Flashgun advice

[Rsv Mark]

Am covering a wedding in a couple of weeks and thank fully I am NOT the official photographer. My objective is to take a large collection of informal photos during the day, weed out the rubbish, and then to make a photo book as their present.

Thanks for the previous advice on people to do the book- now comes the issue of flash. Having read the previous thread (all good and it's encouraged me to have fun, enjoy it and go for it) I have decided to take a flash gun with me for the evening..... But I don't have one and would appreciate some advice on what to go for. I have no idea of what features I need to look for other than compatibility with the camera and an ability to rotate or bounce off the ceiling for different flash effects.

Being an enthusiastic amateur with a lack of ability sums me up so it needs to be idiot proof and 'do it all for me'. Am am going to be using a D80 with my 18-200 do it all lens and I am in the process of planning a list of shots and people I want to try and get with a range of effects / settings.

All advice welcome.

Thanks

[jr502]

I've got a couple of Nissin Di622 (mkII), and they have been great for me. Batteries last plenty long enough, never had one not fire. Not too pricey, but seem to have good enough quality to last. Mine live in my bag and as such, have been lugged up mountains, taken to sports tournaments etc.

[Simpo Two]

It's either Nikon Speedlights (SB700/910) or Nissins I think, depending on budget.

www.wexphotographic.com/flashguns/b3105?SortBy=3&a...

[K12beano]

My preference has automatically been for Nikon ( I have 2 x SB-800 ) for the simple reason of compatibility. The Nikon system does some clever stuff and I like to know that the speed light and the body can talk to each other.

The SB-800 has an annoyingly difficult menu system to navigate though. Later models are much better, but I would suggest you go and have a look at them somewhere before buying.

[LongQ]

Simpo Two said:

It's either Nikon Speedlights (SB700/910) or Nissins I think, depending on budget.

www.wexphotographic.com/flashguns/b3105?SortBy=3&a...

Or maybe rental?

For the eveing stuff, do you know if the location offers a pale coloured ceiling that is not too low or too high (needs to be between about 10ft and 16ft fot preference)?

If it has then an on camera flash, probably with diffuser (but this will sap some power and extend recycling times) bounced of the ceiling, or a wall for something more 'crafted' using full TTL exposure management is likely to be the least troublesome option.

Having an option to place the flash off camera might be handy too but I have no idea what the Nikon system requires to put that into effect.

Whatever you do get it early and practice. Results can be unexpectedly confusing if you have little experience of the combination or something similar to it.

[K12beano]

LongQ said:

Having an option to place the flash off camera might be handy too but I have no idea what the Nikon system requires to put that into effect.

Whatever you do get it early and practice. Results can be unexpectedly confusing if you have little experience of the combination or something similar to it.

Not 100% sure of the D80 but highly probably: camera on-board pop-up can control many remotes with up to 4 different settings if you need it. (It's all too clever for it's own good at times, but very versatile!)

Would echo "get some practice in" - for which reason I would be more inclined to buy and not rent.

[LongQ]

K12beano said:

ot 100% sure of the D80 but highly probably: camera on-board pop-up can control many remotes with up to 4 different settings if you need it. (It's all too clever for it's own good at times, but very versatile!)

Would echo "get some practice in" - for which reason I would be more inclined to buy and not rent.

Yep.

I've rented in the past and discovered that the unit was far more complex than I thought and tryin to work out how to tweak it n the dark (out doors at night) with limited time available, was not ideal.

Fortunately it was only an experiment and partly worked anyway and the weekend rental had not cost me a lot. However to rent for a couple of weeks (in order to get into the capabilities with time to absorb, identify questions and find the answers then repeat) does make a good excuse for buying! Or buy and sell on afterwards. Or head down the eBay route to buy and sell.

Some of the realtivelu inexpensive Chinese manufactured units have a decent reputation these days - for the price. Could be a good way to go unless you expect to make very heavy use of the flash in the future - in which case a Nikon unit might be a true investment.

Shoot RAW, then you can fix more stuff in PP should you need to.

[Rsv Mark]

LongQ said:

Or maybe rental?

For the eveing stuff, do you know if the location offers a pale coloured ceiling that is not too low or too high (needs to be between about 10ft and 16ft fot preference)?

If it has then an on camera flash, probably with diffuser (but this will sap some power and extend recycling times) bounced of the ceiling, or a wall for something more 'crafted' using full TTL exposure management is likely to be the least troublesome option.

Having an option to place the flash off camera might be handy too but I have no idea what the Nikon system requires to put that into effect.

Whatever you do get it early and practice. Results can be unexpectedly confusing if you have little experience of the combination or something similar to it.

Now that is some quick advice! Many thanks.

