learn this technique than use the Auto mode (not that I can anyway)

I know that I can control the power from 1/1 all the way to 1/128.
 
This might assist you with basics...

http://www.adorama.com/alc/0012821/article/On-Camera-Flash-Basics-AdoramaTV

Rule of Thumb for flash...

Aperture controls amount of light from the flash... (higher the aperture number more light from the flash required)

Shutter speed controls the ambient light..(slower the shutter more ambient light)

The above applies for indoors and out, thou depending on how sunny it is you need to use High-speed sync for high shutter speeds.(review this later get the basics down first)
 
Mongwopman said:
Thanks Phil! thats a long post and alot to injest!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/54029744/Canon-Speedlite-540EZ-owner-s-manual

Thats a link to the manual incase you wondering what the matrix looks like.

So I'll have a go on full camera manual mode and see what results I get, I'd prefer to learn this technique than use the Auto mode (not that I can anyway)

I know that I can control the power from 1/1 all the way to 1/128.
Click to expand...

That's not the same flash as in the original postings, which flash have you bought, the Canon or the Jessops?
 
For portraits, stick camera on Manual settings: 1/160s shutter, f8 to f11 aperture, iso 100/200 and get shooting. Then all you have to do is dial in exposure on the flash itself by adjusting the power, maybe a simplistic answer but worked ok as a starting point for me.
 
Jimwah said:
For portraits, stick camera on Manual settings: 1/160s shutter, f8 to f11 aperture, iso 100/200 and get shooting. Then all you have to do is dial in exposure on the flash itself by adjusting the power, maybe a simplistic answer but worked ok as a starting point for me.
Click to expand...

Great plan but why the small apertures?
 
Like I say, starting point, and it ensures you don't fluff focus while figuring out other stuff!
 
Thanks for that Jimwah, I currently using a 50mm so I go F1.8 to F5 for my portrait (all practice at the mo) to throw the background out and use a single AF point to focus on the eye.

However, I do wish to learn to use the flash for more than portraits, and probably flash fill etc, it's really confusing and I belive it best to learn manual rather than go the easier E-TTL route. I like learning the hard way so that i know all the ins and outs.
 
So I tried playing around a bit more this weekend and have now got a few more questions.

The 540ez flash has a "Flash Exposure check lamp", does this feature work when in M mode, and will it work mounted on my 600D? I tried testing this but it never came on.

2nd quetion, I know this is going to sounds thick, but how exactly does one know when their flash is exposed "correctly" as apposed to being overexposed or under? Is it via the histogram? I know it sounds like a really daft question.
 
Mongwopman said:
anybody?
Click to expand...

Ignore the flash exposure confirmation light. Even if it works it only means the camera 'thinks' it's okay.

The LCD, histogram and blinkies (highlight warning) are by far your best guides to good exposure at all times. These wonderful aids show what you have actually got on the sensor. Everything else is just guesswork, sometimes very good guesswork, but the LCD/histogram/blinkies is the real deal.
 
Mongwopman said:
Great, thanks for the tip.

I take it that I wont be using the Exposure Comp. Meter as it indictaes on the scale that its WAY off to the left. Like of the scale.
Click to expand...

I suspect there's some misunderstanding here, but you may or may not need compensation, depending on what the image looks like. But the way to establish that is to check the LCD/histogram/blinkies.
 
No, I was not going to use Exp.Compensation, however when looking through the view finder, and pressing the shutter half down, it indicates that little arrow to be off the left hand side of the scale. I thought that gave an indication as to the how far off the exposure is, Im guessing that it's reading the ambient light and that I can zero/centre it by changing the shutter?
 
Ill try this link again....it seem embedding the link added some odd characters in.

Just copy and paste the link into your Web browser

HTML: 
http://www.adorama.com/alc/0012821/article/On-Camera-Flash-Basics-AdoramaTV
 
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