Need help with SL shooting manual flash

[arvin]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Wish everyone had a great X'mas and happy new year. 😀

I was trying my SL with some third party flashes to capture our X'mas tree with people in it.
I tried both the "Start of Exp." and "End of Exp." from the menu. (assuming they are representing the front curtain and rear curtain sync)
Both settings, however, didn't allow me to capture my wife and kids while I was testing it. (See photo below )

Does anyone know how should I set it? Do I need to set the auto slow sync as well? The Auto Slow Sync. was set to 1/f min 1/60 s. 
Thanks a lot. 

Edit: I found this post back in 2016,  and my setting was M mode, 24 seconds, F13. 
Should I set the Auto Slow Sync to "1/2f min. 1/60s" instead?  It's so confusing. 

 

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited December 28, 2020 by arvin

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Fgcm]

Try this:

ISO 800 (NO auto ISO)

f 5.6

shutter 1/50

Flash at beginning of exposure (rule of thumb: use beginning with people and end of exposure with moving subjects)

depending on the guide number, you should calculate the settings of the flash. If you have never used a manual flash before, Set it to auto or manual and power to 1/32. 

If the photo is overexposed, reduce the power of the flash. If it’s dark, increase it. Do not touch camera settings, change flash settings only.

let me know what happens

 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Fgcm

[arvin]

4 hours ago, Fgcm said:

Try this:

ISO 800 (NO auto ISO)

f 5.6

shutter 1/50

Flash at beginning of exposure (rule of thumb: use beginning with people and end of exposure with moving subjects)

depending on the guide number, you should calculate the settings of the flash. If you have never used a manual flash before, Set it to auto or manual and power to 1/32. 

If the photo is overexposed, reduce the power of the flash. If it’s dark, increase it. Do not touch camera settings, change flash settings only.

let me know what happens

 

Thanks for reading my post and the reply. 
 

It does work with what you suggested if I only wanna capture the tree and the people. Yes. 
However, I also want to capture those lights on the tree, hence the long exposure And that's why I was trying to do a rear curtain sync at the end of the shutter. 
 

 

 

[douglas fry]

Put the camera in manual. To capture the low level ambient light, and put flash on the family in front of it, I think you will need a tripod. This will allow for a sharp image of the tree.

Get a decent shot of the tree alone with the aperture on about F2, if you go to f/5.6 etc you will have a hard time balancing ambient with flash power, and make the image look too 'flashed'

Then introduce the family members into the composition. A wider lens like a 35mm will allow for flexibility in composition and just crop later.

For a shot like this shutter speed influences ambient and lens aperture the flash at a set ISO. So quickly assess the image on the camera and adjust either as necessary

1st or 2nd curtain sync wont make any difference to the shot as no one is moving

Good luck, shots like this are harder than they look!

[arvin]

23 minutes ago, douglas fry said:

Put the camera in manual. To capture the low level ambient light, and put flash on the family in front of it, I think you will need a tripod. This will allow for a sharp image of the tree.

Get a decent shot of the tree alone with the aperture on about F2, if you go to f/5.6 etc you will have a hard time balancing ambient with flash power, and make the image look too 'flashed'

Then introduce the family members into the composition. A wider lens like a 35mm will allow for flexibility in composition and just crop later.

For a shot like this shutter speed influences ambient and lens aperture the flash at a set ISO. So quickly assess the image on the camera and adjust either as necessary

1st or 2nd curtain sync wont make any difference to the shot as no one is moving

Good luck, shots like this are harder than they look!

Thanks for replying. 

It was in manual mode and yes I did have a tripod. The relationship you mentioned doesn't seems to apply to Leica or am I not understand what's happening with the behaviour. 🤣

With what fgcm suggested, flash set to the power of 1/32, ISO:800, F5.6,  shutter: 1/50 second, I can capture my son and the tree with the moment while my son stays “freezes.”  However, that shutter speed (1/50) is still too fast to capture what I want as the end result, with the lights on the tree.

