D7000 and a 40Mz3i.

Hello All,

Last week I was invited to take pictures during a reception and a High tea.
This was for a friend. The circumstances of the location (and the light)
were not known to me beforehand.

My equipment: D7000 with a 18-200 VR lens and an (old) Metz 40MZ3i.

The 40MZ3i is (or was) a very capable flash but does not interface very well
with the modern Digital camera.

Witch settings would you use for the camera and the flash to be able to work
fast and take pictures with and without flash?
I specifically want to hear from D7000 owners. (With an old flash).

In the end I did ok, but I think that there is still room for improvement on
my settings..
I'll post my settings, but not now, so that I do not influence 'your'
settings.
But I could improve because I inadvertently changed my settings where I had
no attention to change the settings.

Ben Brugman

The flash was a TTL flash on a film camera. On the D70 only the flash ready
signal was communicated between flash and camera.
On de D7000 not even that signal was communicated. So the flash had to be
used as an Automatic flash were the flash determines the amount of light.
But the settings on the flash are 'independend' from the settings on the
camera.

On 4/6/2012 3:09 PM, ben brugman wrote:

Witch settings would you use for the camera and the flash to be able to
work fast and take pictures with and without flash?
I specifically want to hear from D7000 owners. (With an old flash).

I'm not a D7000 owner, but you can use this flash in either manual
or automatic (non-TTL) mode with Nikon dSLR's.

--
Mike Benveniste -- (Clarification Required)
You don't have to sort of enhance reality. There is nothing
stranger than truth. -- Annie Leibovitz

In article e.nl, ben
brugman wrote:

Hello All,

Last week I was invited to take pictures during a reception and a High tea.
This was for a friend. The circumstances of the location (and the light)
were not known to me beforehand.

My equipment: D7000 with a 18-200 VR lens and an (old) Metz 40MZ3i.

The 40MZ3i is (or was) a very capable flash but does not interface very well
with the modern Digital camera.

none do. everything changed with digital, which obsoleted a lot of
flashes.

Witch settings would you use for the camera and the flash to be able to work
fast and take pictures with and without flash?
I specifically want to hear from D7000 owners. (With an old flash).

the only settings that work on a nikon dslr is manual or auto where the
sensor on the flash calculates the exposure. there is no ttl and
certainly no i-ttl or any of the other features on modern nikon
flashes.

The flash was a TTL flash on a film camera.

that will work if the flash supports the ttl of the camera. some
flashes are brand specific and others can switch modules for different
camera manufacturers.

On the D70 only the flash ready
signal was communicated between flash and camera.
On de D7000 not even that signal was communicated. So the flash had to be
used as an Automatic flash were the flash determines the amount of light.
But the settings on the flash are 'independend' from the settings on the
camera.

nikon dslrs won't support anything but i-ttl. i'm surprised the d70
showed the flash ready light. if it sees a nikon ttl flash, it disables
flash.

On 2012-04-06 15:09 , ben brugman wrote:
Hello All,

Last week I was invited to take pictures during a reception and a High tea.
This was for a friend. The circumstances of the location (and the light)
were not known to me beforehand.

My equipment: D7000 with a 18-200 VR lens and an (old) Metz 40MZ3i.

The 40MZ3i is (or was) a very capable flash but does not interface very
well with the modern Digital camera.

Witch settings would you use for the camera and the flash to be able to
work fast and take pictures with and without flash?
I specifically want to hear from D7000 owners. (With an old flash).

In the end I did ok, but I think that there is still room for
improvement on my settings..
I'll post my settings, but not now, so that I do not influence 'your'
settings.
But I could improve because I inadvertently changed my settings where I
had no attention to change the settings.

Ben Brugman

The flash was a TTL flash on a film camera. On the D70 only the flash
ready signal was communicated between flash and camera.
On de D7000 not even that signal was communicated. So the flash had to
be used as an Automatic flash were the flash determines the amount of
light.
But the settings on the flash are 'independend' from the settings on the
camera.

