Nikon D3200 Manual Movie Video Mode Settings & How To Use Them The Nikon D3200 comes with a very useful Manual Movie mode where you can adjust exposure.
Nikon Flash - Basic Settings. Basic Settingsby Gisle Hannemyr. Introduction. This note is written for beginners who want to learn how to make. Nikon's Creative Lighting System (CLS) for flash. There are a lot of tutorials around that tell you how to. But when I started to use Nikon's CLS, I.
- Commander mode allows you to control remote flash unit from your camera. If you never use external flash unit, you may not find this topic very interesting but, if.
- How to Use Nikon Strobes Wirelessly, for Free! © 2006 KenRockwell.com.
- Manual flash vs TTL flash. For correct flash exposure, 4 things need to be controlled and balanced: – aperture – ISO – distance (from the flash to subject).
- Get your own Altura Photo Universal Flash on Amazon: http:// The Altura Photo Universal Flash unit is a durable and reliable flash that.
- Get them here. Introduction. Skip to tests. I hope to document what I've discovered before I forget it. Things get crazier fast as soon as.
CLS, and how to. pick the correct basic settings when using the system with a single. Speedlight in the hot- shoe for everyday, casual photography. This, I hope, is a note that will make CLS more accessible. I. think CLS is a great system.
It is probably the most advanced. But with all that built- in. So. after a brief stint on terminology, I start off by. CLS. These. rules are indeed helpful, but they can be perceived as limiting and. So I'll tell you about them.
1. Introduction. This note is written for beginners who want to learn how to make use of Nikon's Creative Lighting System (CLS) for flash photography.
To understand CLS, you also need to understand how your flash will. This note. will tell you that, and also the different settings on the camera and. Terminology. Throughout this note, I try to stick to the terminology you'll find. Nikon manuals and literature.
For a list of those terms, with a. CLS. Below is the definition of some of the other words used in this. Ambient light is continuous light such as natural light. Flash light is a brief, intense burst of light made by.
Nikon Speedlight or a similar flash unit. Flash key the when flash light is regarded as the. Fill flash is when the flash is regarded as auxiliary. X- sync speed is the maximum shutter speed a camera can. On Nikon. DSLRs with a mechanical shutter, the x- sync speed is typically 1/2. D5. 00. 0, D8. 0, D9.
D2. 00, D3. 00. D7. D3). On Nikon DSLRs with an electronic shutter (e. D7. 0, D4. 0). the x- sync speed is typically higher (1/5. FOLC. (Flash Output Level Compensation).
An exposure adjustment. It increases or decreases the exposure. TTL BL vs TTLOn some Nikon Speedlights (SB- 4. SB- 7. 00), as well as on some. CLS- compatible third party flashes, the so- called. TTL BL mode does not show up among.
This is different from the Nikon Speedlights SB- 6. SB- 8. 00 and. SB- 9. Plain TTL mode. and TTL BL mode.
However, this does not mean that the TTL BL mode is not. SB- 4. 00, SB- 7. Instead, the metering system automatically selects what.
TTL- mode to use. It selects the TTL BL mode if the camera is. TTL mode if the camera is set to spot metering. So if you use the SB- 4.
SB- 7. 00 and some third party unit, don't. TTL BL mode. Just set. TTL” and the camera to matrix or.
This also goes for the recipes below where I suggest that you. TTL BL. Environment. For the record: I own a Nikon D8. DSLR, the. Nikon SB- 4. SB- 6. 00, SB- 8. SB- 9. 00. Speedlights, as well as the Nikon version of the aftermarket. Nissin Di. 86. 6 flash.
This is also the kit that has been used. I hope. that most of the text is general enough to be useful even if you have. DSLR or use other dedicated flash units. However there. may be omissions and inaccuracies, in particular with respect to. I don't own. Additions and corrections. Built- in Rules. Nikon's DSLRs and dedicated Speedlights are pretty smart.
