Manual Flash settings for street photography

<p>Hello!<br>

I have canonet ql17 giii and sunpack mx112 flash.<br>

This flash don't have any adjustments. On/Off button only.<br>

Everything I have are this info on the back of the flash. And I can't understand a bit how to use this information.<br>

<img src="http://i33.fastpic.ru/big/2012/0403/c3/31bfb2995abafbf262268175b69c74c3.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="421" /></p>

<p>The question is how to use it with different light situations and with different distances to the subject.<br>

I have gossen luna-pro F which can measure the flash light. So I can make the measuring, but how can I calculate exposure for the different distanses to the subject? <br>

Thank you!</p>

The flash's guide number (in this case, I believe, 12m/40ft with ISO 100 film - adjust according to your effective film speed) divided by the distance to your subject gives you the aperture (rounding down if necessary) to use for correct exposure.

 

The flash has a chart on it t let you work out suitable aperture by film speed and subject distance.

<p>BTW, what external cable I can use to camunicate flash and canonet?</p>

<p><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=4470462">Jean-Yves Mead</a>, I didn't get it.<br>

If I have 400 iso film for example. What should I do? )</p>

<p>The table on the back is a guide number calculator so you don't have to do the math. For ISO400, use the far right column. Use the right side row that corresponds to your distance. The intersection is the f/stop you should use. So if you are 4 meters away, use f/5.6.</p>

I believe that the far right column on that printed table gives you ISO 400.

<p>I don't see an output jack for a cable in your picture. If there isn't one, you can get a little square cable adapter which the flash base plugs into and it either has a standard cable attached (usually 7-8 inches long) or it has a standard cable output socket, in which case you can attach whatever length cable you want. </p>

<p>ASA - American Standards Association.<br>

ISO - International Standards Organization.</p>

<p>I believe ISO adopted the same scale for film and digital equivalents as ASA.</p>

 

<p>If it's for street photography, I suggest leaving the flash at home. A manual flash works by having your camera set at its flash sync speed and then adjusting the aperture to the fixed flash power. You get the aperture you need to use by using the guide number and the table on the back of the flash (or you can calculate it). It's entirely based on distance.<br>

Obviously, it's going to have to be pretty leisurely street photography, or, you are going to have to settle on a distance you expect your main subject to be from the camera and pre-set the exposure accordingly.</p>

<p><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=1562370">Stephen Lewis</a> , can't find any kind of adapter for this flash.<br>

something like that?<br>

<a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/SC-2-Hot-Shoe-PC-Sync-Cord-Socket-Flash-Adapter-Black-/300676615811?pt=Camera_Flash_Accessories&hash=item4601b90e83#ht_1629wt_1396">http://www.ebay.com/itm/SC-2-Hot-Shoe-PC-Sync-Cord-Socket-Flash-Adapter-Black-/300676615811?pt=Camera_Flash_Accessories&hash=item4601b90e83#ht_1629wt_1396</a><br>

Will this work for me?</p>

<p>Yes, Ilya, that is what I was referring to. Your flash unit mounts onto the adapter shoe connecting the positive and negative pins and routes them to a standard cable connector. The thing to beware of is to make sure the flash connector on your camera body matches the one on the cable.</p>

<p>Street photography= no flash, shots taken unnoticed. That's the skill. Anyone can say "smile" and click. But for true street candids, they have to be candid.<br>

Now everyone will flame me, but if you look at the origins of the genre, you will agree with me. CB wrote at length about the true technique that he started, in one of his books. <br>

I spent a day in security-ruined London a couple of months ago with a colleague who was true to the CB genre. He shot three rolls of Tri X and not one subject knew their photo had been taken. It was amazing.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Now everyone will flame me, but if you look at the origins of the genre, you will agree with me.</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

If you look at "the origins of the genre," you will find that your statements are hardly true. I highly recommend the book <em><a href="http://www.joelmeyerowitz.com/photography/book_6.asp">Bystander: A History of Street Photography</a></em>. First of all, you will find out that there were street photographers before HCB. Second, you will find that many street photographers, including HCB, were often noticed and even took street photos, including some quite famous ones, with people looking directly into the camera. Just as an example, <a href="http://theblogbloglog.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/henry-cartier-bresson_alicante.jpg?w=600">this</a> is one of HCB's more well-known street photos. I don't think he was unnoticed.</p>