P3D RBT S1 & Flash

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

For years my philosophy in using flash has been this:  Use the smaller
aperture you can use.  I have a Minolta 360XP flash which I use in 
automatic mode at f11 and sometimes I use f8.  That's about it.

The RBT S1 comes with a very small Konica flash.  Two years ago I did 
not know what to do with it.  Never put the time to figure out how this
thing works.  I was wondering... Can I still use my Minolta flash?
This little Konica thing does not look much of a flash...

Welcome to the new stereo flash philosophy!

If you set the camera in P and the flash in P(Full), the flash will fire
it's entire charge.  Now, the camera knows at what distance your subject
is because you have focused at it.  It also knows the Guide Number
("strength") of the flash you are using.  So, it just adjusts the 
aperture for a good flash exposure at this distance.  (For example, if 
you are focusing at 0.6 m it will pick close to f22 with ASA 100 film, 
but chances are that you are focusing around 10 ft, in which case it
will pick f4).  This is nice because you usually need more depth of
field (smaller apertures) in close ups.

That's not the entire story.  So the camera selected the aperture.
How about the shutter speed?  The Konica Hexar (like the Realist :-))
is synchronized for flash at any speed.  With the Realist I usually
set the shutter speed fixed at 1/100 because it makes no difference
since all the light comes from the flash.  BUT, the Hexar will try
and balance the ambient light.  It will use as slow of a speed
as it is needed to balance ambient light, without going under the
minimum handheld speed.

The combination of wider apertures (like f4 at 10 feet) and slow speeds
will allow more ambient light.  Bye-bye dark flash photography (all
my Realist shots indoors are dark like night even though there 
might be a good amount of ambient light).  The RBT S1 pictures with
the Konica flash are much more pleasing with more ambient light
(but watch these colors, you might pick up greens from FL lights!)

In my first roll I took a flash picture at the camera show on Sunday. 
The camera used f4.6 I think.  My subjects were fine, super sharp.  
(Background is slightly out of focus, but who cares?)  The picture has 
a good overall illumination (looks like day, not night!)  

I like this so I plan to use the Konica flash.  I could use the 
Minolta if I wanted because the camera can be programmed for a 
different GN but I think I will stick with the more compact Konica 
flash.  Less weight, more light.

NOTE:  This discussion and different strategies apply for any camera 
or flash.  Only, with the Realist I never dreamed of using a weak 
flash and f4!!!! (is there f4 in a Realist? :-))  I was font of the 
heaviest and most powerful flash units.  Now with the RBT S1, weak is 
good!

-- George Themelis


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