One the. things they come with is a set of built- in rules. Most of the rules are. However, they may intrude upon your photography. Some may. perceive them as design flaws or missing settings.
Below, I list three of the most annoying built- in rules that may. The maximum shutter speed you can set with flash is the camera's.
This rule is in place is to prevent the focal plane. You may override.
Auto FP mode. In the exposure modes where camera controls the shutter speed. Programmed auto (P), Aperture (A), and. Auto), if the ambient light is too low, the camera.
This rule is in place to prevent camera shake and. You may override this rule.
The camera's built in flash pops up automatically and fires. This rule is in place to make sure you use flash in dark. However, it only happens when the camera is in one of the.
To override this behaviour, select. Manual (M). Aperture priority (A), Shutter priority (S) or. Programmed auto (P). Ambient Light. You can benefit from the use of on- camera flash in all situations. Indoors, outdoors, in bright light, and in dark surroundings. Below, I walk you through the process of picking some useful camera and. The process starts by determine the ambient lighting conditions of.
You can measure the light with a handheld incident light. Below I describe no less than three alternative formal methods to. To be honest, I don't usually go.
Instead I just look at. This is probably what you will end up doing as well.
But I. think it is nice to know about formal definitions and methods that. I describe these methods.
Method 1: To measure the ambient light with a hand- held auxiliary. ISO 1. 00 and the readout mode to. EV. Position yourself near the main subject and point the. Meter, and read the measured EV from the light meter's. An EV of less than 7 indicates dark ambient light. An EV of more than 1. An EV. value between 7 and 1.
Method 2: If you don't have a handheld light meter, you can instead. Set the camera's metering. Programmed auto (P). Frame the subject you want to meter in the viewfinder.
Your. camera won't have an EV readout mode, but it will let you know the. ISO for correct exposure.
When you know. these three parameters, you can compute the EV number with the. EV = log. 2(N²/S/(ISO/1. N = aperture (f- number), S = shutter speed)You can then use the computed EV- value to determine the type of. As with method 1, an EV of less than 7. EV of more than 1.
EV value between 7 and. Method 3: Set the camera's metering method to centre weighted and. Aperture Priority (A) mode, set the sensor. ISO 2. 00, and set the aperture to f/4. Frame the. subject you want to meter in the viewfinder. Read the resulting. A shutter speed. of less than 1/1.
A. shutter speed of more than 1/1. A shutter speed between 1/1. All three methods are summarised in the table below. If you used. method 1 or 2 to meter the light, refer to the EV- number in the first.
If you used method 3, refer to the shutter speed listed in. In both cases, you will find the type of ambient. The last column is contains descriptions. EVShutter. Ambient. Typical scenes< EV 7< 1/1. EV 7 - 1. 01/1. 5 - 1/1.
EV 1. 0> 1/1. 25brightoutdoors subjects in the daytime. Below you will find suggestions for what settings you may use. Dark Ambient Light. When it is dark enough, adding light to the scene is probably the. While dark ambient light is. Speedlights. Here is how to best use.
Speedlight when there is very little ambient. In dark ambient conditions, the camera's built- in exposure system. We don't want this. Instead, the power of the.
This means that the flash. The ambient will contribute only to the background exposure. In dark conditions, we don't care much about the ambient. We want to focus on our main subject, so we select the Manual. As usual, we want to use Nikon's superb 3. D matrix metering. So we. set the camera's light meter to matrix and the flash to.
TTL BL (if selectable) or TTL (if not). It is also. important that the camera's active focus point corresponds to your. If you are using a type G or D lens, also make sure that your main. Nikon's 3. D matrix metering makes extensive use.
In dark conditions, the power of the flash, along with the. G or D lens, will be used by. Nikon's CLS system to control the exposure of your main subject. The. ISO, aperture and shutter speed you choose does not impact.
ISO, shutter. speed, and aperture do have an effect upon other things, however. The ISO setting determines the range of the flash.
To. extend the range of the flash, increase ISO. I want the flash to have.
