Sunpak 5000AF Flashgun

[Iain]

I am expecting delivery of my S2 at anytime now. I have been using a Sunpak 5000AF on the rest of my Nikon Cameras (F100, F80, F70). Can anybody please help by telling me if it is compatible with the S2?

Thanks, Iain

[AdrianS2]

I use the Sunpak PZ5000AF with my S2.

I've found quite a bit of problems with the compatibility. The only combination that works fine is:
Flash in TTL mode ( not TTL MULT) , camera on A-priority.

I tested it out by shooting a subject, ( my sleeping son), with a calibrated flash meter in front of him. As I adjusted the aperature setting on the camera, the reading on the flash meter should have followed suit. It only did this when the flash was in TTL mode. ( Note: there has been quite a bit of discussion about the S2 underexposing when using flashes, mine is no exception. I have to use a +1 EV flash compensation)

A quick note: I may be wrong on the TTL MULT setting not working. Since I was shooting inside, quite naturally, the ambient light behing my subject was low. I believe this setting tries to blend the foreground w/ the background. Since the background is dark, the forground was made to be dark. ( Does this sound right?) Anyway, when I had the camera set to TTL MULT mode, it gave me f/8 light, no matter what I set my aperature to!)

Also, the 'A' mode worked just fine too, but I didn't spend all this money for a flash and camera to use it in 'A' mode.

Adrian

[Iain]

Hi Adrian,

Many thanks for your reply. It sounds as though I will have to do a fair bit of head-scratching once I eventually get my S2 (still waiting impatiently).

Iain

[amazingthailand]

Hi,

I just got my S2 a few days ago and have been putting it through it's paces.

I have a Sunpak 4000Z, which I used to use on my N90s. Leaving the camera in P mode, I turned on the flash (set to TTL) and began taking pictures, inside and outside.

I had no problems with the flash working properly. Fill flash was excellent, as were the indoor shots. No over or under exposure problems.

I watched the camera settings as I shot. The camera controlled the shutter and aperature, never letting the shutter exceed 1/125. It seemed to like 1/60 inside.

All in all, everything seemed to work as advertized.

I will set up some similar tests with my Sunpak 120J TTL tomorrow.

I also shot using studio flash (used the 4000z at 1/16 power to trigger the studio stobes and measured exposure with a flash meter). I set the camera to manual and set shutter to 1/60 and aperature as indictaed by the meter. No problems to speak of.

Hope that helps.
Declan

[Iain]

Hi Declan,

Thanks for the reply. I've been playing about with the 5000, which so far appears to work well. I also have a 4000, so will try that when my S2 is returned from Fuji. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to come back.

Thanks,

Iain

[amazingthailand]

Hi Iain,

Another thought just occured to me, and I don't know if it has any bearing on the underexposure issue.

I have been shooting RAW files and then converting them. The RAW files do seem 'lighter' than I would like, but when I convert them, they look great.

So I wonder if shooting JPG, instead of RAW, would result in 'light' JPG's?????

Hope you get your S2 back soon.

Declan

[amazingthailand]

Hi Iain,

Today I ran some tests with my Sunpak 120J TTL flash unit. Much to my surprise it works somewhat differently than my 4000AF.

With the 4000AF I can leave the camera in P mode and the shutter speed is set to 1/60. But with the 120J I must use it in S mode, manually setting the shutter speed to 1/125. In P mode, the shutter speed is determined by ambient light (ie: very slow).

I guess there is more communication between the 4000AF and the camera than with the 120J. The 120J is an older model, so I guess that makes some sense.

The results: Extremely good exposures using TTL. No underexposure. I shot both RAW and JPG and both were excellent, so my thought above is not valid.

I tried the 120J in both TTL mode and in Auto mode, selecting f8 and setting the camera to M mode and f8. Both worked equally well.

The RAW files do look 'lighter' than the JPGs, but when processed into JPGs, look fine.

Hope that helps.
Declan

[Iain]

Thanks Declan,

I've tried the 5000, it seems to work well in P mode. Got camera back today. Fuji UK says there is nothing wrong with it, but it still has the green dot. I will try cleaning it and see what happens.

Thanks again,

Iain

[amazingthailand]

Hi Iain,

Sorry about the green dot, but you would hope that Fuji would have cleaned the CCD, if that is what it is. If not that, then I would have hoped they would have fixed it.

Good luck,
Declan