[Leica] How to avoid flash problems...

[kcarney1 at cox.net (Ken Carney)]

I was glad to see that thread on flash.  I have Canon DSLR's and bought
Canon flashes (420EX and 580EX) and could never get good results with TTL
settings.  But, if I just set everything on manual, it was pretty easy.  I
set the camera on 1/200 and 5.6.  If the histogram doesn't look right, just
dial the flash power up or down.  That plus a Better Bounce Card or a Fong
dome.  Probably not the way a pro would do it, but then I use flash about
twice a year and this way it is idiot proof (for snaps).

Best Regards,

Ken Carney
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
www.kencarney.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+kcarney1=cox.net at leica-users.org [mailto:lug-
> bounces+kcarney1=cox.net at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Mark Rabiner
> Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 6:04 PM
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: Re: [Leica] How to avoid flash problems...
> 
> > Not to become know as the group Luddite, but...
> >
> > I've been a professional photographer, mostly commercial and industrial,
> > since the very early seventies. I've taken a crack at several TTL flash
> > systems, and been uniformly dissapointed. My  favorite flash getup was
> my
> > 500CM and a Quantum T2. I shot mostly Plus-X and 160NC, and the little
> > electric eye in the Quantum was flawless, although I understood that I
> got
> > some wiggle room from the film.
> >
> > Most recently, I used an SB800 with my D3, and while it was generally
> > reliable, it just wasn't as dead on as with the Quantum. Whne I got my
> M9, I
> > didn't want to use the Quantum, as it was just TOO BIG, and the foot of
> the
> > SB800 won't fit in the M9 hot shoe. So, I have a Metz 54, as nice a shoe
> > mount strobe as there is. With the standard foot, it has it's own quto
> > system, although not OTF.
> >
> > I recently used it, and there are NO problems, NONE!
> >
> > Not to be the Luddite, but I spit on TTL flash.
> >
> > Bill Pearce
> >
> >
> 
> I agree.
> For me though at the end of the film age (the 20th century) I gravitated
> towards using a 500c and  Norman 200c.
> With a strip of white paper on the back of it with the distances and f
> stops
> on it.
> For full half and quarter power.
> 
> My first Vivitar TTL's were tricky as when the battery would lose power
> the
> sensor would loose power and you'd just get full power flashes every time.
> Also if the flash was off the shoe but just a tad which often happened
> you'd
> also get full powered flashes every single time.
> Those were fun to print! Though amazingly enough; possible to print.
> 
> I'd set my flashed to half power manual and use my 45mm 2.8 GN so at three
> feet I'd be  shooting at f32 and be there and then as I focused further
> away
> it was locked in so it would follow the inverse square law.
> But if my focus was a little off so would be my exposure! And Id notice
> that
> more at least on the contact sheet.
> 
> I miss f 32. And I didn't miss much shooting with it.
> What was off in the distance may have been dark. But it was sharp.
> Other people didn't get that.
> I liked that. Bokeh? Never heard of it!
> 
> But the Nikon flash people got smarter than the Vivitar flash people in
> the
> late 80's and 90's.
> That stuff just worked.
> The hot shoe connection was stronger.
> You didn't need a separate battery pack because the thing was just so much
> more efferent on regular AA batteries.
> So I still use them.
> And I just bought one not long ago the 800.
> 
> With the instant feedback of digital how high tech does a flash system
> need
> to be though is my point?
> If your shots are coming out a little dark you just adjust the setting so
> they come out just right. There's only so much trouble you can get in.
> 
> And the dare I say "built in flash" on my cameras have saved my but on
> numerous occasions as I find myself in a tunnel in fast moving dark
> situations.
> 
> To me availed light is the light I have availed.
> But I do respect the ones who have a more purist approach.
> 
> I just cant want to shoot sorting with Led's.
> Not done that yet.
> I just like the idea of it
> 
> 
> 
> Mark William Rabiner
> 
> 
> 
> 
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