I usually set a medium high ISO. ISO 4. 00 gives good flash range on a Nikon D8.
On newer Nikons (D7. D3- series, D5. 10. D7. 00. 0) you can pick even. ISO without noise problems.
The aperture determine depth of field, background. Open up the aperture to decrease depth of. Stop. down the aperture to increase depth of field, decrease background. I usually find that f/4. The shutter speed you select will control the background.
Decrease the shutter speed to brighten the background. You should be aware that. Also, you should not increase the. Note that if you do so and and set at shutter time faster than x- sync. To not risk having.
I usually set the shutter speed equal. D8. 0) when using flash in dark. Suggested initial settings: Camera: Manual (M), matrix, f/4, 1/2. ISO: 4. 00 (or higher if the camera delivers good high ISO)Flash: TTL BL mode. FOLC: no. Auto FP: Don't matter. Slow sync.: Don't matter(When shooting with a shutter speed equal to the camera's x- sync.
Auto FP setting don't make any difference. When the camera is in the Manual exposure mode, the. Slow sync. flash setting don't matter because it is you, and. Bright Ambient Light. In bright light conditions the cameras built- in automatic exposure. In this. case, we only want the Speedlight to add fill flash to light.
Bright ambient light is where Nikon's default TTL mode. TTL BL) shines. Since it takes the ambient into account. The suggested setting relies on the Programmed auto (P) mode.
However, you could also use Aperture Priority. Shutter Priority if. All these settings will expose for. Suggested settings: Camera: Programmed auto (P), matrix. ISO: 2. 00. Flash: TTL BL mode. FOLC: yes (see text)Auto FP: On.
Slow sync.: Off. The TTL BL mode will usually give you nicely balanced. You. might want to dial in a tiny amount of negative flash output level. FOLC) to “subdue” the effect of the flash. I usually use - 0. EV or - 0. 7 EV. Fair Ambient Light.
The two lighting conditions described so far give you a clear. The in- between situation. In this situation, we say that the ambient light is. This is when there is too much ambient light to. The first thing to consider in fair ambient light, is what options. It may not even be possible to use flash key (where.
Using Flash Key in Fair Ambient Light. If we are photographing a subject that is moving quickly (athletes. In. bright light, we can do this by picking a fast shutter speed. When. using flash we cannot pick a shutter speed above the x- sync speed. If we do not want. The duration of the flash burst is very short.
How to Use the New Nikon Strobes as Wireless Slaves. How. to Use Nikon Strobes Wirelessly, for Free!© 2. Ken. Rockwell. com. Lens. Test Glossary About. I. got mine here. INTRODUCTIONWireless control. Your camera. triggers and controls the other flashes by magic.
The camera figures. You only need to twiddle if. This feature. is completely. SB- 6. 00 or SB- 8.
D7. 0/s or D2. 00. You have to pop. up the camera's built- in flash. The light from the camera's flash becomes.
On a D5. 0. or camera lacking built- in flash, you have to use an SB- 8. SU- 8. 00 on. the camera as the controller. I'll explain the step by step details after the next section. WHY. YOU CARELighting. It's not. your camera and not your lens. It's very helpful.
I want, and I do for still life and landscape. Imagine the convenience for moving portrait subjects! This is a window. With. on- camera flash.
With. remote flash(click here to. With no flash (not shown). It was dark inside and just another throw- away. It looked OK with on- camera.
Without any fill (not shown) the inside was pure black. Of course the fill flash couldn't do much to light the interior since. I would. have had to have worked it in Photoshop to lighten the interior without. A rare stroke of genius hit.
I made the settings below to use my SB- 6. I. simply rested the SB- 6. HOLY COW!! I got the result. Everything was left on Program.
Matrix and TTL Automatic as I always use unless I have a darn good. I had a perfect abstraction of contrasting outside. You first notice the teal.
Two more advantages of remote flash for. The red outside is more. I don't have the direct fill. It's a little washed out in the photo with on- camera fill.
