Vivitar 283 & bounce

[screeny]

I have my 35mm film camera settings as follows: iso is correct (100), aperture

of the lens on F8, shutterspeed at 1/60 s. A vivitar 283 is on the hotshoe

setting auto mode F8 (blue) but set on bounce, straight up the ceiling. Did this

for a whole role (36) but somehow all came out too dark.

I'm a bit confused here. Ceiling was about 2,5 meter maybe 3 meter hgh, white.

With the flash on auto mode I thought the 283 should put out the correct amount

of light, even when bounced. images were all between 0,5 to 3 meters. Did I

miss anything in handling the 283 coorectly or could it be the unit is not ok?

[btmuir]

an auto thyrister (your 283) type flash is not designed to work too well with bounce.

 

With bounce you usually need to open 2 stops from what you would normally need. (this is

just a starting point due to ceiling/flash/subject distance, reflective properties of the bounce

surface etc.)

 

After you get to know your 283 you will get quite proficient at guessing what it is capable of

and these flashes are nice little work horses. I have a bunch and love em. Very versatile.

[Ken Katz]

The Vivitar 283 works just fine bouncing the flash off the ceiling in full automatic. I think the problem you had was that it ran out of power due to the F8 aperture, 100 ISO, and the loss of output when you bounce off a ceiling (vs straight ahead flash). The flash has a green "good exposure" indication that lights up for a few seconds after you take the photo. I would guess that you were not getting the "good exposure" green light that day.

 

I would suggest you either (a) use faster film, like ISO 400, and/or (b) shoot at a wider aperture. You should also check that the settings produce a "good exposure" indication on the flash. If not, you need to use a wider aperture, faster film, or don't bounce the flash.

 

I have used a 283 and many other vintage autoflash units estensively, and primarily bounce off a ceiling or wall, all with good results.

[rex_smith2]

Bruce you are correct that you loose about 2 stops of light when you bounce off a 8' white ceiling.

But read what MI said - ISO 100 blue setting @ F8

on a 283 the max distance (with out bounce) is just 15 feet

not nearly enough power for a trip to the ceiling and back.

 

MI you must set the 285 to the yellow or red setting.

 

BTW thyristers & 283s do a good job with bounce

- I have been shooting with 283s since 1978 -doing bounce.

 

you just have to use them in the right range.

 

( I would suggest an ISO 200 or 400 film if you need a smaller f stop.)

 

Have fun -take pictures

[screeny]

thx for the answers.I guess I need to do some controlelled experiment to see what's going on but your input give me some great starting points.

Also I have been thinking about the following: could it be that I lost to much power/light because I bounced 90 degrees (straight uo to the ceiling) instead of under an angle of 60 degree or 45 degree? Now that I think of it with 100 iso, F8 that simply shooting straight up against a ceiling you loose more or less half of the light/power as...

 

time for a testrun.

thx again

[picturesque]

The folks above are correct--you didn't have enough power although the auto thyristor sensor would have made the compensation automatically. If you figure the actual distance to the ceiling and back to your subject, you'll have an approximate distance by which to go. If the maximum auto distance the flash is capable of is less than that, you have a problem. It does make a difference how the head is set. If the head is set 90 degrees up, it may not make a difference for subjects close to you, but for subjects from about 6 feet and beyond, you will get less light reaching the subject. Best to tilt the head so that the flash beam travels out slightly when it hits the ceiling.

[nam_nguyen]

There's one more possibility that you should check. It seems you are doing this in a room with surrounding walls. If your subject stands in front of a white wall, the auto thyristor might be fooled and cuts off flash too early, resulting in underexposure. This happens because the light bouncing off the white background wall making the sensor compute the exposure for the white wall, not your subject.

 

Since the Vivitar 283 does not have flash exposure compensation, in this case you have to open up at least one F stop on your lens to compensate.

 

Good luck.