Nikon i-TTL-BL Flash Setting

I am by no means am I the most perfect amazing lighting master guru guy.
However, the one thing about me is that I am always trying to learn and re-learn stuff. For example, I was just recently taking a look at Nikon's micro-site all about their Creative Lighting System (CLS) and wanted to brush up on my TTL knowledge.

One thing jarred my memory and reminded me of something that I meant to write about for a while now-- the i-TTL BL setting. See way back in the early days of Nikon's TTL flash technology that I can remember (circa 2002), the BL in i-TTL stood for Back-Lit. Today, Nikon re-branded it by now referring i-TTL-BL as meaning BaLanced Fill-Flash!

Here is the definition from Nikon: "Nikon's i-TTL (intelligent through-the-lens) Balanced Fill-Flash automatically balances the output of the Nikon Speedlight and the scene's ambient light.

Immediately before the main flash goes off, the Speedlight fires a series of monitor pre-flashes, which convey Information about the scene's lighting to the camera. Combined with information from the camera's 3D Color Matrix metering system, the information is analyzed to adjust flash output to balance the scene's ambient light.

All of this complex processing happens in a fraction of a second, before each exposure, to provide unprecedented levels of flash precision and performance."

I always have my flash set to i-TTL BL with my SB-900s. Why? Because I want my lighting to be balanced with the ambient light... I found that Nikon's technology does an amazing job at "knowing" what is going on in front of it and compensating appropriately. Granted, it is just 1s and 0s and it can be fooled but so can anything else with camera technology. It is important to think in advance and realize how much light you need (and want) in your image. For example, do you want a little catch light in the eyes? Maybe a little fill flash to fill in some wrinkles or harsh shadows or maybe you want to do some dramatic lighting like the pic below:



Image shot using the Nikon D700. Off Camera Flash (camera left) set to i-TTL -2ev to resemble a car headlight in this parking garage.

Attention Canon shooters: It's important to note that Canon's e-TTL II behaves in a similar way to Nikon speedlights. That's good news for you Canon flash guys.

Thanks for stopping by.
Mike

Nikon D700 Hot Shoe Problems

So this post is more about something to watch out for.

I have a couple D700s and have had the same problem on each of my bodies with a couple Nikon SB-900 Speedlights. What ends up happening is that the speedlight flickers and misfires when any sort of movement happens. I must have gotten flashed a hundred times last week.

The D700 is an amazing camera and its low light capabilities is just stellar. However, I still use flashes A LOT and it is a real bummer that this camera can't keep up with a heavier flash.

For the time being, I took a hammer to the hot shoe, very gently, and tapped the hot shoe flaps so they fit the speedlight tighter. I also used needle nose pliers to gently pry the metal things inside the hot shoe as well to make for a tighter fit. There is a $30 Nikon WG-AS3 Flash Water Guard which I used more to keep the flash tighter to the camera ever since this happened the first time. Unfortunately, I lost mine . A new one is on the way and hopefully that can help to further keep the D700 in working order without needing to be sent to Nikon.

Anyone else have (or had) similar problems? Comment below and share your stories.

Thanks for stopping by,
Mike

Thinking In A Flash

I have a D700 with the SB800. I know how to adjust the settings to get the right flash output after I've seen in my histogram, but in a wedding a lot of times the moment is gone and you can't take a second shot.

Please give advice on how to think through the settings? How far are your subjects when you use 1/4, 1/8 power, etc? Do you constantly change your flash or do you change your distance from the subject? Bride walking aisle?

Thank You!"

