What is the difference between TTL and Slave flash

07/05/2006 11:43:19 PM · #1

I'm looking for an external flash for my finepix s9000. It has a hotshoe. The manual just states that it takes hotshoe flash. Looking through ebay to see what I could find, but everything seems to be specific to a particular camera. But not mine! The only one I could seem to find looks like it doesn't actually go on the camera but on a piece of metal that hooks to the bottom of the camera. Help! Please?

fotomann_forever

07/05/2006 11:46:18 PM · #2

You need a TTL flash. A slave flash only fires when it sees light from another flash.

TTL flashes use your camera's metering system to guage distance and sets the flash output accordingly.

Prof_Fate

07/05/2006 11:49:10 PM · #3

Your camera does not do TTL flash with external flash.
TTL is Thru The Lens, as in metering. The built in flash works this way, but fuji doesn;t offer any other options.

basically with a TTL flash you can put the camera in Av mode lets's say, and the camera will turn the flash on and off to provied the proper light for the aperture you chose. you change the aperture and you should still get a properly exposed photo.

with regular hot shoe flashes there is a chart - based on ISO and aperture it tells you how far you should be from the subject to get a properly exposed image. so if you change aperture you need to move or make a manual adjustment on the flash (if one is provided). You do all this by using hte GN (guide number) on the flash.
see //www.shortcourses.com/how/guidenumbers/guidenumbers.htm

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

07/05/2006 11:50:21 PM · #4

Are all the hotshoes the same size? Or are they made to only fit a specific camera?

edit: OK, you guys just confused the heck out of me. Can someone clarify please?

Message edited by author 2006-07-05 23:55:23.

faidoi

Pentax K10D

07/05/2006 11:54:34 PM · #5

Originally posted by kdsprog:

Are all the hotshoes the same size? Or are they made to only fit a specific camera?

Hot shoes should be the same size, but different flashes have different power levels. Some may have too much power and fry your camera. Do research before using a flash not designed for your camera.

fotomann_forever

07/06/2006 12:06:09 AM · #6

You can use any flash with the camera, as long as the flash wasn't designed specifically for a certain camera. You should be looking for non-dedicated shoe-mount flashes.

Vivitar has three current models that will work on your camera. They range in price from $19 to $35 new at B&H.

Linky

Edit to add: Linky with more options

I used the Vivitar flashes a lot in college. Very sturdy brand.

Message edited by author 2006-07-06 00:08:30.

Samsung Galaxy S24, S24+, S24 Ultra

07/06/2006 12:08:57 AM · #7

Thanks Leroy!

crayon

07/06/2006 12:12:51 AM · #8

The S9000, as in many other prosumer cameras, have a "dumb" hotshoe.
No, that's not an insult, it's merely a term.

below here is something I copied from another place, but I think it works for you too:

John Glover , feb 28, 2004; 03:27 a.m.
The hot shoe on the S7000 is a completely undedicated shoe, a "dumb" flash shoe, so there is no information exchange at all between the camera and flash. As such, you will need either a manual flash unit or an automatic flash unit. There are several choices out there but the most popular ones seem to be the Vivitar 283 and 285 units along with the Sunpak 383. Personally, I've used a Pentax AF280T on my Fuji 6900 and it gives beautiful results. The biggest trick to getting well exposed images, at least with my 6900, is to experiment to find the best setting for the flash unit. Don't rely on the flash's auto settings. I've found when set as recommended by the flash, the images are much too harsh......stopping down the lens by 1 1/2 stops produces a much, much better image.