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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

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Discussions about cameras, lenses, accessories, and image-processing.
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flash set up recommendations 6 years 9 months ago #1192

  • Ken Black
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Using Nikon D7100 with Sigma 150-500mm lens, and woulkd be interested to hear what others use for low light photography eg rainforest.
Have been considering Nikon SB700 with Better Beamer extender?

Thanks

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flash set up recommendations 6 years 9 months ago #1194

  • Ian Wilson
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Hello Ken,

I am not a Nikon shooter so unable to give specific advice on Nikon hardware but I can make a few general observations. In rain forest situations you will usually encounter birds fairly close so the Better Beamer may not be necessary, depending upon the flash output power and the longest focal length of your flash zoom range. For example, I use a Canon 600EX-RT that is powerful and has a maximum zoom focal length of 200 mm. This works well in the rain forest with telephoto lenses from 300-600 mm focal length without the need for a Better Beamer. I previously used a lower-powered Canon 430EX II which has a maximum zoom range of 105 mm and with this flash I found the Better Beamer was useful. One of the downsides of the Better Beamer is that it can get snagged by vines, wire grass and other kinds of vegetation.

For opportunistic shooting in a rain forest situation I usually use what Nikon call ITTL flash. I use the flash to add about 2-3 stops of exposure to the ambient light exposure. That is to say, if the flash did not fire, the image would be 2-3 stops underexposed. The idea is to use the flash to make up the light to achieve proper exposure of the mid-tones. The camera exposure settings are adjusted manually, that is aperture (f/No) to suit the depth of field required, exposure time (usually the fasted shutter sync speed available, 1/200-1/320 sec), and manual ISO setting to achieve proper mid-tone exposure (usually ISO 200-800 depending upon the range to the bird and the available natural light). If you get the ISO roughly right, the ITTL will calculate the right exposure. For metering I use what Canon call partial metering which analyses the brightness of a field of view roughly equivalent to the metering circle one can see in the viewfinder. You may find that birds with particularly bright flashes of colour like the bright pale-green shoulder flash on the Noisy Pitta will over-expose so you need to pull back the flash output power a bit. This is achieved using some negative flash exposure compensation, say -2/3 stop. Do not use any of the camera exposure settings as all that will happen is the flash output power will be automatically increased by the ITTL and the result will be the same overall exposure. You must use the flash exposure compensation to get control of the overall exposure (not the camera exposure settings).

I hope one of our Nikon shooters can pick up the discussion and add more specific information.

Cheers, Ian.
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flash set up recommendations 6 years 9 months ago #1195

  • Ken Black
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Hi Ian and many thanks. One point, I am hoping to use high speed flash synch (auto fp) to get well above 1/320 sec for hand held shots (find tripods and even monopods are problematic off track in vegetation - and those little birds don't stay still for long :)

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flash set up recommendations 6 years 9 months ago #1196

  • Bruce Terrill
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Hi Ken and Ian,
Ian,
I use the Nikon system, as well you know, but I simply use your information with my equipment. There's very little difference between the two when it comes to using flash and the settings are just about interchangeable. You can certainly use your recommendations as a starting point and adjust from there.
While I have your ear, what size circle do you use with the Evaluative Metering? I notice that Arthur Morris recommends using this metering option "all the time" for bird photography and I was wondering as to whether the Evaluative Metering on the Canons might be more accurate than Spot Metering?
Kindest regards,
Bruce

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Last edit: by Bruce Terrill. Reason: correct spelling

flash set up recommendations 6 years 9 months ago #1197

  • Ian Wilson
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Hi Ken,

High-speed sync flash works on a different principle to ITTL. It uses a sequence of low power flash pulses that fire as the camera shutter curtains roll across the focal plane. It is not as effective as ITTL and only useful up to about 1/1000 sec because the light output power falls off rapidly with shorter exposure time. The main purpose of high speed sync flash is to provide a little fill flash to 'soften' harsh shadows or provide an eye highlight. This flash mode is rarely used in bird photography.

Regarding the lower shutter speed used for ITTL and full manual flash control; even though the shutter is open for 1/200-1/320 sec, the main flash pulse will have a pulse width of 1/800- 1/4000 sec so the effective exposure time will be much shorter than the time the shutter is open. This means one can shoot ITTL without a tripod as long as the subject is not moving too quickly. This will generally be the case with perched birds in a rain forest.

Hope this helps, cheers, Ian.
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flash set up recommendations 6 years 9 months ago #1198

  • Ian Wilson
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Hi Bruce,

With flash photography I use partial metering which covers about 6% of the viewfinder area at the centre of the field of view (roughly the area contained within the metering circle of Canon cameras). With my Canon cameras set up for ETTL flash I have noticed that even if I select evaluative metering, the camera defaults to partial metering.

Evaluative metering in ordinary use analyses the entire field of view to find the highlights and adjusts the exposure automatically. It works well and a lot of top bird photographers use this metering mode but I prefer spot metering for my style of shooting.

Cheers, Ian.
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