I haven't tweaked any of the saturation in photoshop; this is what. There are shadows and.
Note the shadows on the ceiling cast by the rafters. You can see this more easily on the bigger versions.
Of course I use this all the. It's easy to put the flash out of the. This is easy to do all by yourself while out shooting in the field.
For instance, when photographing cars with an on camera flash you get. Simply moving. the flash eliminates that and lets you get the fill light exactly what.
Use the flash's zoom control to control the spread of the. Here's an example. San Francisco. He slaved his studio strobes using a.
D7. 0. Then he fired a remote SB- 6. D7. 0 for. the hair backlight. Brilliant! BASICSThe.
Nikon strobes, the SB- 6. SB- 8. 00. use a completely new and different control system Nikon calls i- TTL. TTL offers free wireless control from most of the newest i- TTL cameras. D8. 0, D2. 00, D7. D7. 0s. F6, D2. X, D2.
H. and D2. Hs. The wireless control is already built. I explain below. You.
SU- 8. 00 or SB- 8. D5. 0, which makes it no longer. This. is incredible because for the first time you can pull the flash off the. There have been other systems in the past, but they never worked very. It works. better than any other slave system ever has, and it's free.
Not only is. exposure right on, I no longer have the misfires I got with the previous. DX model strobes and SU- 4 slave. It seems that you don't even need the. You. even can control the output level of the slave directly from your camera. If you. have any questions about compatibility or anything either call Nikon US.
NIKON- UX who does a great job explaining this (presuming you. Nikon USA product) or also see The. New Nikon Compendium for more compatibility info. If you. only have a D7. SB- 6. 00 feel free to skip straight to the instructions. ADVANCEDMultiple Flash Channels.
The D7. 0 only. controls one external group of flashes. You can use many external. To control more. than one set of external flashes you need a fancier controller. This. lets you change lighting ratios remotely from the camera.
You can get. this for free with the built- in flash of the D8. D2. 00, or use an SB- 8. SU- 8. 00 on any of the other cameras. I'm only going. to explain how to fire one wireless TTL slave. I've never tried using.
When I want two or. I immediately pull out my Novatron strobe system, which. Nikon strobes. See my page on Studio Strobes for. If you're intrepid. SB- 8. 00 or SU- 8. You can control the various banks of. SB- 8. 00 or SU- 8.
Also the D2. 00's. D7. 0 can't. I still suggest real studio strobes for the same. Using On- Camera Flash For Lighting the Image The flash of.
D7. 0 can't be used to light the final image. In remote wireless. When. the D7. 0 and D7. Even with both flashes (built- in and remote).
The D2. 00's flash can be. You have to twiddle in the D2. When working. close and at large apertures you will see some contribution from the.
CAVEATSI wrote. this page because Nikon never fully explains this in the manuals. This. gets complex fast and there's too much to explain every possible combination.
Even. worse, I've found no book to explain this either. The guidebooks sold. Nikon manuals. It's easy to. The problem is to explain what. This has. been too complex for anyone to tackle, and it's a book I'd like to see. Compatibility. I'm.
D7. 0 and D2. 00 and SB- 6. The SB- 6. 00 settings should remain the same with different cameras, but. I can't vouch for the settings on other cameras. If you're. smart enough to have an i- TTL camera like the D7. If you paid big bucks for the D2. X then you'll. have to go out and buy another flash just to use at the camera as the. Ha ha, not only that, you have to buy the more expensive SB- 8.
SB- 8. 00 can work as the commander. Sorry; this is another. I prefer my D7. 0 to the D2. X. I think the D5.
SB- 8. 00 on the D5. If. you want to do this then just get the D7.
If you. have any questions call Nikon USA at (8. NIKON- UX, presuming you have. Nikon USA product. The. obsolete d- TTL system of the D1. D1, D1. H. and D1x was, and still is, awful because you get. These cameras, and the DX flashes like.
