[Korg]

Hello to all...

I have a Yongnuo YN-560 II and a K5. My question is using this flash, how does one know what power setting on the flash and exposure settings on the camera to use? Is there a rule of thumb also?

Thanks for your help.

[Not a Number]

With a manual flash you set the camera to sync speed "X" or in manual mode with a shutter speed 1/180th or slower. You then calculate the f-stop from the Guide Number of the flash and the flash to subject distance. Or you can use a flash meter.

ShortCourses-Flash

[fgaudet]

That's kind of what light meters are for. But if like me, you're too cheap to get one, you can do without, at the cost of a few test exposures.

My workflow is usually as follows; I set my camera for what I want (shutter, aperture) and if using one flash, I set the power level to 50% and fire a test shot. Normally I get my exposure right after a couple of shots, either by adjusting flash power or exposure settings, depending on what I get. Using multiple flashes, I adjust them according to what I want (rear-front, left-right balance, hair light...) and see what I get. The more flashes, the more test shots before getting it right.

The more I do, the better I get at getting my settings right on the first or second time. However it's not unusual for me to spend a fair amount of time setting up my strobes and my camera settings when I'm doing portrait and such.

It's very hard to have an easy rule of thumb since there are so many variables (flash power, illumination pattern, distance to subject, scene to be captured, reflectiveness of the location, camera settings, focal length, light modifier.....)

But don't take my word as gospel, it's only MY way of doing things

[adwb]

My advice to people I teach, who don't have a flash meter, is find for your kit a setting that works and adjust from there,

For example set the flash on half power ,set the subject 2 meters / 9 feet way , set camera on manual, 100 iso, 100/1 shutter speed, f8
That should get you in the ballpark.
You adjust from that by changing either distance or aperture then remember it so that everyone is a winner in the future.
You then alter shutter to add / subtract the ambient component
Or
You alter the aperture to control the flash contribution

[Bob from Aus]

Congratulations on buying a manual flash. I was a great fan of TTL flash on film cameras, but find with digital I almost always need to operate on manual as the auto settings are inconsistent.

I agree with the previous opinions
1. set the camera setting to what you want. If doing bounce flash start with ISO 200 other wise Iso 100. If doing fill light hit the green button to get your settings on X.
2. Use the power adjustment on the flash to get the affect you are looking for. It is useful to have the graph coming up on the preview image with the aim of getting the graph somewhere near the middle.

Other than bounce flash I use the power setting on the flash to adjust and fine tune most of the time. With bounce flash I set the flash to 50 or 100% and adjust the aperture or ISO depending what I want to achieve.

I don't seem to need to take many test shots to get it right. I get it first time around 30% of the time.

Hope you enjoy your choice of flash. The model you have purchased seems to have many advantages over the normal high tech flash and yours is a round a third of the price.

I must confess I never use my flash meter.

[Korg]

Thank you for all your excellent information.