Fill Flash

Before anyone yells at me, i DID a search for this before i asked

Is there a fill flash on the g3? Is it called something else??
The only thing i found in the manuel is for flash adjustment.
While I am on the subject....Does anyone take advantage of the 1st and 2nd curtain flash?? What circumstane would you use this in??

marieD wrote:
Before anyone yells at me, i DID a search for this before i asked

Is there a fill flash on the g3? Is it called something else??
The only thing i found in the manuel is for flash adjustment.
While I am on the subject....Does anyone take advantage of the 1st and 2nd curtain flash?? What circumstane would you use this in??

Hi again Mairie, Fill flash is just using your flash in broad daylight to fill in the areas of the face or whatever with light so for instance, the eyes dont get the "Raccoon" effect from the harsh Sunlight creating unsightly shadows in the eye sockets, and under the nose. Another benefit of using fill flash, is it will create catchlights in the eyes, livening the shot up a bit.
-Bruce

Someone else on the boards told this story a while ago, so I'll try to paint the setting.

Two people wanted their picture taken in front of a BEAUTIFUL sunset. So, they asked one of our board members to take the shot. He asked if they had the flash set up correctly, and they responded that it will come on if it needs to.

Of course, when the camera is pointed directly towards a sunset, there will be enough light so that the the camera believes a flash will not be needed. Unfortunately, all that light is coming from behind the people.

Those two people ended up with a BEAUTIFUL sunset, and their two silhouettes in front of it. In this case, a little fill flash would have lit them up from the front as well as capturing the sunset behind them.

FlipsidE

In order to use the flash on the G3 as a fill flash, all you have to do is set it to trigger anyway, regardless of what the light meter says about it.
Maybe you may want to reduce the flash power a little if you use it as a fill flash (see "Compensating the Flash Adjustment" on the operating manual.)

First and Second Curtain flash are only available with focal-plane shutters such as SLRs have. Your G3 can't use this feature. Second-curtain flash will take the picture with availavble light, then set off the flash at the end, so anything that was moving during the picture will be captured at the end of its path. First-curtain (normal setting) will fire the flash immediately, then any additional exposure a moving object gets from available light will leave streaks moving forward from the flash-frozen part.

okay..Thanks all for your help

The G3 does have a 2nd curtain flash and it DOES work. See page 102 of the G3 Camera user Guide.

Paladin

Paladin: Yes, that is what I thought too
But what circumstance would you use this feture?? the manuel just says it is usefull for the headlight/ tailinght trailing look. I have no intention of taking those types of pics. Is 2nd curtain used for anything else?

Thanks again.

If you're in any conditions where there's a moving subject with enough light to show as a ghost on the image, first- and second-curtain flash will give the effects described above. First-curtain gives ghost tracks emanating from the moving object while second curtain shows ghost tracks leading up to the object. Auto lights are the classic example, but other instances could be a rolling/bouncing ball or a runner.

hee hee. Thanks Jon for your help!! It all makes sense now...Sorry for being so thick headed...I think I am thinking too hard about this...I know it is not this difficult to understand!!

Thanks again to all..

marieD wrote:
Paladin: Yes, that is what I thought too
But what circumstance would you use this feture?? the manuel just says it is usefull for the headlight/ tailinght trailing look. I have no intention of taking those types of pics. Is 2nd curtain used for anything else?

Thanks again.

Jon answered better than I could. Altho I don't know, I would think anything with light and movement shot with 2nd curtain would produce the "ghosts" behind the subject BUT, this is out of my league ... someday I'll have to try!

Paladin