Help with hot shoe flash settings.

Kell

Kell

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Kell
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I won’t bore you with all the details of the why’s, but I was planning on taking this flash with me to use on top of a film camera loaded with CineStill 800 film.

Now, it’s got settings on the back to tell you which f/stop to use based on your film rating and the distance you are from subject.

Except it only goes up to 400 ASA.

I’m totally confused as to what I could do to use it with something rated at 800 ASA.

Is it even possible? I’m posting here as I don’t even know what to look for to google it.

Anyone know the answer and is able to explain it in terms an idiot would understand.

It’s decades since I studied photography and to be honest I’m not sure I ever really understood lighting.

Flash sync setting for this camera is 1/60. You can go slower (but that doesn’t help here) but not faster.

Thanks to anyone that can help.


IMG_5554.jpeg
 
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There’s a high power and low power mode on it (and it’s fixed - not bounceable)

Clearly this isn’t an exact science as there’s a range to work with depending on distance from subject.

The plan was only to use it with pics of people, so I’d estimate somewhere in the 3-5 ft range.

So….

My thinking is that as 800 is one full stop faster than 400, is it a case of just using the next line down?

Setting the flash to low power mode and the f/stop to f/11 to f/16 maybe?
 
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This is entirely manual, and that chart simply indicates the aperture that you should use at a given distance - the charts were sometimes printed on a bit of paper, sometimes on the flashgun.

ASA (Amerian Standards Association) is the same scale as ISO, so the figures are identical.

Yes, it means that if, for example, the scale indicates f/11 at ISO 400, use f/16 at ISO 800.
 
800 is twice as fast as 400, so add 1 stop and you should be close, that said it's an old flashgun, it may have lost some of it's power. I'd be tempted to use 1 shot at the setting for 400 and one shot at a stop more (F11 instead of F8 for argument sake) and see what looks best when it's developed.
 
It’s also worth noting the 4 stop potential overlap. (At 10ft you’re good from f5.6 - f16 at 400)

Which using print film will get mopped up in the exposure latitude.
 
swanseamale47 said:
800 is twice as fast as 400, so add 1 stop and you should be close, that said it's an old flashgun, it may have lost some of it's power. I'd be tempted to use 1 shot at the setting for 400 and one shot at a stop more (F11 instead of F8 for argument sake) and see what looks best when it's developed.
Click to expand...
This flashgun probably dates from the 70's or possibly even the 60's, but I doubt whether it has lost much if any power. BUT, power was often over-stated,
Phil V said:
It’s also worth noting the 4 stop potential overlap. (At 10ft you’re good from f5.6 - f16 at 400)

Which using print film will get mopped up in the exposure latitude.
Click to expand...
True. Another factor to consider is that all exposures tended to bounce around a bit at the time, and flash exposures even more so, as people had to estimate flash-to-subject distance and often got it very wrong. Or, in other words, whatever the OP is trying to achieve is more likely to work by using this type of setup:)
 
I think this is an 80’s flash.

It’s designed to work with the Minolta X-series cameras that were launched in 1981 with the X-700.

I’m trying to work out how to use in non-auto mode to pair it with the CineStill film.

Can’t work out whether or not it will work as the camera can be set to 800 ASA but the flash graph can’t. But the flash graph doesn’t control the flash - just gives indicative settings to use in manual mode.

(There’s a slider on the top that allows you to match it to your film speed. Goes all the way down to 25 ASA but no higher than 400.)

Hunting online for the pdfs.

But I’m pleased that my thinking was essentially correct. As 800 is one stop faster, then all other things being equal, whatever that graph indicates I should use, then the f/number should go one stop the other way to compensate.

Taking into account that it’s hardly an exact science.

I do remember having to estimate the distance in the past with a camera I borrowed off my dad when I was a teen.
 
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Kell said:
I think this is an 80’s flash.

It’s designed to work with the Minolta X-series cameras that were launched in 1981 with the X-700.

I’m trying to work out how to use in non-auto mode to pair it with the CineStill film.

Can’t work out whether or not it will work as the camera can be set to 800 ASA but the flash graph can’t. But the flash graph doesn’t control the flash - just gives indicative settings to use in manual mode.

(There’s a slider on the top that allows you to match it to your film speed. Goes all the way down to 25 ASA but no higher than 400.)

Hunting online for the pdfs.

But I’m pleased that my thinking was essentially correct. As 800 is one stop faster, then all other things being equal, whatever that graph indicates I should use, then the f/number should go one stop the other way to compensate.

Taking into account that it’s hardly an exact science.

I do remember having to estimate the distance in the past with a camera I borrowed off my dad when I was a teen.
Click to expand...

You may be right about the date, I wouldn't know.
If you are right, there is a possibility that the flash is fitted with a thyristor, to control the flash output and effectively give it a primitive auto function, because thyristors started to be introduced into hotshoe flashgun from about 1976 - the name thyristor is really an amalgam of thyratron and transistor.

So, it could have an auto function, but it's unlikely and the scale on the back of the unit don't indicate that either. And, as previously explained, just measure or calculate the flash to subject distance, and with the flash output set to either full power or 1/16th power, just set the f/number to the indicated setting at 400 ISO, and then set it one stop smaller.
 
A thyristor had no exposure automation capability...it merely re-routed unused electric charge so that the storage capacitor was not fully drained with every firing. It was a photosensor that told the flash 'enough light' that caused the thyristor to route the surplus electric charge back to the capacitor rather than to the flash tube. The fact that there is a RANGE of distances the applies (for Low power or for High power setting itself) is an indication that it had a photosensor so that ranges closer than max range could be correctly exposed. by shunting unused electric charge back to the capacitor. In the early 1970's the 'auto thyristor' flash was launched....'auto' becuase of the photosensor, 'thyristor' because it re-routed unused charge so that flash recycle to full charge was shortened.

As already stated, ISO 800 is merely one EV more sensitive emulsion than ISO 400. So if your lens was set to f/5.6 and the body was loaded with ISO 800 film, the max distance on Low power setting achievable would be 12', which is indicated on the scale for f/4
 
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