Do you use TTL?

[scubaozy]

Only shoot manual, I learned the old fashioned way.

I also learned manual, actually. I still shoot full manual except strobe strength is controlled by s-ttl. Perhaps I was not clear? Based on my tests I did not see much value of using the strobes manual, results are not better. As said the mode I mentioned do not leave everything to the ttl, you can increase decrease, it is semi manual with added benefit of under/over exposure protection. My experience is similar to @David Haas .

 

[d^2b]

I shot TTL for a few years with 2 x Sea&Sea YS01. I did find a fair number of misfires, where the strobes would fire late or fire full-on. Lately I have switched to manual. It's a trade off as far as how many keepers I get. I do miss some changing light/subjects, but it is much more predictable. Probably the biggest benefit with my setup is that I can leave the on-camera strobe (olympus) on 1/64th, which makes recharging much faster. Previously the bottleneck was the cycle time of the little on-camera flash used as a trigger; now it is the external strobes. This is much faster overall, and if I need more speed I can turn down the brightness of the external strobes. If it wasn't a big deal pricewise, I would get TTL with my next setup, just for occasional macro use, but I can live without it.

 

[WS007]

If using just one single strobe and macro, I guess that TTL may be easier, just for flat lighting from the front (e.g. for scientific documentation purpose). For wideangle, I guess that the balance between ambient- and strobe- light need to be adjusted by turning +/- TTL, so not much difference to manual (except that the outcome of turning +/- is much more predictable in manual mode?)...

When using two strobes or even additional remote strobes, I can not see how the delicate balance in different light intensities from the different strobes could be adjusted in TTL mode...

I admit that I never have tried TTL UW so far, just never felt the urge ...


Wolfgang

 

[Doc Harry]

I had a big Nikon rig and Inon strobes with fiber-optic cables. TTL never worked properly, the exposures were always way off. So I shot manually.

 

[sea_ledford]

When I was still shooting photos regularly, I was using a Nikon dslr with Inon strobes. STTL was the bomb! It did take a while to figure out the cryptic, overly confusing setting options, but once I had it dialed in, I could use the + and - to get different lighting levels on either side. I loved it!

I was shooting wide angle exclusively. I did learn to shoot everything manual on a Nikonos V. And I still teach to use the strobe manually initially before letting students use the TTL option (Ike housings and strobes now).
Big fan of TTL .

 

[Nemrod]

Dual Inon strobes and TTL 90% of the time. Works fine and it is certainly possible and easy to change the power output and bias quickly and easily.

 

[ShallowSeasGallery]

I think where the disconnect happens in the TTL vs manual strobe control "debate" is that the top photographers seek out situations where they have the image they wish to make already envisioned in their mind, and only seldomly go documenting passing fish willy-nilly. Part of envisioning this image or situation includes predicting the lighting requirements and giving up control of the lighting to TTL can introduce an unknown or undesirable factor. For those that splash for a drift dive and just wish to document anything that passes by, I can see the appeal for TTL, and why they would be frustrated with manual. Although I would still prefer to shoot manual for a random drift.

 

[Dont_Hold_Your_Breath]

Dual Inon strobes and TTL 90% of the time. Works fine and it is certainly possible and easy to change the power output and bias quickly and easily.

Are you using TTL over an optical connection? It's early and I need to read through all these replies a second time but I would think my situation where a large object will be moving quickly by me various distances to the camera would be ideal for TTL. No real time to adjust the flash power, just point it and shoot.

 

[Nemrod]

Are you using TTL over an optical connection? It's early and I need to read through all these replies a second time but I would think my situation where a large object will be moving quickly by me various distances to the camera would be ideal for TTL. No real time to adjust the flash power, just point it and shoot.

Is anybody really still using wired/electrical connections . Yes, sTTL, optical TTL. My Sony A6400 like almost all Sony cameras and many mirrorless cameras does not have a manual flash mode. It always fires a TTL preflash so might as well put it to work. Yes, I can shoot maual strobes by configuring my Inon strobes to ignore the preflash and with them set in manual and the camera in manaul exposure and flash to flash fill (which is TTL capable). But the Sony can shoot TTL with the camera in manual as again, it has no manual strobe setting.

All, not edited or touched up, jpegs, straight from the camera, all shooting sTTL:







Now, my Canon before, did have manaul strobe settings and still, I mostly shot in TTL. For your example, I find TTL to work best for mid range, action shops, wide angle where I have a subject (like the turtle) and an interesting background, my photog buddy. Macro is an area I really suck at and I probably would switch to manual strobe control. But usually do not .

Here is an example of a type of photo I struggle with and TTL is not so good, silver fish and a blue background, in part due to my camera and strobes. I really would like a 1/500 shutter speed to darken the background and at least twice the strobe output that I have and do it all manual strobe control:

 

[davehicks]

Lots of people shoot two-dimensional photos, with even light and your strobes side by side, and maybe TTL will work just great. Getting a bit more dimension, with a mix of shadow and light, generally requires more intentional positioning of strobes and a mix of light intensity from each direction. UW Photography is all about use of light, and manual control of lighting is core to good photography.