Nikon D300 Complete Manual page 616

• Set the Slow Sync flash option on the camera. Why?
Because this removes the 1/60 lower shutter speed limit in
Aperture-priority exposure mode. On the D300 you have
an alternative: use Custom Setting #E2 to set the lower
shutter speed limit to what you can hand hold. On my
D300, I've set 1/15 and don't normally use Slow Sync.
• Put the flash in Standard TTL mode. Why? Because we
want to control the exact amount of flash used. Normally,
the camera makes unknown adjustments when it is in the
more advanced balanced fill-flash mode (TTL BL), and
these adjustments aren't repeatable.
• Dial in Flash Exposure Compensation. Again, -1 EV for
people and between -1.7 for objects in shadow are good
starting points. Why? We're using flash to fill in light, not
to produce the main light for our subject.
Every time I post these recommendations on a Web forum
somewhere, I get a lot of grief from other posters. Specifically:
• Why does Program mode make aperture restrictions with
flash? Apparently Nikon made design decisions that had
to do with the guaranteed "reach" of the flash in the all-
automatic modes. All I know is that if you have an f/2.8 or
faster lens and you're shooting with flash in Program
exposure mode, you've wasted your money on the fast
lens. At some ISO values with external flash, that
restriction easily hits f/5.6!
• Doesn't Slow Sync give me shutter speeds that will show
camera shake? Perhaps. But if you're in light so dim that
you can't get a 1/60 second shutter speed, you're
probably not using the flash for fill. You probably want the
flash to fully light the subject, and when you dial up the
flash to provide full light, the flash duration becomes the
effective shutter speed (the longest duration of a Nikon
flash is 1/830 of a second; the SB-800 is 1/1050). You may
have to let the background go dark to get "perfectly sharp"
photos, but I've taken sharp handheld shots this way with
exposures as much as two seconds using a 200mm focal
Thom Hogan's Complete Guide to the Nikon D300
V1.02
Page 616