Need flash help.

[photophorous]

Can anyone recommend a book or website that will help me understand how to operate an off-camera electronic flash? I haven't had much luck finding anything more than basic descriptions of what a flash is used for.

I have a Vivitar 2000 flash and I don't know how to use it. I got it as a gift, but I've never really used it. It has three settings; one manual setting and two auto settings (green and red). I don't know what any of these settings are for. When I use this flash on my N75, the built-in flash on the camera still pops open and fires. Is that supposed to happen?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

[another view]

Not sure of a website really going over basic flash technique, but you may find a book at the library (or Borders, etc).

The manual setting on the flash would be handy if you were using it in a controlled environment (like a studio) and always wanted the same light output from the flash. It will give you more control but takes more work to use it (just like cameras). Don't worry about this one for now. The two other modes (green and red) are auto modes and are probably for different distance ranges. If you could take a picture of this and post it here, I could help more on this.

As far as the flash popping up, the camera is probably in "Program" mode. It sees the fact that the light level is low and doesn't know you're trying to use another flash, I'm guessing. Switch to a less automatic mode, like "A" or "S" or even fully manual which is what I usually use when shooting by flash. Try this - put the camera in manual mode with the shutter speed at 1/60 and the lens aperture at f5.6. I could probably tell you what distance you'd want your subject at if you had a picture of the back of the flash - but a lot of times these are the settings I use.