Hello, I am new to this site. I am taking some shots this weekend of a cycle race. I have a Nissin i40 (24-105mm, G No: 40) flash that I have never used. I hope to take moving shots of the cyclists using the Pen with a Lumix 12-32 lens.
Can anyone recommend the best settings to dial-in to the camera for best results. Thank you.
Hi, if daytime, I'd probably try aperture or shutter priority on the camera, and manual flash power on the Godox.
Set the power to taste, but keep in mind too much can look odd, and will take longer to cycle charges.
You didn't say what type of cyclists: Bicyclists or motorcyclists? With the bicyclists you might be a lot closer to them than at a race track with motorcyclists, dirt bikes, or sport bike riders.
The Pen-F may default to a low shutter speed with the flash on it, maybe 1/250 sec. That will put your aperture down around f/11-f/16 or so at the recommended ISO of 200. With the Nissan GN of 40, it will be very weak as that size is primarily indoors for closeups of birthday parties, macros, etc. It might boost the blacks up a bit outdoors at the distances you will be at if shooting full vehicle/racer but unlikely to give you a 1:2 ratio fill-light. HSS with it, if it does it, may be as close as 2-3 feet as the power output goes way down with respect to the duration of the burn to use as a high-shutter speed sync setup.
Might pay to shoot with a faster shutter and let the the shadows fall where they may if you are shooting a motorcycle race. Might pay to boost the lower curve in the Pen-F too maybe a +3 too (I usually always have the +3 set on mine as the blacks can go dark too quick and block up so the +3 boosts the toe of the curve a bit to get some detail back.).
I normally shoot in the desert sun and it is too bright for small speed-lights. Out there -, and if I am at a distance - I prefer to work with at least a 600ws studio unit. The backpack thing below is my strongest for outdoors as it can give me a GN 452 which can blind a football catcher for 10 minutes. Makes a nice stereo "PONG!" noise when fired too.
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Thanks Mack. I will be taking pictures of bicyclists going quite slow as they will be on a steep hill. I realise the i40 is quite weak as flash units go, but I hope to get quite close (within 10 feet), so hopefully it will have some effect.
Boosting the lower curve is a useful tip that I wouldn't have thought about doing.
Hi, if daytime, I'd probably try aperture or shutter priority on the camera, and manual flash power on the Godox.
Set the power to taste, but keep in mind too much can look odd, and will take longer to cycle charges.
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