I'd just shoot it manual (f/5.6 - f/11 (ish), 1/200 ish, ISO 200 - 400).

The Metz should meter itself well, but may need to be biased up a bit in
a formal High Tea setting (hotels, spas, etc) which tend to be in bright
(white to pale pastels) rooms which in turn will meter high resulting
low flash output. About +1.5 - +2 should do it.

I would take advantage, however, of the soft/bright lighting in such
rooms and try to shoot without flash if possible.

--
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did.
I said I didn't know."
-Samuel Clemens.

"Alan Browne" wrote in message
news
The Metz should meter itself well, but may need to be biased up a bit in a
formal High Tea setting (hotels, spas, etc) which tend to be in bright
(white to pale pastels) rooms which in turn will meter high resulting low
flash output. About +1.5 - +2 should do it.

I would take advantage, however, of the soft/bright lighting in such rooms
and try to shoot without flash if possible.

Exactly why I wouldn't "bias it up a bit". I'd want it as fill flash only,
and would be more likely to bias it down a bit, but the use of soft boxes,
bounce flash etc. means all decisions would be made after looking at a few
pictures on the LCD.
THAT is a great benefit of digital over film when using mixed lighting.

Trevor.

On 2012-04-06 19:06 , Trevor wrote:
"Alan wrote in message
news
The Metz should meter itself well, but may need to be biased up a bit in a
formal High Tea setting (hotels, spas, etc) which tend to be in bright
(white to pale pastels) rooms which in turn will meter high resulting low
flash output. About +1.5 - +2 should do it.

I would take advantage, however, of the soft/bright lighting in such rooms
and try to shoot without flash if possible.

Exactly why I wouldn't "bias it up a bit". I'd want it as fill flash only,

My comment assumed the Metz was the main exposure light (the 1/200
exposure you snipped out).

The OP was not clear about what his specific issues were.

If shooting available light, then from the formal tea rooms I've been in
(many) one would not need any fill anywhere. A tripod would be best,
subject (people) permitting. High ISO (800-1600) acceptable on most
digital cameras (not much dark or shadow content to reveal noise).

Fill would reduce the sparse contrast to the point of flattening the
image. There is little if any directional lighting. It is soft,
diffuse, reflected. Nothing to fill if one shoots available light.

and would be more likely to bias it down a bit, but the use of soft boxes,
bounce flash etc. means all decisions would be made after looking at a few
pictures on the LCD.
THAT is a great benefit of digital over film when using mixed lighting.

The LCD provides universal benefits except "by the book" lighting ratios
- for that nothing beats an incident meter.

--
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did.
I said I didn't know."
-Samuel Clemens.

"ben brugman" wrote:
Hello All,

Last week I was invited to take pictures during a reception and a High
tea.
This was for a friend. The circumstances of the location (and the light)
were not known to me beforehand.

My equipment: D7000 with a 18-200 VR lens and an (old) Metz 40MZ3i.

The 40MZ3i is (or was) a very capable flash but does not interface very
well with the modern Digital camera.

My advice would be to ebay the Metz and get a Nikon flash. I picked up a
used earlier model (now two generation out of date) Canon flash for use with
the 5D and now 5D2. It's friggin amazing. Zooms along with the lens from 24
to 105mm (for longer reach at longer focal lengths) has a fold-out diffuser
for 14mm superwide But best of all, it nails the exposure every time all the
time: in testing it, I tried to find a subject that it would mess up the
exposure on, and couldn't. And the latest ones have even more features. Get
the cheapest one that will do bounce flash and has enough power.

--
David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...
On 2012-04-06 19:06 , Trevor wrote:
"Alan wrote in message
news
The Metz should meter itself well, but may need to be biased up a bit in
a
formal High Tea setting (hotels, spas, etc) which tend to be in bright
(white to pale pastels) rooms which in turn will meter high resulting
low
flash output. About +1.5 - +2 should do it.

