F3HP with Metz 45CT1 for outdoor portrait

Hi, Next week-end I have to make outdour portraits from my little

niece and I am nervous because I usually never use flash. I will use

my F3HP with ISO200 print film and a Metz potato-masher 45CT1 for

fill-in to avoid ugly shadows in her face. From reading earlier

photo.net threads on the subject I *think* I understand a little and

wonder which of the two procedures below is the right one (it's all

so confusing to me) :

 

1) Choose the 1/80sec flash sync speed on the camera and determine

the corresponding aperture for the available light (for example

f/5.6). Select ISO400 on the flash for 1 stop under fill-in flash and

select f/5.6 from the five possible f/ values on the top of the flash

unit.

 

2) Or dial in the real ISO200 value on the flashgun and select one or

two f/ values lower (f/4 or f/2.8) amongst the five 'auto' apertures

on the calculator dial of the flashgun.

 

Which is the correct way to do this please? Thanks in advance for

your kind help.

Those are indeed the ways I would do it.

Some people even advice to underexpose two stops.

 

I always find it annoying that as soon as I connect my Metz 45cl4 on my F3 through a SCA connector (TTL), the meter of the F3 stops working. This means I have to do a light reading with the flash turned off, adjust settings on my F3 for correct exposure and then turn on the flash.

 

Therefor I find it sometimes easier to do fill-flash with the sync-contact on the F3. This way the shutter speed doesn't automatically go to 1/80 and the meter keeps on working.

 

I don't know if I change the ISO settings of the SCA adaptor to a higher value, the TTL metering will underexpose the flash-light. I should give it a try.

 

regards, Raf

Raf, thanks. The old 45CT1 that I have does not support SCA though - I will run it from the PC socket...

What would happen if I choose say 1/250th (with appropriate aperture for correct available lighting) on the F3HP and just give a mild burst from the flash ?

The biggest problem will be the flash sync of 1/80th. This would make me use a slower film than the ISO 200 that you are thinking of using. On a bright sunny day, with ISO 200, at that sync speed of 1/80th, the aperture would be somewhere between f/16 to f/22. That means that control over depth of field for selective focus would be harder to do. Portrait (usually) look better with a blown out background from a wider f-stop.

 

I love my F3, but for outdoor fill flash, I go to my FE2 or FM2, which allow a sync speed of 1/250th. Even so, I still use a slower film to give me more ability to shoot at wider apertures.

 

You might give some thought to shooting with natural light, and a reflector to fill in the shadows. It need not be fancy. A white poster board, or card board covered with crinkled aluminium foil work well. Just back light the subject, and use the reflector to bounce some light into the front at an olbique angle. An assistant can hold the reflector, moving it based on your verbal directions. This will allow you to shoot at any aperture / shutter speed combo you need, and will also allow you to see the effect of the fill in real time instead of when the film comes back.

<I>What would happen if I choose say 1/250th (with appropriate aperture for correct available lighting) on the F3HP and just give a mild burst from the flash ?</I><P>

 

If you shoot at a speed faster than the sync speed of 1/80th, the film will not be uncovered totally by the shutter for the duration of the flash, and part of it will not receive illumination from the flash. You need to use the sync speed or slower to assure a totally open shutter for flash.

Benny,

 

Don't use a shutter speed faster then the sync speed (1/80)otherwise only part of the frame will recieve flash exposure.

 

It sounds like you will not be using TTL flash. If this is the case then I would use your option 2.

 

Set the auto aperture on the flash to either one or two stops bellow the f stop you are using. Eg If your exposure is 1/80 @ f11 then set the flash to f5.6 to add a little fill (2 stop under) or add more fill (1 stop under) by selecting f8 as the auto aperture on the flash.

 

Hope this helps.

OOF background : That is a very good point Albert - I overlooked that. I did think about a reflector card instead of the flash however, and perhaps I will use that.

Re. using higher-than-sync speed : I thought (wrongly) that if the available light was dominant, a little fill-in flash burst at the wrong speed would just lighten the deepest shadows a bit without it being too obviously wrongly synch-ed... (= whishful thinking ;-)

Thanks Chris and the others. I think I will unload my FM2n mid-roll and use that body because of the higher sync speed and use option 2) as recommended. BTW, would my above options 1) and 2) give the same results anyway? When do you prefer one over the other? (sorry for these additional questions - I'm trying to understand...)

