Nikon Flash Guide
Corrections and Comments

Every book has a few glitches in its first printing. Because I never saw the page proofs for Nikon Flash Guide, a few problems snuck in. (If you find others, let me know.)

• Page 20. The caption doesn't make any sense because Silver Pixel Press used the wrong photo. Apparently in an effort to keep page count down, a number of photos were dropped, and this one was put in place of another. This is the "after" shot, showing what you get when you correctly balance fill flash with ambient background lighting.
• Page 35. The illustration is missing the actual TTL sensors (well, four of the five are missing). But the idea is still the same: the sensors look off reflections from the shutter curtain and film plane.
• Page 53. The tip references photos on the previous page. They're actually on the same page (53).
• Page 66: Add the N80/F80 to the N70/F70 comment at the top of the page, and remove N80/F80 from the second comment. The N80/F80 body doesn't need the optional back to set flash exposure compensation.
• Page 76: The SB-24 is omitted from the "load table;" it has a load of 70muA.
• Page 76: The SB-27 is mistakenly listed as having a connection for an SC-18, it has a PC sync socket instead.
• Page 87: Some have taken exception to my comment "Forget over-the-head diffusers." Since submitting the book to the publisher back in 1999 (!) I've learned more about over-the-head diffusers, such as the Stofen type used by so many press photographers. The problem with these diffusers is that they tend to steal too much light (two or more stops) from the preflash in balanced TTL modes, rendering the low-power preflash (GN 1 to 2, in feet at ISO 100) unreliable. That's especially true if you're not using lenses with large maximum apertures (e.g., you're using a consumer zoom that's f/5.6 max versus a prime lens that's f/1.8) and at long distances (certainly anything over 15 feet). The trick that most press photographers use is to angle the flash head from the normal position, which turns off balanced fill flash (and the preflashes) and puts the flash into Standard TTL mode (note that this doesn't work on any D1 model with a DX flash). Now the camera can only measure the actual flash, and since the actual flash is at a much higher GN, the results appear to be more reliable. So, I'll alter my statement to read "Forget using balanced fill flash with over-the-head diffusers." D1 users should probably avoid TTL with over-the-head diffusers (since they can't cancel the preflash measurement) and go straight to Automatic flash mode.
• Page 308: While the SB-28 can be controlled in 1/3 stop increments, for some reason this is not true between 1/1 and 1/2 power (e.g., you can't set 1/2 +0.3 and 1/2 +0.7).
• Page 310: The flash durations listed on this page were taken directly from my SB-28 manual. A more recent manual lists a different set (see below). Nikon hasn't confirmed which is correct, though one would think that the later version would be a corrected one.
  • 1/1 = 1/840
  • 1/2 = 1/1100
  • 1/4 = 1/2300
  • 1/8 = 1/4800
  • 1/16 = 1/9100
  • 1/32 = 1/19000
  • 1/64 = 1/28000
• Page 312: Neither the N70 nor N80 supports the High Speed flash mode of the SB-28.
• Page 314: The distance scale is switched to meters or feet by holding the illumination button down while turning the flash ON (i.e., holding down these two buttons; the flash must start from the OFF position). This toggles to whichever distance type wasn't set (e.g., if you were in feet, this toggles the flash to meters, and vice versa).
• Page 332: The N60 doesn't support Rear Sync, so the second note has an icon that should be removed.
• Page 332: The last note on the page applies the Shutter-priority as well as Program exposure mode.
• Page 333: The column for Rear Sync on an N60 should be all be "No."
• Page 333: The note (second one on page) about flash exposure compensation should be removed.
• Page 339: The first note mentions 1/250 second; the N70 has a maximum sync speed of 1/125, so you should replace 1/250 with 1/125 in that note.
• Page 340: The N70 doesn't support the High Speed flash mode, so all entires in the right column should be "No."
• Page 344: The N80 doesn't support the High Speed flash mode, so all entries in the right column should be "No."
• Page 354: The F4 flash features table implies that the F4 body can be set to slow sync. It cannot.
• D1 models and SB-50DX. The book was written and edited before I had a lot of experience with the D1 and the DX flash (and before the SB-50DX came out!). Thus, it doesn't have a lot of digital specific flash information in it. Nikon has also changed its mind as to what group (page 328) the D1 belongs in, having created a new group for the digital SLRs. If you're interested in D1 flash specific information, I've written an extensive section on how the D1 handles flash with updated and expanded SB-28DX, SB-29, and SB-50DX information, including correct GN's for the base ISO values of the D1 models. You'll find it in Thom Hogan's Complete Guide to the Nikon D1, D1h, & D1x.

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