Basic Flash Advice (indoor party)

Hi All,

I've been asked to take photos of guests at a family's anniversary party. This will be held during the evening/night, indoors, in an averagely lit house at relatively close range to the guests. I'll be aiming for portrait type shots. The camera (a K-x) will be hand held, using the kit 18-55 lens.

My gut instinct here is to try and do without flash, upping the ISO to compensate for lack of light whilst capturing the warmth of an indoor party.

However, I'm concerned I may arrive and struggle with either high ISO noise or blurry slow shutter speeds. For this reason I'm considering a hot shoe flash, ideally something I can bounce off the ceiling to try and illuminate people better without drowning them in harsh white light.

Problem is - for portrait shots I turn the camera 90 degrees, at which point anything but the more expensive hotshoe flashes will be pointing at a side wall.

Any advice? I have a budget of about £120 for a flash (The Metz 36 AF-4/5 look attractive - but again not when the camera is rotated 90 degrees). Alternatively, I could perhaps put the money towards a prime/fast lens.

I have a month to prepare so whatever decision I make I'll have time to practice at home first. I'd like to go armed with reasonable tools so I at least give myself a chance of getting some decent shots...


Thanks,


Steve

I would just get the Metz 36 or Pentax/Samsung 36 and shoot everything in landscape format. You can always crop it to portrait if you wish, if it's just a family party it seems unlikely you'll be printing poster size prints.

Alternatively can also go portrait format and just have the flash pointing at a handy wall. You can get quite a dramatic side-lit portrait that way. Here's one of my son with the Samsung 36 bouncing off a wall:

[IMG]http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy358/thoughton/K2011583.jpg[/IMG]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronic-Speedlight-Speedlite-flashgun-Olympus/dp/B003...=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1310984601&sr=8-3

I have the above flash, which is well within your budget. You can tilt it sideways so that it fires upward when the camera is in portrait position. It´s easy to use, has many power settings and is very well built. The downside is that it´s manual only, so you will need to manually adjust your exposure (ISO, aperture). This is not usually a problem in indoor parties because the light levels are constant and once you have it set there´s very little need to change it.

As you´ll be taking portraits you´re most likely to be at the longer end of the kit lens, where it´s soft wide open (at least my two copies are) and you´ll most likely want to stop down to f/8. Without a flash that would leave you with very high ISOs indeed.

The old Pentax AF280T or something like the Cobra 480AF have a swivel head. Manual only, but once you've got your exposure right, you probably won't need to make any changes as the bounced light is fairly even. And you can experiment beforehand in a similar room.

Actually I'd forgotten about the AF280T, that's a really good suggestion and you should be able to find one for £40ish. I found the full-auto mode to be surprisingly accurate.

Thanks for the comments - seems I have a few options. So, the Pentax AF280T is TTL, not P-TTL; does this mean manual control or does it partly work in auto mode? I'll check out the Speedlight too.

Investigating fast lens options (and prices!) I think a flash is definitely the way to go

Thanks again

Steve

If you're indoors and the lighting isn't changing (at all), then using the flash on "A" and the camera on "M" will suit just fine
(Actually, using "A" on the flash is often just fine all the time!)

If the distance doesn't change either (as in portraiture) then the flash should be on "M" and the camera on "M".

With digital all it takes is one or two test shots to get your settings right and then you're good to go

I've left a few handy hints littered around this forum... some on stickies, some to search for

Matt

you might try what I do at Christmas.... one flash unit in one corner bounced of the ceiling and one flash unit diagonally across the room in the other corner. Both units bounced off the ceiling aimed into the room slightly...(cross lighting).

then with the flashes set slightly brighter than the ambient, you get excellent shots from every angle....

works best with radio slaves though..

in your case, I'd tear the bottom off a white styrofoam cup, pop it on a 360 fgz, hold it in one hand, and compose and shoot with the other....

With bounce flash, the distance between camera and subject doesn't matter, and the distance from flash to ceiling to subject doesn't change appreciably (if you are in one room). Therefore I use M on both and take advantage of the flash's max power. I think (from memory) the AF280T gives me around f5.6 at ISO 200, in my living room. At that ISO you can afford to underexpose the odd shot.

Don's idea sounds brilliant, and presume you could do something similar with a bunch of old manual flashes and cheap optical slaves?

yep used to use viv 283's for that.

but.. the studio strobes and radio slave never go to sleep or change in power output or recycle time... perfect for smaller events and parties where you've promised to be discrete and not pop a flash off in everybodies eyes every ten seconds

'Basic' flash advice guys. Enough with the M mode this and radio slave that already!

lol!

ok basic means push the little button to pop up the on camera flash.... anything else requires thinking and even a little planning! to me basic, means using less than four flashes!

Interesting comments though - you're already giving me ideas above and beyond my initial plan. I'll keep things safe/simple for now but I will investigate slaves as a future option (a great excuse for more toys!).

I've bid on an AF 280T and also impulse bid (and won) this:-

Sigma (?) CENTON FG30D CAMERA FLASH
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190555487955
For a grand total of £8.50!

I figured at this price, if I don't win the AF 280T this should at least be an improvement over the internal flash. I believe whilst fully manual, it won't fry the K-x. Is it a piece of junk?

Steve

when in doubt, just put a slave on it and use it off camera...lol!

My advice is, buy Mattmatic's flash guide, get yourself a Pentax AF500FTZ flash with a Sto-Fen diffuser, then practice, practice, and practice.

All of the above should come within your budget.