Bo-Ming, You might want to try the contrast control function with one 360FGZ wireless unit, if you need that uniform lighting in depth. Also, I don't know what camera you are using, but note that MZ-S and later bodies do a much better job of flash metering with their P-TTL mode. Former MZ/Z either overexposed the foreground or underexposed the background, depending on the subject position in the frame. Finally, I doubt the IS will make any difference at f45 and above 1/15. It just won't compensate for the people movements. You might as well try a tripod setup to judge the outcome.
Servus, Alin Bo-Ming wrote: BMT> I am tempted to buy a used Canon 28-135 IS and borrow a Canon but before BMT> I do so I wish to hear your opinions whether this is a stupid idea. BMT> I have been doing bounce flash indoors a lot using a shoe-mounted flash. BMT> I started out with f/5.6 at 1/30 on ISO 800 film rated at 400 or 500, BMT> and got nicely illuminated pictures. Ambient light is only 1 or 2 stops BMT> below flash light. However, there was once I get blurred images. I BMT> wasn't sure whether it was my handshake or people moving, but it is not BMT> possible to handhold a 45mm lens at 1/30 and expect sharp results. So I BMT> switched to 1/60 last time. There was also not enough depth of field BMT> sometimes so I used f/8. My flash can still output that much power. My BMT> images came back not very satisfactorily. While the near objects are BMT> still nicely illuminated, the far objects are completely dark. I used to BMT> get at least some detail off the far objects. BMT> As you can see, I am torn between a handholdable shutter speed, depth of BMT> field, and ambient lighting. Would an IS lens take the first one out, so BMT> that I can use an even slower shutter speed such as 1/15 and capture BMT> ambient light while keeping the aperture small for depth of field ? BMT> Obviously this can only help my hand shake but not people moving. BMT> Or, should I "just do it" and use 1/15 since the far objects are out of BMT> focus and the near objects are mostly illuminated by flash at a speed of BMT> around 1/500 ? This might result in a sharp image with a blurry trail, BMT> though, if the flash light does not greatly outshine the ambient light, BMT> which seems to defeat the original purpose of capturing ambient light BMT> using a slow shutter speed. BMT> Any comments ? I don't want to go Canon because of IS... I didn't BMT> realize there is any use for IS/VR until now.
