Types of Flash

Flash Manual

 

The older flash (pre-TTL technology) manually operated and some had some automatic functions.

The flash now also offer you the possibility to use in manual, but I think there are fewer people doing it.

When we decided to use our Manual flash mode the flash will emit the same power every time you shoot.

In some this means that flash will trigger the maximum power that has the flash.

Other flash where you can control and can decide whether to shoot all the power (1/1), medium power (1/2), quarter-power (1/4).

The first thing to do is put the ISO on the flash that we use.

In principle it should be the same ISO that we are using in the camera. Then we have to decide that we will use aperture on the camera (of course making a measurement of light).

When using the flash to manual and put the ISO the flash will have a table that will tell us the distance we have to put the main object for each diaphragm we use.
Let's see an example.

I will use the flash in manual using an ISO of 200. Then with my flash, a Metz 45 CL-1 I will have the following table:

 

In the above photo you can see a Metz flash as seen in Table Manual.

In the red box can see the M Manual and an orange arrow. For use in manual I have to turn the arrow until it matches the M.

In the green box can see the ISO and how it is put in ISO 200. Also I have to turn the orange arrow that you see in the frame to match the ISO I want to use.

In the center you can see the diaphragms ranging from f/32 to f / 2 and above the table of distances. In the blue box can see this in meters and feet (ft).

Once I decide that I will use diaphragm noticing that I have to I have to put away.

If I decide to use f/5.6 for example I have to put the flash to 11 meters from the main subject I want to illuminate.

If I put the flash closer the object is going to come out overexposed or whether they will receive too much light. If I put the flash farther away, the object will receive little light and will leave sub-exposure.

 

In the photo above you can see that change the ISO (blue box). And notice how it changes the distance at which I have to put the flash according to the diaphragm that I choose.

So if we return to the previous example and I will use f/5.6 but with ISO 800 (instead of ISO 200) I will have to set the flash to 24 meters from the main subject (at ISO 200 were 11 meters).

The table and the distances for each diaphragm will vary with the ISO that I decide to use. They will also vary according to the model that uses flash since the flash have different powers.

Please note that I use the flash in Manual does not mean you can not use my camera in Auto, Tv or Av

The disadvantage of using the flash in manual is that you lose time looking at the table and analyzing and calculating distances.

There are situations, especially those that develop rapidly, where it is impossible or difficult to use the flash in Manual.

Previous Lesson		Next Lesson