First time flasher!

Zerodog

I have always used the onboard flash on my previous cameras. On the new D90 I got a Puffer Defuser and it helps but.........I remembered I had some old flashes I got from my Dad and my Uncle years ago. I dug out the box and found 3 Vivitar flashes. All auto thyristors, whatever that means. A 283 which seems to be pretty much a standard hot shoe mount, a 285 mounted to a big bracket grip thing, and then a monster 485 that is very adjustable. Also mounted up to a grip thing.

I did some reading and found that Wein made an adapter for PC cords and for the the hot shoe that isolates the high power flash from my camera. So I got one and hooked it up.

I can only run the flashes on full manual mode. It is amazing that the flash makes such nice light. It doesn't seem to matter what the ambient light is. The flash takes over and overwhelms all other light.

Here are a few shots of just messing around the other night. Bouncing the flash off the ceiling with the 283 in the hot shoe. I see the light, literally. There is so much potential with a flash to control the color and mood of a photo.

Hackbone

283"s and 285's used to be the workhorses of the profession. Don't forget you can hook it up to a light slave and fire it off camera for some pretty cool lighting.

Zerodog

I saw those. One of those Peanut slave things in the PC cord hole? Do they just trigger from the light of the primary flash? That would be cool. And a lot easier than long cords!

Hackbone

Yes, they just pick up the light from you main. You can put some type of a diffuser over the remote flash if too bright like a handkerchief or feather it toward the camera some. When you move it away from your subject the shadow line becomes more harsh.

Zerodog

I will have to get one and try it out. I looked and the big flash I have is the Vivitar 3900. The light from that one is WHITE. Thanks for the ideas.

Scott_Quier

Zerodog wrote:

I can only run the flashes on full manual mode. It is amazing that the flash makes such nice light. It doesn't seem to matter what the ambient light is. The flash takes over and overwhelms all other light.

This is a function of your shutter speed and/or ISO. The faster the shutter speed and/or lower your ISO, the less ambient light will contribute to your exposure. So if you want some of the nice warm tungstent show in your exposure, reduce your shutter speed. Indoors, I like to shoot ISO 400 or 800 and 1/60 sec - this will get the job done.

Zerodog wrote:

Here are a few shots of just messing around the other night. Bouncing the flash off the ceiling with the 283 in the hot shoe. I see the light, literally. There is so much potential with a flash to control the color and mood of a photo.

For a good discussion of inexpensive flash modifiers, check out this thread.