Shooting Slides W/ Wireless Transmitter

Hello fellow analog enthusiasts! I have a couple of questions for the veterans...

I recently attended a 'noir' themed photography event where I shot 4-5 rolls of various stocks (Hp5, Tri-X, Fuji 400, EC100). I was the only person out of 50+ people shooting film! Big surprise there.

I was a little discouraged when I arrived to see that they were using three-light setups with wireless transmitters for the key lights. I decided to play it safe and only shot one picture with the wireless unit on my hotshoe. I was not sure how to meter for the flash + the fill lights, so I asked someone what their dslr settings where. The person said they were shooting f8 @ 1/60. I decided to take a chance and shot the photo below (Elite Chrome 100) at f8 @ 1/125. Although I DID want about 1/2 a stop of overexposure since I was using net/mist diffusion, the slide film was too sensitive and the highlights blew out. Ultimately I would like to become a wiz at shooting slides (a pointless endeavor I know)...



...SO my question is 1. how do you meter for flash in a situation like this (where you are not in control of the setups) and 2. did 'old-school studio photographers use flash photography in the studio or was it all just continuous lighting (generally speaking)?


The slides I shot without the flash came out quite well I think...



...but the tri-x was my favorite.




There is a 1950's 'pin-up' themed shootout coming up soon and I would like to be more prepared for doing battle with the dslr shooters. I am going for this look:

With multiple flash in a studio I use a flash meter with a built in radio module like a Sekonic L-358 DR that will trigger the flashes by a built in radio module and give you a reading of either all of them together or single individual ones to enable you to evaluate the contrast ratio between each light, i.e main light fill in light and background light.

Yes, you must use a flash meter in this case. Ideally you turn on one flash at a time so you can compute the contrast ratio. If you know you equipments, you can get away with it since you might know the strength of each light, but you will still need a flash meter.

I shoot with 4x5 slides all the time with wireless transmitter. Works great.

What ISO were the DSLR users using? That is also part of the exposure and should be considered when using flash.

I have a Sekonic L358 which I plug into my PocketWizards when I want to use flash. It fires, tells me what the exposure is and I adjust from there.

I really really like your non-flash shots.

Like others have said, I use a dedicated flash meter. Unlike the Sekonic, my Minolta Flashmeter III can't connect directly to the wireless trigger to fire the flash, but it waits for a flash, so I trigger the remote myself, it works just fine. Also, not an option since you're aiming for slide, but in such a situation, a c41 film (which handles over exposure really well) would help.

Lastly, you can't fully trust the ISO reported by digital cameras (even high end DSLRs). They can be off by as much as a stop from film ISO (either high or low, and this really isn't unique to digital, as we always have debates around here about ISO vs box speed vs personal taste). Not an issue if you are shooting B&W, but more than enough to screw up your slide film.

If you are in your own studio where you can test the flash units using slide film with all the reflectors and diffusers you plan to use, determine a guide number for each combination, and plan your flash setups in advance, which I used to do before I could afford a flash meter, then you can manage without a flash meter, and it's a good exercise to try it.

If you're dropping into a situation like this where someone else has set up the lights, you need your own flash meter that you can trust.

I think you may have had some of your problems from using very outdated slide film. This definitely contributed to the odd color balance in the scene, and probably had an effect on the overall exposure as well.

A lot of digital shooters nowadays don't know how to meter for flash - they just play with settings and chimp until the exposure "looks right" on the LCD, then stick to those settings. The results, while they 'work', don't correspond to an actual ISO because they're not 'standard' anymore - they're specific to that camera.

I've noticed this in my own use of digital, combined with a flash meter - I set up my strobes, metered for ISO 100, set the camera to ISO 100, took the shot with the settings the meter gave me, and the shot was obviously underexposed. I've seen the inverse as well, and it varies from camera model to camera model, even within brands, let alone across brands. So don't use a digital camera as a meter, especially when shooting chromes. You can probably pull it off shooting negative film because negative film has so much more latitude.

Also, while shortening the shutter speed will have some impact on the exposure, it will mostly govern the background light, not the main light. You needed to stop the lens down to f/16 (from the look of how overexposed the film is) instead of changing your shutter speed from 1/60th to 1/125th. Just remember that with flash, it's the aperture that controls exposure.

Thanks for all of the replies!

I forgot to mention that the slides were cross processed because I don't have a local e6 shop and I dislike mail-order film processing. Yes it was expired film ('05) but I'm actually really happy with the color shift because it lends to the vintage look. I know all of the other people that attended just ended up sitting in front of photoshop for hours trying to make their digital photos look more like vintage film. I laugh.

@ MattKrull, I will look into the minolta flash III. This was not my studio and I wasn't in control of the lighting, so ideally I would need a meter that can function without being 'plugged in'.

Here is a shot taken on c-41; fuji 400. I'm not as fond of this shot but it was the fastest color film I had at the time.

Changing the shutter speed was only going to change ambient exposure. Not exposure from the strobes.

You adjust exposure with your aperture, as the strobe speed is a lot faster than your shutter speed.

And that shadow on the top of your frame indicates your shutter speed of choice was too fast for your x-sync. What camera were you using? X-syncs are more commonly around 1/60th. Any faster than that, and you're going to freeze an image of your shutter curtains.

Unless you're using a leaf shutter. Which can sync at any speed.

Before I got a flash meter, I used the flash's guide number to determine exposure. Essentially, a flash at a specific power, will properly illuminate a subject at a specific distance from the flash, onto the film of a specific ISO.

WayneStevenson said:

Changing the shutter speed was only going to change ambient exposure. Not exposure from the strobes.

You adjust exposure with your aperture, as the strobe speed is a lot faster than your shutter speed.

And that shadow on the top of your frame indicates your shutter speed of choice was too fast for your x-sync. What camera were you using? X-syncs are more commonly around 1/60th. Any faster than that, and you're going to freeze an image of your shutter curtains.

Unless you're using a leaf shutter. Which can sync at any speed.

Before I got a flash meter, I used the flash's guide number to determine exposure. Essentially, a flash at a specific power, will properly illuminate a subject at a specific distance from the flash, onto the film of a specific ISO.

Click to expand...

The transmitters were at 1/60 but as I mentioned before, I shot at 1/125 because 1/60 could have potentially caused motion blur, which is worse (to me) than improper exposure.

I used a Nikon FM2 for color and an Olympus OM1 for b&w; all handheld.

Also, the shadow at the top of the frame is because there was no backlight. There was just one hard key camera right (w/flash) and the models were standing about 10" off the wall. The background was matte white; not really ideal for 'noir', but it wasn't up to me.

In retrospect, I think I'm happier not having the flash for these photos. It probably would have illuminated the bg too much and diminished the contrast.



I have a 50's pinup shoot coming up and I want to emulate this look:



I plan on shooting more reversal, but to flash or not to flash? That is the question.

I think your Nikon has a fast sync. Your Olympus is likely 1/60th.

Because you were severely over-exposed, you can't really judge weather or not you'll like flash. Heh. I doubt the background would have been too lit up though. Don't forget when you stop down, your background would darken as well.

I agree. The light is very pleasing as is. I assume modeling lights on the flashes were providing your light?

Unless the ambient light is quite high, the shutter speed would have no effect on motion blur - the flash duration is the exposure duration.

And the OM-1 doesn't synch at 1/125. It synchs at 1/60 or slower.

And like others, I recommend a flash meter.