5200i Flash with Stofen diffuser, exp compensation

[miguel_rodriguez3]

Hi all. I have bought recently a 5200i flashgun for my 8000i. I have

tried flash bounced off the ceiling with my MF minoltas and manual

flash but I have no idea of how I could compensate if I use TTL

flash with the 5200i and a diffuser that attaches to the flash head.

I read on the 'learn' section of photo.net about the diffusers and I

like the effect of diffuse flash rather than the harsh shadows that

sometimes appear with direct flash. Any recommendations on how much I

should compensate the exposure if I use the camera on P or A mode

with the flash in TTL mode (using the diffuser)? I would appreciate

your help, I am new to flash photography. any good websites? Thanks

for your help.

[magic1]

If I remember right, the 8000i has TTL flash so no compensation is necessary. It automatically adjusts the flash based on the light that is hitting the film during exposure.

[fmueller]

Steve is right. You only need to compensate for bounce flash and/or a diffuser if you are using manual flash. I guess you could work out a rough compensation factor for the diffuser by shooting a test series, but how you would ever work out how much to compensate for bounce flash under different circumstances is a mystery to me. If you are using TTL flash that's not an issue - neither is it if you are using a simple auto flash, such as the Vivitar 283, with your manual focus Minoltas. I bet before the advent of auto flash units bounce flash wasn't very popular, but that was before my time ;-)

[miguel_rodriguez3]

thanks for your comments. I think I don't understand very well how TTL works. I was asked to photograph the baby of one of my friends. I took the 8000i+5200i and an old SRT-101 + a generic flash. The photos taken with the 8000i with bounced flash were dark but the same photo with the srt-101 set to 1/60s and flash(also bounced) at the semi-auto output for short distances were superb. I shot with colour film on the MF whereas in the 8000i I used Ilford XP2. Probably the best thing to do next time, is to bracket. I got now the bracketing card which, I think, allows me to bracket the flash output as well as the overall exposure.

[magic1]

One of the things that happens when bouncing is you loose a lot of the light. If your flash doesn't have enough power then the optimal exposure isn't reached. Most TTL flash capable SLRs have some sort of indication that it was able to reach full exposure when using the flash. On my Maxxum 7 the flash indicator (squiggly arrow) will blink it there was enough exposure.

 

Have you tried downloading the manuals for the camera? Minolta has them available on-line.