Flash and exposure

Lanimilbus

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Hello, I have a Panasonic Lumix FZ20, and recently bought an external flash for it to slide into it’s hotshoe for use at upcoming concerts that I will be photographing this summer. I’m the official photographer for a band playing this Saturday night, and it is particularly important that I use this new flash at that show. But I just tested the flash out for the first time with my camera today and found something…with the flash plugged in to my camera, I can’t adjust the shutter speed any lower than 1/60, and I also can’t adjust the ISO. This is a problem, as I need some drag effect for these pictures…I usually set my shutter speed at around ¼, ½, or 1/1.6 at shows so I can get the drag effect with the lights and catch the movement, but now I can’t set it lower than 1/60…and I know plenty of people who have external flashes and get the time exposure drag effect, so why can’t I do it with my camera and flash? Is there any way to still use this external flash and be able to set the settings lower than 1/60? If so, how? Thanks,



-Alec
 
I'm guessing that 1/60 is the flash sync speed for your camera as it is with most cameras. It's the speed it uses so that the flash is even across the frame. You'll need to do some reading on flash photography cause that is a whole other can of worms.
 
You could try using a light slave setup. This basically involves using your flash completely off camera by using a sensor which detects your camera's onboard flash and triggers the external unit. This also gives you the flexibility of being able to position the flash wherever you want (within the sensor's field of 'vision' obviously), which can often yield some nice results.
 

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