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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Revet" data-source="post: 414419" data-attributes="member: 17612">Thanks Wayne.  Much of your response prompted me to review flash photography principles which helped me see where my problems were here.  Let me run what I think is correct through you and others.First off, I don't get when you say you use EC to boost flash power when you need more than +1.  For that to work for me on the D7100, I would have to be out of manual mode such that I was changing ISO or Aperture thus affecting the effective flash power (larger aperture or higher ISO). If I am in M mode, changing EC does nothing but move the meter needle (the digital representation of it that is).  You do say that is true of Nikon's (not Canon's) early on in your response.  So you must be in a different mode or using a Canon to use EC to boost your flash more than the +1 FC gives you.  So, now my reasoning after reading your response,  If I use the settings i say in the U1 mode for indoor flash photography, most of the time i get good exposures.  If I don't or I want a different look I can do the following:1) use FC to increase or decrease flash power (-3 to +1).   If I need more than +1, I would increase ISO or open the Aperture.  Then to balance ambient if needed I would reduce the shutter speed the same f stop amount.2) If I want to increase or decrease ambient light, I change shutter speed (faster - less ambient, slower- more).  I think this was the problem I was having when I was adjusted FC and I thought it was affecting the ambient background.  At the settings I was using, there was no significant ambient.  I believe that is what you were trying to tell me correct??I don't know what happened when I was increasing shutter speed from 1/250th to 1/30th with direct flash; it did change the subject exposure dramatically.  It probably was my set up.  I was shooting a colorful pillow on the middle of a bed propped upright from the end of the bed.  The ambient light comes from a light on a nightstand at the head of the bed so I was evaluating the light and the wall right behind it as the non-subject background light.  So when I changed shutter speeds from 1/250th to 1/30th without changing anything else, it was changing the entire exposure, the pillow and the wall (and the light of the light) got much brighter.Two more things come to mind that fit in this post.1) why the difference in Auto FP  (1/250 Auto FP or 1/320 Auto FP)???   Is there an advantage in using one or the other? Isn't this just the shutter speed that Auto FP kicks in at so why wouldn't you want it to kick in at 1/320 or higher and use 1/250 as your max shutter sync speed??2) The D7100 has the option to have EC change just the background (affects just EC) or the entire frame (affects EC and FC).  It doesn't say what it is doing but I would imagine if you have it set to Background only, it is only changing shutter speed; in contrast, if it is set to entire frame, I would assume it changes aperture or ISO affecting both ambient and effective flash power.  Is that what this menu option on the D7100 is all about??  If that is the case, I don't need to worry about it in M mode indoor photography like I have set on U1.  It does come into action when I am outdoors in TTL-BL mode doing fill flash in P mode.  In this case I guess I would want it on only background and then use FC to adjust flash power. Then you have individual control of each variable (Flash Power and Ambient light).  Is this reasonable thinking??I guess the last scenario is when you are in in-between lighting.  In this case, all I need to do is kill the ambient and go with indoor flash techniques.  Or if I want ambient light, use the balance flash on P mode and play with the FC and EC until you get what you want (or I guess you can also adjust shutter speed, ISO, and aperture in in the P mode pretty easily on the D7100).I think that covers it for now.  Please correct any aberrant thinking i have!!</blockquote>

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