I bought an speedlite flash & reflecter

[william_smith20]

<p>So This form has to questions, figure kill two birds with bunch of stones.<br>

speedlight: I just bough an Altura Photo AP-UNV1 Speedlite bundle it incudes wireless remote, softbox flash deffuser. </p>

<p>I am using an Nikkon D3000, never used an speedlite before in my years of doing photography. So I figured I would start and get a speedlite. Figured its time to work with some lights. I am going to an convention here shorty, I tried to take pictures and the pictures just came out so dark last year, that I didn't take any pictures. So Question is: When I use the speedlite do you have to adjust the speed of the camera or anything? I haven't gotten to speedlite to play around with it. </p>

<p>Reflecter: TOMTOP 24" 60cm 5 in 1(Gold, Silver, White, Black and Translucent)</p>

<p>I just bough this its on the way Hopefully lol.. But what is the benefits for gold, silver white, black and trans. of the relector.. I figure Gold give you an warmer light and silver just gives you an brighter light on the subject? what about the others<br>

Altura Photo AP-UNV1 Speedlite Flash Bundle </p>

[Jochen_S]

<p>I neither know my way around Nikons nor the flash you mentioned. - I searched it online and spotted <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Altura-Photo-AP-UNV1-Speedlite-Standard/dp/B00LNN13S6">link</a>. To me it seems like a primitive manual flash with various output levels. <br>

To use that mode successfully you have to divide 38 by flash - subject distance (in meters) to get the useable aperture at ISO 100 for full power usage.<br>

I would not be overly confident about the unit's skill to read out your camera's built in flash and reduce it's output power for proper exposure in slave mode #2*. - Trial and error according to histogram chimping are recommended. <br>

For a first speedlight I'd usually suggest a TTL controlled unit by either camera manufacturer or <em>reputable</em> 3rd party. - They can get a tad more expensive than what you bought but seem to work very conveniently. - I tried Pentax & Fuji so far for digital. - In the old days with film (where TTL control worked differently) I was content with Metz or other SCA system flashes.<br>

I am not reluctant to use flashes that use their own autoexposure sensor and tell which f-stop I have to set on my camera, if I have to use them.<br>

With manual flashes I prefer ones which have a table to read out the guide number calculation from built in. <br>

I guess the tiny softbox your unit came with has mainly psycholiogical effects (i.e. soothing you) when it comes to shooting people with flash on camera, but it might be useful for shooting flowers. <br>

Summary: try reading up on the famous <a href="http://strobist.blogspot.de/">Strobist</a> blog, to learn how to use that thing you bought. <br>

For tipsy happysnapping convenience get a <em>Nikon</em> TTL flash, made for DSLRs or whatever the Nikon users recommend as usable too. <br>

There is nothing wrong about all manual flashes. - It takes just a bit of math and trial & error to use them successfully. <br>

*= disclaimer: I <em>don't</em> know the Altura brand personally. So my comments about expectable abilities are based upon "If it sounds too good to be true it <em>probably</em> isn't." <br>

Reflectors: Silver=neutral & reflective - Gold = warm tone reflective. / transparent is meant to be flashed through, to virtually enlarge your light source to smoothen wrinkles in your subject or similar surface issues. <br>

Black = opposite of a reflector. - if you are shooting next to a white wall (which is pretty reflective) and want deep shadows you lean the black reflector against the wall.<br>

Good luck! - Use of off camera flash can be a lot of fun!</p>

[dhbebb]

<p>Hi!<br>

I only know what I read here:<br>

https://www.amazon.com/Altura-Photo-AP-UNV1-Speedlite-Standard/dp/B00LNN13S6<br>

This seems to be quite a good unit, a generic speedlight with a guide number of 38. The GN means that in manual mode you divide 38 by the subject distance in meters and set this number as the aperture on your camera. You will need to set your camera to manual mode to make sure the shutter speed stays at or below the maximum synchronisation speed (likely to be 1/90). You will probably want to use the speedlight in one of its 2 auto modes S1 or S2, one of these will allow a smaller aperture to be used but will have a shorter working range (probably up to 5 meters or so). In each case you will need to set your camera to the appropriate aperture - you use the same setting all the time, the speedlight will modulate its light output accordingly. Check out the Amazon reviews, there's no such thing as a free lunch, and with a speedlight in this price range there will be a certain proportion of early failures and a general flimsy construction. This unit will be good to get some initial experience of speedlight work, after a while you may wish to buy a genuine Nikon unit, which will offer the more sophisticated TTL (through the lens) mode of operation. Cheaper than Nikon and almost as good is Metz. The 38 guide unit means your speedlight has a medium power rating, this is quite usable but a unit with a guide number of 60 or so will be more versatile.</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>maximum synchronisation speed (likely to be 1/90)</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

