Briefly comment on the best flash techniques and gear for your work.

Briefly comment on the best flash techniques and gear for your work.
Yes, it comes in very handy for low light shooting.
21% (23 votes)
No, my zoom handles every situation and lighting condition I encounter.
21% (23 votes)
I carry both.
58% (64 votes)
Total votes: 110

COMMENTS
Graham Lewis's picture

On my Canon digital Rebel I rarely use the built in. The EX 420 is great inside and out for fill, bounce, or direct flash. The the camera mount bracket needs to be stronger.

Mike's picture

My built in flash is adequate but it cannot beat the performance of my Nikon SB-600.

Denny L.  Essary's picture

I carry both, but find existing light photos the best when the light is low or it is very dark. Single focal lens.

Harry Futch's picture

It appears that the check boxes don't match the subject line above. However, most of my work involves interior photography for Realtors and interior designers and I've not found a built-in flash that is adequate, so I always use my FL-50 strobe and soft box when studio strobes are not practical.

Paul Karas's picture

The built-in flash is usually not powerful enough to do the job properly and the quality of light it provides indoors is poor. I always carry an old Sunpak 383 which works very well, especially indoors because it has sufficient power and the head swivels in all directions for any sort of bounce flash imaginable. If I know I will need serious flash horsepower, I use an old handlemount Sunpak 622.

David's picture

The little Nikon SB-50DX is quite impressive in my opinion. It zooms with my 24-85mm f/2.8 and with the wide angle diffuser in place it covers the whole field when using my 12-24mm.

Jock Goodman's picture

I use the Nikon D-70 and Sb-600 flash for shooting motorcycle racing to lighten up the face under the helmet and the D-70 syncs at 1/500 sec. And all with Nikon iTTL auto.

Cathy's picture

I have Nikon N80 and use the SB24 for everything from macro to 80' away; for photographing people, it's always on a bracket, which has the added benefit of making people think you know what you're doing!

Brett Thomas 's picture

I have IS lens' and F2.8 is great but my Canon 550EX is like my Visa Card "I never leave home without it."

John R.  Spurr's picture

It started with the Canon T-90 and the 300tl. I consistantly received inconsistant exposures. When I switched back to my Vivitar 285 and set the f/stop and shutter speed my percentage of good exposures jumped dramatically. The same results occured with the Rebel Digitals and a Canon flash made for them. What is up. Main Complainr is that exposure in full auto is irratic at best.

Michael Rosenberg's picture

I shoot Nikon equipment. I find that built-in flash is not satisfactory with most of the lenses I use, so I always carry my SB800 and a four foot sync cord for the occassions when I need fill light.

Stephen Edwards's picture

Both have their advantages and uses. It depends on what camera I am working with.

Jeffrey Buchanan's picture

I have found that the built in flash will only work for certain things. One thing is for sure, I dont use it for portraits unless I have strong lighting from another angle. It really removes the depth of the image and makes the subject look strange.

Christine Landon's picture

I like the combination of on-camera flash with an off-camera, wireless TTL flash unit set to give nice modeling and lighting ratios.

Michael Di Benedetto's picture

I use a Metz 45CL-4 and a Quantum Turbo for large groups and rooms on a D2H or D1X. I use SB-800's for events and closeup portraits on a D2h, D1X or D100. I use the D100 built in flash when I want to travel very light.

Ben Meriwether's picture

I shoot events that require me to cover a larger area with most wearing western hats and at a distance of 50-100 feet. I still like my Norman portables.

Johnathan M.  Carter's picture

I've had enough experience that I can shoot low light without flash, even plays, I find that I can capture the dramatic stage lighting with high speed film and metering the stage lighting, as long as there is a light source, flash washes out all of the dramatic lighting in a play, but I always carry flash for the shots that even my sigma 28-70 f2.8 APO cannot capture.

Monkin's picture

When using my N-80, I've found that on the couple of occasions that I've used the on camera flash it worked quite well, but I still carry my Speedlite, if for nothing else then a security blanket.

Isaiah Beard's picture

The problem with built-in flash on point and shoot cameras is that they flood the subject with light, easily causing overexposure. There needs to be an option for fill-lighting with the flash (allowing the light to bounce off cieling, walls, etc. instead of directly on subkect). I've found that Nikon Coolpix cameras do compensate well for the built-in flash and avoid overexposure well.

David F.  Natschke's picture

How many group pictures with the forefront overexposed while the background people are underexposed do you need? How many times do you look at a flash picture and realize that wasn't what you saw because the flash ruined the ambient light color? How many times have you depended on the built-in flash for subjects further than reasonable?

Brian's picture

I think the built in flash on SLR's is one of the most worthless accessories imaginable. If I could have purchased my elan's without the pop up flash I would have in a heartbeat. Depending on the requirements, I use the proper flash that best fits the need at the time... For P&S's they're acceptable.

James Gillispie's picture

With my Nikon D70, I find that the SB-600 works best for most of my shots. Full flash or fill flash, my built in just is not versatile enough. If I need off camera multi flashes, I use the on camera flash in commander mode (unless the shot is in need of the SB-800 versatilaty).

Randall Kirk's picture

Built-in flashes are more of an annoyance.

Robert Kuszinger's picture

I don't like built-in flashes, even I'd be hapyy to buy a camera body without that hopefully at reduced price :)

R.  Saint-Amand's picture

For less than casual pix I use an external flash with my digital camera an often use a diffuser in front of the flash.

Tigui Sintora's picture

When I use a flash I bounce the flash. If flash is use directly on subject it just doesn't look good.

Jurgen Pokrandt's picture

Built-in camera flashes allow quick and spontaneous candid shots that you'd probably miss if you had to fiddle with a larger shoe-mounted flash. So you get the snap shot to record the moment which is better than no shot at all! However, if there's enough time to set up a shot, say of people or groups or interiors, I prefer to use a basic two-flash technique when travelling light. With one flash on the camera as trigger, I position the second one off at an angle to the subject (to simulate natural sunlight) using a slave to fire it. Or I'll set it further back in a room to light up the background to avoid the black-cavern effect. This setup also gives interesting backlighting to people when the slave flash is behind and higher up, angled forward. I carry lightweight clamps to mount a battery flash nearly anywhere. The whole point of all this extra work is to illuminate your photos to give them a natural daylight look, not the harsh frontal light of direct flash. Off-camera flash is more cumbersome to use, but the modelling quality is far superior to flat one-dimensional flash!

Daniel J.  Vandeberg's picture

I also carry a Sunpak 555 flash. It's handy because of its built-in handle and can be set to bounce. I use the built-in flash for fill only.

Ed Brown's picture

I prefer off the camera flash. But use the built in flash only when that is all that I have with me.

Dave Kaiser's picture

I take a lot of indoor speaker and convention-type photos, so the internal flash won't cut it. Just bought the recommended Canon flash for my 20D, which cost almost as much as the camera! (slight exaggeration, but $400 is a lot for a flash).

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