[magic.pill]

@robjmitchell, I dont shoot in "green" mode. :-). Mostly I shoot in P mode, since I consider myself a beginner. I tried out to play with shutterspeeds in M mode. But as much as I can remember my camera does not trigger flash with shutter-modes faster than 1/160. I will look out for those "slow speed sync" modes.

I want to shoot a very badly lit candle-light party and my problem (with the last party) was that when I use flash my pictures look like daylight. I totally lose the atmosphere.

[BrianR]

@robjmitchell, I dont shoot in "green" mode. :-). Mostly I shoot in P mode, since I consider myself a beginner. I tried out to play with shutterspeeds in M mode. But as much as I can remember my camera does not trigger flash with shutter-modes faster than 1/160. I will look out for those "slow speed sync" modes.

"slow sync" is the other way, longer shutter speeds like 1/60s, 1/2s. 2seconds, etc. These let in more ambient light relative to your flash.

"High-speed sync" lets you break the 1/180th barrier, this will help kill the ambient light relative to your flash. This usually isn't a huge problem indoors, the ambient light is generally low enough that it can be knocked out with a stopped down aperture and low iso. Provided you aren't in a cavernous room with black ceilings, you can usually take the ambient down and let the flash do the heavy lifting. It depends on many factors though.


ps. you should have no problem with 1/180th sync in any mode, you'll need to change your EV steps from 1/3rd to 1/2 to make this shutter speed available, or use the "x-sync" setting on your mode dial. It's not vastly different than 1/160th though, but is still a little faster.

[magic.pill]

@BrianR: Thanks I will try out your suggestions. Look at my example pic here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/38-photographic-technique/305264-why-do-t...ml#post3392021 I get results with too bright background. This is a shot with a Metz flash pointing to the top and PTTL Mode

[enoeske]

@mcgregni, thanks for the reply.

Yes by beneath I mean anything faster than 1/160 (thus 1/180 - 1/4000 is not possible). I will try your suggestions and will be glad to find out that my K5-II does *not* limit the flash triggering on faster speeds. That would be amazing.

The camera shutter has a set sync speed (the speed that the shutter moves) which is 1/180th of a second. Anything longer than that is no problem. However, anything shorter means the whole sensor won't be exposed to the flash. You have to use High Speed Sync (HSS) if you want to shoot at shutters faster than 1/180. HSS is a subset of P-TTL so you need a P-TTL capable flash to use it. It uses a series of flash bursts, rather than one quick flash, to simulate bright ambient light so that the whole shutter gets the same amount of light.

This is really Flash 101. You really need to do some learning rather than be so focused on gear and assuming people are using expensive gear or doing some crazy lighting tomfoolery.

[BrianR]

@BrianR: Thanks I will try out your suggestions. Look at my example pic here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/38-photographic-technique/305264-why-do-t...ml#post3392021 I get results with too bright background. This is a shot with a Metz flash pointing to the top and PTTL Mode

Looks like your background is very close to your subjects so it will get lit up by the flash. In the party pictures, they are in a room with far away walls so the light from the flash doesn't illuminate the background very much.

What were your settings for your picture (shutter, iso, aperture) and did you take any without flash?

[Rondec]

I guess what I usually do with flash is bounce it. I usually just set my iso at 800 or 1600 and my aperture at f4 and then tweak it based on my results. The biggest error I think folks make with flash is that they shoot with too low iso and direct flash and you get bright people in a dark well.

[clackers]

@clackers, I am not sure I understand what you mean. I have a Metz 58 AF2 Flash. I dont think this is the problem.

The problem is that my K5-II does not trigger the flash if you set the shutter beneath 1/160th. I also have YN triggers and a YN flash. Same there. Flash does not fire beneath 1/160th, which I think is a camera issue.

Am I doing something wrong???

Yes. Put the flash into its HSS mode and your K5-II will know it's worth its while to send a signal at 1/200s or 1/2000s or whatever.

Those Metzes were problematic as I understand it and needed a firmware upgrade, BTW.

As for your Yongnuo setup?

Forget it, MagicPill - manual only, no P-TTL data being exchanged between camera and controller, equals low shutter speeds.

[mcgregni]

In general, regardless of the type of flash system used, or the modes, Av, P, M, P-TTL etc etc , a very easy cause of overexposure is too small a flash to subject distance. This can easily happen if, for example, you crank up the ISO trying to get more ambient light in .... You can easily exceed the lower range for correct flash exposure at ISOs like 800 and 1600, especially with GN 54 flash units.

I try and take advantage of my distances and range indicator ... Ok, you have to use this in the direct configuration to get a reading, but its a quick easy way to get the required calculations performed for you and check that your settings are in the right ballpark, then just mentally factor in the needed extra 1.5 or 2 stops for the bounce configuration. You might choose to add this via an ISO, aperture or flash head zoom adjustment ... Just be aware of your limitations as guided by the range indication in the direct configuration.