National PE-3650 strobe w/ Bronica SQ-A

[jim_peterson2]

<p>I'm trying to get an old flash to work with my recently acquired Bronica SQ-A.<br>

The Bronica has the speed grip w/hot shoe and the TTL viewfinder.<br>

The flash is an old Japanese National PE-3650 grip strobe that I picked up for about $15. It includes the strobe, a bracket, external battery packs, WA diffuser, and various cables and a hotshoe adapter with light meter built in. And it seems to fire just fine.<br>

When I hooked it up to the bronica I attached the hotshoe adapter to the speedgrip (it has dials to select ASA and aperture) and plugged that cable into the back of the flash unit. The flash fires when I release the shutter so I know its working. But if I have the camera set to aperture priority mode the camera doesn't seem to know that a flash is hooked up and still selects shutter speed based on TTL measurements of ambient light.<br>

Is there any way I can get the flash to work accurately in aperture priority mode? On the back of the flash there is a switch that selects green, orange or M mode. I presume green is low power auto, orange is high power auto and M is manual.<br>

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>The Bronica has leaf-shutter lenses doesn't it? If so, then it should be able to sync with the flash at any shutter speed, so it's OK if it's choosing the shutter speed that gives correct exposure for the aperture you have chosen. The shutter speed has no effect on the exposure from the flash. Flash exposure is determined only by the aperture. If the camera is setting the shutters speed too slow to handhold without blurring the background then just switch to manual instead of aperture priority.</p>

[paul_duerinckx]

<p>Unless it's a dedicated system, which in your case it isn't, it will not work properly on aperture priority. You will need to use manual exposure control either with the flash set to auto or manual. Aperture on the camera determines the flash exposure in conjunction with the flash setting on the flashgun. You can set a higher speed on the camera in order to gain a flash-dominated exposure or you can drag the shutter to bring some ambient light into the image.</p>

[jim_peterson2]

<p>Craig and Paul; thanks for the quick replies. So let's say I'm indoors and want to shoot some candids at a party. I would like to shoot at f/8. I think this is what I do.<br>

1. Set the camera to manual mode and stop down to f/8. (when I half press the shutter release the in-camera meter will display what it thinks is the proper shutter speed. In this case it will probably be something like 1/2 second...)<br>

2. On the remote sensor, which is attached to the hotshoe, select the appropriate ASA and turn f/stop dial to f/8.<br>

3. Set flash to auto, either green or orange.<br>

My questions are as follows:<br>

A. How do I determine an appropriate shutter speed? Obviously the camera light meter's recommendation of 1/2 second is too slow. If I select something like 1/60 second will the flash adjust the output accordingly?<br>

B. The scale on the back of the camera says that at ASA100 and f/8 the distance is 4.5 meters. Does this mean exposure will only be correct for subjects that are 4.5 meters away? Or is 4.5m a maximum distance?</p>

[paul_duerinckx]

<p>For a given ISO that you set on the flashgun's calculator dial, the orange setting should give a specific aperture, the green setting another aperture. You need to set the aperture on your lens to the aperture indicated by the orange or green setting, whichever suits your needs. Let's say that the orange setting indicates f8. You would set f8 on your lens, shoot and the exposure from about 1 metre up to the maximum distance should be correct. The auto settings work with a sensor that measures the light reflected back from the subject and will cover a range. You can use the flash manually but will have to use the right aperture for the camera (flash) to subject distance.</p>

[jim_peterson2]

<p>So how do I calculate the correct shutter speed when using the flash? I understand there is some leeway as you explained in your first response, but how do I know what the limits are, and if flash output is only determined by aperture setting don't I run the risk of over or under exposing by using different shutter speeds?<br>

Sorry for all the uninformed questions...</p>

[paul_duerinckx]

<p>The Bronica has leaf-shutter lenses meaning that there is no upper limit providing the flash duration isn't shorter than the speed you are shooting at. Useful if using flash outdoors when you want to underexpose the ambient light and can go up to 1/500 sec.</p>

<p>You need to be aware of the ambient light by taking an exposure reading. Say you're shooting at F8 for the flash. You measure the ambient at F8 and get say, 1/8 sec. If you maintain a higher speed on the camera, the exposure will be correct for flash (given the usual limitations) but under on the ambient. If you drop the shutter speed from say 1/125 toward 1/8 you will gradually introduce more ambient and this will give you more and more detail in the background and fill-in the lit foreground reducing the harshness of the exposure. If the ambient is a different colour temperature, this coloration will gradually creep in e.g., tungsten light on daylight film will bring in a strong yellow/orange cast in the background and a hint of this colour on your foreground although this will still be dominated by the 'correct' colour of the flash. Get within a stop of your chosen flash aperture (1/15) - 1 stop under on ambient - and you may get flash-blur with a moving subject or if the camera is moving. Go to 1/8 and your overall exposure will be slightly over because the flash is giving you F8 at 1/8 and the ambient is also giving F8 at 1/8. To correct this you could change your aperture to F11 at 1/8 and your ambient would now be dominant and the flash fill-in (-1 stop, 2:1 ratio), however if handheld, you would get more image blur. In other words, in the example I've given, your shutter speed range is realistically 1/15 and above depending on the amount of flash and/or ambient you want in the picture.</p>

[jim_peterson2]

<p>Thank you Paul! That is very helpful. I guess I didn't realize how much flexibility you get in terms of shutter speed. So realistically, if I am shooting people indoors I just need to set the aperture appropriately based on the data on the back of the flash and then pick a shutter speed that is fast enough to avoid image blur. I will soon give this a try.</p>

[paul_duerinckx]

<p>Test it out by varying your shutter speed at and faster than the ambient light in a situation you envisage using this system and the results should confirm the best settings for your purpose.</p>