Small body, flash too big?

M_digicapt wrote:

Paulmorgan wrote:

M_digicapt wrote:

Walt Palmer wrote:

Another reply using photos to demonstrate.

This is a 10x17' room, 9' whiteish ceiling, EV3 day (dark). I used the SMALL flash (FL-LM3) in "P" mode (to simulate someone new to flash. It shows that with a fast lens you can make a small (GN30'@100) flash quite useful in a pinch. I bounced off the ceiling over my right shoulder at f/2.0, f/2.8, and f/4.0.

f/2.0 - ISO 400 - perfectly useful. No worries using this for a gathering of people.

f/2.8 - ISO 400 - I would want to add +1 stop to the TTL exposure. But I would still not have a care about shooting this.

f/4.0 - ISO 400 - The flash is struggling. I would need to push the TTL exposure a couple of stops. I would start to have a little concern for the images. Probably would add +1 to the camera exposure and +1 in post.

I hope that helps you see that the little flashes can be quite useful for general stuff in a home, chasing kids, restaurant shots, etc. - IF you use a fast lens. By f/4 the GN30 flash is starting to reach it's limits, while a GN50 flash has a LOT of power left.

Good shooting!

I know that basics of using a flash... but this examples are useful, because when I shoot with fast lenses I usually don't use flash. When I use my even smaller flashes, I don't mind using ISO 1600 (or even 3200).

This confirms that I don't need/want a small flash.

I need to decide if I go for a medium one, that would work with long lenses in close-up work. Or, a large one that could also help with outdoors shots.

Thanks for taking the time to post these examples.

For close up work generally you don`t always need powerful flash, you should be working with the flash to subject distance, not the camera to subject distance, even when shooting portraits with a reasonably long lens, again its flash to subject distance and getting the flash off and away from the shoe can make a huge difference, just because your using a long lens and your twenty feet away it does not mean the flash has to be twenty feet away.

Another consideration is the flash duration, small flash units at max power will usually be slower than the bigger units at half, quarter power etc, something to dwell on if you shooting birds and want to freeze wing movements etc.

I'm not even considering BIF, since that would require HSS sync...

Nah there`s seems to be a lot of confusion in these forums with HSS, often the flash duration is far more useful than HSS.

My apologies, read somewhere on here that you wanted flash for perching birds so assumed bird feeder etc.

Can't stretch the budget for a full size HSS abled flash.

Overall, what would be more useful a manual full size flash or a Godox TT350o?

For the odd family snap I`d go with TTL, it just makes life easier, if you have more time or your pretty handy with manual flash I`d go with the more powerful manual flash.

Thanks.