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Photography Question 

Michelle Ross 		 

Flash/Camera Problems?


 
 
Okay ... it seems like all I've had is problems since I bought this new flash .. . Put in a new roll of film. . . used the flash with it and it worked fine . . . it was just inside a building at a meeting . . .nothing fancy but the pictures showed up fine. Took the camera to a volleyball game(200 speed film) inside a dark gym hoping to improve with the lighting issues.. . and the first couple seemed fine and then the rest of the roll had a strange overcast grain to them . . . kind of purplish?? Took another roll before I realized the above had happened of my son's football game(800 speed I think) outdoors at night and the first few were okay when it as lighter but then as evening went along the same thing started to happen but by the end of the roll a few of teh pictures were nice and bright/clear again. . . the camera is a Minolta Maxxum 5 with a Vivitar flash. I had it set at 85 feet with the proper ISO setting on the flash. I had the lens zoomed out to 300. . . Could that be the problem? I also was having some battery problems in my camera .. . I've uploaded a picture for reference. I was on the sidelines for the football game and in the bleachers for the volleyball game but it's a fairly small gym so I was still fairly close to the court! Thanks!


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October 19, 2004

 

Jon Close 		  The first picture of the football players looks simply underexposed. I think you were simply beyond the useful range of the flash. The scoreboard picture looks better only because the lights in the scoreboard are bright enough to give good exposure. The scoreboard itself is underexposed.

The maximum flash range is specified by it's guidenumber divided by the maximum aperture available on your lens. Vivitar's most powerful models (850AF, 283, 285HV) have a guidenumber of 120 ft. at ISO 100. The maximum aperture of your lens at 300mm is probably f/5.6. 120 ÷ 5.6 = 21 ft. as the limit when using ISO 100 film.

Using faster film increases the flash's useful range. Each doubling of ISO extends the range by a factor of x1.414. So using ISO 200 gets you far limit of 120 x 1.414 ÷ 5.6 = 30 ft.; for ISO 400 it's 120 x (1.414)^2 ÷ 5.6 = 42 ft.; and for ISO 800 it's 120 x (1.414)^3 ÷ 5.6 = 60 ft.


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October 20, 2004

 

Michelle Ross 		  Thanks Jon. I figured you would have an answer for me. . .the problem is I'm not 100% sure which film I had in for the football games. I know it was at least 400 speed but I was thinking I put in 800 speed because I knew I was wanting to take pictures in the dark. I was on the sidelines and mostly took the pictures when they were coming towards me and closer but I might have still been beyond the 60 feet. Another problem I was wondering about was my lens being extended to 300? Will this form a ring around the photos from the flash? I'm wanting to take basketball pictures soon and will be in a dark gym but it's small and I should be able to get fairly close. However, I'm worried about still getting images that are dull like the volleyball ones(however, I know that I used 200 speed film for that so that was probably a big problem). I tried to read all that I can about various things but find that my "sitution" just isn't always the same as what I read about. I appreciate your comments and taking time to answer me! Thanks


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October 20, 2004

 
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