Altrex New Ideas - Air Brella

I was rummaging around in the mess I call my camera and gear storage cupboard and came across this gadget I bought, oh, so long ago, in another time.  It's an Air-Brella Bounce Flash Reflector from Altrex New Ideas Inc. 7500 Skokie Blvd, Skokie, Ill 60077, USA.  It was actually awarded US Patent 4146918.

You blew it up (yes like a balloon or rather a summer plastic swimming tube for the kids, then fitted your flash, facing into it. There would be a thin plastic sheet acting as a diffuser between the flash head and the transparent balloon surface. There would be elatic rubber bands holding the flash to the balloon.

It still inflates. But the rubber bands are long gone. They did not last more than a few uses.

It sure was a conversation piece. And an icebreaker when used.

Doh! The Sony flash hotshoe has a different position for the locking pin

I kept thinking that the Sony hotshoe was dodgy because the flash foot of other brand flash seemed not to fit entirely in. It's actually by design - the locking pin to centre pin distances are different in Sony vs universal shoe design. Make sure the locking pin locks and you're good to go. The other brand flash needs to be on Manual and the Sony body needs to be on Manual Exposure because there are no secondary electronic contacts except the centre pin which triggers the flash. In fact, my Sony a7 does not even know the flash is there as it does not limit the shutter to the maximum flash sync speed. I found faster than 1/160th second, I could see a curtain shadow - the camera body itself does not limit the speed, you just have to remember it.

Understanding basic electronic flash modes on Micro Four Thirds cameras and TTL Flashes

Purpose

A good friend asked for a work-together on figuring out his Olympus XZ-1 (pdf) and Nissin Di 466 TTL flash (pdf). It was confusing the heck out of him and after some early surprises, I was wondering about how it was supposed to work as well. So, this is for the beginner. If you are not a beginner, pass on this and visit Joe McNally, David Hobby, Mark Wallace to name a few gurus.

Approach: Auto Flash

Exposure Modes on the camera body

Typically there are following exposure modes – iAuto, Program Mode, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual Exposure. Remember that without the flash, the camera in iAuto, P A or S mode will measure the scene light and adjust the f/no, shutter speed and ISO (if that is Auto ISO) for a standard exposure. With the flash fitted and both flash and camera switched on, even the M mode with Auto TTL flash will use calculations by the camera.

Flash menu icons on the camera body

Look for the Lightning Bolt (text describes this as Fill-In) – there is an implication to the description. It means

• the flash will explicitly fire
• the natural light of the scene will be measured with the camera’s chosen shutter speed, f/no and ISO settings.
• will fire to top up the light..

Settings on the flash itself

Set the flash to Auto-TTL mode - on the Nissin Di-466 this means the Mode LED is unlit

What to set

To reiterate – put the camera on iAuto, P A S or M and the flash on Auto TTL. The camera will automatically calculate how much flash light to use to top up the available light.

• This will be satisfactory if you are happy enough with the resulting exposure and don’t want to calculate or test anything.
• If you find the resulting exposure is a little darker than you prefer (for example a person’s skin tone appears too dark), either
• use the camera’s menu for flash +/- compensation to adjust brightness

• use the +/- buttons on the flash body to adjust brightness

Reasons not to use Approach: Auto Flash

• Even using the +/- compensation, the camera controlled flash is not outputting the full power of the flash. Remember, the camera first calculates the scene and then the human intervention is applied as an adjustment of the calculation.

Approach: Manual Flash

• Set the camera body to M for Manual Exposure Mode.
• Choose some starter settings for the camera body. For example, f/4, 1/100th sec shutter speed, ISO 200.
• Set the flash to non TTL - full manual mode. On the Nissin Di466, that means the Mode LED should be showing a red colour.
• Set the flash to medium power say 1/4 power. On the Nissin Di466 that means press the +/- buttons to light up half the power status LEDs.
• Aim and shoot. Chimp, decide whether you want darker or lighter and adjust the
• flash power
• ISO
• flash distance to subject
• bounce or direct with diffuser
• Rinse and repeat (no, not literally)

Reasons not to use Approach: Manual Flash

• You can't afford the time and effort to chimp and adjust until satisfactory
• Approach: Flash Auto is working fine.

Olympus Mirrorless Camera Settings–Studio Electronic Flash

Updated: 15th January 2013
Camera settings are very subjective. This is my current profile for Studio shooting with Manual Electronic Flash Exposure

Camera: Olympus PEN E-PM2 – OM-D has more buttons and dials so adjust to taste

Premise

Scenario: Studio Flash work without ambient light. All flashes on manual control. Camera on manual control.

I assume that exposure settings are dictated by controlling the studio flash lights, lighting setup. Use the camera to vary f/no and ISO

These settings are so that the camera does not hamper your flow.

Exposure

Exposure Mode	Set “M” for Manual explicitly	You have the option of buying a brace of automatic TTL exposure flash units and use the camera to interact and control the flash power that way. This scenario is about using manual flash units, non TTL controlled.
Shutter Speed	1/250th	Reduce the effect of ambient light. Check whether the light is even and not cut off +Paul Pavlinovich advises that if you use mixed triggering (radio & optical) on differing lights, you could run into issues where something slows the triggering. 1/125th is normally assumed to be comfortable shake reduced speed and the max for focal plane shutter models is not 1/250th.
f/no	Initially f/8	Adjust to taste - your flash power, flash proximity mix, ambient light will affect your choice

These accessible via SCP

ISO	200 initially	Use electronic flash to avoid going high ISO. Also reduces effect of ambient light. Can't go lower on this model of camera.
WB	Flash WB
Flash	1/64th Power (settable when no flash mounted) else Full (third party external flash mounted)	Does not affect wireless flash trigger. Reduces the impact of the little kit flash if using optical triggering.
Sequential shots	Single
IS	Off
Focus	S-AF Centre Spot
Face and Eye Priority	On

Via MENU

A. AF/MF > Full time AF	Off
A. AF/MF > AEL/AFL > S-AF	Mode 3 (AEL/AFL – S-AF)
A. AF/MF > AEL/AFL > MF	Mode 3 (AEL/AFL – S-AF)
A. AF/MF > MF Assist	On
A. AF/MF > […] Set Home	Single Point AF
A. AF/MF > AF Illumination	On	For darkened studio. Off if the subject complains of the glare in their eyes.
B. Button/Dial > Button Function > Fn Function	AEL/AFL
B. Button/Dial > Button Function > Movie Button	Test Picture Or Magnify if using non electronic lens
B. Button/Dial > Button Function > Cursor Pad Buttons	Off	Assuming that Dial Lock is Off and set to f/no control.
B. Button/Dial > Button Function > Dial Function	f/no
B. Button/Dial > Button Function > Dial Lock	Off	To allow changing f/no conveniently – might be touchy
B. Button/Dial > Displ / Sound / PC > Live View Boost	On	When set to Manual Exposure, the viewfinder may go dark in a darkened studio
B. Button/Dial > Displ / Sound / PC > Shutter Release Beep	On

If you want to contribute any tips and ideas, happy to hear from you