Glen Tortorella wrote: > Hi all, > > Since I have a new, more "advanced" body, the N80, I tried taking > some shots I would have avoided in the past. The results were awful-- > not one good shot on the entire role, a miserable 0-for-24 (Kodak > Gold 200). > > In the past, I would avoid two types of shots: 1) indoor shots and 2) > outdoor "high sun" shots in the fair weather months (i.e. during the > hours of about 10:00-4:00). In doing so, I have assured myself > decent, but not necessarily perfect, results. Since the N80 has a > better metering system (10-segment) and a pop-up flash that is > supposed to be pretty good, I figured: "let me see what it can do." > As I have said, the results were dreadful. Here are the main issues. > > 1) Every indoor flash shot showed at least moderate spotlight/wash- > out effect of the subject (people).
Dial in -0.7 stops of Flash exposure compensation when shooting people with Nikon flashes (including the popup). Leave this permanently dialed in. > 2) On the outdoor "high sun" shots, the camera turned a seemingly > minor shadows (through the viewfinder) on the subject's face into a > black blobs that covered almost all of the subject's face. Add flash, leave the -0.7 stops of FEC dialed in. > 3) When taking indoor shots with the flash, I would meter (10- > segment) something like 1/30 or 1/45 or perhaps 1/60 at, say, f2. > With the flash powered up, I do not think it ever metered > differently. For example, 1/30 at f/2 was still 1/30 at f/2 with the > flash enabled. Is this correct, or is there something wrong with my > camera? That is correct, the N80 will attempt to balance the exposure if it can get the shutter between 1/125 and 1/30 or so, with a slight bias towards the flash illumination (hence the FEC I recommend). If you want a pure flash exposure, shoot in manual. > 4) The one decent shot in the whole role--an indoor shot using only > available light...go figure?--was spoiled by some sort of small speck > on the subject's face. I usually keep my filter free of dust, etc. > Could this speck have appeared as a result of the cheap processing I > used (Wal-Mart C-41)? Probably. Check your negs. > > I know that using a fill flash may have alleviated the problem > expressed in issue number 2, but, since I have had my subjects turn a > bit ghastly by using the flash, I am hesitant to use it indoors or > outdoors. I would appreciate any advice or commentary (or even pep > talk), as I am pretty down about this. What good is a more > "advanced" camera if I cannot even come remotely close to > satisfactory results on the more difficult shots (i.e. indoor, "high > sun," etc.)? > > Thanks, > Glen > > Fill flash is your friend, but remember direct flash always looks a bit ghastly. A (cheap) SB-24 and an SC-17 or SC-28 cord will get the flash off-camera with full TTL, and is a much better option. -Adam -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
