I must be out of sync
Oct 4, 2016 20:04:40 #
Have done photography for many years, not a lot with flash. Shot this "First bath at home" shot with a Nikon SB-800 set on manual and 1/2 power pointed into an umbrella. One pocket wizard on the flash, the second on my D7100. Camera mode was manual. So far so good. Iso was set to 800(???), the lens opening to f/22, and now the part I don't understand...Exif data shows my shutter speed was 1/350th of a second. Maximum
shutter speed sync on the D7100 is 1/250th of a second. Why did the photo turn out? Is it because the flash is set as a remote?
shutter speed sync on the D7100 is 1/250th of a second. Why did the photo turn out? Is it because the flash is set as a remote?
Oct 4, 2016 20:16:04 #
Is your camera set for high speed sync? (Auto FP in Nikon speak)
That allows you to shoot at settings higher than your normal sync setting.
That allows you to shoot at settings higher than your normal sync setting.
Oct 4, 2016 20:35:49 #
GoofyNewfie wrote:
Is your camera set for high speed sync? (Auto FP in Nikon speak)
That allows you to shoot at settings higher than your normal sync setting.
That allows you to shoot at settings higher than your normal sync setting.
No. I went into the menu, and the flash sync is set to 250. The other two FP options you speak of were not chosen.
Oct 4, 2016 22:08:06 #
AndyT wrote:
No. I went into the menu, and the flash sync is set to 250. The other two FP options you speak of were not chosen.
Ok. That was my first thought.
Anyone else?
Nice photo btw!
Oct 4, 2016 23:01:42 #
Using a radio trigger and setting the flash to remote and manual, the camera will ignore the flash sync speed and expose regardless of the shutter speed. You can usually use 1/300, sometimes 1/350 second in those cases. You can experiment to determine what your real max sync speed is; and even go a bit higher if you don't mind cropping (just pay attention to the side of the image the shutter starts blacking out.
Oct 5, 2016 10:08:48 #
amfoto1
Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA
AndyT wrote:
Have done photography for many years, not a lot wi... (show quote)
jcboy3 wrote:
Using a radio trigger and setting the flash to remote and manual, the camera will ignore the flash sync speed and expose regardless of the shutter speed....
That's possible... but it depends upon the radio triggering device. Some radio triggers simply trip the flash, so are fully manual. Others provide the same communication and full automation as if the flash were sitting in the hot shoe or attached via an off-camera shoe cord. I don't use them, but I thought most PocketWizards were the latter type.
It's possible the flash and camera are capable of "High Speed Sync".... That's a special mode where the two work together to allow shutter speeds faster than the max sync speed.
HOWEVER high speed sync greatly limits the distance the flash can reach... the higher the shutter speed above the camera's flash sync, the less distance the flash will be able to reach. You compounded the "problem" in several other ways.... 1. By setting the flash to half power... why? 2. By bouncing the flash out of an umbrella (which forces light to travel much farther and wastes a TON of light, although it may be worthwhile because the light from an umbrella can be very nice)... And, 3. by using WAY too small a lens aperture. No need for f22. I'd have used f8, maybe f11 max. In fact, on an APS-C camera such as yours f16 and f22 will cause "diffraction" that will rob fine detail from your images. Better to use a less extreme, small aperture, if at all possible.
You "got away with these mistakes" here (image looks nice) because the subjects are relatively close. You could have gotten the exact same exposure with lower ISO, slower shutter speed (1/250 or slower) by leaving the flash set to full power and using a 2 or 3 stop larger aperture. Since you are bouncing the light out of an umbrella anyway, which greatly modifies the light to be less harsh, there's little reason to reduce flash power.
As someone whose "done photography for years, not a lot with flash" you may or may not be aware: Modern flash and camera together may or may not actually be "manual", even when set that way. I am not that familiar with the Nikon flash system (I shoot with Canon gear).... but with some settings the flash acts to give an auto exposure, even if the camera is set to fully manual... and vice versa. Study and experiment with your flash and camera combo. Flash has never been easier, once you know what it's going to do in different situations.
If you had set 1/250 shutter speed, but got 1/350 instead... the camera must have had some sort of automation working. It was either actually in aperture priority mode or you have some sort of auto override enabled, where the camera tries to "correct" your "mistakes".
Oct 5, 2016 10:32:10 #
amfoto1 wrote:
That's possible... but it depends upon the radio t... (show quote)
The typical PocketWizard trigger does not interact with the TTL system; straight trigger. The PocketWizard TTL triggers do remote TTL. But, the flash has to be set in TTL mode. If the flash is set to manual mode (as indicated by the OP), then no TTL communication occurs.
HSS with a radio trigger requires specific support; this is being added to many TTL radio triggers where the older systems did not support it. PocketWizard TTL does support it. But the flash must be set to an HSS mode, which will reduce output of the flash.
Oct 5, 2016 11:01:14 #
dickwilber
Loc: Indiana (currently)
jcboy3 wrote:
(just pay attention to the side of the image the shutter starts blacking out.
Nikon's shutter travels vertically.
Oct 5, 2016 11:22:08 #
dickwilber wrote:
Nikon's shutter travels vertically.
Yes, which means the darkening will be at the bottom of the frame.
I just did a test with my D7100, SB-800, and PocketWizard Plus II Transceivers. I get darkening at the bottom at 1/320 sec, independent of aperture and flash power (tested at 1/2 and 1/32).
Oct 5, 2016 13:04:26 #
My guess is that at half power, your flash duration is just long enough to light the full image because of the distance to subject and the amount of ambient light in the room. Hence the light blended and didn't have a severe darkening of the frame at the bottom. Just a guess though. You probably won't get this lucky all the time. If you were to have used 1/8 power the flash would have been much snappier than at 1/2 power and you probably wouldn't have been so lucky.
Oct 5, 2016 13:08:41 #
jeep_daddy wrote:
My guess is that at half power, your flash duration is just long enough to light the full image because of the distance to subject and the amount of ambient light in the room. Hence the light blended and didn't have a severe darkening of the frame at the bottom. Just a guess though. You probably won't get this lucky all the time. If you were to have used 1/8 power the flash would have been much snappier than at 1/2 power and you probably wouldn't have been so lucky.
I tested at 1/320 and 1/2 power, and the shutter is darkening the bottom of the frame.
Oct 5, 2016 13:20:06 #
Oct 5, 2016 13:35:52 #
photoman022
Loc: Manchester CT USA
You were shooting in manual mode. What shutter speed did you set? I shoot in manual 95+% of the time (I shoot aperture and shutter priority when it suits my purpose). My EFIX data does not always (note: does NOT always) reflect the reality of my manual settings. Don't ask me why because I don't know.
Oct 5, 2016 14:07:58 #
AndyT wrote:
Have done photography for many years, not a lot wi... (show quote)
Why did you use f/22? A D7100 starts image diffraction around f/7.1. By f/22, most images are pretty soft. Great depth of field, but as if you used a softar filter.
Sorry, I can't help with your EXIF question.
Oct 5, 2016 14:14:19 #
photoman022 wrote:
You were shooting in manual mode. What shutter speed did you set? I shoot in manual 95+% of the time (I shoot aperture and shutter priority when it suits my purpose). My EFIX data does not always (note: does NOT always) reflect the reality of my manual settings. Don't ask me why because I don't know.
Well if the Exif data was correct, I set it for 1/350. It was a situation with little time for posing with my 10 day old granddaughter being pulled out of a warm bath, hence the reason for the crazy settings. I wouldve normally set the speed for no faster than 250. You think the data could be wrong?
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