Using Nikon FM2 with strobes questions

[SoulfulRecover]

Ok so Im from a spoiled generation where everything is all digital and done for us so please bare with me, how do I make sure my film camera (Nikon FM2) is properly synced to a strobe light using a PC cord? Im assuming I input my information into a light meter (Film ISO, shutter speed) plug the PC cord into the light meter, take a reading and it will give me the correct aperture to use? What if I want to shoot with a shallower DoF or maybe even have more? From my limited knowledge I remember that the camera only syncs up at one certain shutter speed (I think its 125th?) and I cant change my ISO on the fly. Am I just out of luck and would have to change to a different roll of film to attain the different settings? Or would I just turn the power down on the strobes forcing me to open up the aperture more while maintaining the same shutter speed?

I have a final project that my teacher wants me to shoot on film (we are making 17x22 prints) and push myself in the fashion/portrait side of things. I was just going to use my TLR and do some landscape kind of stuff but I guess he felt it was a cop out

Anyway thank you guys for any information. I have something like 4-5 weeks to do this so its not a terrible rush but the sooner I am shooting, the better I will feel about getting this done in time.

 

[Derrel]

Ok so Im from a spoiled generation where everything is all digital and done for us so please bare with me, how do I make sure my film camera (Nikon FM2) is properly synced to a strobe light using a PC cord? Im assuming I input my information into a light meter (Film ISO, shutter speed) plug the PC cord into the light meter, take a reading and it will give me the correct aperture to use? What if I want to shoot with a shallower DoF or maybe even have more? From my limited knowledge I remember that the camera only syncs up at one certain shutter speed (I think its 125th?) and I cant change my ISO on the fly. Am I just out of luck and would have to change to a different roll of film to attain the different settings? Or would I just turn the power down on the strobes forcing me to open up the aperture more while maintaining the same shutter speed?

I have a final project that my teacher wants me to shoot on film (we are making 17x22 prints) and push myself in the fashion/portrait side of things. I was just going to use my TLR and do some landscape kind of stuff but I guess he felt it was a cop out

Anyway thank you guys for any information. I have something like 4-5 weeks to do this so its not a terrible rush but the sooner I am shooting, the better I will feel about getting this done in time.

To check synchronization, hook up the flash as it will be used, and with an empty camera, set the lens to wide-open(f/1.4 or 1/8 or f/2 or whatever is wide-open aperture), then open the camera back, and point the camera at a wall or large even-toned object and fire off a shot as you look at the shutter area and into where the lens will be when the shutter fires...if you see a big, ROUND aperture when the shutter fires, you're good to go, and the flash is synchronizing. FM-2 synchs up to 1/200; the later FM-2(n) model has the 1/250 X-synch that was a world's first in a production 35mm SLR. The shutter speed dials on the original FM-2 and the later (n) variant have slightly different markings. If you have a 1/200 X-synch dial, it is the first FM-2 style.

You want a different ISO? To get that effectively or "in effect", you need to use Neutral Density filters, or a polarizer, to cut down the light, OR switch film rolls.

YES, flash power can be adjusted up or down, as needed, for the right amount of flash, as desired. For shooting flash + daylight in BRIGHT light, slow-speed color slide film is pretty handy, since at say ISO 50, you have f/16 at 1/60; f/11 at 1/125, and f/8 at 1/250. I'm not sure that there is still an ISO 50 slide film left on the market, or if there are any ISO 64 or ISO 40 films left either.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

thank you for your reply! if i was shooting location using a strobe and ambient light, how do I meter that correctly? Do i just adjust the little dome out, stand in front of my model with the meter hooked into the light and fire it?

the top of my camera. Looks like its the FM2 not the n

 

[Derrel]

YES, you have the first iteration of the FM-2 model, with the separate X200 speed in red...you can shoot flash at the X200 setting. Back in the early 1980's this was pretty hot stuff: 1/4000 second shutter, then the fastest speed in any factory camera, and that blazing 1/200 X speed, in an era when many 35mm SLR cameras had 1/60 top speed for flash.