Budget- love to get a Nikon but budget means I will probably go down the Nissin route
Ceilings I can do and guess at but you lost me on 'TTL' so more reading up required!
Am going to buy ASAP and reserve a few evenings to practice at home with daughter/bridesmaid and bouncing the flash off walls etc
Then spending next week on line looking up advice and practising
Thanks all

M

[LongQ]

Rsv Mark said:

Now that is some quick advice! Many thanks.

Budget- love to get a Nikon but budget means I will probably go down the Nissin route
Ceilings I can do and guess at but you lost me on 'TTL' so more reading up required!
Am going to buy ASAP and reserve a few evenings to practice at home with daughter/bridesmaid and bouncing the flash off walls etc
Then spending next week on line looking up advice and practising
Thanks all

M

TTL - is 'Through The Lens' metering - usually iTTL or eTTL or something these digital days. The idea is that the system reads the exposure as the frame is shot and adjusts the flash output accordingly.

In theory its a 'fit the flash and shoot' concept but there can be some surprises and knowing how to adjust the settings to balance them (just like exposure compensation, sort of and probably available from either the flash or the camera on an integrated system) is, er, useful. ALso I find that indoor type flash images displayed on the camera screen are not always a good indication of how the file will look when downloaded. Nikons may be different. But it makes assessing adjustments a little tricky. No such complexity back in the old days of course ...

Some non-manufacturer units may not have the TTL ability or may support some of it but not all of it. It's worth checking carefully. Bear in mind that the full 'system' probably allows for integration and control of off-camera flash too - but if you don't have extra compatible units you don't need to worry about achieving a purchase with that sort of spec.


Be sure to carry plenty of spare batteries. It would ba a pain to run out haldf way through the night. If the flash has a 'carrier' for the batteries buy a spare and pre-load it before you start. However I suspect that ther sort of unit you will be looking at will probably just be a 4 AA installation. They seem to be the norm these days.

[Simpo Two]

TTL is metering through the lens; TTL-BL is as well, but tries to balance the flash power with the ambient light ('fill-flash'). If that's not quite what you had in mind, you can change the balance between flash light and ambient light using EV and/or Flash EV.

Following on from what LongQ said about batteries, also be aware that when AA batteries die, they die quite suddenly without warning. The first you know is when your shots start coming out too dark. I find that two sets of 2400mAh will do a wedding, but I still have two more sets in reserve.

Plus, keep everything with you. It is all too easy, in the course of a wedding reception, to leave a trail of lenses, batteries and end caps in your wake... not only does this risk losing them, but when you need one it's not there.

[Rsv Mark]

All great tips. 1 last question. Just been on the wex website and there is a diffuser as an accessory. Worth buying at £18 as a 'useful tool' or 'waste of time, don't bother.'?

Thanks again

[Simpo Two]

If it's the kind that looks like a clear yoghurt pot, I wouldn't bother personally as it will loses 75% of the light backwards and sideways.

[LongQ]

Rsv Mark said:

All great tips. 1 last question. Just been on the wex website and there is a diffuser as an accessory. Worth buying at £18 as a 'useful tool' or 'waste of time, don't bother.'?

Thanks again

Firstly - I totally agree with Simpo above.

Secondly - you may buy a flash with a diffuser but often they only get applied at wide angles to spread the light (but reduce the distance at which they work). Nothing wrong with that but may not be what you want.

Diffusers come in many shapes, sizes, prices and fits. I'm guesing you ar looking at the Sto-fen which, for its design, is probably a sensible compromise between effect, usability and street cred.

So when I bought a flash that could use aomething like that (in my case Canon to support a long time affliction and love of Metz manual stuff) I bought one. Actually I bought 2 but in my case not Sto-Fen but Lambency 'cos they are a lot less costly on 't'web. Now I would bet that someone somewhare will tell me that there is a quallity difference and that may indeed be so, but for my purposes at the moment I doubt it will be something that I will notice and at something like 1/8th of the price it made sense to my wallet. If anyone can tell me why I am wrong I'll gladly listen. I'm not so far out of pocket that I can't afford the Sto-fen. Yet.

I also have a couple of Lumiquest modifiers that I never really got on with on the Metz heads. (The heads are too big and there were some other issues that I came to realise). I think the modifers would work well on a specific structured shoot but something like the Sto-Fen or Lambency push on design is a better bet for an evening knees-up. IMO.

Edited by LongQ on Tuesday 26th June 20:12

[Simpo Two]

LongQ said:

you may buya flask with a diffuser

Coffee break already Mr Q?

[LongQ]

Simpo Two said:

LongQ said:

you may buya flask with a diffuser

Coffee break already Mr Q?

Thank you Simpo. That could have been genuinely confusing. Have corrected my terrible typing.

The coffee is probably a good idea - to counteract what has gone before.