P3D Re: Ambient light with Realist flash

[Rob <lilindn@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>
>
> According to my earlier (false) understanding of the flash operation
> there should be no difference between #1 and #2 because in #1 the
> camera will use f16 at 1/30.  HOWEVER, the camera does two exposures,
> one at f2.0 at 1/30 and one at f16 and flash.  The result of these
> superimposed exposures is that the shadows are filled with ambient
> light resulting in a very pleasing (not harsh) image that I like a lot!
>
> THAT'S SOMETHING THAT EVEN THE REALIST CANNOT DO!!! :-)

      True, the Realist won't suddenly change from f/3.5 to f/16 during the course of
exposure, but you can get ambient light in your flash pictures using the Realist.
      The Realist will still sync at a slower shutter speed (1/25, or even 1/10 if you
have very steady hands).  Then, you can use the weakest automatic setting your flash
has and open up the Realist apeture to let in that ambient light.
      Some people find the ambient light to be a disadvantage, in that if the ambient
light is not daylight, the background will be discolored.  One way around that would
be to use a tungsten film and place an 85B filter over the flash to balance it all
out.  My choice is to use a slave flash to illuminate the room while the on-camera
flash illuminates the subject.  This not only improves the background lighting but
often reduces shadows in the subject.
       One of the forgotten contributions of the Nimslo was its "Opti-Lite" flash.
This unit had two flash tubes that both fired with the camera - a fixed
straightforward tube for the subject and a pivoting tube that could be used for bounce
to illuminate the background.  It shows that Nimslo knew that background provided a
special challenge to indoor stereographic realism and the Opti-Lite answered it.
     Rob
     "Photography at it's best - that's stereo,
     stereo at it's best - that's Realist"   (1957 magazine ad)



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