What flash would work well with the following 4 cameras?

- Nikon D80 - Nikon F100 - Polaroid 600SE - Converted Polaroid 110b

 

It will be used for indoor low light photography.

 

Thanks, Neil

Vivitar 285 or similar

the vivitar 285 is a great choice,

I would have a look at the SB600 and SB800 though.

i use my canon speedlight 580 on my canon cameras and my mamiya 645. it syncs with the

645 but doesnt do TTL. so perhaps any nikon flash that will trigger with all 3.

 

i also have vivitar 283 flashes and i think the 85s have this same feature, they have a special

sync port and wire that locks in well to the flash for reliable triggering. ive had bad luck

triggering them with hotshoe to PC cords, really bad luck.

Thanks for the responses.

 

Having given it more thought, my preference is to get a flash that will work well with my Polaroid cameras as these are what I use to a much greater extent.

 

With that in mind, TTL is no longer an issue. What I would be looking for is a flash that would have auto aperture settings that go down to f/2.8 or at very least f/4.

 

I would also like to get hold of a unit that has a flexible variable power output as I will be using the flash simply to cast a soft light on subjects rather than fully illuminating them - harsh or strong light would be detrimental in my chosen shooting locations. I will use a diffuser to help combat this.

 

The flash will be used almost exclusively for low light indoor photography (bars/clubs etc...) where the subject will only be a matter of feet from the camera and where I don't to blast the subject with light.

 

Thanks again for any help given.

283 with VP-1 or 285. I settled on 283s because the VP-1 offers a wider range of power (down to 1/64) than the 285's variable power setting.

Vivitar 285 have a digital version now.It will be good for your Nikon D80 camera as it gives low Sync voltage to the Digital cameras.

The 238 with the vp-1 does look to be a possibility, my concern though is that in order to get the exposure correct (for my tastes) I will have to judge the flash level myself regardless of what flash I use.

 

Given the lack of options when using a Polaroid 110 camera with fast film (type 667 3000iso) with apertures of usually f/4 or f/5.9 @1/30 in the conditions that I am shooting, I'm not sure whether the flash will fire at a desirable level in auto mode.

 

I don't want to shoot using 400iso film then blast the subject with flash as one of my primary aims is to capture the ambient light of the venues - the problems arise due to the likes of gig lighting causing silhouetted figures, desirable sometimes but not ALL the time.

 

I am beginning to think that the best option will probably be to get some thing like the 283 with the VP-1 and go suss out what works and what doesn't. My thought is that if I am photographing a band memebr onstage for example and want a bit more light on the musician's face then I will just flash a small amount of light (exactly how small I'll have to learn over time) as I would rather the image was dark and slightly underexposed than beaming with light.

 

This probably seems like more hassle than it's worth but when it works it really works - when it doesn't, it's tragically bad. But bad is sometimes good in my eyes.

"Vivitar 285 have a digital version now.It will be good for your Nikon D80 camera as it gives low Sync voltage to the Digital cameras."

 

The 283 with VP-1 seemingly has greater power down capabilities and given the fact that I imagine these large flashes are going to be too powerful for what I require, I would think that the VP-1 would be pretty much essential for me.

 

One of my main concerns is that these flashes are not really manufactured to be used with 3200 high iso film (or so I believe) and therefore judging the exposure os going to be pretty difficult at first.

 

I have been trying to find smaller flashes that have a high level of versatility, i.e. a number of auto aperture settings and power down facilities but am not looking in the right places it seems as I'm not having much luck so far. It doesn't help that I'm new to this and still trying to get my head around the basics.

 

Thanks

Find yourself a SB24. Usually you can get them pretty cheap and you'll get TTL with the Nikons and a great auto and manual flash function. I believe they'll go 24mm wide and will zoom by manual button. I think they have 5 power settings. Great flash for the prices nowadays.

Thanks, I think I'm sorted.

Waine,

 

The SB24 will not do TTL with the D80 it will however with the do it withe the F100.

 

As for the other camera's it will do Auto flash where you set the aperture and stay within a distance. Because the Nikon flashes let you also dial in flash compensation you can go with some fill flash and mostly ambient light.

 

My guess is that an SB600 would be the best allrounder and if the TTL for the D80 is not that important then the SB28 would also be a good choise and cheap to find.

I don't know the vivitars but I hear good things about them and they should be ok for auto flash.

I think the SB600 has no "A" setting. I'm away at the moment and can't check.