I am a photographer and I photograph a lot of people to include weddings. Recently I bought a Nikon D600 and a SB800 speed light. I am trying to learn everything I can about my new items but Im so busy that I just need some professional helpful hints or ideas. When I shoot with my SB800 on my camera ( I work alone a lot and move around a lot so having it external is not always an option) I m getting a lot of over exposed pics. It just too bright no matter where I adjust it, then if i don't use it its either to dark or I get shadows. From the advice of another photographer I usually shoot in auto mode. What am I doing wrong or what can I do to help correct this. Its getting frustrating as it doesn't happen all the time. I do test shots to check but that doesn't always work either. I think I just need to do some adjusting of the light and possibly the camera. Any ideas anyone?
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SB-800 Help
- Thread starter dkline68
- Start date
What is the SB-800 flash mode? It has menu and a mode button. Tell us what you're doing? Have you adjusted flash compensation or exposure compensation? (they should show 0 EV, and in the top LCD, you should NOT see a little +/- icon reporting compensation).
Camera Auto mode ought to be OK. Camera metering should be Center Weighted or Matrix. Exposure and Flash Compensation 0 EV.
If on camera, flash menu ought to be TTL mode indoors, and if using it for fill flash in bright sun, then instead TTL BL mode (balanced fill mode).
This should make it be just aboutright, automatically. Point&shoot flash.
Wild guess, not sure how likely: If it is already in TTL or TTL BL mode, then the top right corner of the flash LCD should be blank. It should not say something like +2 2/3 EV, which is more flash compensation, making it bright. Use the down arrow buttons to reduce it to zero, and it eventually disappears.
There can be times when flash exposure is a little off, and then Flash Compensation can correct it for a second try. That is how we control TTL flash. But your story suggests some more basic issue.
Camera Auto mode ought to be OK. Camera metering should be Center Weighted or Matrix. Exposure and Flash Compensation 0 EV.
If on camera, flash menu ought to be TTL mode indoors, and if using it for fill flash in bright sun, then instead TTL BL mode (balanced fill mode).
This should make it be just aboutright, automatically. Point&shoot flash.
Wild guess, not sure how likely: If it is already in TTL or TTL BL mode, then the top right corner of the flash LCD should be blank. It should not say something like +2 2/3 EV, which is more flash compensation, making it bright. Use the down arrow buttons to reduce it to zero, and it eventually disappears.
There can be times when flash exposure is a little off, and then Flash Compensation can correct it for a second try. That is how we control TTL flash. But your story suggests some more basic issue.
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