WOW! now we are getting back to some *real* OM discussion here. ;)
it is interesting how you say that one can use the comp. dial to influense
flash on the -3Ti, but one can also do this on the -4 bodies, although as
you mentioned limited to the 60 sync speed. it is also interesting that in
the -3Ti brochure, there is no indication that one has an "OVER" or "UNDER"
display in the VF. how does one know if the flash really worked? does it
only give the 2 duration flashes as in the -1n and -2n bodies? is the
brochure inaccuarte?
i'm still trying to think where the independant shutter will become useful.
usually one wants fill flash to balence with the BG, or they either want it
to stop motion in a dark BG. what are some other situations where this
feature would be useful?
when i was shooting some kids playing basketball in the park at dusk the
other day, i used the taped contact because the manual GN would have been
too powerful for subjects too close to the camera. i didn't have any ND
filters with me, so i couldn't get the GN of the T32 below 32 (ISO 400). i
let the TTL take care of the flash output so that i could get a nice long SS
(1/2-1/4 sec.?) with moderate (f11?) aperature at a distance of about 1m.
one definite improvement to the -4 and -3Ti bodies would indeed be 2nd
curtain sync. it is much better to stop motion at the end of a movement
than at the beginning in most cases, however, i have seen a couple of Nat.
Geo. pics recently where the subject was advancing toward the camera and had
1st curtain sync. this indeed looked much better and gave the proper sense
of depth.
also, on the subject of GN: i have often thought about making some tape
strips that i could put on the barrell of the lens that would correspond to
the flash and film speed that i have in the camera. that way, i would just
focus, look at the lens barrel to see where i am, and set the aperature
accordingly. this would be particularly useful when shooting film rated at
250, or some other odd number, so that i don't have to tax my already taxed
brain. ;)
Hi Bob,
You have a point there. I probably did not think it all the way through
when I rattled off what I wrote. The only time the 3T is going to be an
advantage is probably when you want flash + a fairly slow shutter speed
(compared to 1/60 sync speed) with some flash control. But if you want
fill flash and most of the flash is going to hit a small foreground
target, then GN's are the way to go (except perhaps indoors).
My test was a quick test of flash control with taped contact. The
reason to tape over the top contact (closest to the film advance side)
is to trick the camera into not forcing 1/60th speed (in either manual
or auto mode). With the tape and the OM-4t in auto mode, the flash
output is still controlled (that was what I was testing) and the
shutter speed is also controlled. I used the memo function to save the
actual shutter speed the camera used. The meter said 1/4th speed
without flash, while the speed when the flash went off was near 1/60th.
I was shooting a flat target, so not a valid real world test. Plus I
did not use compensation as that would also effect the total auto
exposure rather than just the flash. Compensation *can* be used on the
OM-3t to adjust flash output. The OM-4t does not do TTL flash control
on manual speeds.
So the only real advantage of the 3t is that the compensation dial can
be used to control flash output independent of shutter speed. GN's are
probably more accurate with a close subject and a distant background
outdoors. GN's can be a problem indoors with reflective surfaces, so
flash auto or flash TTL is desirable.
You can knock the 3t all you want, not a problem. I don't need any
ratial-holic justifications for owning one (or two even :^). Actually
the only real rationalization I have is that the camera works in very
cold weather, and has a diopter adjustment that the OM-1 does not have.
But the real reason to have one is the mystique. Perhaps if the 3t had
rear curtain sync with its integrating TTL flash exposure control, we
would have some more flash + ambient combinations to discuss, rather
than how old we are all getting to be. And I can calculate GN's on my
HP-35, but I lost my bamboo triple log slide rule years ago.
Wayne
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