New flash for my 35mm film camera

[landon_christensen]

Hello All,

 

I got a new hot shoe mount flash for my slr today. It was used & came with no user manuals. I am just wondering as to what the difference is

between manual & auto mode?

 

Thanks,

Landon

[chrisnielsen]

<p>Assuming Auto isn't TTL mode, it probably has a sensor on the front of the flash that it uses to determine the right amount of flash to use. Manual mode is exactly that - manual. You manually set the amount of power you want to use. Hard to know what to set it to without a flash meter tho</p>

[luis_g]

<p> In <strong>manual</strong> , it flashes at the same output (unless you have controls to cut down power by 1/2, 1/4, etc) and the user adjusts the aperture depending on the distance to the subject.</p>

<p> In <strong>auto, </strong> the flash begins emitting light, and<strong> </strong> there's a little window in the unit that detects light bouncing off the subject which goes to a sensor, and when it reaches its quench limit, it turns the light emission off. This limit corresponds to a particular f/stop for a given ISO. As long as you are within the range for the unit's power, exposure is determined by the unit's sensor for you. This is a primitive way of doing things, by no means anywhere as accurate as a dedicated distance-input unit, but it works well enough in actual practice, and is more convenient than doing it manually, though it is nowhere as precise as the latter.</p>

<p> If you look at your flash dial (usually on the side of the unit), you'll see some kind of indicator to the auto level (usually there's more than one, and they're color-coded). You match the color to ISO & F/stop to the sensor's color code.</p>

<p> Usually, flash unit GN numbers tend to be optimistic by around one stop.</p>

<p> </p>

[hjoseph7]

What flash, What camera ?

[landon_christensen]

The flash is a KAKO AUTO-201; The camera is a PENTAX ME.