Re: [Leica] no one can help on this one?

["Bryan Willman" <bryanwi@seanet.com>]

hmmm.

I *think* what you are asking is:

    How do I get flash underexpsure, to get a nice
    fill, with ambient light.

What you care about is the RATIO between the
ambient light and the flash.  You must control this
with the flash unit, NOT the camera.

Notice that this will only work if the ambient and flash
lighting levels are relatively close (2 or 3 stops)  If flash
is 9 stops more powerful than ambient, you'll just
get flash exposure.

To change the power of the flash relative to other light:
a. Move the flash off the camera and back it up
b. Bounce it off something
c. If it has good power controls, use those.  Notice
    that on a low-end auto-flash, there are typically only
    one or two power ranges.  The "settings" are just
    a distance/f-stop lookup for one of the ranges.
   A flash like an SB26 lets you actually change the *power*
    (as will any studio head.)

You will typically end up making multiple measurements
of ambient and flash light falling on various parts of the subject,
and then computing the exposure so that the highlights and
lowlights fall in the recording range of the film.

There are books about this, I've yammered long enough here.

I hope I've answered what you were trying to ask!

bmw

- -----Original Message-----
From: Five Senses Productions <fls@5senses.com>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Wednesday, May 13, 1998 9:49 AM
Subject: [Leica] no one can help on this one?


>I have an M6, a 35/2 ASPH, a 50/2, and a 90/2.8.
>I use the meter in the M6 only when I am forced, and
>the rest of the time I use a Minolta IVF meter which does
>normal incident metering as well as flash metering.
>I have been using the flash meter for the first time this week
>and have a few questions. I use a $45 lightweight Nissin
>pocket flash on the M6 since it is very simple and the M6 does
>not do anything with more advanced flashes anyway, so why
>put a $400 flash on the M6.....
>When I use the flash meter in front of a model, I set the meter
>to the appropriate film speed and I set the shutter speed on the
>meter to 1/45, since there is no 1/50. I then pop the flash, and
>let's say the meter recommends f/8. From my understanding,
>this means that I need to set the M6 to 1/50 (approx) and f/8
>to get a prefect exposure of the subject at the measured distance.
>Is this right? Am I on track here?
>OK, now if I want to get fancy and simulate a minus 1-2/3 for standard
>fill flash, how would I work that in? I tried placing a mini-softbox on the
>flash head, and remetering the flash, and I fould the softbox cuts the
>light by 1 to 1.5 stops. Is this a good method? It sounds good to me
>because not only would I be getting as close to the desired level of fill
>as possible, but I would also be diffusing the light with the softbox.
>Is stopping down the lens a stop going to do the same thing as cutting
>the flash by a stop (with softbox)?
>For outdoor situations, with ASA 100 film (like Astia, my favorite), on a
>sunny
>day, when I need that light touch of flash to fill in shadows under
>eyebrows and
>on shaded sides of faces, is my M6/Minolta/Nissin combo going to work well?
>If a model is in partial shade, where do I place the flash meter to get the
>correct reading? I have found that with 100 film, and at 1/50, the meter
>says a very small aperture, like f/11. Am I getting into "poor lens
>performance"
>territory by going down to f/11 and f/16?
>I know some of you will say "use your R8 for fill flash" but I really
>prefer using the
>M6 for my outdoor portrait/glamour work now. The only own side is the 1/50
>shutter speed, since I have to use a tripod now for almost every shot, and
the
>models have to stay fairly still.
>Thanks for whatever tips and advice anyone can offer........
>Francesco
>
>
>
>Francesco Sanfilippo,
>Five Senses Productions
>webmaster@5senses.com
>
>http://www.5senses.com/
>
>
>
>
>Francesco Sanfilippo,
>Five Senses Productions
>webmaster@5senses.com
>
>http://www.5senses.com/
>