BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Questions

Flash light

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May 28, 2001

What you have probably been doing is shooting with your shutter speed at or near the max sync speed for your flash. Probably around 1/125th. In order to get detail you have to slow the shutter down (drag it) to let the ambient light in the room register an exposure on your film. The best way to do this is to meter the ambient light at whatever f-stop you plan to use with your flash. The resulting shutter speed is the one you should use as your sync speed.

That's where the rear curtain sync comes in handy (though I've never used it). You will probably end up with a shutter speed like 1/15 or something. At this speed your film will record the ambient light. But at this speed you can't prevent motion blur. The second curtain (rear curtain) sync will fire the flash at the end of the exposure causing any blur to fall behind the subject in a more natural appearance. The short duration of the flash will be enough to freeze any motion and the long shutter speed will be enough to give you detail in the background.

I can't tell you specifically how to set RCS on your camera. If there isn't a lot of motion or if your resulting shutter speed isn't too slow I wouldn't even worry about it since you probably won't even see the difference.

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May 29, 2001

I've found using a 1/30th shutter speed helps in these situations (without the benefit of rear curtain sync). It's fast enough to stop most people motion unless they are moving very fast . . . as in sports activities. 1/30th was the common shutter speed used very successfully with flash bulbs for decades.

-- John

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May 29, 2001