Fill-in flash with the Pentacon Six

Pentacon Six Mount Cameras
by TRA

Flash photography with the Pentacon Six

The facts about using fill-in flash

Some reviews emphasise that the low flash sync speed on cameras with focal plane shutters is a problem for fill-in flash, and on occasion this is true.

The Pentacon Six, Exakta 66, Kiev 60 and Kiev 88 all have a flash sync in the region of 1/30 sec, as this is the fastest speed at which the whole of the film is completely uncovered at the same time by both curtains of the focal plane shutter.

Flash photography with these cameras works perfectly in a studio.

It also works perfectly in virtually all indoor environments.

In daylight it is difficult to use fill-in flash with most cameras that have focal plane shutters, to lighten shadows, as sunlight might call for 1/125 at f/11 (depending on the film speed). This is equivalent to 1/30 at f/22, and few flashguns are going to have the power to provide suitable illumination at f/22 at most commonly-used distances, apart from which, there are three other factors:

for portraiture, you are likely to want to work at a larger aperture than f/22, to throw the background out of focus, and so you will need to use a faster shutter speed to compensate and avoid over-exposure;
at 1/30 second you may get “ghosting” – a second or shadow image caused by the camera picking up some movement illuminated by ambient lighting;
on the plus side, your fill-in flash should not be set at the same level as the ambient light, but ideally one or two stops below it, which does reduce the problem – if the flashgun provides illumination suitable for f/11, using a smaller aperture will reduce its effect and prevent the flash lighting from dominating the picture.

In practice, I do three things when shooting weddings (a non-professional activity for friends only):

Use flash with my Medium Format cameras indoors if appropriate, but no flash on the MF camera in bright daylight;
Take Medium Format photographs outdoors without flash – this usually results in better images, anyway;
Have one of my 35mm Prakticas slung over my shoulder for fill in flash to freeze the movement when the confetti is thrown, and for a very few other shots. (This camera synchronises at approximately 1/125 sec.)

When the pictures come back from processing, I invariably find that the Medium Format photographs taken without fill-in flash are far better than the 35mm photographs taken with fill-in flash. The following picture proved to be one of the bride and groom's favourites, preferred over many of the 35mm (!) pictures taken by the official photographer, who used fill-in flash:

[C241-15: Get the lighting right, and you can take lovely outdoor shots without fill-in flash.
Picture taken with the Exakta 66 and the 75-150mm Variogon zoom lens]

If you really must have flash sync at all speeds, a camera with a focal plane shutter is not for you – or not for jobs requiring flash sync at all speeds (unless you have an FP flashgun - see here); you need a camera with a leaf shutter built into the lens, such as most of the Hasselblads. This does, however, have a number of down sides:

the initial cost of the camera is extremely high;
each lens must have its own leaf shutter, which also pushes up the cost and complexity of the lenses considerably;
most leaf shutters have a maximum speed of 1/500 sec, as opposed to the 1/1000 sec with the Pentacon Six “family” of cameras;
it is virtually impossible to adapt older lenses or lenses from other cameras for use with cameras that do not have a focal plane shutter.

Users of the Pentacon Six, Exakta 66, Kiev 60 and other Pentacon Six-mount cameras realise that they have discovered a real bargain that accepts probably the widest range of high quality Medium Format lenses in the world, all at prices within the reach of the amateur or small business.

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