Thanks for writing. I too use the Nikon D700 and have myself the Nikon SB-800 and SB-900 speedlights. The one thing that stood out to me in your question was that you were mentioning stuff like 1/4 and 1/8 power. That is leading me to believe that you have your flash set to Manual mode and not TTL (Through The Lens). Manual mode was handled a certain way back in the film days. Guide numbers, distance to subject, blah blah blah. Technology has really advanced and TTL takes away "almost" all those complicated trig functions and stuff that film photographers had to do before. I do have an article about TTL Flash work that is worth looking at for a little more background on what it does. I moved to different hosting providers so some of the images in the article are MIA for the time being. I will get those back up as soon as possible because nothing beats visual examples of all this complicated terminology. Note, this article is in regards to the flash in TTL mode and OFF CAMERA and on a light stand. Not too many differences but just be aware that things are different than on-camera flash.

So to answer your question, I don't really think at all. You can too. Just set your flash to TTL mode and give that a whirl. End of story. What happens in TTL mode is that a pre-flash is fired just before the actual flash does. This pre-flash illuminates your subject and that information is recorded by the camera. The camera takes that, plus the focal length of your lens plus your current camera settings (shutter speed, aperture and ISO) and comes up with the proper "median" flash power that will correctly light your subject. Take a look at the image and if it is slightly too dark or too light then that is where the Flash Exposure Compensation comes in handy. Dial that up or down to tell your flash "Hey, whatever you are thinking, increase or decrease it some" and it will listen and do just that. Flashes are very obedient like that.

Great question! Keep them coming!

Take care.

Nikon Review From A (former) Canon Shooter

Now let me start off by saying that I used to shoot Nikon back in the day. I show with Nikon from 2001 to 2006 and had myself a D100 and a D200 DSLR bodies. I simply made the switch to Canon as a business decision. I was intrigued by their CMOS sensors and full frame technology and that they kept releasing new stuff for the professional. Meanwhile, Nikon stuff was always back ordered and hard to find and they kept releasing stuff for the beginner photographer.

I can say that when Nikon does something, they do it right! After all that time, they finally released a full frame body, the D3. What an amazing camera that made Canon do a double take. I have to admit, it made me wish I still shot Nikon. To top things, off, they wait about 6 months and then release the mini D3, the D700 for $2000 less! WOW!!!

Now where do I fit in all of this? My Canon equipment has been a bit flaky all the time and the images I got were what I thought were ideal for being digital. My 20 and 30D bodies had some issues. I had some Err messages and one of my 30D's would mess up when I filled up the buffer. It would require the batteries to be taken out to get rid of the BuF message. My 5D was decent and I only had issues with having 9 focus points all in the center (the outer 8 being pointless and had a horrible time acquiring focus). I also would have battery issues saying that it was drained when it was in fact full and stuff like that. I figured a Mark III would be the "say all-be all" camera but that has proved to cause me more grief than I can say. The current state of the camera is that it currently "thinks" it acquired focus when in fact the focus is a good 6-12 inches back from where it should be. It thus has to go in for repair. I also had intermittent IS issues with my lenses and so on...
The final straw was that my CPS membership meant nothing to them and they couldn't loan me a new body until this one got fixed or anything. All I got was 7-10 business days for the repair.

Well, being a professional, I have to have equipment that I can rely on and trust. I don't want to fear that every time I press the shutter it could be my last.

I picked up a Nikon D700 last week because I never had issues with Nikon equipment before. They are hard to come by yes, but they have proven to be very reliable systems from my use and abuse when I owned them.

I shot a wedding on Saturday with inLIGHTin member Scott and this camera just blew me away. No more machine gun shooting to hope for a shot that was in focus, no low light focusing issues, no fear of using ISO 3200 or 6400. IT WAS GREAT!

The only issues I had was the fact that the camera "feel" was still new to me so I would be looking for the shutter in the wrong spot and little stupid things like that which will go away after more use.

The camera had no issues whatsoever and the files out of the camera were literally better than what I got out of a Mark III. And that is taking into consideration the 4 hour lens micro adjustment spiel and post processing / sharpening I would have to do to the Mark III file...

Needless to say, I am a very happy camper and these lenses are so sharp they could cut you...

I will post some pics when I get a second.

Thanks and let me know if you have any questions.