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.

The Use of Style to Convey a Narrative

I'm usually not conflicted in deciding between a Monochrome vs Colour interpretation in my photos. I prefer natural or visually believable colour to preserve the essence that colour conveys. I choose a Black and White interpretation when colour is intrusive or detracts in conveying shape and texture. This is one instance, when I think either works because they do convey different messages.

The Monochrome Version

Straight Out Of The Camera JPEG from the Panasonic G2 set to Dynamic Black and White Profile

I feel the texture of the fabric and the back of the Dragon Head's puppeteer, the exaggerated stance of the guy holding the cymbals and the frozen-in-time women are emphasised by this treatment

The Colour Version

Processed from raw through Adobe Lightroom 5.3 with highlight recovery and tonal adjustments then the Nostalgia - Agfa RSX film emulation filter applied.

The colours have been grossly saturated in the film simulaiton - it gives me an old-time feel of the organic, mixed colour structure of film. The reds and yellows convey the Chinese New Year sentiment and again, the people in the scene are frozen in time for eternity, taking part in this photo.

I initially thought that this would be one of the forgotten shots but now I've got two to show. 

And that was Film for Me

We see people - old hands who shot film or new kids who were born in the digital age and absorbed the vibe of old photos - hankering to make film more than it was, more than it is. There are all kinds of scientific differences (some people read it as "superiority") between Film and Digital:

• Film is low volume (12, 24 or 36 shots per roll) - so you think more before you shoot, making each shot more worthy
• Film is more expensive, so again, you don't machine gun (people forget those bulk rolls strapped to the pro SLRs).
• Film colour is all mixed in and "organic" unlike the cold, antiseptic nature of the initial clean RGB digital image.
• Film grain is prettier than digital noise (yeah, they forget ASA 400 Fuji Neopan pushed in Fujidol to ASA 1600 with golfballs of grain)
• Film emphasised shallower Depth of Field and bokeh because 35mm film is Full Frame (don't forget the Hassies, Mamiyas, Zenza Bronicas, Rolleiflex TLR). Digital is so pedestrian at sensor sizes one quarter or smaller in area than 24x36mm
• Film asymptotes (rolls off, in daily parlance) over exposed highlights in a gentler fashion than the brutality of Digital level 255 (full white)
• Black and White Film and Halide Paper have that deep, tonal black that Digital Screen Media (which projects white) doesn't have.
• The Darkroom smell of D-76, Acetic Acid and Sodium Thiosulphate has that soak through the fabric scent that Digital will never have.
• Film was shot with leather covered, fashion strapped, all metal cameras with shutters that go ka chunk louder than that pansy sound that the Sony A7 that some people are horrified about.
• You sight Film through real glass, unlike the TV looking electronic viewfinder.
• You have to be real good guestimating how the result will look like - none of that wimpy chimping every few seconds of shooting.
• Real film photographers take an Ansel Zone V with their hand rather than rely on that 49 segment matrix TTL exposure meter that Digital demands.
• You choose the type of film for indoor or outdoor, none of this Digital Automatic White Balance thing.
• You actually scrawled on the back of the print, rather than rely on the ubiquitous EXIF metadata in the image file.

So, clearing out stuff from my room, notably, old books, I came across this bookmark. I made it so long ago.1978 in fact. My scrawl on the back said Fuji ASA 400. It would have been (if memory serves me right) my Minoltat XE-1 SLR with 135mm f/3.5 lens. Maybe.

Yes, I know it's blurry. And that was film for me.