If I slow down the shutter speed, theoretically , it should only affect the ambient light and the flash at the end of the exposure should freeze my son. But I see the ghostly image of him. 

I had done similar image with my old Nikon D200. City night landscape, with a person standing. Long exposure with low iso, high aperture to create the star looking lights. Only fired the flash at the end to “solidified” or “freeze” the person at the end before the curtain closed. See photo attached. 

It always worked with Niko , but not with SL?! 😭

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[arvin]

1 minute ago, arvin said:

Thanks for replying. 

It was in manual mode and yes I did have a tripod. The relationship you mentioned doesn't seems to apply to Leica or am I not understand what's happening with the behaviour. 🤣

With what fgcm suggested, flash set to the power of 1/32, ISO:800, F5.6,  shutter: 1/50 second, I can capture my son and the tree with the moment while my son stays “freezes.”  However, that shutter speed (1/50) is still too fast to capture what I want as the end result, with the lights on the tree.

If I slow down the shutter speed, theoretically , it should only affect the ambient light and the flash at the end of the exposure should freeze my son. But I see the ghostly image of him. 

I had done similar image with my old Nikon D200. City night landscape, with a person standing. Long exposure with low iso, high aperture to create the star looking lights. Only fired the flash at the end to “solidified” or “freeze” the person at the end before the curtain closed. So they don't have to stand there, without moving for too long. See photo attached. 

It always worked with Niko , but not with SL?! 😭

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

[Photoworks]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Think of planing the shot like a double exposure. 

Looks like your kid moved out of the photo after the flash. so you get a little of the background coming true.

If you have a dark background anywhere and place the people in that area you will have better saturation.

in any case you should get you exposure correct with out the flash to taste first and then add the flash and adjust power until it works with you shot.

I don't think you find a human to be able to hold more than 1/2 sec. 24sec it the first element to change.

The exposure setting above mention before are probably a good start

[RoySmith]

Use the aperture and flash power to control the exposure of the subject (people) in the foreground.

Then lengthen  the shutter speed to control expose of the  background.

[arvin]

4 hours ago, Photoworks said:

Think of planing the shot like a double exposure. 

Looks like your kid moved out of the photo after the flash. so you get a little of the background coming true.

If you have a dark background anywhere and place the people in that area you will have better saturation.

in any case you should get you exposure correct with out the flash to taste first and then add the flash and adjust power until it works with you shot.

I don't think you find a human to be able to hold more than 1/2 sec. 24sec it the first element to change.

The exposure setting above mention before are probably a good start

Thanks, but he didn't move dramatically though. I understood human cannot stand still like a wood, but at least there are some part of his body coming through properly instead of a ghostly image, no?

Edited December 28, 2020 by arvin

[arvin]

3 hours ago, RoySmith said:

Use the aperture and flash power to control the exposure of the subject (people) in the foreground.

Then lengthen  the shutter speed to control expose of the  background.

Thanks for replying. 

Agreed with you, but it seems to have no effects.  

Flash Power: 1/32 + Shutter: 1/50  + ISO:800 + Aperture: F5.6 + M mode on Tripod + front curtain sync = ok image, no ghostly of my son. 

Increased the shutter to 2 seconds instead in order to capture more ambient light and tried both from or rear curtain sync = I got a ghost image of my son. (he isn't moving drastically.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[helged]

The background 'shines through' the boy. This can only happen if the boy is not present during parts of the exposure.

A person can stand still at 1/24 sec, possibly 1/10 sec, at least if you shoot a couple of times. Therefore set the shutter speed to 1/15 sec, or thereabout, with camera on tripod. Next step is to adjust aperture and ISO - without using the flash - until you have a depth of field and an overall exposure to your liking. Once set, turn the flash on in manual mode and adjust the flash power until the person(s) get a likeable exposure. Should work, I believe... 

(If you are lucky - and the persons are in really cooperative mood - you may extend the shutter speed to 1/2 sec). 

Please report! 

Edited December 28, 2020 by helged