Nikon F4 need SB-26 or earlier flash for slow sync and auto flash fill or SB-80DX do the job with newly designed diffuser cap and no slow sync ?

[richard_sentry]

Here?s the concept. As a preamble, the Nikon F4 is variously stated to

support slow sync and rear curtain sync.

http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~winstel/walter/F4spec.html

 

yet in other postings it is stated to not provide (but just support ?)

slow sync and rear curtain sync from the camera and rather to work

with a flash that provides slow sync and rear curtain sync from the

camera, itself. This later is what I believe to be the case.

 

A notable reference to Nikon Flash is at Ken Rockwell?s site:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/flash.htm

 

where he states

 

QUOTE ~~ significant to your photos is how you choose to diffuse that

light and how you choose to balance it with ambient light. END QUOTE ~~

 

and I could not agree with him more. Diffusion and daylight fill are

my two points of attention.

 

He also states:

QUOTE ~~~ Oddly, you should turn the flash on any time you photograph

people outdoors, and turn it off (or use SLOW sync mode) indoors. END

QUOTE ~~~

 

Yet the SB-80DX and SB-28 do NOT apparently have slow sync and rear

curtain sync built into the flash. With the SB-80DX and SB-28,

apparently one has to have one of the newest Nikons which has slow

sync and rear curtain sync built into the camera body.

 

This would seem to exclude the F4 and earlier from being able to use

the SB-80DX and SB-28 and force one to find an SB-26 or earlier.

 

The main reason for slow sync and rear curtain sync, as per Ken?s site

is indoors.

 

The newest flash, the SB-80DX has apparently been designed from the

ground up to well utilize that diffusion box accessory.

 

Here is the punch line:

 

Is it possible that the purportedly well designed DEDICATED NIKON

SB-80DX DIFFUSER CAP SEQUENCE would eliminate the need for slow sync

indoors ? And thus make it ok for the F4 with the designed DEDICATED

NIKON SB-80DX DIFFUSER CAP to be used with the SB-80DX, even though

the F4 cannot apparently provide slow sync and rear curtain sync and

NOR can the SB-80DX ?

 

Again, might it be workable to accept the apparent non availability of

slow sync and rear curtain sync of an F4 when used with the SB-80DX -

due to the new diffusing engineered into the SB-80DX ?

 

Would that diffusing engineering of the SB-80DX substitute for slow

sync indoors by filling the backgrounds the way slow sync indoors is

intended to do ?

 

Or would one be better off with an SB-26 on the F4, and use the

on-flash slow sync and rear curtain sync of the SB-26 for indoor flash

? And the SB-26 ? straight - for automatic balanced flash fill

outdoors with the F4 ?

[todd peach seattle, washi]

No.

 

They're really not the same thing. For one thing, there's lots of indoor shooting situations where a single flash simply won't light up the whole room. Also, slow-sync gives you the 'character' of the room light.

 

Note that you can use an F4 manually and set any slow speed you like with a flash mounted. You still won't get rear sync, which has a whole 'nuther set of uses not covered by a 'flash dome'.

[Jerry_]

The SB-26 has a 'rear synch' mode button or switch. This will work on the F4 but the camera does not (I think this may be right?) dictate the flash mode in this case. The SB-28DX has 'D' functions built-in that the F4 does not understand: rear synch on the SB- speedlights is not supported with a switch like the SB-26.

 

 

You may consider going for a F100 or F5 body if you desire all the bells and whistles available with the SB- series of speedlights.

[david_h._hartman]

For rear sync with a Nikon F4 you need an SB-24, 25 or 26. There could be lower power units that have the switch on the speedlight but I�ve not paid attention to any such so I don�t know what is or was available. The F4 has no rear sync switch of it�s own and must depend on the speedlight to activate that function.

[Michael R Freeman]

There is a subtle, but important, difference between "slow" sync and "rear curtain" sync.

 

Slow sync can be accomplished by setting the camera (F4 or others) to shutter priority or manual and setting a shutter speed of 1/30, 1/15, 1/8 or whatever speed you want to achieve the effect you want. The flash fires at the START of the exposure. Overexposure is possible if the ambient lighting is too bright (watch your meter display). Any flash that supports TTL flash will work and provide "slow sync" on the F4.

 

On the other hand, REAR curtain sync is different from normal flash in that the flash fires at the END of the exposure, instead of at the START. More precisely, the flash fires when the second shutter curtain (the REAR curtain) starts its' travel across the film gate. Depending on the ambient light, the shutter speed (in aperture priority or program modes) will range from 1/250 to 30 seconds. In other words, rear curtain sync is SOMETIMES, but not always, also slow curtain sync. Think of rear curtain sync as automatic programmed slow sync.

 

I think the whole intent of rear curtain sync was so that flash photos taken with a slow shutter speed and motion blur would show the blur BEHIND the subject. (I seem to remember advertisements of that era showing a leaping gymnast with motion blur or repeating images BEHIND her??). The other benefit (intended or otherwise) is that you can use this mode to automatically drop the shutter speed in program or aperture priority so that backgrounds are properly exposed. But, you have to watch your metering display, or the speed may be slower than you want.

 

As David has told you, if you want REAR curtain sync with a F4, you need a SB/24/25/26 as they are the only Nikon units (I think) with rear sync controls/switches/buttons on the flash. Newer flash units require that rear sync mode be set (turned on) from the body, and the F4 cannot do this (there is no rear sync "switch" on the body). If you only want SLOW sync (for indoor background "fill" - and actually the ambient light, not the flash, exposes the background), any current Nikon speedlight will give it to you.

 

If you can find a good clean used low mileage sample, you are probably better off with a SB-24/25/26 for a F4 than a SB-80DX anyway, as these flash units were specifically designed to work well with the F4 and other cameras of that era. And you will save many dollars in the process.