Really Need External Flash?

Have had the D50 for about a week now. Took some indoor shots tonight with camera flash, then with SB-600. Wow, the camera flash goes toe-to-toe with the SB-600! Makes me wonder if I really needed the SB-600. I'll bet someone can come to my rescue here.

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GHW

hotwag said:

Have had the D50 for about a week now. Took some indoor shots
tonight with camera flash, then with SB-600. Wow, the camera flash
goes toe-to-toe with the SB-600! Makes me wonder if I really needed
the SB-600. I'll bet someone can come to my rescue here.

Click to expand...

Put an omni-bounce on the sb600 and bounce the flash one notch ... internal flash destroyed.

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http://letkeman.net/Photos

I was amazed at how bouncing my sb-800 provided such natural lighting. Keep experimenting with your flash especially in indoor photos and you will be amazed at what you can produce.

oops I didnt mean to reply to you Kim.

In all fairness, I didn't shoot any people. Maybe the external flash "shines" there.
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GHW

Me and my buddy used 2 sb-800s one to light the mat board background in wireless ittl and the other on my camera bounced at the wall right behind me.



are you shooting specific subjects or just rooms in the house?

Bouncing the flash is one major reason why the external flash is way better, but there are many others. For one thing, the little fill flash on the camera is not really bright enough to use for shots when the subject has much distance from the camera.

(I don't think the omnibounce adds much to my SB600. I have tried all kinds of experiments and found it basically useless, although I know many poeple swear by it.)

However, using an external flash gives all kinds of creative control that you don't have with the fill flash. You can use it off or on the camera (with a cable or slave-master settings) and create all kinds of effects with the angle of the light.

It really depends on what you are trying to do. The fill flash is great for some applications, but it very limited compared what you can do with the
a good TTL external flash.

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Peter Waldvogel

CCarrera said:

Me and my buddy used 2 sb-800s one to light the mat board
background in wireless ittl and the other on my camera bounced at
the wall right behind me.



are you shooting specific subjects or just rooms in the house?

Click to expand...

That is one excellent, natural looking shot. To answer your question, I focused on some photos on a built-in bookshelf. Distance was about about 15 feet.
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GHW

You are correct. The internal flash does a pretty good job on a scene with no people. The external really shines when people are in the picture.

hotwag said:

In all fairness, I didn't shoot any people. Maybe the external
flash "shines" there.
--
GHW

Click to expand...

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Everything happens for a reason.

1. 1 reason: poor planning

the internal flash is decent at up to about 20 feet. after that, there is no point in using it except as a commander.

hotwag said:

That is one excellent, natural looking shot. To answer your
question, I focused on some photos on a built-in bookshelf.
Distance was about about 15 feet.

Click to expand...

That's an extremely limited subject and the worst possible lighting (straight on, which flattens the subject) ... the SB600 or SB800 on a D70s can be bounced, softened with an omni-bounce, and moved off camera for an infinite set of possibilities.

Look here for an excellent lighting with flash tutorial:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

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http://letkeman.net/Photos

I cannot agree more, when I baught my sb800 I thought that was the best thing since my large lens purchase wow no comparison at all, the shadows are way less harsh the off camera angles help to get way better results with mixed lighting, give it a bit of time then look back on your in camera photos, world of difference, then you may not care, we can only guess.
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Really I am smiling