Flash With Bronica SQ-A

[wilfbiffherb]

Hi,

Ive never really worked with flash but im edging toward more portrait style work in my home and find myself looking into getting a flash. the thing is i have no idea where to start. any suggestions?

[film_man]

Basically you want a flash with manual controls. Once you have that, getting a PC sync port on it is a nice bonus, if you don't want to go through the hotshoe-to-PC adapter.

Personally I've always used Canon/Nikon speedlites (430EZ, 430EXII, SB600, SB25, SB24 to be precise) simply because I had/have them since I use their 35mm/digital systems. They all worked fine with/without umbrellas or other modifiers and I even used those cheapo wireless triggers from ebay. Just to make it clear, these setups I used with my current Hasselblad kit and I also used them with a Bronica SQB and ETRS, when I owned these two in the past.

[mbsmith]

If you are looking for a compact rig (for MF!) you should get a bronica speed grip that has a hot shoe on it. I have used my Nikon sb800 with the speed grip on the SQ-A, and it works fine. You will likely have to run the figures and do the math since it's not TTL. Another option (there are many) would be to get a pc sync to hot shoe or wireless triggers. Like film_man said, the pc sync on the speedlight is nice. Most higher-end lights will have this, but can be pricey. But there are many affordable speedlights that are manual and can be triggered by the hot shoe. (vivitar, chinon are two that come to mind)

[wilfbiffherb]

thats smashing thanks. im mostly looking for something that can be mounted on a tripod to give directional light as i shoot from a different angle so hotshoeless should be fine. ill look into the models you have suggested.

[TSSPro]

Its good to expand the toolbox- in your case incorporating flash.

You would want to consider a flash meter if you dont already have one. You can delve deep into small flash lighting- You can get a lot of input, especially on new product, modifiers, lighting diagrams etc at the strobist.com blog. Even though it is geared for more modern digi users the principle and techniques yield the same results.

As far as flash models and brands- the vivitars are a good place to start for manual off camera units. The Nikon and Canons are great, too, but are loaded with features that you wont be able to utilize on your sq.

All the best-

[wilfbiffherb]

thanks for the info TSSPro, i have just rather hastily bid on a vivitar 285 on ebay and won it for £15 so hopefully that should get me started and keep me going for a while!!

[CGW]

Spend some time digging around Strobist http://strobist.blogspot.com/ a great source for studio use of speedlights and on-camera flashes.