Eos 1n and Sigma 500ST

I have been asked to take a few 'people shots' at a restaurant tomorrow

evening, but my usual photography is Large Format, and always with available

light only. It's quite an occasion, so the pressure is on!

I'll be shooting black and white HP5 Plus 400 film.

My plan, keeping everything simple, is to use AV mode, bounce the flash, and

use centre weighted metering. Any help if i'm way off the mark here would be

greatly appreciated.

Firstly: read, learn and inwardly digest <a href="http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/">this</a>.<p>

From this, you will gather that that in AV mode, Canon (d)SLRs expose for the ambient light, and use flash for fill-in. Unless you have a very fast lens, or plan to use a tripod with static people, you'll probably find that you haven't got enough light for this in the restaurant.<p>

You are better off (IMHO) in Manual (M) mode. Set the shutter speed to something suitable to avoid camera shake and/or subject motion blur, and then set the aperture to control the ambient light.<p>

If you have time to run a quick roll of film through the camera and practice before the event - all the better!<p>

Whether bounce flash will help will depend on the height of the ceiling.

Opening the aperture more will give you less depth of field. Sometimes that is useful too. It all depends on the situation.

There is no need to panic. You have to do your best.

Why don't you switch on to Digital SLRs. Yours problems would be much less. You can change the film speed (sensitivity) at your convenience and review the results on the LCD panel too.