SB- 2. 8DX, SB- 5. DX. and SB- 8. 0DX don't work well wireless remote use. They were the best in their day, and thankfully their day has passed. These old cameras and flashes are completely incompatible with the modern. TTL system. Nikon carefully avoids highlighting that modern cameras. D7. 0s only work properly with the newest.
SB- 6. 00 and SB- 8. Just donate your new SB- 8.
DX or whatever to charity. SB- 6. 00 and SB- 8. The new flashes. are completely compatible with older cameras.
The. F6 and D2 series are compatible. That means you can still use your obsolete DX model. DX flash away and get an SB- 6. SB- 8. 00. Older.
SB- 2. 8 don't work at all with digital. TTL modes, period.
I may. have missed some of what's i- TTL and what's not. Please feel free to let. I missed anything. HOW. TO DO ITThis. D7. 0 and SB- 6. 00 which I use personally. It should be similar. Any questions? Presuming you have USA equipment, call.
NIKON- UX for details. On your D3. 00: Press MENU.
Move up or down to: PENCIL menu. Move right and down to: e Bracketing/Flash. Move right and down to: e. Flash cntrl for Built- in Flash.
Move right and down to: C Commander Mode. On. your D7. 0: Use P, S, A or M exposure mode. Press. MENU. Go to the yellow wrench menu, and be sure CSM MENU is set to DETAILED. Otherwise you won't see the next setting! Go to. the CSM menu which looks like a purple pencil. Set #1. 9, Flash Mode, to. COMMANDER MODE." Further click to the right to set the commander.
TTL." You. also may set the commander mode to Manual or AA, which are other modes. The SB- 6. 00 only works with TTL and Manual. You. set the manual power level at the camera. Don't. forget to POP UP THE BUILT- IN FLASH! On your. D2. 00: Press MENU.
Move up or down. to: PENCIL menu. Move right and down to: e Bracketing/Flash. Move right and. down to: e. Built- in Flash. Move right and. C Commander Mode. Move right to. get to a confusing panel of C Commander Mode settings. Once in this. confusing panel you can set everything for two external groups of flashes.
You move between the different fields by moving. In this panel. you must select Channel, and set it to 3. Default is 1, which is the default for the SB- 8. Don't ask me. why they are different. Default for the SB- 6. Sorry about the complexity; Nikon didn't ask me for.
This is such a pain I use one of the D2. On. your SB- 6. 00: Hold. ZOOM. and "- " together to enter the CSM settings. That's why you see. CSM" marking between those two buttons.
Press. either the + or - buttons until you see an icon that looks like a wiggly. Z- shaped arrow. This arrow refers to wireless communication between the. When you see the wiggly arrow, press MODE to make it.
ON. Press. ZOOM and "- " together to get out of the CSM mode. Even easier. just tap the power button to get back to normal operation. It won't turn. off if you hit it while in the CSM settings. Presuming. you did this correctly you'll see "CHannel 3" and "GROUP. A" displayed. If you see different channels or groups then press. MODE to get one or the other to flash and then the + or - buttons to.
A. No, I have no idea why these are the settings. A; 3 and A are what you need to talk. D7. 0's built in flash.
If you get smart and choose others then. The other channels and groups are for people much smarter. I who want to try to rig up a zillion flashes to work together and. I prefer professional studio.
I'm using more than one strobe at a time. The. SB- 6. 00 doesn't go into standby in this mode, so you can run down your. It just sits there blinking. LEDs visible from the front. HOW. TO SHOOTEasy. If you set everything to TTL as I suggest then the camera.
You and I are free to concentrate on the more important. Everything. is controlled from. This is very convenient if you have the strobes someplace. You. can control the remote flash's output simply by varying the flash exposure.
You can do that without taking your. You do that by pressing the same button you. You'll. see the amount of compensation on both the camera's top LCD as well as. Brilliant! You can add more or less flash fill without.
You. can set the mode (TTL, Manual or AA) from the camera. You. can set the manual power level from the camera as well. Try. to have the little black window on the bottom right of the flash (marked.