Do I need an external Flash
 

Well we are now about 60 days from our trip departure and I finally bought a camera. It is a Pentax D100 dSLR with two l.enses. A standard lens and a 28x300. This should give me everything I need for great photos, now all I need is to get the photographer to practice some more.

My question is about an extra flash unit. Do I need an external extra flash for night game drives? I have already spend a lot more than I had planned and would put this off if I could. If I need it I will take the plunge.

Thanks as always.

Any external flash works well to a max distance of 15ft(for a resonably crisp image),beyond which,i not sure, any camera could record sharp images ( digital may pixilate).
If you are going upclose to your subject,then yes,a flash is needed.
A powerful torchlight (for the night game drives),will serve the purpose if you can master the settings on your camera for low light photography.
Flash photography is also not recomended for wildlife as it could disturb & alarm amimals.

Sorry I hit the post button early.

Night time often means scenes lit with artificial light. This will inevitably give a colour cast to your shots although this can be pleasing sometimes. There are many types of lighting (tungsten, halogen, fluorescent) and they will all come out with different colour casts. Try different white balance settings to see what effect it has on the final image.
Also,setting the shutter speed is vital. A tripod is invaluable for night shoots, exposures lasting greater than 1/30th second (1/60th in some cases). A torch, a decent lens and think about a remote shutter release - using long shutter speeds means the potential for camera shake and blurred images is even greater than usual (the alternative is to use a self timing mechanism to trip the shutter).
By taking a shot of a scene with, say, as stop of under exposure and a stop of over exposure, you will be more likely to capture an image that is correctly exposed. Bright lights tells the camera to underexpose. Many cameras will have automatic exposure bracketing to allow this to be done with minimal fuss! You are trying to record some detail in the shadows without burning out the highlights. If you take an image of a scene at 4 second exposure, take the same scene with 8 seconds and 2 seconds. In this way you will be likely to get the exposure you are looking for.

Night photography “feels” different. Different sights, different sounds, different locations and different camera settings.
Nobody is an expert – we all have to experiment. With modern digital cameras this is something that can easily be achieved.Happy shooting.
Hope this was'nt too much of a lecture!

The K100D like it's big brother the K10D has shake reduction which gives you two stops more than without it, so you should get away without a tripod, which is not very practical, though a monopod maybe. You can still use SR with a monopod, but not with a tripod. You can increase the ISO quite a bit without getting too much noise - say up to 800, though I've taken photos at 1600 with my ist Ds with minimum noise. Check your white balance, auto can cope with most things but can give a cast to the photos or shoot RAW so you can change it a bit in processing.
I think the flash is a goodie for later if you feel you want it, it could frighten the animals, and it can give a nasty sort of red-eye which is hard to remove.

Get out to a zoo or somewhere and practice on the animals there, and practice night shots using a powerful torch, or your car headlights and see how you get on. Really learn your camera between now and when you go. If you shoot RAW (or even if you shoot jpg) take lots of memory with you, or a storage device.

Have a great trip!

A good external flash will extend far beyond 15 feet. You can hit more like 30-40 feet. Rangers do discourage flash photography on diurnal (daytime)animals, however nocturnal animals can be photographed using a flash. The amount of light a flashlight gives is insufficient for a good photo. It's barely enough light to allow you to focus. You may have to resort to manual focus for your best pictures. Below are a few of my night shots

http://www.pbase.com/mytmoss/image/50694041

http://www.pbase.com/mytmoss/image/50152053

http://www.pbase.com/mytmoss/image/50495260

Mike

I recommend using a flash whenever you have subjects in harsh light, or if your subject has very dark eyes with no visible lighter areas on the eyes. A flash will either be used for a catchlight in the eyes or for fill flash, and the difference between the two is often about a half to a full stop difference in flash compensation.

If you are going to use flash, be sure to pick up a Better Beamer, which will help project your flash much farther than without one. On Canon and Nikon cameras the flash exposure compensation is often minus 2/3 stop to minus 1 2/3 stop, depending on how bright or dark your subject is.

I am not a fan of photography during night drives, so I won't jump into this area on your thread.

AndyBiggs,

Are you not a fan of photography on night drives because the photos often do not turn out well or does it have anything to do with interfering with the animals?

I guess this is kind of a religious conversation, in that it can be polarizing. I don't like night game drives for a variety of reasons, and I don't want to hijack the thread to list my reasons. But my main reason is that I do not believe that flash photography at night yields the types of photographs that I am after. I prefer natural light, and artifical light as a supportive role. I don't personally care for photographs where flash is used as the main light source. This is just my own opinion and preference, and should not be contrued to mean that all photographs taken at night are not good photographs.

