flash questions

Here�s my background: I have over 9 years of photographic experience

both in a commercial lab (color, b/w, e-6) and shooting clients for

products, modeling, musical group�s cds etc. I�m not an amateur but

am not exactly a high-end professional either. I would rate myself as

an entry professional. I understand the value of lighting,

composition and technical f-stops/shutter speeds, quality film/lab. I

strive for natural lighting as I feel this is the best lighting for

my situations. I�m currently looking into wedding photography and

flash photography in general. I shoot with a n90s and various D

lenses.

I borrowed a friend�s sb-28 and was sickened by the harshness of the

light. I used the setup indoors with 9 ft. ceilings and shot straight

on candid group shots with nps film. I was using this as a test to

see what to expect from flash units. As I�ve been reading up on

flashes I notice many people use a bracket and some type of diffuser

over the head and tilt it. So, I�m building my set up and have just

purchased a stroboframe and sc-17 cord and am now looking at what

flash unit I should get. I�ve heard of wedding photographers using

two units: one to light the subject and the other for background.

This seems like a reasonable setup, but I would imagine you could use

a smaller flash like the sb22 for the subject flash and a stronger

one for the background?

This is something I was thinking about, and may not work at all but

here goes: taking a couple of lightstands with diffused bba bulbs to

light the general area. Then flashing with the tilted head on the

flash and some sort of diffuser on the head of the strobe. This may

be much more trouble of set-up/tear-down than it�s worth in a wedding

situation. Although, it would only be used in the pre-wedding shots

that involved group pictures.. and not in the reception. I�ve seen

the omnibounce and was told this will diffuse the flash while

restricting the coverage depth to about +/-15 ft.

Now, looking at flashes.. the sb-26 looks very similar to the 28 and

can purchase one second hand for around $175. I�m not restricting

myself from any flash set-up or combination of several flash units.

I'm mostly concerned with price and would like to keep the flash unit

(s) to about $200-275 second hand. If anyone has some suggestions on

this matter I would really appreciate it.

The SB-26 is as perfect a match for the N90s as the SB-28 is. It's a little heavier than the SB-28, and it includes a wireless slave function if you want that.

If you think you might wander into Nikon's digital SLRs sometime in the next couple of years, the truly inexpensive move would be to get an SB-80DX instead paying half as much for a used SB-26. But if digital isn't on the radar, and if $175 will get you a nice SB-26 today, go for it. It's a fine unit. I have an SB-28 for my N90s and like it a lot, but if I had seen a nice clean used SB-26 for $175 at the time, I'd have saved $100 and chosen the -26 without hesitation.

If you found the SB-28 too harsh the SB-26 will also be too harsh in the same setup.

Using an Omnibounce will help some if ceilings are low enough for bounce flash. It won't help much when the flash head is aimed directly ahead at your subjects, and in fact I find it tends to create significant underexposure in that straight-ahead mode (on my SB-28). Probably screws up the camera's fancy 3D matrix metering preflash algorithms. In bounce mode or 45-degree mode preflash isn't a factor so the Omnibounce is your buddy in those situations.

Brackets are a good thing for better control of shadows.

If you really could get nice soft light from 4 AA batteries and a 10 cm reflector, nobody would be using $1,500 kits of monolights with umbrellas and softboxes, right? So don't be too unkind in your assessment of hot shoe speedlights. They do work well within the limits that are designed into 'em.

Have fun,

You pay for two things in Nikon flashes: durability and metering

options. Neither of these things gets you soft lighting.

Put the best Nikon flash on your hot shoe, aim it directly

at the subject, and you'll get the harsh flat light of

a (perfectly exposed) P&S snapshot. To

get soft, high quality light, at a minimum, you've got to

get the flash off camera, and bounce or diffuse it with

umbrellas of softboxes. Often you should use multiple lights.

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When you use multiple lights off camera, you lose most of the

benefits of the fancy metering options on the Nikon flashes.

So you'll be ahead of the game if you get any durable,

reliable flash units, put them in manual, and use a flash

meter. Vivitar 283s are old standards, Sunpak 383s offer

better manual controllability, and Metz/Quantum/Lumedyne

make flash units with more power. You'll want more power

for group shots with umbrellas, because most battery

flashes don't have enough oomph to get a reasonable

aperture for a medium sized group once you use a modifier

to soften the light. A small studio lighting

system would be ideal, if you're willing to cart it around

and set it up. For $200-$275 per flash, you can get some

Alien Bees monolights brand new. They'll have more power

than any battery operated flash, they'll recycle quicker,

and they'll have modelling lights.

Scott,

Great advice posted here so far, but if you find a used SB-26 in great shape for around $175, it is a bargain.

Both Adorama and B&H charge $275+ for a 9+ or mint used one. This is more than it cost new when it first came out, I think. I purchased a new SB-80 for the same price that Adorama wanted for a mint-used SB-26.