It's 1/200 on the D3000.</p>

[JosvanEekelen]

<p>S1 and S2 are slave modes, apparently it's manual only. A good flash to learn how to control the light but it will require a bit of study and experience. Seems a good deal when you can master the flash.</p>

[dhbebb]

<p><em>S1 and S2 are slave modes, apparently it's manual only.</em><br>

It is indeed plausible that "S" stands for slave, but I can't find anywhere a description of what the modes do - one slave mode I can understand, but two? If in fact the only option is true manual operation, where you read off your distance setting (great fun in the dark) and divide this into the guide number, setting the result as the aperture, this would be a giant PITA - I thought I'd seen the last of prehistoric speedlights of this kind 40 years ago. The OP might wish to consider returning the speedlight unused and instead buying a generic unit with automation like this (lots available, very cheap):<br>

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JESSOPS-400AF-CAMERA-FLASH-GUN-BRAND-NEW-BOXED-AUTOFOCUS-ELECTRONIC-/322163257429?hash=item4b026d3055:g:fv0AAOSw3YNXaae5</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Manual flashes were once pretty generic and could be used on many different cameras, etc.<br>

However, some older units have very powerful trigger voltage that can actually do harm to newer cameras, perhaps cumulative damage that is hard to see immediately (discussion for other cameras at <a href="http://www.botzilla.com/photo/G1strobe.html">link</a>). A way around this is a "<a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/245292-REG/Wein_W990560_Safe_Sync_Hot_Shoe_to.html">safe-sync" adapter</a>, but those are expensive enough to eliminate the advantage of a cheap older flash. <br>

I think the suggestion to start over with a flash unit that specifically says it works with your model of camera is a good one.</p>

[Bill C]

"It is indeed plausible that "S" stands for slave, but I can't find anywhere a description of what the modes do - one slave mode I can

understand, but two? "

 

David, in the link you supplied, the 4th photo shows instructions that S1 (slave 1) is for a manual master flash, whereas S2 is for a ttl

master flash. In other words, S2 mode presumably ignores a preflash.

 

The flash seems to be a manual, only, unit.

 

From what I see, it's not obvious what the steps the power adjustments are. To me, it's convenient to have them interms of full, half, one

quarter, etc. If these power steps are easy to set, you can memorize (or tape a "cheat sheet) on the flash unit several basic settings. For

example, 11ft = full power, 8 ft = half power, and 5.6 ft = one-quarter power. Note that these distances are the same as the standard f-stop

numbers, which means that the "inverse square law" of light fall off has your flash power halving or doubling at each distance. Anyway, if you

find the proper lens aperture, either by guide number or trial and error, then you can shoot at the distance vs power settings I listed. It

works, IF you can learn how to estimate these distances. (I used to shoot weddings like this with a Rolleiflex and manual flashes like

Graflex Stroboflash, so I know the technique works well; you just have to learn it and be disciplined when you shoot.)

 

But for the most part, I don't recommend for people today to get a manual flash outside of fixed studio setups (and then, use a flashmeter).

[william_smith20]

<p>this weekend I'm going to an convention, so I'm going be doing a lot of close up shots (as seen in my portfolio) should I have the flash quick or fast flash? (notsure if that makes sense, again never used an flash. I am assuming there is an setting for flash to last longer)</p>

[dhbebb]

<p>It seems that the collective brainpower of photo.net has identified your flash as manual only. The normal way of working with a manual flash would be to set your shutter speed to X sync 1/200 or slower - for example, 1/125 would fine - set the ISO to 100, not AUTO, and then adjust your aperture according to the subject distance by dividing this into the guide number (38) and setting this. For example, subject at 5 meters, 38 divided by 5 equals 7.6, set aperture to f7.6 (halfway between 8 and 5.6). Subject 3 meters, 38 divided by 3 equals 12.6, set aperture to just smaller than f11. Subject 2 meters, 38/2 = 19, aperture halfway between f16 and f22. With a flash with auto mode, you'd just set your aperture to the same value all the time and let the flash work it out, but your flash apparently doesn't have this mode.<br>