Andy, I like your style. (I like your photos too!) No flaming!

Mike

FWIW, here is a photo from a night drive taken with flash - http://tinyurl.com/2jmo89
Zambia, Robin Pope Nsefu camp, night drive. The lions were 30 or more feet away so flash does work beyond 15 feet.
I also much prefer natural daylight but if you want this picture you have to use flash. The lions paid no attention to the flashs (I took many). And, I've found that other animals do not seem to be startled by flash. But my experience is not a lot of doing it because again I don't like the effect. But sometimes . . .

The flash unit was a Nikon SB-600. Nikon has a wonderful flash system.

I like to use fill-in flash, during the daytime, when like Andy says. And will be getting the Better Beamer soon.
regards - tom

ps - the poor little puku was still alive in this photo.
tom

And if you get a Better Beamer, take the manufacturer's advice seriously: do not point your camera in the general direction of the sun for more than a few seconds, or the sunlight through the beamer's lens will burn a hole in the flashgun. I've had a BB for some years, and learned my lesson the hard way. Fortunately, my inattention did not last long enough to destroy the flash head, but it sure bears a mighty scar.

As others have said, a flash unit will help in daylight photography...to soften shadows and give catchlights in eyes, a highly desirable feature. A flash will produce a catchlight even when the distance to subject is too far to produce any other noticeable effect. I generally work at -1 2/3 stops compensation, less if the subject is not close. I understand Andy's viewpoint, and am not a great fan of night flash photography myself...but I do have some images of nocturnal animals which I would never had got without flash.

Somebody mentioned 'red-eye'. Use a flash bracket to keep the flash off-camera, and minimise the risk. I've never had red-eye using an off-camera bracket.

John

Thanks John for the tip about the sun!!! Pointing it in the general direction of the sun is not all crazy since you may be using it for fill flash with the sun in the background.
The Nikon SB-600 I use actually focuses the flash depending on the lens focal length, including zooming. Really does. Wonder if I really need the BB? I should play with it first with the 70-300VR zoom. Maybe it will throw far enough at max power for fill-in at say 60 feet. Anybody know?
regards - tom

You are all amazing and better photographers than I am. In simple language can someone tell me if I need to buy another flash for my new Pentex. Other than some minor changes I will probably use it most of the time on whatever settings I set at the beginning or mostly on the point and shoot setting.

I do not find a Pentax D100 model. I do find a Pentax K100D. Assuming this is the camera you have, my answer is - no. You do not need another flash unit. Just be sure, be sure I say, that you practice with the one on the camera so you know for sure how to make it flash -or - not flash when you want it to. These little rascals can have a mind of their own and you have to know how to become the "alpha dog". Ok, so, now we are outdoors in the sun and I say to you, here, take my picture and make/force the camera flash. Can you do it? Only one right answer :-)
regards - tom

spiegelcjs, if you want to stick to P&S that's fine, you will get good photos. To turn the flash off turn the dial round away from the green auto sign to the flash with a sripe through it.
To force the flash in auto - push the flash button on the back just below the dial, which has a flash and up on it.
Use the shake reduction at all times, since you won't be using a tripod- you switch it on with the switch next to the fn button on the back - it shows a shaking hand next to it!
Read the manual and have a play!

Tom,

My 'accident' with the BB did not happen in Africa but it could easily. I used to keep the BB on the flash head on game drives, but as you're driving around, a change of direction by the guide can suddenly have your camera pointing at the sun while your attention is elsewhere. So now, the BB stays off until I need it. But it is a fiddly thing to fit, a disadvantage if you need it in a hurry. It has to be fitted on the flash unit quite accurately, because it narrows the flash beam which may miss its target if the BB is not put on straight. I have had to improvise a snap-on device to speed up installation on the flash unit.

Another reason I have stopped keeping the BB on the unit during a game drive: although the BB is very light, its weight is still enough to put strain on the flash head's 'neck' joint when the vehicle is jolting around on rough roads. Wear and tear on one of my flash heads was so bad that the unit developed a droop, causing it to shoot too low.

I suggested a quick clip-on device to the BB's designer but as far as I'm aware he has not taken up the idea...he indicated he was aware of the problem, but apparently market demand would not justify making such an accessory.


The BB is a fine tool for set-piece situations where the photographer doesn't need to hurry or is not coping with rough roads.

John

Thanks again John, I don't like to fiddle with such and don't like to carry around even 4 ounces of anything I may not need. I'll have to play some with the SB600 and the 300mm lens. Maybe it will work.
regards - tom

Thanks for the night photo response, Andy Biggs.