Hi all
This is my first post, so hello to everyone.
I have a question regarding flash I'd like to ask. I am taking photos of a
band in quite a small, dark venue and I usually just use a fast lens with high
speed film without flash. I'm after a bit more quality (i.e. smaller aperture
and slower film) and would like to experiment a bit, but unfortunately I have
to print a few photos for band members so I can't mess up too badly!
I have got an MZ-3 with a 400FTZ flash and when I use flash in normal
situations I simply shoot in aperture priority and let the camera work out the
shutter and TTL flash, and if I only want a bit of fill flash I take 1 to 2
stops off using the Exposure Compensation dial which doubles as the flash
compensation dial.
The problem I am facing is using flash to supplement low light levels, in
effect how to balance natural light and flash. I have always considered fill
flash as something that simply lights up a few shadows, where the exposure
would be correct without the flash but that little burst just puts a bit more
light where the scene is a bit dark. I am confused as to how to set the
camera to automatically use flash to supplement low light levels, where I can
shoot off aperture priority but underexpose by two stops and use the flash to
bump the light back up these two stops. I can't figure out how to do it, as
on the MZ-3 the exposure and flash compensation are done by the same dial. If
I set the flash compensation dial to take 2 stops off, I assume that the
camera will (under aperture priority) simply set the shutter speed
for 'correct' exposure and use the flash for fill only, which hard-won
experience shows is too slow ('soft' hands and drumsticks etc.). I understand
that I can manually set the camera 2 stops underexposed and set the flash
exposure to 2 stops over, but there's so much going on I always miss shots if
I have to manually balance exposure - poor AF doesn't help, and the shutter
speed dial is a pig to turn with the flash mounted (little camera and big
fingers!) I would hence like to automate the process, does anyone know if
this is possible?
As you can probably see, I'm quite new to the flash area, any advice or
comments would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Matt