I would take advantage, however, of the soft/bright lighting in such
rooms
and try to shoot without flash if possible.

Exactly why I wouldn't "bias it up a bit". I'd want it as fill flash
only,

My comment assumed the Metz was the main exposure light (the 1/200
exposure you snipped out).

My comment assumed it didn't HAVE to be.


The OP was not clear about what his specific issues were.

If shooting available light, then from the formal tea rooms I've been in
(many) one would not need any fill anywhere. A tripod would be best,
subject (people) permitting.

Rarely use a tripod (since IS lenses anyway) when shooting people that can
move are involved ! (and when tripods can get in the way as well)
Having perfectly sharp backgrounds with blurred people works occasionally of
course, but not too often. For some shots without people perhaps.


High ISO (800-1600) acceptable on most digital cameras (not much dark or
shadow content to reveal noise).

Right, or even more for some camera's these days.


Fill would reduce the sparse contrast to the point of flattening the
image. There is little if any directional lighting. It is soft, diffuse,
reflected. Nothing to fill if one shoots available light.

I'll bow to your obviously superior knowledge of all existing tea rooms and
their lighting. Seems the OP thought he needed his Metz for some reason
however.


and would be more likely to bias it down a bit, but the use of soft
boxes,
bounce flash etc. means all decisions would be made after looking at a
few
pictures on the LCD.
THAT is a great benefit of digital over film when using mixed lighting.

The LCD provides universal benefits except "by the book" lighting ratios -
for that nothing beats an incident meter.


If you prefer "by the book" to your own artistic ability and experience,
sure. And asuming you have time to take those readings without getting in
peoples way. It wasn't just a professional photo shoot as I read it, but I
could be wrong.

Trevor.

On 2012-04-06 19:28:16 -0700, "David J. Littleboy" said:


"ben brugman" wrote:
Hello All,

Last week I was invited to take pictures during a reception and a High
tea.
This was for a friend. The circumstances of the location (and the light)
were not known to me beforehand.

My equipment: D7000 with a 18-200 VR lens and an (old) Metz 40MZ3i.

The 40MZ3i is (or was) a very capable flash but does not interface very
well with the modern Digital camera.

My advice would be to ebay the Metz and get a Nikon flash. I picked up a
used earlier model (now two generation out of date) Canon flash for use with
the 5D and now 5D2. It's friggin amazing. Zooms along with the lens from 24
to 105mm (for longer reach at longer focal lengths) has a fold-out diffuser
for 14mm superwide But best of all, it nails the exposure every time all the
time: in testing it, I tried to find a subject that it would mess up the
exposure on, and couldn't. And the latest ones have even more features. Get
the cheapest one that will do bounce flash and has enough power.

Yup!
I have an SB-800. It works great on both my D70 & D300s with no issues.
It just does what is expected of it.

--
Regards,

Savageduck

"Savageduck" wrote:
On 2012-04-06 19:28:16 -0700, "David J. Littleboy" said:

My advice would be to ebay the Metz and get a Nikon flash. I picked up a
used earlier model (now two generation out of date) Canon flash for use
with
the 5D and now 5D2. It's friggin amazing. Zooms along with the lens from
24
to 105mm (for longer reach at longer focal lengths) has a fold-out
diffuser
for 14mm superwide But best of all, it nails the exposure every time all
the
time: in testing it, I tried to find a subject that it would mess up the
exposure on, and couldn't. And the latest ones have even more features.
Get
the cheapest one that will do bounce flash and has enough power.

Yup!
I have an SB-800. It works great on both my D70 & D300s with no issues. It
just does what is expected of it.

Life is much better than it used to be. In the good old days (e.g. 1970 or
so), you used to have a flash head, a capacitors bank (in the handle), a
monster bracket/grip, wires all over the place, a battery pack over your
shoulder. And for exposure, you prayed...

http://www.pbase.com/davidjl/image/119152038/large

AKA: Proof that I've been doing bounce flash for over 40 years...

--
David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan