flash position

[Marc Z.]

Interested in getting a flash for my Bessa R2 but can't decide between one I'd mount on a bracket over the lens or a potato masher flash which would fire from the side. In either case I would use a Sto-Fen diffuser with the flash bounced.

 

[remrf]

For myself I would rather not use a flash unit mounted directly on the camera. I use a Sunpak 611 for a portable unit and I dismount the flash from the bracket and hold it high and as far away from the camera as my arm will allow. I do not like the flat specular light and harsh shadows of the frontal flash unless I am shooting news, medical or crime scene photos. All of which I have done in the past though not recently. I consider single flash frontal lighting as a "snapshot" or basic recording photography. I bounce whenever possible to lesson the flatness of the head on strobe.

 

[Fred]

An interesting point, when I use flash on an SLR I very rarely use it on camera, also I don't use an auto flash mode either. Its worth saying that I very rarely take a flash out with an RF.

When I'm out and about shooting RF though I sometimes carry a very small flash, a used Metz BC 26 IIRC. It fits with the RF ethos (as I see it anyway) of well built, compact and not an obtrusive design. It's had very little use. Not ideal for fill in as the fastest shutter I can sync with is about 1/50th.

 

[pvdhaar]

I think the main issue here is what you're going to use the flash for.

From what you describe it appears like you want to light up an entire room. In that case I'd use one on a bracket. That way you don't have to rotate the head everytime you go from vertical to horizontal and back. But one thing that's great with a potatomasher is that you can have a small auxiliary flash sitting in the hot shoe to fill in or highlight from the front. So the question is do you need fill as well?

 

[Toby]

For indoor flash I like to use a flash pointed up vertically and I use a 6"x4" piece of flat white card attatched to the back of the flash to fill out eye sockets etc. -try it it works really well