Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/03/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Eric: >Thats what I don't get! - I can't just set my flash to 5.6! >I have a monolight that lets me adjust power. >How do I figure out what "f 5.6" using my incident flash meter in an ambient >lit setting? >I am using an incident flash meter - it measure the ambient PLUS the flash. >At least that what the manual indicates. How do you meter with it? It's been years since I've used a flash meter. I'd either have the meter hooked to the flash via a sync cord, and taking a meter reading triggered the flash, or I'd set the meter in "flash" mode and then manually trigger the flash. The meter would then wait for the flash, and would be smart enough to show you the flash result. If I recall correctly, my meter has a special mode that will show me the combined exposures, too. If you're wanting to set the flash for a proper exposure at 5.6, then adjust the power until your flash meter indicates 5.6 is the proper aperture. What meter do you have? Odds are good that somebody here might have hands-on experience your particular model. Or, if you know your guide number, you can use that to get an approximate exposure. f-stop = GN / flash to subject distance. So if you have a hypothetical guide number of 100, and you want the flash set for 5.6 then the flash needs to be 18 feet away. Or adjust your power to 25% and you can shoot with your flash 9 feet away. Probably not exactly because I don't think the power adjustment is exactly proportional to the amount of light emitted. When you double the distance, you need 4x the light for the same exposure. Eric - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html