Am I using my Vivitar 285 correctly

[Bighead]

Portrait / Wedding stuff: Got to make sure I am getting the best possible exposure and I gotta be quick about it....

I set my Nikon N80 on Manual... Pick 1/60 or 1/125 for shutter and usually, I am using a wide open apeture... I make sure the flash "color" is set for the aperture range that I am looking to use.. And shot.....

But, I realized that might be false.. I guess I should be metering still and not relying on the flash to give me the amount of light I need for proper exposure..

Should I pick shutter priority, meter the shadows, pick my aperture from that, then set the color on the flash.....

I'm so confused.... Help please...

[Konical]

Good Morning, Bighead,

I don't know all the details of your particular camera, but I strongly suspect that your use of "Manual" mode is the correct choice. Normally, you should use the fastest possible shutter speed which will allow proper synch; with horizontally-moving focal plane shutters, that's usually 1/60, but with vertically-moving shutters, it's more likely 1/125.

Forget about metering: The autoflash feature element of the 285 is what controls the light output. Just be sure that the f-stop setting on your camera matches the "color" on the selector device on the 285. With B & W negative materials, I often use about 1/2 stop wider on the camera and slightly underdevelop the film when using autoflash; that tends to reduce the contrast somewhat; I often do the same with color negative film, since it tolerates a little overexposure better than a little underexposure.

Basic idea: just treat the camera as if it were fifty years old with absolutely no auto features. Let the flash take care of the exposure.

Konical

[John Koehrer]

Bighead,
What Konical said. Use manual & set aperture to color range on 285. Or spend the bucks & get a ttl flash form Nikon or Sunpak.

[Bighead]

First, FULL paying wedding gig... You can be sure I will be getting an SB-800, if not two of them....

[Paul Sorensen]

I would also recommend getting something like a stofen or Lumiquest device to soften the light and a Stroboframe bracket to move the flash up off the camera a bit. Relatively inexpensive and it's amazing the difference they will make.

Have fun!

Paul.

[Bighead]

I utilize both and yes, what a huge difference.......

[bjorke]

Wedding shots are notoriously troublesome to meter using automatic strobe or in-camera metering -- between the black tuxedos and white bridal gown, you're screwed

Better to hand-hold incident meter if you can!!!!!

[Bighead]

To bad the powder blue tux hasn't come back full swing....... That would help...!!!