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09/12/2006 10:27:58 AM · #1 |
i recently bought the Olympus SP-500 UZ...well i guess i should say my husband bought it for me so I didnt quite know too much about it before hand. I discovered that its not possible to attatch an external flash to this camera. How much is this going to hinder my picture taking ability? What kind of photography jobs would be out of the question? Am I going to be stuck doing just still outdoor landscapeish shots? Sorry I am just starting out and I dont know a lot of the photography lingo. Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated. I need to make money in order to spend money on new equipment lol but i just need to know really if it is a waste of time to buy the lenses that go with the camera and just save for a better camera all together or if i can work with what i have. Help please!!
Thanks Danielle |
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09/12/2006 10:36:36 AM · #2 |
you can get an external flash and use it as a slave to your onboard flash so lighting isn't to much of a problem.
you can get by with what you have but,
If I were you I would start saving up for a nice DSLR and a couple of nice lenses you will want one eventually.
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09/12/2006 10:40:41 AM · #3 |
Originally posted by Bugzeye:
you can get an external flash and use it as a slave to your onboard flash so lighting isn't to much of a problem.
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Ok that sounds a little more promising for now anyway until i can save up...how do i go about knowing what kind of external flash i would get and how do i use it as a slave? Sorry I am clueless on the technical stuff. |
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09/12/2006 10:50:09 AM · #4 |
Originally posted by danimarie1981:
Originally posted by Bugzeye:
you can get an external flash and use it as a slave to your onboard flash so lighting isn't to much of a problem.
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Ok that sounds a little more promising for now anyway until i can save up...how do i go about knowing what kind of external flash i would get and how do i use it as a slave? Sorry I am clueless on the technical stuff. |
When you have two flashes in a master/slave relationship, the light output from the master flash triggers the slave flash and it fires a millisecond or so after the master. Using your built-in flash on that camera as a master is not really a practical solution, because the whole reason you want a flash "off" the camera is to avoid that "in your face" lighting you get from the built-in flash, and obviously you're still gonna have that if the built-in flash is what you're using to trigger the off-camera flash...
If you want to experiment with more sophisticated flash lighting, you're going to need a camera that allows you to connect a flash via a "synch cord" so you can use the unit in different relationships to the camera. To a certain extent a camera with a "hot shoe" on the top, when coupled with a good external flash unit, will allow considerable experimentation because you can change the position of the flash head by tilting/swiveling it and bouncing your light off various different surfaces, but a synch cord connection that allows you to take the flash unit off the camera altogether is still a lovely thing to have.
R.
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09/12/2006 10:57:21 AM · #5 |
hopefully someone else will come in here and give you advice on what to get. I am just letting you know that the stuff is out there. not sure what would work best with your camera, or what lighting conditions you will need to work with.
for my Nikon Speedlights i have these Wireless Remote TTL Flash Controllers that mount on the bottom of the flash they have sensors that pick up the flash from the camera and automatically fire the flash mounted to it.
I believe that in this case they are not brand name sensitive, meaning that a nikon flash would fire no matter what camera being used to take the photos as long as the onboard flash fires while taking the photo.
Before you buy a flash system do some research on cameras you might buy in the future first because you will most likely want to make sure the flash will work with future camera gear.
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09/12/2006 11:00:16 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by Bugzeye:
hopefully someone else will come in here and give you advice on what to get. I am just letting you know that the stuff is out there. not sure what would work best with your camera, or what lighting conditions you will need to work with.
for my Nikon Speedlights i have these Wireless Remote TTL Flash Controllers that mount on the bottom of the flash they have sensors that pick up the flash from the camera and automatically fire the flash mounted to it.
I believe that in this case they are not brand name sensitive, meaning that a nikon flash would fire no matter what camera being used to take the photos as long as the onboard flash fires while taking the photo.
Before you buy a flash system do some research on cameras you might buy in the future first because you will most likely want to make sure the flash will work with future camera gear. |
Thanks I will definitly do my research. Being as how i am so new to all the technical stuff it is nice to have places like this that can atleast hopefully point me in the right direction. Before i found this site i was basically just asking the people at the store what they thought i should get...which is what my husband did and why I am "stuck" with the camera i have now. They dont tend to give you the best thing you need but more so the best thing for them to sell. |
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09/12/2006 11:11:47 AM · #7 |
Whatever slave pickup you get, make sure you are clear about the type of flash metering that your camera does.
Special modes of flash metering, particularly recent methods of doing this like to fire pre-flashes.
If you use a slave flash trigger, make sure that it is capable of seeing past a pre-flash, or in some cases multiple pre-flashes.
I have a Tumax external flash which has 5 modes of operation for different kinds of pre-flashes. I haven't played with it much, but I don't think it's compatible with all even still... That particular unit is a bit of a pain as an off-camera flash because it's only about 2-3 minutes for the auto-shutdown...
Tumax also makes a slave flash shoe which can control a non-slave enabled flash, but I think it has limited use and I don't believe that it has the special modes of sensitivity for modern flash metering.
A good choice would either be to look into a single wireless controller unit as mentioned above, but I suspect that the price of that will quickly climb up to the point where you could just get a second hand D70 or something which (if I recall correctly) has it's own built-in commander mode and is an excellent tool if you are interested in off-camera flashes.
In my local market, the original D70 is selling for around 400 bucks US or so and you could pick up a SB600 for probably a couple hundred or so... Any Nikonians out there, feel free to correct me if the D70 or SB600 does not carry these features. Check first before you trust the fine details about Nikons from a Canon user. ;)
If you don't want to spend a lot of money, probably the best thing is to do what Robert recommended and fashion some sort of periscope type device for your on-camera flash to redirect the primary flash burst away from the subject with a simple/cheap external flash with slave capability.
I used this now and again with my S2, but it's still rather fiddly.
You will probably need to shoot in manual mode. Manual mode puts the flash into manual mode as well, disabling the flash metering... set it low and the slave flash will still fire.
Message edited by author 2006-09-12 11:15:07. |
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09/12/2006 11:16:33 AM · #8 |
| thanks a lot you guys have been a great help! |
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