Off camera manul settings, newbie to this

[Mr Mike]

I finally received freebie remote triggers from my subscription to Digial Camera mag, they do exactly as they say on the tin but what i hadnt realised was i now have to set the flash manually, this is way harder than it appears. Anyway had a search and read lots and came up with a great plan to go home and try but failed

I found this Link....
http://swannman.wordpress.com/2006/06/03/howto-sb-600-flash-distance-guide/


My understanding of the chart allowed me to go home and set ISO to 200, Aperture F8, sb-600 flash zoom 24mm, subject 4.6mtrs away set flash power to 1/16.

My result surprised me in the fact that the camera exposed for 10secs using the above, admittedly the test pic actually worked and looked better than expected but what i hadnt realised was the 10 secs exposure. I had it in my head that it would be like using the SB-600 on the camera where exposure is very short so you can image my surprise, of course i had to go fetch the tripod as handheld was obviously not going to work here

Does any of this above actually make any sense or am i way of?

Any help with this would be appreciated

Mike

 

[Steve Smith]

Sounds like you still have the camera in aperture priority. That needs to be in manual too. Set the shutter to around 1/125 and have another go.

Shutter speed will not affect exposure as the flash is very fast, control exposure with the aperture/flash power/flash position.


Steve.

 

[Mr Mike]

Sounds like you still have the camera in aperture priority. That needs to be in manual too. Set the shutter to around 1/125 and have another go.

Shutter speed will not affect exposure as the flash is very fast, control exposure with the aperture/flash power/flash position.


Steve.

Hi Steve,

I did try messing with lots of different setting on both flash and camera but took attempt after attempt to get it even close to right, normally flash power adjustments but due to how random it was i decided to read and learn which is why yesterday i thought i had it worked out but no. I know i can stick the sb-600 back onto the camera and magically everything comes out correct, take it back off and useless.

I wll go full manual tonight, back to F8 and will try 1/125.

Guessing there is no magic formular to this and that you will always have to play about a bit, so the chart i attached gets you close?

Mike

 

[Steve Smith]

Guessing there is no magic formular to this

There is actually.

Somewhere in the flash manual there will be a Guide Number for the flash. It is usually related to ISO 100 and is full power.

I have just had a look and it says 98 feet at ISO 100.

The guide number divided by the distance from the flash to the subject gives the aperture you need to use.

So lets assume flash to subject is 12', 98/12 = 8.167

Nearest aperture is f8 so if you are set at ISO 100 (and your shutter is equal to or slower than its max. flash sync speed - 1/125 to be safe) you should get correct exposure.

Obviously the angle to the subject makes a bit of a difference but you should get quite close using this method.


Steve.