Nikon D7000 off camera flash question

[brucehughw]

Hi, Kathy.

Thanks so much for the helpful reply and taking the time to look these things up and explaining them. You explained a lot about portable flash photography. I'll start over with the flash, keep the explanation and steps you wrote in mind, and see if it makes more sense. I think TTL radio triggers are in my future, but want to spend more time with existing equipment (and new low-end studio lights) before purchasing them.



Bruce

Just a note. What iTTL is doing isn't what the old autothyristor "Auto" modes do. The autothyristor modes, like those on older film-era flashes, are using a sensor in the flash to determine the cut-off point for the light, and requires the iso/aperture setting. The SB-800/900/910 all still have this mode, too. Not sure about the SB-700, but I don't think it does.

...
On your flash:

1. Set the SB-700 to REMOTE with the on/off switch position.
2. Set a group for the flash.
3. Set a channel for the flash.

On your camera:

1. CUSTOM MENU -> Bracketing/flash.
2. e3: Flash cntrl for built-in flash
3. COMMANDER MODE

...

[brucehughw]

Hi, Manfred.

I'm not 100% what I'm trying to do either . More seriously, I got an idea from Bryan Petersen's flash photo book about going outside, metering a background for ambient light levels, decreasing metered exposure by 3 stops so the background is quite dark, now setting up the flash for the foreground subject, e.g., flowers. Over and over again in his book he reads the distance scale off the flash and positions it accordingly. This seems a quicker way to get decent results, results one can tweak of course, than operating in full-manual with the flash. Of course, the advantage of full manual (which I may pursue) is one gets to know one's flash and not just how to manipulate the CLS settings. I've worked with some pretty complicated equipment over the years and have found that too much automation forces the user to learn the automation rather than the underlying technology (long subject). Think Windows vs. Linux.

I think I've been doing too much running before walking with this flash, so will spend more time with it. Thanks for pointing out the flash compensation.

Bruce

Bruce - if you are firing the remote flash using "Commander" mode, you can dial in flash compensation in 1/3 stop increments by flash group setting through your camera. I'm not 100% sure what you are trying to do.

I personally tend to set flash manually unless I am shooting in "run & gun" mode. Manual flash gives you more predictable results in studio shooting.

[inkista]

... More seriously, I got an idea from Bryan Petersen's flash photo book...

Oh dear. Peterson's books are great for exposure basics, but his flash knowledge is pretty old-fashioned from what I've seen.

I think I've been doing too much running before walking with this flash, so will spend more time with it. ...

The two websites I'd recommend going to for information on using flash would be Neil van Niekerk's Tangents for on-camera flash and bouncing technique in both posed and run'n'gun event situations (he's a wedding photographer), and David Hobby's The Strobist for off-camera flash with speedlights. His Lighting 101 is how the majority of us learned to light at all. If you need a reference book, then the most-recommended one out there is probably Light, Science & Magic, which is the standard textbook for lighting courses. And van Niekerk's also put together books from his website material.

If you prefer learning through videos, Hobby has a series of videos up on Lynda.com (but you have to subscribe), and Zack Arias's OneLight 2.0 videos are pretty good, too, to get the basics under your belt (but you need a ton of bandwidth to download those videos).

For me, Tangents was learning to walk (using a single flash on-camera), and the Strobist was learning to run (getting into multiple flashes off-camera).

Think of TTL the same way you would aperture-priority mode on the camera. Sometimes it's just dang handy, but you have to understand what it's doing to use it most effectively. TTL, like A on the camera, is about speed and dealing with changing light conditions. M, just like M on the camera, is about having precision and consistency. For me, starting out in M mode on the flash did help clarify what was going on when I used TTL--it's particularly helpful because unlike iso/aperture/shutter speed, flash power and mode settings aren't recorded in the EXIF for review later on down the line.

[george013]

I found this article very valuable for me to understand the Nikon Speedlight flash. I think much of it has been discussed here, but reading them back in a structured way might help you.
http://nikonclspracticalguide.blogsp...-metering.html

George

[brucehughw]

Thanks, George. Looks promising.

I found this article very valuable for me to understand the Nikon Speedlight flash. I think much of it has been discussed here, but reading them back in a structured way might help you.
http://nikonclspracticalguide.blogsp...-metering.html

George

[brucehughw]

Thanks again, Kathy. I did some experiments with a gray card today, underexposing the ambient by 3 stops and then seeing what sort of flash settings gave me RGB values of approximately 50% for the 18% gray card, as well as over- and under-exposing with the flash to relate those changes to the RGB values. I now understand better how to control the flash, and that CNET article was very helpful. I'll check out the sources you provided.

Oh dear. Peterson's books are great for exposure basics, but his flash knowledge is pretty old-fashioned from what I've seen. ...

[george013]

Bruce,

About the development of flash. I think it's important to understand what the flash is doing.
1. The older TTL flashes. Flashpower was calculated during exposure from the reflection from the film. Mirror up, shutter open, flash, calculation, stop the flash. I still think an incredible peace of technique.

2. The D-TTL flashes for digital camera's. Flash was calculated before exposure from the reflection of the curtains with the use of a pre-flash. Mirror up, pre-flash, calculation, curtain open, main flash.

3. The ittl flashes calculate the power by a preflash too, but they use the camera's lightmeter for this job. Pre-flash, calculation, mirror-up, curtain open. main flash.

You were also mentioning the use of distance information. This info is given by the lens, so your lens must be able to give that info. It works only with the on-camera flash with the head pointed forward. I don't think the info is passed to the off-camera flashes. The measured distance is between your focused subject and camera. Nobody can know where your off-camera flashes are placed.


http://www.scantips.com/lights/ttl.html

And the main page http://www.scantips.com/
Contains interesting articles for you.

George

[brucehughw]

George,

Thanks very much. I was not aware of this site (amazing amount of material!) , and I find it interesting/useful to know a little about the history and current operation of flashes.

Bruce

[carll]

Superglue.
Glue the models eyes open.
Honest, it works great. Pre-flash now not a problem.


Graham

lololol :>)

[carll]

I have been experimenting with using the SB-700 speedlight off camera. Quite fun actually, but I encountered one problem now and would like to see if anyone had any thoughts.

The way it works is that the SB-700 can be used as a remote and the flash on the camera acts as commander unit. You can choose various schemes in the D7000. E.g. the fixed on camera flash participates (as TTL/manual/--) or (and this is what my question is about) it acts as commander only, but doesn't provode flashlight to the photo (the -- mode).
What it does in this case is emit a pre-flash, just before the photo is taken, to alert the SB-700. Works perfectly, but...

But...when you photograph a person the pre-flash is still blinding him/her and the effect in the final photo is that his eyes are partly closed when the actual photo is taken. The SB-700 can be on the side (or wherever you want) and shouldn't blind the subject, the problem is with the pre-flash from the on camera flash unit.

The problem would be solved if I used a transmitter (or a cable), but I don't want to spend money on a transmitter and the cable would make me less flexible.
My idea is that I might construct a small paper box that would direct the light from the on camera flash upward or something. The SB-700 would still see it I suppose, but the subject wouldn't get blinded anymore.

Any other ideas for this?

How about using the Nikon SG-31R IR Panel, it is designed to stop the flash from blinding your subject, but still letting through the signal so that you can use all the advantages of the Nikon CLS and remote flashes?

Carl.