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Beginner When is the right time to use a flash ?
- Thread starter topcat07
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- Hugh
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Also, the best investment (I think) you can make is a speed light. Fogret the pop up
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Sounds like your problem is not using flash at the wrong time, but using it in the wrong way. As Hugh says, a speed light is a good investment because the pop-up flash is very limited in what it can do. You then need to spend time with a few tutorials or good books to learn how to get the best from it.
OP
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its a compact camera tz60 got rid of the d40 so ill update that 
never have got to grip with flashes though and under what circumstances to use them , the manual tells me how to change the flashes between red eye etc but not the conditions to use and not use it
This is all of the instructions
little box page 35
http://shop.panasonic.com/docs/operating-instruction/2014/digital-still-cameras/DMCZS40_Advanced.pdf
never have got to grip with flashes though and under what circumstances to use them , the manual tells me how to change the flashes between red eye etc but not the conditions to use and not use it
This is all of the instructions
little box page 35
http://shop.panasonic.com/docs/operating-instruction/2014/digital-still-cameras/DMCZS40_Advanced.pdf
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With a compact the options are limited, use the flash when it's too dark not to.
It will tend to washout colours unless the camera has options to compensate - which many basic compacts don't have. You'll just have to be creative with what you've got, and make sure you take some time to practise before you get into a situation where you think the shots might be important to you.
It will tend to washout colours unless the camera has options to compensate - which many basic compacts don't have. You'll just have to be creative with what you've got, and make sure you take some time to practise before you get into a situation where you think the shots might be important to you.
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- Richard
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^^^This.
Pop-ups are limited, but decent results are possible.
Washed out images are usually caused by failure to observe the Inverse Square Law. Basically, flash falls off very rapidly with distance (ISL says double the distance equals one quarter the brightness - a two stops drop). So at close range, if you have one person say 1m from the camera, then those 1m behind them (ie at 2m) will be much darker, and anyone further away will be very dark indeed. The solution is to ensure all important subjects are roughly the same distance from the flash.
Another way to greatly enhance many flash shots is to balance the ambient light (there is usually some of that about) with the flash. Do that by dropping the shutter speed. With longer speeds the background may be blurred by movement but the flash will freeze the main subjects. It's called slow-sync flash and many cameras have an auto mode for this.
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Richard.. my post became redundant after the camera was identified as a point-and-shoot..
Adam, if you want to get funky with it, some coloured sweetie wrappers over the onboard flash will give a bit of a lomo feel and any washout of the details is then artisticly ironic..
Adam, if you want to get funky with it, some coloured sweetie wrappers over the onboard flash will give a bit of a lomo feel and any washout of the details is then artisticly ironic..
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Yes, I know what you mean
But using the pop-up with the two techniques I mentioned will at least fix the exposure problems in most typical social situations.
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@HoppyUK - I'm not even sure the TZ60 has that many options, maybe there's a slow-synch?
p.35 does mention a couple of modes for flash where the shutter speed is "reduced" (as if dealing in fractions wasn't complicated enough for the average user). There does seem to be Av, Tv and M modes but it's the typical naff manual layout (TOC rather than a proper index) and I can't see how flash relates to those modes. It's always easier to figure out these things when you have the plastic box in your hands, rather than just the disembodied manual.
p.100 covers exposure compensation but doesn't mention any effect on flash. There's no mention at all of using flash in anything other than intelligent-Auto or scene modes.
There's a bit more about flash on p.85, and that confirms there's a slow sync mode. Over a coupe of pages on p.87 there's a table showing the available flash modes against the shooting modes, still not looking particularly helpful.
Baby scene mode apparently turns the flash power down (p.127).
p.35 does mention a couple of modes for flash where the shutter speed is "reduced" (as if dealing in fractions wasn't complicated enough for the average user). There does seem to be Av, Tv and M modes but it's the typical naff manual layout (TOC rather than a proper index) and I can't see how flash relates to those modes. It's always easier to figure out these things when you have the plastic box in your hands, rather than just the disembodied manual.
p.100 covers exposure compensation but doesn't mention any effect on flash. There's no mention at all of using flash in anything other than intelligent-Auto or scene modes.
There's a bit more about flash on p.85, and that confirms there's a slow sync mode. Over a coupe of pages on p.87 there's a table showing the available flash modes against the shooting modes, still not looking particularly helpful.
Baby scene mode apparently turns the flash power down (p.127).
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Page 35 is correct as it states, this will then allow for more ambient light and should balance the subject to background so not to get the rabbit in the head-lights kind of shot.
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- paul
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Surely the correct time to use flash is whenever you feel it will benefit you in whatever situation you want to shoot.
I seldom use it myself but it does come in handy
View attachment 12965
1/4000 sec @ f8
Fill in flash.
View attachment 12966
Flash was the main source of this shot.
I seldom use it myself but it does come in handy
View attachment 12965
1/4000 sec @ f8
Fill in flash.
View attachment 12966
Flash was the main source of this shot.
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- John 'Jack'
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Anytime you want. (Unless you're in a museum or at an event where they have signposts saying 'No flash photography'). Using flash is just part of being creative, it's just a tool, it is not like 'Do not use your car horn between the hours of 7pm to 7am' or something, there is no timetable for when you should use a flash, you use it whenever you need it, and anytime you need it.
Most of the other members who posted before me have gave you the advice which is what you need, it is not a matter of "when is the right time", it is more a case of "how to use" that is the reason for why your photos get washed out. Just follow their suggest but don't stop using flash indoors just because your photos look washed out, you'll eventually get the right look as your experience grows.