Flash blowout

[snapshotmd]

I use an SB-28 flash on my S2 and for some reason the flash is blowing everything out. The S2 was set for 800 iso, manual exposure; 30 sec @ F5.6. The SB-28 was set for Auto. Subject distance about 5-10 feet.

Has anyone had this problem and what settings do you use?

Ken

[Swampy]

Originally posted by snapshotmd
I use an SB-28 flash on my S2 and for some reason the flash is blowing everything out. The S2 was set for 800 iso, manual exposure; 30 sec @ F5.6. The SB-28 was set for Auto. Subject distance about 5-10 feet.

Has anyone had this problem and what settings do you use?

Ken

With those settings, I think we'll all need a little more detail on what you're shooting and the lighting conditions. 30 second shutter speed? Without the flash, even taking a picture of a lit candle or anywhere near it will probably be blown out. Why 30 second?

Bryan

[traumlandschaft]

Am I wrong, or is the flash just working up to 400 ISO? Then it would be easy to explain...

Just an idea...

Regards

traumlandschaft

[snapshotmd]

I was shooting a wedding reception... lucky I wasn't paid, just messing around. I was shooting at 1/30 sec to let the ambient light the background.

Ken

[ali]

Of course it had of been 1/30, swampy.

ISO800 is very sensitive to light so the flash will overexpose your subjects. I would use wider apertures at ISO400 in your case but you will still need to bounce the flash. Digital, especially the S2, tends to get overexposed using an external flash on close subjects.

[bjnicholls]

I'm not sure what these settings are supposed to provide. Why manual exposure with 1/30 second? Using flash auto, you need to be sure the aperture and ISO is correct for the working distance. The ISO is very high and the aperture quite large for the close distance you describe. Even so, there's enough difference between 5 and 10 feet that you'd probably have to make an aperture adjustment between the two distances.

Why not use TTL auto? If you want a slower shutter speed or you are trying to allow for ambient light along with flash exposure, use the slow sync setting.

We could offer better advice if you'd explain why you were trying the settings you describe...

[snapshotmd]

I was shooting a wedding reception, gratis, for a friend of mine. Since I wasn't using a second light I wanted to expose the background to ambient, hence, I was dragging the shutter. Always gave great results on film. Anyway, I couldn't really judge if it was really overexposed or not. Lots of times I think it's overexposed, bring it into the computer and it's not; this time it really is.

Ken

[Topngu]

best way to use flash w S2:
ISO no higher than 200,Apeture priority...you choose f stop...TTL
on flash or A to control fill flash...this is my style:)

[bjnicholls]

Give slow sync a try - it's computer aided shutter-dragging. I've found it to work very well and the camera can figure out the balanced exposure much faster than I can. You gain the D-TTL mode too, that will help a lot in controlling blown-out subjects.

[Super 2]

Intrigued as to how you gain d-ttl mode, unless you are using a dx unit you cannot get d-ttl. I have been told that if you use an sb-dx unit on an S2, dttl is not supported?

Any thoughts on this.

Regards

Nick

[deluco]

I believe the manual states that the in-camera flash should not be used above 400 iso..but I haven't read it in a while. My experience with my SB22 is that TTL flash with this camera is very tempermental. Unless I am bouncing the flash, I generally use Auto at one stop under...or...when the flash is on, set the exposure compensation to -1 and try TTL but even then, I wouldn't trust it...certainly not above 400 ISO regardless of the flash I'm using.

I haven't tested it much at 800 or 1600. I got mush the first time I tried it so I haven't bothered to test it. I really don't need it that badly.

TTL direct, whether your camera is set to Manual or not, will often result in over-exposed subjects, but it comes and goes. One of the symptoms is an orange tint on the subjects...and it's VERY difficult to get the image to look right after the reds are blown out.

[bjnicholls]

Sorry, I meant 3D TTL which takes into account the D series lens distance to focus info.

D-TTL is Nikon's kludge to get decent exposures with their DSLRs without metering off-the-chip.

[imasoft]

http://www.iespana.es/elsacodedigi/100.400sa.GIF

http://www.iespana.es/elsacodedigi/TTL.F.stop.limitations.GIF



page 68-69 user manual.

I have tested also with metz units ... also the same , but looks like over under flash compensations controls works better, but not enough.