Looking for an idiot's guide to using the SB600 flash

In the year since I bought my D70 I really feel that my photography

has progressed, but one area where I'm still not happy is flash

photography. I bought the SB-600 back in January this year but to be

honest I haven't really got the hang of it. I don't find the manual

very enlightening. Can anyone recommend (or link to) a good guide to

using a speedlight, written for the beginner, discussing exposure and

how to configure both speedlight and the camera body? I usually have

the SB600 set to TTL-BL using aperture priority on the body. I'm

finding that most of my shots using flash are underexposed, but it's

unpredictable.

The Lantern books on various cameras have a good section on using flashes by that manufacturer. The manual tells you how to do something, a good book (and experience) tells you when.

Since you have a digital camera, my suggestion would be to spend a few hours and just

*play* with it. Try various settings, take photographs of your dog, and just experiment...

Chris,

 

I don't have a D70/SB600, but use an F100/SB28. However, I think the flash modes are largely the same.

 

My understanding is the default mode, TTL-BL, is balanced "fill flash" meaning the output is set to fill in shadows, or reduce contrast but the ambient light is still the primary source for exposure. The flash put out some amount equal to or slightly less than the ambient level (0 to -1 stops less than ambient). If you are using aperture priority, the camera will limit the shutter speed to 1/60 to 1/500 second unless you set "slow sync". If the metered exposure would require a shutter speed longer than 1/60 you will be underexposed, and since in TTL-BL the flash won't put out more than the ambient light you get overall underexposure.

 

TTL-BL works fine when you are outdoors in good light and just want to fill shadows. Otherwise I would suggest one of the following;

 

1. Set the flash to "regular TTL". This will allow the flash to put out as much light as needed for full exposure when it is the primary light source. Some people seem to suggest using this mode for everything and deciding on your own balance ratio for fill flash.

 

2. Set the camera to manual exposure mode, choose whatever aperture and shutter speed you want as long as they will not overexpose the ambient light. This forces the flash into standard TTL - it will give out enough light (subject to its guide number) to give proper exposure and be the primary source of light if needed.

 

3. Set slow or rear sync, put the camera on a tripod. This will give you proper ambient exposure, and even with TTL-BL you should have proper exposure. However since the shutter speed may be long you could have blurry photos if anything moves as the flash is not the primary source of light and therefore cannot "freeze" the scene. This may be effective however if your background is several stops brighter than the foreground, such the the flash illuminates the foreground fully but the background being brighter and farther away is exposed based on the natural light.

 

As for why it has been hit and miss I suspect it is because some of your shots have had nearly enough natural light for exposure, so the balanced fill flash may have been "close enough" to proper exposure.

 

As for a guide, Thom Hogan's (bythom.com) books tend to be clear and well written, his flash guide is pre-digital but I suspect his D70 manual would cover this.

 

And of course as was previously suggest, you're shooting digital so the cost of experimenting is nothing.

 

John

Whatever you do, do NOT get one of those "cheatsheets" people sell on Ebay for like $7. Its nothing more than small two-sided laminated instruction manual. You learn nothing from it. I got one once for my SB-28 and felt so ripped off.

John, thank you, that little explanation has already helped me more than several months of experimentation on my own.

 

"Just playing" is all well and good but unless I know what I'm doing then it's rather hit and miss and I can't reproduce good results on demand.

 

I think I had misunderstood TTL-BL. I'm going to stick to 'plain' TTL in future for all but fill flash.

Chris, Try this...Tape a small white card to the top of your flash and then adjust the head so it's at a 45 degree angle. I like to reduce flash power by 1/4 ev. Shoot and shoot some more. Look at your results and adjust flash power till you get the what you like.

This is some good stuff... but I have a few questions I have a D70 SB800 and and I set the fstop to F11 as John Crossley instructed in the above, but when I try to set the shutter speed to 1/60 it says bulb... I am a newbie what does bulb mean? also please expalin why to use rear curtain. Thanks in advance for your help

Ernie

Ernie,

 

Bulb usually means a long exposure (seconds to minutes) that is timed by the photographer, that is the shutter stays open as long as the release is pressed. I don't have a D70 so I can't answer why it is switching to bulb.

 

As for rear sync, normally the flash goes off as soon as the shutter is fully open - but the light is very brief 1/1000 - 1/10,000 sec. Exposure continues after this, but usually the light of the flash outweighs the other expose so it does not matter.

 

If you photograph something with bright highlights, such as a car or cyclist at night - the flash would catch the car at the beginning but the headlights would continue to expose until the shutter closed - seeming to lead in front of the car. Rear sync fires just before the shutter closes, so the headlights would move across the frame until the flash fired and froze the entire car in the picture. It gives a more normal appearance of motion with the lights trailing behind.

 

I found this link that has photos illustrating some of these modes:

 

http://www.vividlight.com/articles/3311.htm

 

John