Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/06/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]My favorite and most accurate reference for fill flash calculation with a manual camera is the Kodak Pocket Photoguide, Kodak Publication No. AR-21, ISBN 0-87985-609-2. It's one of those handy little heavy paper thing with massive piles of good information in it. Their fill-flash calculator is based upon bright sun and flash fill so doesn't cover the precise situation you are looking for, which is low light exposure. The technique that I've used for this kind of shooting is to consider the flash exposure the primary exposure and the ambient light the fill. I set aperture and working distance based upon flash output (auto-flash doesn't work well for this), and I adjust shutter speed for varying degrees of ambient fill. That gives you a nicely frozen main exposure, with a certain halo effect from the motion of people and camera in the ambient fill. It makes for a fairly pleasing effect, although it takes a bit of experimentation to find combinations that work for your needs. The only minor difficulty using this technique with the Leica M is that the limited maximum shutter speed for X flash synch reduces the number of options in the ambient fill. I've usually found my best results for the kind of circumstances you're looking at (wedding or party, indoors, etc) have the shutter speed around 1/8-1/15 second though so it's not too big a limitation. The options when using a leaf shutter camera (my Rollei 35 or once upon a time the Rolleiflex) just allow more flexibility with reducing the amount of ambient fill. Godfrey