Do I get this? Flash/Ambient balancing

[10speeduk]

Wow! Thanks for all your answers. To flesh it out, i have a 165mm late leaf shutter lens coming and a minolta Iv flash meter too. I will run through testing with my digital before burning any porta!

[dpurdy]

I have used the Pentax 67 many times for outdoor wedding photos mixing flash and daylight. I do exactly as Steve Smith says using a Vivitar 285 and I set the flash to give a stop or stop and a half under exposure and set the camera correctly for the daylight. I have the 9omm leaf shutter and that gives more options for shutter speed but if you are stuck with the 30th you can use a slowish speed film and make it work.
For a test, regardless of the type of flash metering, I would try setting the flash meter like the film was double the speed it really is and then set the camera ambient meter for the correct film speed. Works for me.

Dennis

[markbarendt]

Wow! Thanks for all your answers. To flesh it out, i have a 165mm late leaf shutter lens coming and a minolta Iv flash meter too. I will run through testing with my digital before burning any porta!

What kind of flash unit are you using?

[10speeduk]

What kind of flash unit are you using?

I have two yn560 units using with cactus v5 triggers.

[markbarendt]

I have two yn560 units using with cactus v5 triggers.

So with a quick skim of the manual it seems that your options are like studio strobes, your controls are distance and power level, no auto sensing it seems.

Thats fun because you will be able to experiment in a very controlled way.

Trust your meter. If it indicates balanced readings, that's what the film will show.

[polyglot]

And while it's not very APUG-y, if you have a DSLR, it makes an excellent way of previewing lighting configuration - after all, a meter can tell you ratios and the like but not exact placement of shadows & penumbra. I use an old DSLR to preview/adjust lights (like polaroids once were used) then take my proper frames on 6x7 or 4x5".

[Poisson Du Jour]

Wow! Thanks for all your answers. To flesh it out, i have a 165mm late leaf shutter lens coming and a minolta Iv flash meter too. I will run through testing with my digital before burning any porta!

The lens — one of the best Pentax SMC optical performers, is a good choice to extend the flexibility of flash. Speaking of which, I bought two el cheapo thyristor flashes for $69 a pop last year, used with lumiquest diffusers, trusty L758 and auto-triggered non-corded balanced daylight fill: dead easy and I'm sure the Minolta meter will provide just the same flexibility. IMHO though diffuse ambient light is better than trying to whack things into balance in very bright sun.

Reminder re 165 LS: Don't use mirror lock-up with the 165 LS in leaf shutter mode or you'll be up for a costly repair job.

[Chan Tran]

Then it's using the wrong units as EV (Exposure Value) has to take account of shutter speed and aperture. In fact that's all it is, the level of exposure. It does not take into account the amount of light.

However, LV (Light Value) is a measure of the light only.

At ISO 100 the figures are the same.

In the light meter's defence, it probably does state that all EV readings are for ISO 100 in the instructions but technically, using EV to represent light levels is not correct.

It's like measuring the length of a brick wall in kilogrammes. Only valid if you know the cross sectional area and the density!


Steve.

You're right about not being right. The Minolta flashmeter III when in ExIN mode. It displays play the EV value in ambient light mode and yes it's the EV value as it would change the value if you change the ISO for the same scene brightness. When the meter is in ExIN mode and it measures flash in either cord or non cord mode it display AV value (the number of stops from f/1.0). So when in this mode and the meter say EV9 it always means f/22.

[Matthew Wagg]

I'm kinda surprised no one has mentioned using a 1/4 or 1/2 CTO gel on the flash to match ambient colour temp. Obviously this only matters if you're shooting colour.
Every outdoor shot I shoot with the CTO on the strobe to avoid that flash in daylight look.

[markbarendt]

I'm kinda surprised no one has mentioned using a 1/4 or 1/2 CTO gel on the flash to match ambient colour temp. Obviously this only matters if you're shooting colour.
Every outdoor shot I shoot with the CTO on the strobe to avoid that flash in daylight look.

Really good point.

Another thing I find is that many times photos are printed too light to make sense. Even when balance of lighting and color are achieved in a dark scene, many times it gets printed as if it's nearly mid-day.