How to Cause Flash when its too bright to need one?

[brad_n]

<p>I'll bet no one has considered this question.</p>

<p>I take photos of boats underway on the water. One of my business model problems is how to make sure that people notice me. The other day was dreary so I put my 540 flash and better beamer on the K20D and used it in TA mode, HS mode as face-fill on jetskis and such. Low and behold, many more people noticed that I was taking their picture.</p>

<p>Normally, I shoot moving boats at ISO 400, F8.0, in AV mode with a Sigma 24-300 Zoom with a circular polarizer. That ends-up with a shutter speed of 1/500 to 1/2000. Mostly that is just a habit that works for me: I'm just an AV kind of guy. Now, what I'd like to do is make sure the flash goes off. I'm thinking that going to TA isn't going to work because its too fast for the shutter. Manual mode isn't practical because I am changing sun-direction to fast and over (sometimes) greater than 180 deg range.<br>

Any ideas? Maybe I can put the flash on an extender and electrically defeat something? Is there a "stupid" mode on the flash where it just flashes?</p>

[michael_elenko]

<p>Brad, isn't there a test button on that flash that you can use to get attention?</p>

<p>ME</p>

[brad_n]

<p>Duh..... That's at least one thing I haven't thought of. That would require me to know when the flash is ready, and let's be honest, who can see those indicators in the viewfinder? I was envisioning something that would let me just fire away and the flash would go off whenever it got charged, i.e. no thinking required on my part. </p>

[rod_hilner]

<p>Why not use the cameras built in flash?<br>

It will fire as long as it is popped up and charged in any mode except the 'green' mode (where it fires only when needed)</p>

[mcmanamey]

<p>

 

<p>M mode will cause the exact same amount of flash every time, regardless of what ever the camera is doing.</p>

<p>You can probably dial it down to save some battery and still get noticed.</p>

 

 

</p>

[pj_vesterback]

<p>"M mode will cause the exact same amount of flash every time, regardless of what ever the camera is doing."</p>

<p>Is that correct? Doesn't a P-TTL flash adjust it's output in all modes?</p>

[andrewg_ny]

<p>Shoot with flash comp dialed all the way down? If ambient light is as bright as you say it probably won't affect exposure much. Reduce effective output further by setting the flash head to a wider setting than required?</p>

[jpo3136b]

<p>If you cut the flash output to below 1/2, I'll bet you'll see a very fast recycle time.</p>

[personalphotos]

<p>Put the flash in HSS mode. You can use the camera mode you want as well as any shutter or aperture settings. It will fire although it won't do anything much for the photos because the shutter speed is so high. I am assuming that you want their attention and not really the flash for fill.</p>

[personalphotos]

<p>Patrick, Maria means (I think) is M mode on the flash. But M on the flash is not exactly what's needed here. If the flash is left in the normal sync mode the maximum your shutter speed can be is 1/180th. In HSS you can shoot at any speed/f-stop settings you want. Just expose for a normal daylight shot. The flash will fire no matter how bright the sun is.</p>

[brad_n]

<p>Good inputs. Good ideas. Now I need to go experiment. I'll let you know.</p>