Manual mode: shutter speed and strobe.

I have a nikon d80 with a pair of strobe (ys-60 and ys-50).

I only use manual setting with 200 iso for starting

I usually shoot in " manual speed priority"

In other words , depending on the subject I choose a shutter speed between 1/60 to 1/250 and then I change the diaphragm value accordingly with exposure.

If I need some help , especially in macro mode, I change the Iso value at 100 or below.

Only occasionally I remember that ys-60 has the ability to shoot half power.

My questions are:

- Am I doing right?

- Do you use the exposure meter of the camera? 'cos I am totally unable to see it clearly! and I shoot the first frame with an estimate settings changing it after seeing the result.

- I can't go further of 1/250 with this strobes otherwise I'll see the lower half picture dark. Is there a way for using faster shutter speed with my setting ?

Thank you for sharing your science with me

hello claustro

to answer your three questions -

#1 - yes, I think so. are you using manual mode, or shutter speed priority? I would use manual mode, setting both the shutter speed and diaphragm value (aperture) manually.

#2 - no, I look at the histogram or the image display after the shot is taken

#3 - no

#1 - yes, I think so. are you using manual mode, or shutter speed priority? I would use manual mode, setting both the shutter speed and diaphragm value (aperture) manually.

Thank you for your answer.

with my therm " manual aperture priority " I am meaning that when I am shotting in Manual I usually change the aperture rather then the shutter speed.

Example

First shoot 1/125 F 11 --> too dark

Andrea

It's harder than you think: you have to balance the aperture and shutter speed, but changing the aperture can be a problem: the aperture gives depth of field in macro, and you need to keep it up at f16 or higher, unless you are trying for a very specific effect with most of the image out of focus. That means you have to adjust the shutter speed, particularly if you want anything other than a black background.

f5.6

F16

Manual control is fine. The D70 could be fooled into synchronising at higher shutter speeds than 1/250, I seem to remember, for sunbursts with strobe-lit foreground, but many cameras will only synchronise at 1/250 or so. You need to change the strobe power to balance with the background if the adjustment available through the shutter speed is limited. If the strobes are not powerful enough, then you may need to adjust ISO, but this is not usually needed in macro photography. If they are too powerful, then they can be pulled back from the subject if you can't reduce the power.

Auto exposures using the camera's meter will only work with a housed Nikon strobe, or, with a little trickery, using the cameras internal flash to trigger appropriate external strobes optically.

Tim

B)