Manual Flash Pushed Film Photography

[jim_bob_mcglashen]

<p>Hi there, <br>

Equipment:<br>

1979 Canon A1<br>

Canon 430exii speedlite<br>

Ilford XP2 B&W asa1600 (pushed from 400)<br>

I push it because I obviously shoot a lot in the dark, I also use 3200 film, but sometimes it's too dark and I need flash. This is where I'm running into trouble. I do a lot of street work, sometimes fast paced jumping fences etc and I don't have a lot of time to mess with all the settings. I don't think the speed lite will allow auto metering TTL which I've only just realised and is going to be heartbreaking come development time.<br>

Besides getting the dedicated flash for the A1 how can I figure out my flash output settings?<br>

My old flash had a chart on the back which told me what output to select depending on the distance from the subject and desired aperture. This is basically what I need although what happens with my jacked up ISO? </p>

<p>Basically I need some sort of chart to carry with me or a light meter, which I have neither of.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance, this is my first post. I've been reading in this forum for years.</p>

<p>Kind Regards.</p>

[paul_k1664875007]

<p>You're way overthinking it, it's really simple. If you will be developing your film as if for 1600 ISO, expose it accordingly.<br>

So if eg the chart on the back of your flash says to, with your flash at full power, at a given distance and with ISO 400 use F8, that means that when you will be developing your film at 1600 ISO (is two stops 400-800-1600 higher) you will have to close your aperture two stops too (so f8 = + 1stop f11, + 2 stops f16)</p>

<p>That said, if you find the f16 a bit too much, you can dial down the output of the 430EX. Not a Canon user myself, but this is what Canon Europe says about that<br>

<em>The power level on the 430EX II can be adjusted in Manual mode, from full power to 1/64 in 1/3-stop increments.</em><br>

This simply means that if you dial down the power by half (1 stop) you instead of closing the aperture down two stops (from the f8 at ISO 400) you now only need to close it down one (so f11 instead of f16). If you dial down the power another stop (so down to one quarter) you can leave it at f8.</p>

<p>Also keep in mind though that this is based on the distance between the flash and the subject. If you use the flash off camera with a distance of 2 meters between flash and camera, and you're standing further away, say 4 meters, from the subject yourself, don't base your calculations on the 4 meters between you/the camera and the subject, but rather on the 2 meters between flash and subject.<br>

But as said at the beginning, don't overthink it too much. With the above tips in mind, make your set up, and make some test shots with the flash on a DSLR using the same settings (ISO, exposure etc) as you will on your film camera. Once you've found the 'correct' exposure/like what you see on the LCD, set up your film camera accordingly, and you'll be fine for 99% of the time</p>

<p>On a side note, you do make life quite hard using flash manually for street photography. Your subjects won't be at the same distance all the time, so you'll have to (re)calculate the correct aperture for each shot.<br>

As said I don't shoot Canon, so don't know if the 430EX has an 'A' (Auto Aperture) setting. If so, maybe better use that instead of manual.</p>

<p>A/Auto Aperture = aperture priority, where you copy the ISO and aperture you've selected on your camera to work with onto the flash. The flash then based on that info, uses a built in - in the flash - cell to register the amount of light on the subject and cuts that of when it thinks the exposure is correct. Not as fail safe as TTL metering, but still a major improvement on shooting flash manually.<br>

The older Canon speedlites were based on that principle, see http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/SLRs/a1/html/index6.htm and can be found for bottom prices on eg eBay. I still have a couple of old Metz flashes that work the same way on my Nikons.</p>

[JosvanEekelen]

<p>Canon A1 was my first camera, nowadays I'm an EOS user. The combination of an A-series camera and an E-TTL flash gives you the worst of both worlds. Perhaps there is some communication between the body and the flash but count on doing everything manually which is even a step back from the Speedlite 199A, the flash that came with the A1.<br>

Speedlite 430EXii does not have a metering sensor so autoflash (other than E-TTL) is not possible with any camera.<br>

That being said: see http://speedlights.net/2011/03/30/canon-430ex-ii/ for more info on the flash's guidenumber. In practice this depends on the focal length setting and the use of the difusor. Divide the guide number by the object distance and you get the aperture you need, guide number/aperture will give you the distance. You can adjust the guide number by setting the flash reduction from full to 1/64. <br>

It can be done but I'd look for a good autoflash to go with the A1. 2nd hand units from Metz/Vivitar/others can be bought for less that USD20, they make your life much easier. </p>

[bebu_lamar]

<p>Yes! The 199A or the smaller 177a would offer the most dedication function on the A1 but not a lot. They are the best choice for the A1. Otherwise any third party flashes of the same vintage would be better than a modern Canon flash. The old flash would have one or more auto ranges (non TTL).</p>

[jim_bob_mcglashen]

<p>Thank you all very much.</p>