Recently it was requested to me to switch from TTL to manual flash as it supposingly gives better results used as bounced light (ceiling or side wall) on-camera flash.
I can confirm that spatially for bounced light, TTL flash does not give consistent results as far as exposure is concerned but for God’s shake is faster and saves the day on events. There are cases where manual flash is needed (focused on subject far back but there is another obstacle in front which confuses TTL) and has to be used but I am not fond of it generally. There is no time for setting both the camera and the flash on events in my opinion. I always use manual mode for the camera and AF.
What is your opinion/experience on this matter? Do you use manual flash mode as bounced light or TTL? What do you prefer and why?
To be clear I prefer not to use flash at all but only when circumstances require it.
Interesting. I don’t have any useful experience with flash - but in photography in general, if I can use an auto or semi-auto setting that gives the results I want I will use it, just because it reduces the chances of me forgetting to set something and screwing up a shot. My 1 cent.
Don’t know about other makes, but my Nikon has sets of “banks” in which one can store shooting and custom settings. I have these set up for some of my standard shooting scenarios, they aren’t fixed, but they do give me a base on which to start.
If the ceiling is decent (not too high/dark), TLL works fine with bounce flash in my experience.
For a more natural look, at family gatherings, I put a remote-controlled bounce flash on some suitably high furniture and wander around with the camera. This also works fine.
