[Smolk]

Who uses a polaroid back on a 645 and is willing to report on its usefulness? 6x4,5 seems relatively small to me, but perhaps it's just about big enough to evaluate light conditions? And how long will the film be available you think?

[yurihuta]

I use mine once in a while, mostly for nostalgic type photographs. Fuji makes a few emulsions for this back. The image is small, but quaint. If you have a DSLR, you could use that for evaluating lighting - faster and less expensive.

I have used the color ISO 100 as well as the B&W ISO 3000 in the Fuji emulsions. Perhaps the Impossible Project might one day supply some new/old Polaroid formulations, but so far only Fuji has them.

[Smolk]

The DSLR won't work with my flashes, I think, the AF400T and one that's on its way, the AF500, although I admit I haven't tried. One of the pictures I need this for would be fill-in flash outside, so I do not need TTL for that, but at least one other is going to be inside, with bouncing of the walls and ceiling. I want the 400 to work its TTL and the other to work as a slave. I'm not sure how to pull this off on the DSLR (K-x) unless I were to use triggers but I've never used anything like that (in general I'm pretty new to flash)

But you are right that it would be much cheaper, probably faster, and more future-proof. Guess I have to work this one out!

[yurihuta]

If you are setting lights to stay in one spot, you might want to consider using them in manual mode, that way you can get the lighting you want with some trial and error at first and then be able to reproduce them. However, this works if not too many parameters change.

I assumed you meant either available light or studio strobes / handheld strobes on manual mode. Don't be too intimidated with lighting, especially if you use manual mode. With TTL, you need to become familiar with what the camera's flash meter sees and how it interprets it.

[Smolk]

Thanks for the advice. Guess I'll have to experiment with manual (but it's out of my town, I have little time) when — or perhaps if — I get my second flash, which's been slow coming. Still, you are right, I do not know TTL intimately either, and cannot assume it is perfect.

Perhaps I should buy into strobes, it wasn't something I ever used to do, but I see more scope for it these days than in the past.