Hi there,
Thanks for the informative texts found here. Coming from Canon 1D (and older Nikon bodies), I recently got a D3s. I like the camera a lot, but flash indoors is not exactly the same as a Canon - as you found out and wrote about. To me, after a week it is still too much guesswork for my liking. With Canon, I could use ambient light at 4000-6400 ISO to get a real nice background in large halls and nail the flash exposure of the foreground person without problems. With the D3s this is... well, not that straightforward. If I measure the background light, and next use the flash, the -3 is usually way overexposing the person in front. It seems to me Nikon SB900 output is just too much. I tried a lot of things, but nothing really seems to be repeatable. Usually I have no time for a second or third try to get it right. Am I missing something here? I tried matrix and spot, flash lock,... Is there any way to keep ambient light as it is, and dial down the flash more?
Any hints welcome...
Comments
Also, the Nikon system has a separate metering system for the flash, independent of the ambient metering system. It is permanently set to the center-weighted metering area. So if your subject isn't in the middle of the frame you won't get an accurate flash exposure.
http://neilvn.com/tangents/2009/03/25/ttl-flash-canon-and-nikon/
It's a work-around, and not ideal.
I really wish the D3 + SB900 were capable of more subtle fill-flash.