Just my own testing - but the two controls seem to be cumulative. At -2 on the body and -3 on the unit, flash is less powerful than -3 on the unit alone. I usually set the unit to -2 or -3 and fine tune with body compensation - which can also mean dialing in +1 on the body.
Here are two macro shots that show the impact of the fill flash - http://www.markcassino.com/temp/pdml/IMGP4143.jpg http://www.markcassino.com/temp/pdml/IMGP4145.jpg The first one had flash with -3 on the unit and (I think) -1 on the body. I had a diffuser on the flash but was using a bracket that put the flash unit pretty close to the subject. The second one had no flash - the batteries were cycling. I processed the raw files identically except that for the second shot I pushed the 'fill light' setting in Adobe Camera Raw as far as I could before the shadows got noisy. But, as you can see, the flash makes a big difference - I think the first shot is actually a little over flashed and I should have pushed in a little more negative compensation or set the flash zoom level to wide angle... - MCC ----- Original Message ----- From: Christine Nielsen <[email protected]> To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> Cc: Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2011 11:37 AM Subject: Re: Can we talk about fill flash & pttl? Mark, thank you very much for your thoughts. It's encouraging to know that you are able to make pttl work for you, even at close range... Your comment: On overcast cloudy days I may set the flash compensation to -3 > and the compensation on the camera body to -2. Raises another question for me, though... How do the flash compensation controls on the the flash and camera work together? Or separately, for that matter? When applying compensation in both places, it sounds from your description that they have a cumulative effect (-5 EV?)... As opposed to one set of controls taking precedence over the other... Is this correct? If using just the compensation controls in one place or the other, is either more "effective"? Thanks again, -c On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 11:03 AM, Mark Cassino <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Christine > - > I use > fill PTTL fill flash in my macro shots all the time - virtually every shot > that > I work with is shot with flash. No problems once you know how to adjust the > flash etc. I shoot manually with the exposure usually set to the ambient meter > reading or to -1/2 stop. The amount of fill needed is relative to the > primarily > light source. In direct full brutal sun I shoot with no exposure compensation > on the flash. On overcast cloudy days I may set the flash compensation to -3 > and the compensation on the camera body to -2. In some situations I have to > resort to lowering the power on the flash by dropping the wide angle diffuser > or putting a diffuser on it. But those cases are very low light situations > where the subject is very close. > After > doing this for a while I now just know where to set things - just experiment a > bit. Digital makes the technical end of photography so easy.... I use the same > basic technique for macros, birds, and even outdoor portraits. For wildlife it > is split second decision making and having the flash compensation in the body > is a great asset. If you put the flash on a bracket or use a diffuser etc it > just equates to a certain number of stops of compensation, so you just > consider > that in your mental calculations... Like "In this soft light I'd like to > have -4 stops of compensation but that diffuser is equivalent to -2 so I'll > just dial in -2." > I'm working > with the flash generally much closer than the minimum working distance - like > the subject is 12 to 24 inches away - so overexposure is always a problem. > I've > used the same basic setup with the Pz-1p (usually with slide film), *ist-D, > K-10D, and now K7. Each camera had it's own quirks and I had to adjust the > exposure > compensation for each. I find that I dial in much more negative compensation > with > the K7 than I did with any of the other cameras. > Good > luck! > MCC > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Christine Nielsen <[email protected]> > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> > Cc: > Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 11:11 AM > Subject: Can we talk about fill flash & pttl? > > Last night, I attended a "portrait workshop". We were shooting at the > beach, at the end of the day. It was still very bright, and in the > shade of a lighthouse, some fill was required on our models' faces. > No problem. I had the AF540 on my k-7...using aperture priority mode, > and -1.5 Flash EV, I took some shots. Gah. Way overexposed. I > fiddled, set the flash to high-speed sync, and tried again. Still > hot. I proceeded to try several other manipulations... none really > working, until I settled on a fully manual operation for exposure, and > flash (1/16). > > It shouldn't have to be this way, though, right? I should be able to > use pttl to provide (more or less) the right amount of fill, yes? I'm > even pretty sure I've done it successfully in the past, though it > would have been with the AF360. > > What am I doing wrong? > > Thanks, > -c > > -- > 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. > > > -- > 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. > -- 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. -- 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.
