Speedlight questions

Hey guys, 

Planning on buying my first speedlight

First though, I have a few Q's:

1- I've heard that Nikon speedlights have an auto mode (other than TTL) How well does this compare to TTL? Does it word with the gary Fong lightsphere?

2- When shooting in Manual flash, what role does the mecanical flash zoom play in the strengh of the light?? Can u just leave it at one setting for a full shoot??

Thanks alot for your support! 

1. I believe you are referring to commander mode. My understanding is that this is not so much as opposed to TTL but rather Nikon's way of handling TTL for off camera flash.
2. The mechanical zoom adjust the width of the beam. Set it to the widest setting and you should be able to leave it alone, if you are shooting at distance and cannot bump the power you might need to adjust the zoom otherwise adding power will also provide the light you need.

Eagle

There is an Auto mode on the more expensive models. It is controlled by a sensor in the flash itself and works as long as you don't use light modifiers like the Lightsphere. It tends to underexpose in that case because it gets some direct light from the flash and not just the reflected light it is meant to measure.

 

As long as you have enough light and light scatter is not a problem, you can set the reflector as wide as you like. For manual flash work, use one of the two widest settings and learn how your flash works with them first as the reflector setting changes the GN.

Peter is right. Not all of the current Nikon Speedlights have an Auto mode. The SB-700 for example doesn't have an Auto mode (other than TTL).

My understanding is, however, that TTL works great with light modifiers though I've never used it myself.

 

My current flash, an ancient SB-28, does have Auto mode, and it works surprisingly well as a straight flash with the digital Nikons I've used it on. But I stick to manual for shooting through umbrellas and lightboxes. Figuring manual flash exposure is drop dead simple with modern digital cameras. You just take a test shot and check your monitor. No expensive flash meter necessary. Setting the zoom position is pretty much hit and miss. You just have to experiment to find out how to set it for the modifier you want to use. For my purposes I generally have it set to 85mm which is it's telephoto limit. But then I'm shooting through a softbox with a beauty reflector attached which bounces the light to the back of the softbox. I lose a lot of light but the SB-28 is a fairly powerful flash so it's not too big of a problem.

 

--Ron

Ok so let me get this straight: auto wont work with a gary fong?

Also any manual shooters that would tell me how to shoot manually in an event where distance to subject is a variable?

Indoors, with the lightsphere straight up it *can* work, but if you have to angle it in the least forward you will get erratic exposures. It works faultlessly with iTTL, though. Why the interest in Auto mode? Your D3200 works well with i-TTL capable flashes, both Nikon and third-party. A used SB-600 is about as inexpensive as a SB-28 or SB-26 and can still be repaired, unlike the old units. If you want Auto and i-TTL in the same unit there are only three models that fit that description, the SB-800, SB-900 and SB-910.

the intrest in auto mode is because i HAVE to shoot with my nikon flash on a canon soo...

Why do you have to use a Nikor flash? Get a Cannon TTL flash and call it good.

At least here in Sweden, you can get a SB-600 *and* a 420EX or early 430EX used for less than a new SB-910. A SB-700 and a 430EX II together new are not much more than the SB-910...

I have the D3200 and have a SB-700 - Works a treat for me, although not tried it off camera yet. I need some transmitters.

Hi,

Please can someone help me.  I have just bought my first full frame (D700), in the past I have used D7000 & D7100.  I have tried two different speedlights on the 700 and I am experiencing three flashes before the the camera actuates with a flash.  I have look at "you tube"; ready the book; tried changing settings;  without any success.  All I want is for the flash to fire once and the camera to operate as you would expect.

It all seems awfully complicated to me, perhaps I'm just being a wee bit thick.

Can anyone help please.

Hi,

Please can someone help me.  I have just bought my first full frame (D700), in the past I have used D7000 & D7100.  I have tried two different speedlights on the 700 and I am experiencing three flashes before the the camera actuates with a flash.  I have look at "you tube"; ready the book; tried changing settings;  without any success.  All I want is for the flash to fire once and the camera to operate as you would expect.

It all seems awfully complicated to me, perhaps I'm just being a wee bit thick.

Can anyone help please.

Do you have re-eye enabled?  If not then the flash should normally fire twice; the pre-flash is needed for metering purposes.

Definitely sounds like red-eye reduction. There is a button below the release button for the built-in flash. If you press that and turn the control wheel, you will cycle through red-eye, redeye + slow, slow rear, rear and standard sync. Make sure that none of the options is active.

Thank you for your help.  Diagnosis was absolutely spot on.  Well done.

My name is Kevin Blackburn & I had the same question about the red eye reduction with a SB 910 mounted on a D 7000.

The answer was correct and does not seem to be addressed in the documentation for the speedlight or the camera.

Thank you very much "Nikionian", you know your stuff !