<I>...my FM2n mid-roll and use that body because of the higher sync speed,,,</I><P>

 

When I use my FM2, I use my Vivitar 283 for fill. I set the shutter speed to 1/250th, and then take a reading to get my aperture, say for example f/5.6. I then set the color coded dial on my flash to the f/4 position, which give a one-stop underexposure for the flash**, while of course the ambient light will be correct for the set exposure.<P>

 

** The flash will assume the lens is set to f/4, but in is really set to f/5.6. The flash's auto sensor will cut the light when the correct amount of light is blasted out for f/4, but the film will only get one-stop less.

Thank you Albert, that confirms what I thought but wasn't sure of.

Thanks to everyone.

Without dedicated TTL flash camera/flash systems I wing it, taking these factors into account:

 

1. Ambient lighting. If it's pretty bright outside that rules out the use of 400 or faster film if you're limited by the camera's 1/80 top sync speed.

 

For example, according to the Sunny 16 rule of thumb, with ISO 400 film you'd need to set your aperture at f/16 and shutter speed somewhere between 1/250 and 1/500. (The F3 can adjust shutter speeds steplessly - it just doesn't show in the viewfinder. And stepless speeds in AE mode may not be workable with fill flash.)

 

If you use a typical auto thyrister flash like the Vivitar 283 your choices of apertures in auto mode are limited, usually to just two auto settings and one manual setting.

 

The flash can handle a sync speed of 1/250, a fairly common maximum sync speed for many cameras. However the auto flash modes may suggest f/5.6 and f/8. While either setting would provide adequate flash to fill out the face, both will overexpose the background by two or more stops. This defeats the purose of fill flash, which is to balance the ambient lighting with subtle use of flash.

 

You could try to make foot adjustments by setting the flash to manual mode and placing yourself in a distance from the subject that enables using the desired aperture. This will ensure a standard, acceptable flash exposure.

 

Then, to balance the ambinet lighting you'll need adjust the shutter speed - not the aperture - to control the effect of ambient lighting.

 

Again, if you're using fast film on a bright sunny day and your camera has a maximum sync speed of 1/80, you're going to find it difficult to get a good balance between flash and background.

 

In this case, it's better to choose a slower film, an ISO 100 film that is more compatible with the application of the Sunny 16 guideline to balancing ambient and flash lighting. Set the Shutter speed as needed for flash sync - let's say 1/80 - and determine which aperture is recommended by the camera's TTL meter or a handheld meter for the ambient lighting - let's say, f/16. That gives you roughly a range of f/11-f/22 depending on the film's latitude.

 

Now, if 1/80 at f/16 produces a perfect flash photo but the background is too dark, there's only one way to lighten it up: adjust the shutter speed to a slower value. If it's necessary to go slower than 1/30 you should have a tripod and should remind your client to remain as still as possible during shooting.

 

Clear as mud? It's easier to try than explain. Hope this helps.

1 Choose the slowest film in order to obtain a great opening. (For instance 50 ASA)

 

2 Sync at 1/80

 

3 With the automatic flash settled at 50 ASA, attach a white handkerchief to the flash reflector (avoid to cover the sensor cell) so the flash will be dimmed.

 

The diffusion introduced by the handkerchief depends on the opacity or the material. As a rough guide let's say 1 stop for each thickness of the handkerchief.

 

Don't forget to separate the model from the background to obtain better DOF.

<I>If you use a typical auto thyrister flash like the <B>Vivitar 283</B> your choices of apertures in auto mode are limited, usually to just two auto settings and one manual setting.</I><P>

 

The 283 was the non-dedicated flash of choice for years. It offers 4 auto settings and manual. A camera with a sync speed of 1/250th and a Vivitar 283 can offer many options (4 stops in auto) as far as DOF variations during fill flash. With the F3, the limitation for outdoor fill is not the flash, but the sync speed of 1/80th, which makes the wider f-stops unusable.

Again, thanks for all the great inputs guys. I really appreciate it and I feel more confident now for Sunday's shoot.