Flash (strobe) basics for people who never use it

[Mark24173]

Hi all

While I've been shooting for a few years, I quite literally never use flash and I've never had an external flash unit for a camera. Until now I've only ever associated flash with the on-camera, direct, ugly, red-eye version and it's only recently that I started reading up on "proper" flash technique, i.e. bounce, diffusion, etc. Having started looking (well, more like staring in awe and disbelief) at the things that really good photographers can do with proper flash, I came to the conclusion that I really need to learn to do this stuff myself. It's kind of inevitable when one of your favourite shooters is Joe McNally, I guess

Problem with this is that I wouldn't know where to start in picking up a flash unit. What I thought I'd do is put up a few simple questions to start with and see what we get from there. So with your indulgence...

1) I use a Nikon D300. I have a 24mm and a 35, but my main walkabout lens is a 70-300, because it covers most of the ranges I tend to use. What does this mean in terms of the kind of flash power I'll need? Is it even feasible to use flash at the higher end of such a range? I don't know much about how far flashes reach, but 300 is a long way. I'm guessing that it's far less of an issue with the 24 and 35.

2) I'm guessing that for a total flash newbie, a flash which communicates with the camera (what they call TTL?) would be better until I've learned the basics. Do you agree?

3) In terms of angling the flash head, it looks from what I've seen that most flashes have a set of angles which can be used. Are there any flashes which can be angled to any direction at all, or are they all limited to (for instance) 30, 45, 60, 90 etc?

4) Anyone who uses a D300 and who can suggest a good general first flash, please fire away (pardon the pun).

Sorry if these are dumb questions, I'm pretty much clueless on this side of photography, but hopefully I can get past that stage with this place

 

[Trever1t]

I'd recommend the SB-600 speedlight. Look for one used on Craiglist or your local barter site. I see you're in Japan, I have no idea what the cost is there but around here you'd expect to spend $200 or more for a good used one.

Don't expect flash to help if shooting subjects more than something like 30 or 40 feet away under the best of conditions. With your 70-300 it'd work great for close portraiture as balanced fill flash outdoors.

 

[Trever1t]

Here, read this! Four Flash Photography Basics we must know

 

[KmH]

1) I use a Nikon D300. I have a 24mm and a 35, but my main walkabout lens is a 70-300, because it covers most of the ranges I tend to use. What does this mean in terms of the kind of flash power I'll need? Is it even feasible to use flash at the higher end of such a range? I don't know much about how far flashes reach, but 300 is a long way. I'm guessing that it's far less of an issue with the 24 and 35.

Correct, Nikon's big kahuna, expensive - SB-900 can only zoom to cover up to 200 mm. The SB-600 can only cover up to 85 mm. However, there is a relatively inexpensive device that can add reach to a speedlight: The Flash X-Tender (Better Beamer) FX-3 Flash Output Booster for Canon 580EX, Canon 580EX II, Metz 54-4 & Nikon SB700 Flashes

2) I'm guessing that for a total flash newbie, a flash which communicates with the camera (what they call TTL?) would be better until I've learned the basics. Do you agree?

Not really. TTL flash is more complicated, and thus harder to learn than just using a flash and the camera in manual modes. However, many choose the more complex path, or opt to use CLS: The Nikon Creative Lighting System: Using the SB-600, SB-800, SB-900, and R1C1 Flashes

3) In terms of angling the flash head, it looks from what I've seen that most flashes have a set of angles which can be used. Are there any flashes which can be angled to any direction at all, or are they all limited to (for instance) 30, 45, 60, 90 etc?

Most flashes that can be tilted can be stopped in between those values, there just isn't an indent to keep them at that in between angle

4) Anyone who uses a D300 and who can suggest a good general first flash, please fire away (pardon the pun).

I use a D300 but rarely use flash on the camera, opting instead to do OCF (off camera flash). Just today I was shooting a big spider in the middle of it's web by holding the D300 in my right hand while radio triggering a hand held Vivitar 285HV Auto Professional Flash .

The radio trigger tranmitter goes on the camera hot shoe, and the radio trigger receiver is on the speedlight's foot.
iSHOOT - PT-04 C Wireless Remote Radio Flash Trigger - with 3 Receivers.

 

[Village Idiot]

This is the 101 lighting section from the Strobist blog. It's a bit outdated in the fact that there's a much, much, much larger selection of triggers and accessories at different price ranges that will get you to where you need to be.

The concepts it teach can also be applied to larger "studio" lights.

Strobist: Lighting 101

Also depending on what you want to shoot and where you want to shoot, your decision of what type of flashes to purchase will be affected. Speedlights are portable, there's no doubt about that. They don't require an external power source and they're small and light weight. However, they lack power, so if you're not shooting on location constantly and you need power for narrower apertures or killing ambient light sources, then speedlights aren't the greatest. Plus they have batteries that you'll have to keep charged and keep track of.

Monolights and pack and head systems are going to be much more powerful than speedlights and have the ability to use a wider range of modifiers but they need a wall outlet of a battery, which can be pretty heavy depending on what you want to power. I have two packs and 5 heads with all the cabling in a Pelican case and it weighs about 125 lbs as opposed to one Canon 580EX II that's always in my main camera bag and a very light 2nd bag containing 2 430EX II's with triggers, cables, and modifiers.

The ideal setup is to have the best of both worlds and have a set of larger lights along with a set of speedlights that you can take with you depending on the situation, but as a beginner, that's going to be out of your reach unless you want to spend a ton of money and it's really a waste if you purchase all this equipment just to let it sit around, especially if you aren't putting it to work making money for you. So, decide what you'll be shooting and where you'll be shooting and go from there as far as your decision on what type of lighting to buy goes. After all You can get a one light monolight or speedlight setup for about the same price.