Nikon SB800 Flash

[Sanford]

I recently tried using my Nikon SB800 Flash on an N90S camera. I shot 26 exposures indoors of a Wrestling team. My settings: Fuji 400 superior film, f8, 60th of a second shutter speed.
Flash set at TTL.
Each and everyone of the photos are underexposed from 1 to 2 stops.
Is there an explanation for this?

[freygr]

I recently tried using my Nikon SB800 Flash on an N90S camera. I shot 26 exposures indoors of a Wrestling team. My settings: Fuji 400 superior film, f8, 60th of a second shutter speed.
Flash set at TTL.
Each and everyone of the photos are underexposed from 1 to 2 stops.
Is there an explanation for this?

Did you double check your settings on both the flash and camera? Could of the flash been fooled by reflections?

[Spec A!]

Your negs developed correctly? or are the prints just dark? Have you tried another roll since? Any chance the lab cooked your film in processing? or just didn't do a good print job?
There's plenty of variables- ensure your settings on the camera are all correct (including flash exp compensation set to 0, same on the SB800), make sure your negatives were properly developed, try another roll at a different lab or better yet, try some provia or e-chrome too to rule out the camera or flash.

[OldSchool]

Hi Sanford,

I'm on the road. So, I don't have my manual with me. Is the SB800 supposed to work with the N90S in TTL? Because it I think it is a different exposure computation for digital flashes (cannot read "off the film" like before).

You could try setting the SB800 to A (Auto) where the flash uses the light sensor on the flash. I find that this works pretty dang well actually -- especially when bouncing the flash about.

Try some test shots bofore you shoot your next event...

Good luck,
Tim

[Franglais]

Hi Sanford,

I'm on the road. So, I don't have my manual with me. Is the SB800 supposed to work with the N90S in TTL? Because it I think it is a different exposure computation for digital flashes (cannot read "off the film" like before).

You could try setting the SB800 to A (Auto) where the flash uses the light sensor on the flash. I find that this works pretty dang well actually -- especially when bouncing the flash about.

Try some test shots bofore you shoot your next event...

Good luck,
Tim

I double-checked in my SB800 manual last night - on a film camera the SB800 will emulate an SB28 (and even an SU-9). It will use the in-camera TTL metering as usual.The N90s is listed as being compatible. Can't see what's going wrong here.

Charles

[another view]

If it will emulate an SB28 on a film camera, there shouldn't be a problem. I did have a problem once with an SB28 resetting itself from ISO400 to 100, but it wasn't in TTL mode so this probably couldn't happen. However, was the ISO on the camera set correctly for the film (even with DX coding, I was always in the habit of checking it when I loaded film)? I also wonder about the negs - if they're properly exposed then it could just be a printing issue. There are two different TTL modes on the SB28 but both should be very accurate - even when shooting into a mirror (oops!).

F8, 1/60 and ISO400 should work pretty well for what you were doing. One last rambling thought - are they all evenly underexposed or not? If not, did you wait long enough for the flash to recycle? The SD8A battery pack makes this a no-brainer; the flash recycles instantly with settings like this.