Quote Originally Posted by markbarendt View Post
Hey Coops,

The next thing to understand is that flash is really fast. A full power flash may last 1/2000th of a second, as power is reduced flash duration gets even shorter. Most modern flash guns control flash out put by controlling the duration of the flash. Since the flash duration is normally shorter than the shutter open duration, the shutter has no effect on the flash, only aperture and film speed do.

What that all means is simply that you set your flash gun to match the aperture and film speed being used in the camera.

So with flash being so fast the shutter speed is less important? Do you use pretty much the same shutter speed and adjust the aperture on the camera to the flash gun? For example my meter requires I put in a shutter speed to give me a flash/ambient reading. Using a 400 speed film I entered 100th sec, fired the flash at the meter and and was given 5.6 at 100th of a second. I would set the camera and flash to 5.6, make sure the iso was correct and thats it?
Guiess I could reduce the flash (using manual) by fractions and see what effect that has.