What is my Nikon (D7000) telling me?

[sk66]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

Yeh, I forgot my snark icon... But I know you weren't lost, just aggravated that your ancient flash bulb thingy was causing your bleeding edge camera to give you erroneous output.

Even though you hardly ever use it the flash would be something to add to your arsenal when shooting fowl in the wild. Add a Better Beamer and get great separation from the back ground and the ability to up the shutter speed too!

That's exactly what I was doing with the SB800.
I was hoping to get a flight shot of a snowy owl at dusk.

[TheMoons678]

I realized yesterday how this feature is actually really helpful after reading some basic articles on bouncing light:

http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-pho...-ambient-light

To balance ambient light with flash you can expose for ambient light, underexpose slightly and bounce flash. Can the flash really predict how the subject will be exposed after bouncing flash?

It seemed smart for the camera to tell you only how ambient light is exposing the subject (or background) to give you a starting point to work with.

[ccting]

Originally Posted by TheMoons678

I realized yesterday how this feature is actually really helpful after reading some basic articles on bouncing light:

http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-pho...-ambient-light

To balance ambient light with flash you can expose for ambient light, underexpose slightly and bounce flash. Can the flash really predict how the subject will be exposed after bouncing flash?

It seemed smart for the camera to tell you only how ambient light is exposing the subject (or background) to give you a starting point to work with.

Yes, that is the great article, and I always apply that technique but unsure i did not correctly or not..

[sk66]

Originally Posted by TheMoons678

I realized yesterday how this feature is actually really helpful after reading some basic articles on bouncing light:

http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-pho...-ambient-light

To balance ambient light with flash you can expose for ambient light, underexpose slightly and bounce flash. Can the flash really predict how the subject will be exposed after bouncing flash?

It seemed smart for the camera to tell you only how ambient light is exposing the subject (or background) to give you a starting point to work with.

I guess... to me that is "manual flash". Easy enough, but it's a "guessing game" and the first exposure is usually not exactly what you want.

In aperture/shutter priority the camera is always using the flash as "fill" or "balancing with ambient light" (as long as the meter is not set to spot).

I honestly don't remember if my D3 did the same thing....I just don't recall ever looking at the meter and thinking "WTH?" But I've never used flash all that much.