Dave wrote: Its just this damn outdoor fill flash thing that I just cannot get my head wrapped around.
To me shooting out doors in sun and having a flash go off would make it over exposed. I have read the manuals for the cameras and flash,but to me they are vague This may be oversimplified. Basically to overexpose outdoors your flash would need to be stronger then the sunlight. If you set your flash for the same exposure or less then the sunlight on the subject all the fill flash does is soften (lessen) the shadows. In the case of backlighting, fill flash lessens the difference between the exposure on the subject and the background. I have found in direct sunlight using a modest powered flash it is difficult to so overexpose from the flash as to render the image un-usable, though you may be able to do it with a big shoe or handlebar flash. I usually just set my camera at x sync, leave the flash on manual full power (GN 100 [asa]), and adjust the aperture according to the meter. Butch Each man had only one genuine vocation - to find the way to himself. Hermann Hesse (Demian)