Well...mixing flash and ambient and how to meter...it sounds like you own or have access to a cord-capable incident light meter which can meter flash as well? AM I reading between the lines correctly? I'm not sure what you have to work with, or what you're trying to achieve. If you're trying for flash FILL, you'd want to set an ambient exposure for the camera/film setup, say 1/200 second at f/8. For fill-in of shadows, the flash needs to be LESS THAN the highlight value exposure, or about two full EV LESS,up to three full EV less.

A handy way to shoot flash + ambient lighting in on-the-go, outdoor scenarios with the flash on-camera, is to "lie to" an automatic flash. If you have 100-speed film in the camera, and want two full EV LESS flash exposure, set the flash to 400 ISO, which will cause the flash to put out two full EV "less flash" than if the flash were determining the output needed for 100 ISO film. If you want 2 and 2/3 less fill-flash, then set the ISO dial on the flash unit to 640 ISO, and use ISO 100 film, and shoot at the CAMERA meter's settings.

If you have a corded flash meter, set the speed to 1/200 (or 1/250 if that's the option) and meter the flash using the flash-meter portion of the meter. There are a bunch of different ways flash or combination meters measure. AGain, not sure "what gear" you have,exactly.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

I have access to a Sekonic L-758DR. I am pretty sure thats the exact model. If not its almost exactly the same. It has the PC sync cord, the dome can be in or out and it has the spot metering thing where you can look through it and meter from a distance.

but yes what you said about using the strobe as a fill is correct. Im not sure I will end up needing to use it out on location but who knows. I have access to multiple Profoto D1 kits with the battery back and just about any light modifier there is. We just got some nice Profoto 5'x7' (something huge like that) soft boxes.

 

[Derrel]

The 758 is very high-end meter. If you have an assistant, her or she can "trip" the flash and you can read the flash with the incident meter pointed at the flash from the subject position, without the need to connect the flash to the meter with the PC cord. If you're working alone, it's easier to use the flash unit's PC cord-to-meter connection system, so that you can press the button and fire the flash from the meter itself.

In bright daylight, the issue is usually being stuck working at a small f/stop, like f/13 or f/11, at 1/200 second and sort of being constrained by the brightness of the sun. However, at night, or dawn/dusk/twilight, or in deeper shaded areas or indoors, there's wide range of brightnesses, and so a bunch of different ambient exposures might be possible. Exposures as long as 3 seconds might be needed to "drag the shutter" at say 5 minutes after sundown, to make the background look datylight-ish. Or, you can also shoot in lower light periods and keep the shutter speed high, to keep the background dark.

The basic takeway is that, except in bright or moderate light, anytime the ambient light is "low", there is a wide range of exposures that can be used, and the ambient exposure is not super-critical per se, but the FLASH exposure is the "main or key" light, and so the flash meter's super-helpful to get a good idea of the flash exposure's value. If the flash power and distance are adjusted, you can shoot at say, f/6.3 and have flash be the MAIN or KEY light, and then move the shutter faster or slower, to control the distant background area brightness. You can go for accuracy, or artistry. You'll figure it out pretty easily.

A tip though: in darker conditions, too much flash tends to look very garish and out of place...being under-exposed a stop of 1.5 stops can actually look better, and more-realistic, and less over-flashed when the background light level is shown as "dark".

 

[cgw]

I have access to a Sekonic L-758DR. I am pretty sure thats the exact model. If not its almost exactly the same. It has the PC sync cord, the dome can be in or out and it has the spot metering thing where you can look through it and meter from a distance.

but yes what you said about using the strobe as a fill is correct. Im not sure I will end up needing to use it out on location but who knows. I have access to multiple Profoto D1 kits with the battery back and just about any light modifier there is. We just got some nice Profoto 5'x7' (something huge like that) soft boxes.

Check online for the 758 manual. It's capable of reading ambient/flash percentages. The dome is out/extended for ambient/flash readings.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

thank you both for the help! I picked up some Epson Ultra Premium Luster paper for the prints. Just need to decide on some film at this point then go try all this out. Ill continue shooting the landscape stuff as a back up in case this falls apart haha.