Studio strobe and flash on camera

[Hammam]

Hi,

I'm a keen amateur and I'm new to this forum. I don't even have my S2 yet. I'm expecting it tomorrow, and I have a studio shoot this weekend.

I'm coming from Nikon D100 (lovely, but I sold it to finance some other body, then instantly regretted it, and went back to digital the Fuji way) and I do a lot of studio work (portrait and nude) with a basic two heads studio flash system, plus soft box, umbrellas, etc...

My question might seem odd: is there a way to meter using a standard flashmeter and the strobes, but (this is where it gets tricky) with an added flash (actually a SB 80DX) on the camera. In other words, how can trigger the on-board flash with the strobes to take a reading (with the camera obviously on a tripod)?

Thanks for your help.

H.

[Tom V]

This question has a few different answers, depending on how the camera, lights, and sync is set up.

Knowing how powerful studio strobes are compared to on-camera flashes, I will assume the on-camera flash is strickly for fill, and/or to add a sparkle in the eyes (or anything reflective for that matter).

Your hand-held flash meter should measure any flash, regardless of the source(s). Some flash meters can measure a combination of ambient and flash light for a given exposure duration.

Combining on-camera and studio strobes should make no difference to the meter.

To have any control over the situation, naturally, you have to use Manual Exposure Mode, where you set the shutter speed to 1/125 or slower, and select your aperture.

Using the camera and on-camera flash with TTL control in combination with studio stobes should not be considered. Your studio strobes are probably far more powerful than the SB-80 and would totally confuse the camera's attempt at TTL metering. Set the SB-80 up with manual control, possiby even at a fractional power like 1/2 or 1/4. You should be able to meter normally.

Syncronizing your studio strobes to the camera /on-camera flash is easy. Just put a slave or slaves in your studio strobes. The slave will detect the on-camera flash and fire the studio stobes. Many power pack studio systems (A single power pack runs several flash heads via thick cables) have built in slaves (my Speedotron doesn't). Most monoblock flash units (self-contained powerpack and flashhead) have built-in slaves. Or, you could string a sync cord between either the Fuji S2's PC Sync Terminal or the SB-80's PC Sync Terminal over to your strobe unit(s).

If I misunderstand you incorrectly, I think your question infers that you want to sync your on-camera flash to follow the lead of your studio strobes.

The only senario I can imagine needing that is for: You normally meter via the hand-held meter by pressing the flash button on the studio-strobes, bypassing the camera and without making an exposure. By adding an on-camera flash that does not have a built-in slave, it doesn't "know" when you push the studio strobe's flash button - therefore, your meter reading is incomplete.

Solution: Make the exposure. Have the camera make an exposure, which will fire the on-camera flash, which in turn will fire the studio strobes via their slave(s). If your studio stobes do not have a slave(s), one can be added, or you could use a sync cord between the studio strobes and the camera/flash. It would be good to see the exposure on the S2's LCD screen and check the Histogram. If you don't want to use up memory space, shoot a little JPG, the Histogram is the same. You can always delete the unwanted test exposures. If you need to get into the set to hold the meter, set the camera on a 5 or 10 second self-timer, press the shutter button and get the meter into the position you want it.

I don't know if the SB-80 has a built-in slave, or if it does, whether it can be used when the camera is in a hot shoe. You could probably put a peanut slave on the SB-80's PC sync terminal if you wanted. With a peanut slave, the SB-80 would fire whenever the studio stobes fired.

I have been using a Minolta FlashMeter III since 1982 and it is a great meter. However, since getting the S2, I hardly use the meter. I find it more useful to judge the exposure via the Histogram (based on light relected from actual subject) than the incident meter (measures light falling on meter dome). The only time I use the meter is to judge the evenness of the lighting in copy work, or if I really want to measure a lighting ratio (hardly ever). I don't even use the meter to get a basic starting point for my exposure. I find it quicker to guess the f-stop, shoot a jpg, look at the LCD & Histogram, and adjust the f-stop. Using the dangerous Preview mode, you don't even have to delete the exposure, it never gets saved!

My little warning: Be careful that the camera's PC terminal does not unscrew. When I unscrewed my PC terminal's cap, the PC terminal itself unscrewed, exposing the little wire(s) connecting it to the camera. I was able to screw it back in, but a few months later, it stopped functioning. It is my camera's only fault. I suggest carefully unscrewing the cap, making sure the terminal is not coming out with it, and throwing the cap away (you would lose it sooner or later anyway).

That is my short "blabbermouth" answer. I may have confused the issue more than neccessary - sorry about that.

[snapthepicture]

Hey,
Well, the first reply is a good one. I was more interested in what the pops were used for. I mix and match pops all the time. A light is a light and there are moduals to control those. I use the Quantum T2 Digital units and even though I can dedicate them, I always shoot on manual. I find my ambient and set my pops accordingly. I also use the Quantum 4i remotes to trigger my pops so that I am not dragging wires from anything. I get awsome results and don't allow my camera to do anything auto that will alter my settings.
BrunoSnapThePicture.com (http://www.snapthepicture.com)