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Most point & shoot style digital cameras lack hot shoes
and any means to fire a second flash unit. But a bracket-type flash that has
a built-in slave sensor can be used to fire in sync with the camera's flash.
Since digital cameras usually fire a series to flash bursts (to set focus,
white balance, etc.) prior to the main burst of light, this slave flash
should have a "smart" sensor. This type of sensor will ignore the
pre-flashes and fire in sync with the primary burst of light.
A fully dedicated flash will interface with the
camera's auto focus and auto-exposure system, while producing considerably
more light for greater range and with more creative control than the
built-in flash.
A studio flash system with multiple flashes on light
stands can be used with digital cameras.
The primary issues are synchronizing the camera with
the flashes and controlling exposure. Ideally, the camera will have a PC
flash cord terminal or a hot shoe with a cord adapter to fire the flash
system.
Otherwise the built-in flash can be used to trigger the
slave-equipped studio flash.
The camera will need to have a flash mode that doesn't
use pre-flashes, or a "smart" slave that ignores pre-flashes will need to be
used. The camera will need to have manual exposure control so the exposure
and light output from the studio flash can be balanced.
Ordinary flash units will
not work because your digital camera lacks a way to connect and/or mount an
external flash. Even more importantly, most digital cameras emit a “pre-
flash” and/or a ‘red-eye” pulse that fire before the shutter opens, then an
additional flash pulse is fired to actually light your picture. This
“pre-flash” (“double-flash”) and/or “red-eye” pulse confuses other flash and
slave units , causing them to go off at the wrong time, and are useless for
your digital camera.
The Slave Flash has
special digital pulse counting slave circuitry that is not fooled by the
“pre-flash” and eliminates the need for an electrical connection to your
camera. A three-position switch sets the flash to ignore one or two
“pre-flashes”, or none at all.
The built in built in flash units of digital
cameras are on average effective to only about 12 feet, and that's when your
lens is at its widest-angle setting. When you want to zoom in on the action
(towards the telephoto end of your zoom range) you'll find that your built
in flash does exactly opposite of what you want, its range is reduced to
about 8 feet, and sometimes even less! So, when you want to use your
camera's telephoto capability that you paid for, but also require the built
in flash, your pictures come out dark or, even worse, not at all. |
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