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SB 600 and zooming.

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evan631

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The other day i was out shooting with the my D90, 16 -85, and SB600. I don't really use my flash much, so i just pop it on the camera, and set it to TTL.

Well...my results were very inconsistent. I know you are going to ask for examples and exif; but it don't they are needed at this point in the discussion.

It seems that when i zoomed in, my flash output was not enough, and photos were completely underexposed.

Here is my question: Would i have better results if i turned the zoom feature off on the SB600, and keep it set at the widest setting?

What do you think?

Secondly, can anyone have a favorite site for using the SB600? I have been on Strobist, so i know that site.

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Evan
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Since you are zoomed out with the flash I will assume the same for the lens hence you are shooting at a distance. Some plus flash compensation will help you in exposure flash/distance. It's not uncommon to adjust while shooting with flash.
evan631 said:
It seems that when i zoomed in, my flash output was not enough, and photos were completely underexposed.

Here is my question: Would i have better results if i turned the zoom feature off on the SB600, and keep it set at the widest setting?
Click to expand...
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Keeping it at its widest setting will hurt you. When you zoom to 85mm and the flash zooms in with you, it's concentrating the light on a narrow area because that's all the lens is seeing. When you zoom all the way out, it's the opposite--the light will be dispersed over the widest area. All things being equal, a zoom shot will be more underexposed if you set the SB-600 to its widest setting (which I guess would be 14mm with the flip-down diffuser).
 
If you turn off the zoom, the light coming from the flash will be spread over a wider area and that will compounding your underexposure situation. The point of zooming is to concentrates the light into a small area that may be farther away from the camera to correspond with the area viewed by the lens as it zooms.
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While amateurs change the camera’s settings; many Pro’s prefer to change the light.

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jakew8 said:
Keeping it at its widest setting will hurt you. When you zoom to 85mm and the flash zooms in with you, it's concentrating the light on a narrow area because that's all the lens is seeing. When you zoom all the way out, it's the opposite--the light will be dispersed over the widest area. All things being equal, a zoom shot will be more underexposed if you set the SB-600 to its widest setting (which I guess would be 14mm with the flip-down diffuser).
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This thread is confused about the terms in and out when referring to zoom. So, don't use those terms because even if you thing you understand, the other person may be turned around.

Zoom features in Nikon cameras will try to match the pattern of light to the zoom information relayed to the flash from the camera lens. Any diffuser including flip out and slide on diffusers will produce underexposed images.

My SB800 will produce sufficient light at 65 feet with 200 mm focal length. Focal distance and focal length are two different things and because of TTL factored in, you should be able to get pretty accurate exposure unless you have done something to defeat the system.

We might need a more specific description to be able to help you understand.

We need to know distance to subject, focal length the lens is set at. Whether sky or white ceiling, ISO, lens aperture and just in case, shutter speed.

OP can we start over?
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I'm not sure that anyone here is confused. The readout on the flash says the zoom setting in mm. I'm confident that the OP knows that when the flash says 85mm, it's zoomed "in" and when it says 14mm, it's zoomed "out."

To assume otherwise would be to assume that he doesn't even understand what the focal lengths on his lens mean!
 
jakew8 said:
I'm not sure that anyone here is confused. The readout on the flash says the zoom setting in mm. I'm confident that the OP knows that when the flash says 85mm, it's zoomed "in" and when it says 14mm, it's zoomed "out."

To assume otherwise would be to assume that he doesn't even understand what the focal lengths on his lens mean!
Click to expand...
Yep, that is the point. When you zoom out, is it to make a far away point look closer or a near point bigger? I sometimes can't figure what it is when used in a sentence with two prior references. Enough of that.....

When he changes the zoom on his lens, can he look at the flash and see the optics change? If not, maybe the diffuser is flopped down. That would be one check to see if the mechanism is working. The next step might be to find out why not. My SB800 flash says 14 mm with the snap on diffuser and 17 mm with the flip down diffuser and 24 to 105 mm with the 18-200 lens.

What do you think the OP's problem is? Where did he go?

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I prefer this site to strobist for beginning flash photography:

http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/

Read all 15 pages and you should have a good theoretical basis for flash photography. It's not specifically about SB600 but it's more important than monkeying around with your particular flash. Just read the SB600 manual once you've read Neil's guide.

Hope this helps.
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Nikon D90, SB600, 18-105 3.5-5.6 + 35 1.8 + 50 1.8
 
I don't think the SB 600 auto zoom feature allows for DX cameras and their crop factor. I always use manual zoom with mine and if I am using a lens at, say, 35mm, set the flash to 50mm.

Actually most of the time I bounce the flash, so I may zoom it a bit more depending on the height of the ceiling.
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