Flash with fisheye

ic-racer · Jun 27, 2015

I spent some time a while back doing flash with fisheye lenses (full frame, not circular). Oddball problem was that the diffuser I placed over the flash showed up in the negatives in a dramatic and bad way. Did not show in the 95% viewfinder view but it was there spoiling all the negatives for the whole roll. I was using an off- camera 'potato-masher' flash, so the flash head was right about at the diagonal of the frame; the worst place. I'll probably have to re-think things and use a top mounted flash.

Anyone else using flash with fisheye? For me bounce is not an option because I'm using the setup outdoors.

AgX · Jun 28, 2015

Instead of using a diffuser just use the bare flash tube. You might try to add a flat reflector.

Otherwise you would have do make a lens attachment for an unmodified flash.

Jeff Bradford · Jun 28, 2015

Use a sync cable and an assistant. In a pinch, a light stand will do.

benjiboy · Jun 28, 2015

a Sto-fen flash diffuser http://www.stofen.com/index.asp bounced of the ceiling works for me, [I]here's an example [/I]http://www.stofen.com/info/withandwithout.asp

Sirius Glass · Jun 28, 2015

AgX said:
Instead of using a diffuser just use the bare flash tube. You might try to add a flat reflector.

Otherwise you would have do make a lens attachment for an unmodified flash.

Take a folding fan flash attachment and leave the reflector flat with a bare flash bulb. I have done this many times for very wide angle lenses.

Ken Nadvornick · Jun 28, 2015

AgX said:
Instead of using a diffuser just use the bare flash tube. You might try to add a flat reflector.

Otherwise you would have do make a lens attachment for an unmodified flash.

Bare bulb was my thought as well. I've used a purpose-built Sunpak Auto 120J in bare mode in close quarters with a 21mm wide angle on a Nikon F2. Not a fisheye, but still pretty wide. The flash unit was set on auto and it seemed to work well. Evenness of illumination in bare mode is by design default, which is nice.

The only issue I had was that highly polished surfaces at the correct angle (or curved surfaces at any angle) resulted in a few annoying specular reflections. But given the other positives that was a minor annoyance.

I also own a bare bulb head for a Sunpak 622 Super handle-mount unit. According to my flash meter it's a fraction of a stop higher output than the 120J. But the 622S is such a monster that it normally only gets used on a 4x5 Crown Graphic.

Ken

AgX · Jun 28, 2015

Yes, there were special bare-tube heads even for a few selfsustained flashes (eg. Sunpak).

But it should not be that problem to spare a common electronic flash for removal of the reflector casing, and maybe re-orientating of the tube.

M Carter · Jun 28, 2015

AgX said:
Yes, there were special bare-tube heads even for a few selfsustained flashes (eg. Sunpak).

But it should not be that problem to spare a common electronic flash for removal of the reflector casing, and maybe re-orientating of the tube.

Keep in mind that there's also a UV blocker in most flash units...

AgX · Jun 28, 2015

Yes, sometimes it is the tube itself, sometimes the casing I guess.

benjiboy · Jun 28, 2015

A Garry Fong Lightsphere works too.

fotch · Jun 28, 2015

I only used flash inside and had the flash behind the plane of the camera and up high, usually bounce off a wall or ceiling. The flash was mounted on a light stand & connected with a cord, so not mounted to the camera.

ic-racer · Jun 29, 2015

This thread is probably useless without an example of the type of work I am doing with the fisheye. This is one of the better images but you can still see an aura on the upper left edge from the flash. I presume from illumination of vapor and dust in the air and/or flare. Potato-masher flash on a bracket to the left with a dome diffuser.

Yes, my feet are supposed to be in it, that is what this work is about it is an extension of self portrait. As an aside, I have a long-running body of work since the 1980s dealing with self-portraits, however, since the advent of the 'selfie' I have either given up or moved away from anything that even remotely resembles that heinous style.

ic-racer · Sep 29, 2020

Re-visiting this issue. I got a Metz 50AF flash with some other stuff. It does not work TTL with any camera I own and it is not an SCA flash. However, it works fine on Manual mode and is quite powerful. It looks brand new also.
It came with a nice diffuser and even without the diffuser it has a zoom setting of 12mm (full frame 35mm format coverage). That 12mm coverage is pretty remarkable, I have never seen a flash that covers that wide and I can't think of a full-frame 35mm lens that short (any one??)
I did a few tests at the 12mm setting with no diffuser and with the diffuser. I did the tests on Instax film (in a Polaroid back) I think the diffuser covers the 180 degree fisheye view just a little better.

perkeleellinen · Sep 30, 2020

12mm zoom setting is remarkable. Thanks for posting, this is useful as I also do flashed fisheye

neilt3 · Sep 30, 2020

The only time I've used flash with a fisheye lens was on a 35mm Minolta where I used either two or three flash arranged for even coverage .
I assumed using one only would just give me a round torchlight effect and the outer image would have been black , as even with a diffuser on they are only rated for 24mm .
I was in a burial chamber at the time , so effectively a small cave .
They were triggered wirelessly with TTL metering , so I only had to place them all around the same distance from the surfaces they were to illuminate to get even lighting .
If your working manually , if all flashes are in the right positions , just metering from one flash with a flash meter should work for you too .

AgX · Sep 30, 2020

ic-racer said:
It came with a nice diffuser and even without the diffuser it has a zoom setting of 12mm (full frame 35mm format coverage). That 12mm coverage is pretty remarkable, I have never seen a flash that covers that wide and I can't think of a full-frame 35mm lens that short (any one??)

Not 12mm FL, but 24mm FL. Only with the built-in optical diffusor 12mm is achieved.

But nevertheless that is remarkable. The classic AE electronic flashes of the past got a coverage equivalent of 35mm FL. Only by accessory optical diffusor 28mm was reached.

However those optical diffusors use all emmitted light. The diffusor you show is the milky, extreme diffusor spreading even some light beyond 180°.

That is a very interesting flash that somehow slipped my attention. Should I come it across for cheap I shall take it. It yields FP and 2nd curtain mode and even in full manual that extreme coverage is outstanding.
,To be fair, even with the classic ones one might experiment with a 2nd optical diffusor added

ic-racer · Oct 2, 2020

ic-racer · Oct 2, 2020

Just to clarify, that 50AF flash (the one above with 12mm setting) has NO external exposure sensor and no AUTO mode. However, it has a slave mode! So it actually will slave off my 54MZ with its TTL adapter. I just tried this now.
I'll have to test this more, but the TTL sensor does not know where the light comes from. It will turn off the 54MZ attached to the TTL adapter at the right time. As long as the slave is not overpowering (output is fully adjustable in manual mode), the system should give an appropriate exposure with this setup.

ic-racer · Oct 2, 2020

Another thing new to me is the MODELING LIGHT function. I had never used anything like this before. It pulses the flash like a continuous output lamp. So I can just look through the viewfinder with the fisheye lens and see the actual coverage. Pretty cool!

AgX · Oct 2, 2020

That it is a TTL-only flash likely was the reason it slipped my attention, but for those with a flash-TTL camera and respective SCA adapter it might be interesting if in need for those special features.

Flash with fisheye

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