 BetterPhoto Member |
camera settings I am new to the field of photography and I am a little confused as to how to gage light when using a flash. I have a SLR Pentax K1000 camera. If I am using a flash for indoor pictures, how do I know what to set my f-stop at? I'm afraid that I will get to much light in my pictures.
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Jeff K. Files |
Hi, The aperture setting for flash with your Pentax depends on whether you are using a manual or automatic flash unit. An automatic flash has the little eye on the front of it. This eye reads the light reflecting back from the subject and shuts the flash off when it has enough light. All that you have to do is set your aperture to what the flash unit tells you to set it on. This will be based on two things: your film speed and the distance to the subject. This information is usually on the back or side of the flash unit. These units can be had at a very reasonable price. Vivitar makes one for 20 dollars and it works fine. If you have a manual flash unit then you need to know the guide number of the unit. The guide number is different for different film speeds and can be found in the owners manual. To use the guide number you simply take the distance to your subject and divide this into your guide number and that is your f-stop. For instance, if the guide number is 110 and the distance to your subject is 10 feet then 110 divided by 10 equals f11. While using guide numbers is simple it does require practice and a little time. An automatic flash is worth buying if you don't already have one. One more point for the auto flash is if you put some sort of diffuser or colored filter over it you don't have to make any adjustments. The flash will read the light as usual and shut the flash down when enough light has been reflected. The manual flash would need an exposure correction if anything is put over the flash. This correction would be determined through trial and error or with a flash meter. I hope this helps and you have a nice day.
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