Since your flash seems to have a +/- control, I would presume you could leave the aperture setting constant and vary the power, something like full power at 5 meters, half power at 3 meters, 1/4 power at 2 meters. This is like no flash I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot, but it could well work - you will need to do a little experimentation.<br>

flash quick or fast flash - flashes with auto mode control their output by varying the duration of the flash - in manual mode, the flash duration is always the same. </p>

[James G. Dainis]

The built in flash you have on your Nikon D3000 would be fine for automatically taking close up shots with no need to figure guide number settings. I see no advantage what so ever for using a hot shoe mounted manual flash. The look of a direct flash will be where whether using the camera flash or hot shoe mounted flash, there is only about a two inch difference in the height between the two. Most people use flash brackets to get the flash away from the camera and off to the side to avoid the hard look of direct flash..

 

If you insist on using the flash mounted on the camera hot shoe then you could try tilting the flash head up at a 45degree angle with a white index card rubber banded onto the back of the flash so about three inches of card sticks out over the flash light. That will bounce the light to the subject rather than having direct flash. That will make things a bit smoother with softer shadows. You would have to open up the aperture one setting over the indicated guide number setting if you were to do that.

[Bill C]

[James] "The built in flash you have on your Nikon D3000 would be fine for automatically taking close up shots with no need to figure guide

number settings. I see no advantage what so ever for using a hot shoe mounted manual flash."

 

I pretty much agree with James except for one part. The miniature soft box flash attachment you got in your "bundle" can be pretty helpful

when you shoot shiny things (such as some of the costumes in your convention photos) from fairly close distances. The bare flash will

tend to give small and bright (blown out) reflections from shiny materials; the mini softbox will spread these out over a larger area, and

hopefully not blow out. (Try shooting some plastic bottles and shiny cookware around the house to get a sense of the effect.) But the tradeoff is that with the manual flash, you have to control your shooting distance pretty carefully. If you let that distance change by roughly 30 to 40% this can change the light power by a factor of about two times. This is a pretty big deal with the limited "dynamic range" of digital.

 

If you want to move back and forth freely, without concern, you're probably better off to use the built-in flash in auto mode. If you have a

friend with you, you might want to try using your new flash from various positions as an accent light, in addition to your built-in flash. (Use built-in in flash

auto-exposure with the new flash set to S2.) Keep in mind that all the other photographers will also be making your remote flash fire, so be prepared with extra batteries.

[James G. Dainis]

One thing to keep in mind - If you use a zoom lens, the light from the built in flash may be partially blocked off from a zoom lens sticking too far out. That would cause a dark unlit area on the bottom of the photo. A hot shoe mounted flash would be higher to shoot over the lens and not have light blocked

[Jochen_S]

<blockquote>

 

<p>this weekend I'm going to an convention, so I'm going be doing a lot of close up shots (as seen in my portfolio) should I have the flash quick or fast flash? (notsure if that makes sense, again never used an flash. I am assuming there is an setting for flash to last longer)</p>

 

</blockquote>

 

<p>You can manipulate flash duration by dialing the output down. - No real benefit. - It will be faster than 1/500sec anyhow and I doubt that your new unit has a setting for short times with FP shutter.<br>

If you want to shoot rapidly i.e. quick bursts of maybe 3 frames its another reason to dial flash down.<br>

But to be realistic: you>'ll have to histogram chimp and adjust your output or aperture accordingly with a manual flash until you have enough experience to predict sufficiently right exposure.</p>

 

[jcuknz]

<p>For your convention use I will relate what my boss did to me and my solution which preserved my reputation for reliability :-)<br>

My birthday so boss shouted me at the pub. When I was suitably sossled he gave me a job envolope and off I went to a private do at another hotel.<br>

I knew I was drunk so I set the camera to 8ft and aperture to f/8 [ Flash GN 56 imperial with 100 ASA film] and took everything at that distance.... all the shots came out great of course :-)<br>

PS.... has anybody mentioned the confusing thing about flash today as opposed to the 1950's my story dates from. Back then most folk used imperial with the GN56 meaning f/5.6 at ten feet with 100ASA film but today often metric is used with f/5.6 used at three metres and a GN17. Both systems work the same way ... just don't mix them :-)<br>

ASA = ISO effectively<br>

I'm ancient ... yes I know I am :-)</p>