Night scene emulation for night architecture

[newindustar]

I have this little Olympus point and shoot that has a night scene mode where it

leaves the shutter open some seconds before it fires the flash to get in some

ambient light before it throws its little flash in very dark conditions. I want

to do this with Nikon film.

 

I tried to get some of this with a N2020 and SB-23. The N2020 AF only shots at

125th with a ttl flash on. I shot a roll with the 23 on ttl and the lens at max

apeture of 3.5. Even wide open I got mainly foreground flash exposure only with

anything more that 15 feet away going black.

 

How can I emulate a night scene mode and are there any film Nikons that had it?

I know people were happy when N80 dropped the special modes but I want it for

this special purpose.

 

Does any one recall those modes and which cameras had them and if they would

work for what I am trying to do? I really need some seconds of exposure and a

tripod then a burst of flash.

 

I do have a F100 and N80 but normal balanced fill flash is not enough ambient

exposure I don't think even at 1/60 and f1.8. Also I don't want to take my

expensive gear on those walks.

[bob_sunley]

Take the flash off the camera, set to manual. Set the shutter speed to bulb, hold the shutter open for a few seconds, push the test fire button on the flash and then close the shutter.

[todd peach seattle, washi]

Your F100 (and probably your N80, not sure) should make short work of this in slow/rear sync mode. Probably start in 'A' mode at wide open or one to two stops down. In slow/rear sync, that should let the ambient light dictate a multi-second exposure, and then the flash will pop at the end.

 

If you want a cheap camera with those features, you could look at an N90 or N90s. Unfortunately, that specific feature (control of rear sync) migrated from camera to flash in those years, so it can be a little confusing finding a flash / camera pair that mates up the controls correctly. I might be over-thinking this; an F100 era SB-28 might work very well on an N90.

[jim_momary]

The N80 does have slow and rear synch capability with flash. Jim M.

[hugh_davis]

The SB-24 flash unit has a front/rear curtain sync switch on it; should be usable on an N2020 even. Works pretty well on the F4 and N8008/F-801 series. The control migrated to the camera body thereafter, probably because of the pop-up flashes that began to appear with the N50 and N70. While the N90 series doesn't have a pop-up, the control is in the camera. HWD

[todd peach seattle, washi]

I can't speak with any authority on whether the SB-24 will rear sync with a N2020, but I'll add a note of caution. A 'rear' sync switch on a flash unit is no guarantee that a given body/flash combo can do it. The body has to be capable of sending the rear sync pulse.

<p>

The 'evolution' of rear sync on Nikon bodies and flashes goes something like this (somebody jump in and correct me):

<p>

<ul>

<li>Rear sync first appears on the N8008 and SB-24; the controls for it are on the SB-24

<li>Continues in the same way on the F4 with SB-24

<li>Nikon intros the N90 and SB-25. They signal that they're changing direction by having slow / rear sync controls on *both* the N90 and the SB-25, a versatile but confusing compromise.

<li>Hot on the heels of the N90 is the N90s, with its associated SB-26 flash. Similar to the N90/SB-25, slow / rear sync is controllable from either the body or the flash.

<li>The F100 / S-28 combo comes out. The slow / rear sync controls are now firmly in the body.

</ul>

<p>

So from my way of thinking, using newer flashes on cameras that pre-date the N8008 probably means no rear sync capability.

[newindustar]

Good responses, thanks - I did read up on slow sync once but did not think of it for this application. That'll be my first try using the N80 which does have it on the body as I recall. Then I can use the SB-23 in ttl. I've come close to getting a N90 to get the high shutter speed and having without subjecting my F100 to less than ideal environments. I feel a bit foolish having a many Nikon 35mm as I do. I guess the N80 brings so little these days it does not matter much.

 

Was there a Nikon that actually had a bunch of modes on it?

[todd peach seattle, washi]

The N90(s) models had scene modes on them, though not a 'night scene'. The N70 had a night scene mode. The N70 had a radically different (for the time) interface on it, and for a lot of folks it was a 'love it or hate it' thing.

 

I was surprised to find that the N80 did not have scene modes. I thought it would be more in character on that camera than it was on the N90(s). Most of the folks who shot N90(s) bodies were looking for state of the art AF and good motor speed, and I would speculate that the vast majority of them never accessed the scene modes at all. The N80 was targetted at a lower priced market that might actually use the scene modes....

[newindustar]

I'll take a look at the N70 and N90. They are probably giving them away. I think I was interested in one version of the N90 that had a 8000 shutter. I never quite understood how people thought those high speeds were useless. I like to be able to shoot as wide apertures in daylight with if 200, 400, or 800 happen to be loaded. Having to always shoot at one or two ev choices in old cameras with 500 to 1000 top speed is limiting now that very slow films are not common. Well that's off topic. Thanks